On-Line Business Tip #70 – Find and Replace "Special" in Outlook & Word

Last time we looked at Find and Replace ^p^s^p (paragraph/hard-space/paragraph) with ^p (paragraph).

This only scratches the surface of replacing special characters.

In Microsoft Outlook or Word, press Ctrl+H (Find and Replace). Choose More >> to expand the lower panel.

Click the "Special" button and look in its pull-down list.  Among others, you will see: Paragraph Mark, Tab Character, Any Character, Any Digit, Any Letter, Column Break, Em Dash, En Dash, Manual Line Break, Manual Page Break, Nonbreaking Space, Optional Hyphen, Section Break.

You can use this feature to replace those characters if you don't want them.

But you can also use them in reverse.  If you don't know the shortcut to insert, say, a Manual Page Break, you can insert anything, say "###", and then use this feature to replace it with a Manual Page Break (^m).

Order-Processing Delays

Message received from WorldsView, our Autodesk suppliers:

"We are currently experiencing issues with our automated order processing, due to integration issues with the Autodesk systems.

"The above has been escalated to Autodesk and we are waiting for feedback on when the matter will be resolved. Until such time and with immediate effect we will be processing all orders manually. This will impact a partner’s ability to provide licences to customers timeously.

"Kindly ensure that your customers are notified of the unexpected delays in receiving their licences.

"We apologise for any inconvenience. We will continue to keep you updated on progress and when resolution is expected."

At Software Africa, we have placed all the paid orders.  If you haven't received your Autodesk email yet, please be patient.

Excel for Engineers Online Self-Paced Course

The Excel for Engineers course is available on-line as a self-paced course.  The same manual and examples as the live version.  The same trainer. Done at your own pace at times that suit you.  Take half an hour a day and complete it in a month.  Spend an hour a day and finish it in two weeks.  Or dedicate two days –a weekend, perhaps?– and crack the whole course.

Sign up now and get these Bonuses:

1. Report, "Are You Making These Microsoft Excel Mistakes?"
2. A Free Support Group
3. Our Excel file "Excel Shortcut keys & My Macro Shortcuts" (you'll want this once you start building macros).

Take our self-paced online course in your own time and venue.  All the value at a quarter of the price of the live course.  Backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Excel Tip #216 – Working with Dates, Part IV: Displaying a Date as Text

Formatting a cell with a specific date format (as we did last month) is all very well, but what if you want a date as part of a string?  A formula like ="The warranty expires on " & end_date will not work!  You’ll get “The warranty expires on 45351”, which nobody will understand!

For this we need the TEXT function to format a number as text, thus:
="The warranty expires on " & TEXT(end_date, "ddd dd mmm yyyy.")
This gives:
The warranty expires on Thu 29 Feb 2024.

The second parameter of the TEXT function is the format.  This uses, in quotes, exactly the date formats we learned about last month.

How did we get the end-of-month a year hence, in the cell named end_date, for the warranty expiry?  We'll see that next month.

More about Excel dates next time. Read more here on our Excel for Engineers blog.

Microsoft Excel Macros Online Self-Paced Course

Macros let you do repetitive work in a flash, instead of repeating the same boring stuff by hand.  Save hours not working late, and spend more time with your family ...or the cat.  Do you have a good knowledge of Excel, and now want to program your own time-saving applications?  Then this course is for you!

Do it in your own time, at your own venue and pace, cost-effectively.  The Software Africa Quick 'n Easy Turbo-Start Excel Macros course is waiting for you online.  Take it now!

Computius Say:

As far as we know, our computers have never had an undetected error.

Remember,  We can make your business run better by:

• Training your company live online, or live in-house, or via a self-paced online course.
• We train on Excel, Word, Access, and Windows (all levels from beginners to Programming).
• Automating your in-house processes with Excel macros, a custom program or database.
• Promoting your corporate image with a set of templates on Microsoft Word or Excel, linked to your address list.
• Speeding up your processes by linking to your database or spreadsheet.
• Solving your QuickBooks, Microsoft Access, Excel, Word, Visual Basic, and PowerPoint problems.
• Supplying software: We sell and support various accounting, timesheet, scheduling, and productivity programs.
• Providing programs for the Engineer and Engineering Geologist. Like dotPLOT, progeCAD, ZWCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, Revit Suite and Maya LT.

All the Best from

Communication in Action cc trading as Software Africa

Reg.  2009/007863/23 ~ VAT No 4500104387 ~ 126 Kelvin Drive, Morningside Manor, Sandton, 2191 South Africa.