Tame your computer – download a free calendar

Have you started making appointments for 2015, but haven’t bought a new calendar as yet? Well, there’s no need to rush out to the shops… Excel offers lots of calendar templates that you can easily adapt for your specific needs.

Here’s how in Excel 2007:

1. Click on the Microsoft Office button and click on New.
2. On the left side of the dialogue box, underneath Microsoft Office Online, click on Calendars and click on one of the links. (Don’t worry that it seems to stop at 2012; you can easily amend the year.)
3. See steps 3 and 4 below.

Here’s how in Excel 2010:

1. Click on the File tab and click on New.
2. Click on Calendars and click on one of the folders. (Don’t worry that it seems to stop at 2012; you can easily amend the year.)
3. Decide which calendar works best for you (if you click on one of the templates, it appears in a larger view on the right hand side of the dialogue box) and double-click its name to download it.
4. Change the year, introduce pictures of your own and modify  the font and font size to your heart’s content.

By the way, I got a bit carried away when I was writing this tip – using the Small business calendar (any year, Sun-Sat) template in Excel 2010 – so if you want to download a calendar for 2015 with some of my favourite shortcuts for each month on each separate worksheet, have a look at www.roem.co.uk/2015_tip_calendar.xlsx

Tame your computer – calendar craft

Do you ever find yourself referring to week numbers, rather than dates? (For example, we are currently in week 47 which runs from Monday 17 November to Sunday 23 November 2014.) Well, if you do, you might like to know you can easily display the week numbers in your Outlook calendar.

Here’s how:

1. Select Options from the File tab.
2. Click Calendar.
3. Under Display options, select the Show week numbers in the month view and in the Date Navigator check box.
4. Click OK.

With special thanks to Jacqui Simpkins for this week’s tip inspiration.

PS Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.

Tame your computer – super switching

One of my most recent shortcuts of the week was CTRL + TAB to move to the next open tab in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. But did you know you can also use this shortcut in Excel to switch between all open Excel workbooks?

Here’s how:

1. Press CTRL + TAB to display the next currently open Excel workbook.
2. Keep your finger on the CTRL key and continue to press the TAB key, until you reach your desired workbook. (In case you overshoot your desired window, press SHIFT + CTRL + TAB to cycle the other way.)
3. Release the CTRL key.

If you have lots and lots of Excel workbooks open it might be faster to use the Switch Windows button in the Window group on the View tab, but you know how much I love keyboard shortcuts so I simply cannot help myself! This was why back in March 2013 I launched a ‘shortcut of the week’ feature on our website, in an effort to help you work faster (and healthier). You can find the shortcut of the week on our home page, from where you can also download or print our shortcut archive.

PS I’m committed to sharing the best of what I know with others so please don’t keep these tips a secret. If you enjoyed today’s tip, please forward it to anyone you feel may benefit or reprint it  (with full copyright and subscription information) in your newsletters and message boards. Got a tip to share? Submit it by emailing karen@roem.co.uk – if your tip is selected, I’ll publish it along with your name; the bragging rights will last a lifetime.