Selecting Text in Word, Using Find and Replace in Excel

Jim Welp, PCWorld.com

This week I present a batch of handy tips for saving time and embarrassment at the keyboard. Let's get right to it.

Outlook: Avoid Addressing Mishaps

With Outlook 2002's address type-ahead feature, which suggests names when you begin to address a new message, it's too easy to send an e-mail to the wrong address. If you're afraid you'll accidentally send a love letter to your boss, Christine, instead of your girlfriend, Christina, here's how you turn off this feature: With your Inbox on screen, choose Tools, Options, then click the E-Mail Options button. In the E-Mail Options dialog box, click the Advanced E-Mail Options button. When that dialog box opens, click to turn off the option called "Suggest names while completing To, Cc, and Bcc fields." Lock it in by clicking OK three times to close the Advanced E-Mail, E-Mail Options, and Options dialog boxes.

Word: Getting the Situation Under Ctrl

One big improvement in Office XP is the way that Word 2002 treats Web and e-mail addresses in text: Hyperlinks are no longer "hot." In previous versions, you couldn't easily select hyperlinks, and if you accidentally clicked one, you'd need to wait while Word opened your browser or e-mail program. But in Word 2002 you have to hold down the Ctrl key and click a hyperlink to open the Web page or start an e-mail message. If you hover your mouse above a hyperlink, a little pop-up box lets you know that you can hold down Ctrl and click to follow the link. By the way, you can quickly select a hyperlink by triple-clicking it.

Word: Select Nonadjacent Text

One of Word 2002's groovy new features is the ability to select nonadjacent text. This is a capability that Excel has had for several versions now, and it's a welcome addition to Word. To select nonadjacent text in Word, just make your first selection, then hold down the Ctrl key as you make more selections. You can remove a selection by clicking on selected text while holding down Ctrl. Alas, you keyboard fans will have to reach for the mouse to take advantage of this feature. You can't do it using the keyboard alone.

Excel: Find and Replace Formatting

Excel 2002 has a new feature that's long been available in Word: Now you can search and replace formatting in Excel. It's helpful to be able to find and replace text attributes like bold and italic, but this baby really comes in handy when setting number formats. For instance, you can use Find and Replace to globally change the currency format to 0 decimals or to change all date formatting from mm/dd to mm/dd/yy.

Here's how: With your worksheet open, choose Edit, Replace to open the Find and Replace dialog box. Next, click the Options button to expand the dialog box. Now, next to the "Find what" and "Replace with" text boxes, you'll find Format buttons that give you access to the format options dialog box. Click the Format button next to "Find what" to tell Excel the kind of formatting to look for, then click OK. A tip: Click the drop-down arrow next to the Format button and select "Choose format from cell" to make sure you're searching for the exact format that's in your worksheet. Next, click the Format button next to "Replace with," choose the new format, and click OK. When Excel returns you to the Find and Replace dialog box, just click Replace All and--baddaboom baddabing--you've got a whole new format.

Searching for E-Mail

In a previous newsletter I wrote about finding text in Word and Excel using the Search Task Pane. The Search Task Pane is also great for finding e-mail messages--and you don't even need to switch to Outlook. If you want to quickly look up that old rant, rave, or helpful Office XP tip (hint, hint), just fire up the Search Task Pane. If it's not on screen, choose View, Task Pane. When the Task Pane opens, click the down arrow near the top right corner and choose Search. Next, type your search text, then tell the Task Pane what to look for, as follows: In the "Search in" drop-down list, choose Outlook. In the "Results should be" drop-down list, choose "e-mail messages" under Outlook Items. Click the Search button and the Task Pane will present a list of messages that contain your search text. Just click on one to open that message.