30th April 2002

If there's one thing Malcolm Hegge knows, it's how to work inside of Microsoft Excel. If his shortcuts were any shorter, they wouldn't exist. "When entering or editing a formula, you can change a relative cell reference (A7) into an absolute cell reference ($A$7) by hitting F4 when the cursor is on (or immediately next to) the cell reference. Tapping it once more will lock only the row (A$7). Tap it again to lock only the column ($A7). Hit it a fourth time to revert to a relative reference again." How much time did this little trick save you? Make a spreadsheet for it! And let's say you want to take a screen shot of a certain range of cells. No, take your finger off of that PrtScrn key. Now, select the area you'd like to copy, hold down SHIFT, then click Edit | Copy Picture. Select how you would prefer the data to be copied (you can always do this again if it doesn't do what you expected it to do). How'd that option get in there!? Amazing things start happening when you hold down that SHIFT key before you click. That range is now sitting on the Windows clipboard. Paste it anywhere!