First, you are probably asking yourself, “What does he mean by selecting text vertically?’

Answer: Selecting text vertically allows you to select the first character in every line of a document (or the first two characters, three, etc.) See the example below.

Now that you know what selecting text vertically is, you are probably asking yourself, “Why would I ever want to do this?”

Answer: While it’s possible that you may never have a need for this unique Word feature, if you ever do need it, you’ll be glad you know how.

I find it useful in two situations:

1. I sometimes receive long back-and-forth emails from people containing several replies and replies to replies, and I need to delete the prefix character (usually a >) in front of several lines of text.
2. I receive a text document that contains leading spaces on every line.

In these situations, I could write a Word macro or do a Find and Replace, but ALT-dragging is much easier (and much cooler).

Here’s how:

1. If you are working with an email message, copy it into Word.
2. Hold down the ALT key, hold down the left mouse button, and simply drag vertically.
3. Here’s an example:

Now you know how to ALT-drag!

To add a password to Outlook 2003:

1. Open Outlook.
2. Select File | Data File Management.
3. Select Personal Folders from the Name column.
4. Click the Settings button.
5. Click Change Password…
6. The following dialog box will appear:

7. If you don’t have an old password, leave that field blank.
8. Type the password you want in New Password.
9. Type it again in Verify Password.
10. Click OK.
11. Click OK again.
12. Click Close.
13. Close Outlook.
14. Open Outlook again, and it should prompt you for your password.

Now all you have to do is remember your password!

When you have to create a PowerPoint presentation on one computer and show it on another, you face a number of potential problems. Are the fonts you used installed? Did you copy all the graphics and charts you needed? Does the new computer have PowerPoint and is it the right version? Microsoft has addressed these issues, but in PowerPoint 2003, they have solved it. If you use PowerPoint extensively, you’ll want to upgrade to 2003.

Package for CD has replaced the Pack and Go Wizard in earlier versions of PowerPoint. The Package for CD option includes the PowerPoint Viewer by default. You can also use the Package for CD option to package files to save into a folder on your hard drive. This is useful if you want to backup your presentation or transfer it to a USB thumb drive or zip disk.

To package a presentation for use on another computer, you’ll need a CD-R or CD-RW drive, but the process is pretty straightforward:
1. Open the presentation you want to save.
2. Select File | Package for CD…
3. In the Name the CD field type a name for the CD.
4. Files linked to your presentation and the PowerPoint Viewer are included to the package by default. To change the default options, click the Options… button.

The Options dialog allows you to:
• Add the PowerPoint viewer, so that anyone can view the presentation whether they have PowerPoint 2003 or not.
• Include any linked files so that these files are available.
• Add all TrueType fonts so that the person replaying the presentation does not have to have all your custom fonts installed.
• Set a password to open and to modify each presentation to keep the information secure.
5. Click the Copy to CD button.
6. If you are copying the presentation to a Folder or a zip disk, click the Copy to Folder... button, navigate to the folder you want to save the presentation in, and click OK.
7. After PowerPoint transfers the files, Close button.

Moving to different cells using the mouse is all well and good, but what happens when you have a list with 5,000 odd rows? Moving to the end of the list or, worse, highlighting to the end of the list is cumbersome with the mouse. (See the end of this tip for an exception.)

The solution is to use the END key. The END key is used differently in Excel from other programs. The behavior of the End key is taken from Lotus 1-2-3 so if you know that program, you can expect Excel to behave the same way.

To use the END key to jump:
1. Tap the END key.
2. Tap any arrow key. (Make sure NUM LOCK is not on if you use the keypad.)
3. The current cell will jump in that direction. Excel will stop when:
• It reaches a blank cell.
• It reaches the edge of the spreadsheet.
• It starts in a blank cell and it reaches a cell containing text.

To get to the end of a range containing blank cells, you may have to repeat the END key operation until you reach the last cell you want.

Keep in mind that using the END key is a sequential operation: you tap the END, then tap the arrow. You do not hold the END down and tap the arrow key simultaneously.

To use the END key to highlight:
1. Hold down the Shift key.
2. Tap the END key.
3. Tap any arrow key, keeping the SHIFT key held down.
4. The current cell will jump in that direction, highlighting as it moves.

Now that you’ve learned all of that, if you have Excel 2003, you can use the mouse to jump like the END key:

1. Put your mouse on the edge of the cell in the direction you want to jump. (If you want to jump down, place your cursor on the bottom edge of the cell.)
2. A four-way arrow will appear.
3. Double-click. The current cell will jump the same as it does with the END key.

If you hold down the SHIFT key when you double-click, Excel will highlight as it jumps.

Excel provides a Special number format for zipcodes which allows those of us in New England to display our zipcodes properly. However, when you do a mail merge in Word 2002 and 2003, this formatting will not come through. A zipcode of 01040 will display as 1040. You can fix this in Excel by converting the number back to text, but if your list is extensive, you won’t want to do this. This tip will show you how to display 5-digit zipcodes properly in a Word mail merge without having to reformat your data.

After you create the merge document and attach your Excel workbook containing the addresses:

1. Insert the merge field for your zip code where you want it.

2. Press ALT+F9 to display the field codes. The Zip code field will look something like this (the text in quotes will be the name of your zip code field). Ignore any shading that might appear.

{ MERGEFIELD “Zip_code” }

3. Change the field to include a number format, as shown below. Make sure to place it inside the curly braces and include the spaces, etc. Make sure to use a backslash \ and not a forward slash /. Note that the number format is enclosed in quotes (“):

{ MERGEFIELD “Zip_code” \# “00000″ }

4. Press ALT+F9 again and preview the merge.

5. You may have to update the field by selecting it and pressing F9 in order to see the results of your change.