Centriq Blog Category: Microsoft Office

Conditional Formatting is one of the best features in Excel, is relatively simple to use, and provides very powerful results.

Conditional formatting applies colors to cells that meet specific criteria—such as “greater than $40,000”. If the condition is true, formatting occurs; if false, formatting does not happen.Read More

What Is Microsoft OneNote? 

Essentially, it is a digital notebook available anytime, anywhere.  OneNote is available as a traditional desktop app, a web app, and a mobile app. In addition, a simplified OneNote version comes pre-installed with Windows 10. The features available to the user depend on the version and environment used.Read More

Most people would agree that Microsoft Excel is a very powerful program. Even someone who classifies themselves as an ‘expert user’ could admit to finding new functions and commands from time to time. But, since most of us aren’t Excel experts, it’s helpful to have a resource to turn to when your Excel spreadsheet isn’t quite right.

As a Microsoft Excel instructor, my goal with this blog is to share my knowledge and provide answers to questions I often hear from Excel users. There are some tips included that will increase your efficiency as well! As always, I can’t cover everything in one blog, so if you don’t find the answer you’re looking for, look to the ‘HELP’ feature within the software itself (or sign up for one of my classes).Read More

Has this ever happened to you? You’re plugging along on a Microsoft Word document only to freeze because you can’t recall how to do a relatively simple formatting function. I think it’s happened to all of us at one point or another and I hope the following will be your go-to resource whenever an instance like that takes place. (Bookmark the link so you can easily find it whenever a brain freeze occurs!)

My goal is not to cover all Microsoft Word formatting capabilities, just the basic ones that can increase your efficiency greatly. If you need more information or other guidance, look to the ‘HELP’ feature within the software itself.Read More

Customized Keyboard Shortcut Keys

Many users find that keyboard shortcuts for Access helps them work more efficiently.  In the previous blog, we discussed some frequently used keyboard shortcuts. In this blog, we will discuss how to create customized keyboard shortcut keys.

The AutoKeys macro assigns shortcut key combinations to a set of tasks.  You can only create one AutoKeys macro in each database but you can create multiple submacros, with each submacro assigned a shortcut key combination.  You must name the macro “AutoKeys” for it to work.Read More

Symbols for Special/Custom Formatting

To customize the display of numbers, dates/times, and text, use the Format property.

For a field, you set this property in the Table Design View (in the Field Properties section) or in the Query Design View (in the Field Properties property sheet). For a control, you set this property in the control’s property sheet.

The Format property affects only how the data is displayed, not how the data is stored.Read More

A split database will very often use a Navigation Form on the front-end as the entry point for users.  A good idea is to display the Navigation Form by default each time a user opens the database. This makes it easy for users to switch between the various forms and reports in the database without affecting the data tables stored and protected on the back-end.

This blog will explain a simple process of creating a Navigation Form by adding buttons to display forms and reports and then configuring options to display the Navigation Form at startup instead of the navigation pane.  In addition, a brief discussion will describe a more advanced process of Navigation Form design that opens database objects (including queries) and shows a message (if preferred) at startup.Read More

_{(Original content provided by Gladys Rama/ Redmond Channel Partner)}

“It’s promising to be a busy year for Microsoft watchers, with major version releases on tap for some of the company’s most venerable product lines. Here are the biggest milestones to watch out for.”

Every year Redmond Channel Partner puts out the Microsoft Product Roadmap, which provides a comprehensive guide to upcoming Microsoft product updates and new product releases. Centriq’s summarized this information for you, providing an overview of version updates, next-gen releases and brand new releases, as well as anticipated release dates.Read More

If you have not spent much time reviewing the options and settings in Word, that is unfortunate because you can really customize Word to your own personal preferences and work situation.

This blog will share some examples of the things you can do with options and settings. Perhaps these “gold nuggets” will encourage you to explore other options and settings that might be helpful to you.Read More

An add-in is a term used for a software utility added to a primary program. In other words, add-ins are mini applications that extend what you can do with Microsoft Office programs, such as Word. When you enable an add-in, it adds custom commands and new features that help increase your productivity.

By default, add-ins are not immediately available, so you must first install (and in some cases activate or configure) these add-ins so that you can use them. Many of the add-ins are free from the Microsoft Store (https://store.office.com). You may also be able to search for add-ins from third party vendors.Read More