Office guides

As increasingly we're carrying tablets and smartphones with us, we expect them to double as work tools so we can at least see our data, if not work on it, too. However, there are significant compatibility and access issues to deal with anytime you step away from your desk. Here we explore these issues with Excel spreadsheets and offer one possible solution.

The new Google Docs Viewer helps you view files online that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to see. It gives you access to a range of file types and it can lend itself as a solution to some unusual problems. For example, it’s not unusual to receive a file that you can’t access easily because you don’t have an application to open it with.

Perhaps one of the most underused features of Excel are its Form tools, such as the Spin button, which lets you enter data into a worksheet using a clickable spinner. Here we’ll show you how to put one to work to control an animated chart so that when you click on the spinner, the chart will change with each click. This project can be completed in any version of Excel.

When it comes to creating PowerPoint presentations, there are two skills you need. One is the skill to create the contents for an informative presentation and the second is the skill to make it look good. If you’re good at creating the presentation content, but struggle with making it all look good in a reasonable timeframe, then VisualBee can help. We’ll show you how to add some pizzazz to your presentations with this PowerPoint add-in.

If you want to add flair to a Word document, you'll need to harness Word’s desktop publishing (DTP) features. While Publisher might be the better choice for complex publications, Word has plenty of tricks up its sleeve. Here's a few of them.

If you’re like me, you have pieces of paper stuck all over your desk with lists of things you need to do today, next week, next year and things you just don’t want to forget. Toodledo can help you get your life sorted so you can focus on what’s important for today. It's an online application that's accessible from just about any device via web browser. First, visit www.toodledo.com and sign up. You’ll need an email address and password, but that’s all — enter your details and you’ll be taken straight to the program where you can start entering tasks. 

There’s a lot to love about the new charting engine in Excel 2007 and 2010. However, not all the things you can do with the tools are immediately obvious or intuitive to use. Here we show you some hidden techniques, including how to colour negative values differently to positive values, conditionally colour data labels, add text and pictures, and more.

Pivot tables are a powerful way to summarise spreadsheet data. They make it easy for you to display complex data in a simple way. You can use them to answer questions such as what value of goods you purchased from a particular supplier in a particular month, or the total value of orders of dairy products for the two months, for example. We’ll show you how to get started with pivot tables in Microsoft Excel and Google Docs' spreadsheet app.

When you need to highlight information according to its value in a Google Docs spreadsheet, you can use the conditional formatting tool. While this tool isn’t as sophisticated as the corresponding feature in Excel, for example, it does have its uses and we’ll show you how to put it to work. In this example, we'll have a set of average temperatures for Melbourne and use conditional formatting to display different colours, depending on the temperature.

Excel is a powerful tool for analysing data and making complex calculations. However, there are some common traps for users. Common mistakes include using numbers as column headers which can play havoc when using AutoSum on a column. Or not checking print preview, often resulting in wasted paper or hard-to-read worksheet printouts. Here we explain how to avoid these and other common mistakes.