Topic: Customizing Excel

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Adding a Little Animation to Your Life One of the configuration options in Excel allows you to “spice up” the program’s interface by adding animation to certain tasks. You can turn this feature on (or off) by using the Edit tab of the Options dialog box. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing Excel's Background Color Excel doesn’t provide a built-in means to change the standard background color of a worksheet. There are a few different ways you can work around this limitation, however. This tip discusses several methods to get just the color you want. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing Gridline Color The gridlines used in a workbook are normally light black. You can modify the gridline color by following the steps in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing the Comment Font The comment boxes font and color can be customized using this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Colors and Fonts for Worksheet Tabs If you want to change the color used for a worksheet tab, the change is only a click away. This tip examines how easy it is to make the changes you wan to your worksheet tabs. Microsoft Excel versions: 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Controlling Display of the Formula Bar The Formula Bar is a staple of Excel, used for many different purposes. If you want to get rid of it, you can configure the program so that it is no longer visible. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Controlling the Display of Toolbars How to customize the view of the toolbars available in Excel. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Creating Superscript and Subscript Buttons Want a quick way to apply superscript and subscript to selected text within a cell? This tip shows how the formatting can be done through a user form and a small set of macros. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Cycling Through Colors Excel includes quite a few tools that are not normally accessible through the various toolbars or (in Excel 2007) the ribbon. One such esoteric tool is one that allows you to quickly cycle through the colors that can be applied to a cell. This tip explains how to make this handy tool accessible. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Default Worksheet when Opening When opening a workbook, you may want to make sure that a particular worksheet is always displayed first. The only way to ensure this is through the use of a macro, described here. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Defining and Using Custom Colors Normally Excel allows you to work with a well-defined, but limited, palette of colors. If you want to change out some of the default colors for ones more to your liking, you can do so by using the steps outlined in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Easily Deploying Customizations When you create a whole set of customizations for Excel, you may want to share them with others in your office or workgroup. This tip provides some guidance on how you can best do that. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Enlarging the Formula Bar When the Formula bar contains a very long formula, it can overlay information in your worksheet. You cannot enlarge the Formula bar, but you can control whether the Formula bar is displayed or not. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Setting the AutoRecover Directory Excel, by default, periodically writes information to AutoRecover files that can help protect your data in case Excel is ended abnormally. You can specify where you want these AutoRecover files stored by using the information in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Specifying the Behavior of the Enter Key When you press Enter while adding information to a worksheet, Excel normally drops to the next cell down in the column. You have complete control over what Excel really does after an Enter, as described in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Turning on Placeholders A large number of graphics in a worksheet can slow down Excel. One way to compensate is to turn on picture placeholders, an easy setting that displays placeholders instead of the actual graphics. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Understanding Manual Calculation By default, Excel automatically recalculates your workbook after an edit or when you save your file. You can modify when Excel recalculates by applying the information in this tip. Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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