Unofficial Microsoft Office Stuff

Web Page on a Slide

2012-06-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

All in one place

You can put a hyperlink on a slide. During the presentation, you can click on the link, invoke the browser and show the web site.

Rather than that, how about placing the web page itself on the slide?

Not a screen shot, but the actual, fully functional page. When you're through with the demonstration, one click takes you to the next slide.

"No coding required. LiveWeb works with documents off your local drive too. You can specify relative paths.

With LiveWeb you can display acrobat documents (PDF), java applets, VRML etc within the slide show real-time.

LiveWeb will create slides with web browser controls embedded on the slides"

(There is a small caveat; the add-in must be installed on the machine running the show. The PPA is only about 117K, so it's easy to carry and install as an add-in.)

It's freeware from Shyam Pillai (of course)
LiveWeb

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Access Forum

2012-06-01T03:32:00.000-07:00

Ask your peers

Here is a forum populated by Access users and developers around the world.

Just a few of the recent inquiries:

The Use of LIKE
Calculated Field
Conditional formatting
Hide/Show Toolbars
Change Default Printer without using print dialog
Problems with duplicate matches in my queries
Import Excel into Access Table
Sending Email Via Lotus Notes
Automated E-mail For Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook
Print Report of the Form onscreen
Table/Field Structure
Hiding Access Background and taskbar
Access World Forums

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Information Functions

2012-05-31T03:09:00.000-07:00

Who, What, Where

If you need to know if automatic calculation is on or off or the number of worksheets that are active, Excel can display the INFO.

System Information:

Current directory: =INFO("directory")
Available bytes of memory: =INFO("memavail")
Memory in use: =INFO("memused")
Total bytes of memory: =INFO("totmem")
Number of active worksheets: =INFO("numfile")
Cell currently in the top left of the window: =INFO("origin")
Operating system: =INFO("osversion")
Recalculation mode: =INFO("recalc")
Excel version: =INFO("release")
Name of system. (PC or Mac): =INFO("system")

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All Wood, All theTime

2012-05-30T03:37:00.000-07:00

More than everything you wanted to know about wood and wood things

"Efficient use of our nation's timber resource is a vital concern. Because a major use of wood in the United States is in construction, particularly housing construction, good practice in this endeavor can have a profound impact on the resource.

This handbook is intended as an aid to more efficient use of wood as a construction material. It provides engineers, architects, and others with a source of information on the physical and mechanical properties of wood and how these properties are affected by variations in the wood itself.

Continuing research and evaluation techniques hold promise for wider and more efficient utilization of wood and for more advanced industrial, structural, and decorative uses."

Chapter 1 -- Characteristics and Availability of Commercially Important Wood
Chapter 2 -- Structure of Wood
Chapter 3 -- Physical Properties and Moisture Relations of Wood
Chapter 4 -- Mechanical Properties of Wood
Chapter 5 -- Commercial Lumber
Chapter 6 -- Lumber Stress Grades and Design Properties
Chapter 7 -- Fastenings

"Nails in use resist withdrawal loads, lateral loads, or a combination of the two. Both withdrawal and lateral resistance are affected by the wood, the nail, and the condition of use. In general, however, any variation in these factors has a more pronounced effect on withdrawal resistance than on lateral resistance. The serviceability of joints with nails laterally loaded does not depend greatly on withdrawal resistance unless large joint distortion is tolerable."

Chapter 8 -- Structural Analysis Equations
Chapter 9 -- Adhesive Bonding of Wood Materials
Chapter 10 -- Wood-Based Composites and Panel Products
Chapter 11 -- Glued Structural Members
Chapter 12 -- Drying and Control of Moisture Content and Dimensional Changes
Chapter 13 -- Biodeterioration of Wood
Chapter 14 -- Wood Preservation
Chapter 15 -- Finishing of Wood
Chapter 16 -- Use of Wood In Building and Bridges
Chapter 17 -- Fire Safety
Chapter 18 -- Round Timbers and Ties
Chapter 19 -- Specialty Treatments

Wood Handbook
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory

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Array Formulas

2012-05-29T03:49:00.000-07:00

Good orderly direction

An array is defined as "An orderly arrangement". It can be thought of as a collection of data packaged in a container. The individual items in the container can be selected by referring to their location; first, second, and so on.

Each argument within an array must have the same amount of rows and columns.
You must enter an array by pushing Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
You cannot add the {} (braces) that surround an array yourself, pushing Ctrl+Shift+Enter will do this for you.
You cannot use an array formula on an entire column.

"Have you ever sat in front of your monitor pulling your hair out trying to identify duplicate entries in a list? If so, you should learn about Microsoft Excel's array formulas. In fact, you can use array formulas to perform calculations that are otherwise impossible in Excel, and you can enhance the power of some of the program's existing functions."

Excel's Array Formulas
By Helen Bradley

Chip Pearson:
Introduction To Array Formulas

"Array Formulas are formulas that work with arrays, instead of individual numbers, as arguments to the functions that make up the formula"

Bob Ulmas:
Using Array Formulas in Excel

Daily Dose of Excel:
Anatomy of an Array Formula

Support.Microsoft.com:
Sample Visual Basic macros for working with arrays

Limitations for working with arrays in Excel

When to use a SUM(IF()) array formula

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Copy/Move

2012-05-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

From one presentation to another

Most of you would know that you can insert slides from another presentation by using the Slides from files menu option in the Insert menu.
This is another (harder) way to do the same.

Open the presentations you want to copy/move slides to and from.
Click Slide Sorter on the View menu. On the Window menu, click Arrange All to display both presentations.

Click the slide you want to move, and drag it to the other presentation. When you drag and drop slides between presentations or from PowerPoint to other apps, Windows moves the slides instead of copying them. To keep the slides in the original presentation as well, press Ctrl while dragging and dropping.

To select multiple consecutive slides, click on the first one, then click on the last one while pressing the Shift key on the keyboard, and all slides between the first and the last will appear highlighted.

Note: To select more than one noncontiguous slide, press Ctrl while you click.

For 2007, see the bottom of the "New Slide" menu on the Home tab:

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An Access Primer

2012-05-27T03:43:00.000-07:00

No cost lessons

This site provides quite complete on line manual about the care and feeding of MS Access.

What makes this tutorial special are the sample database files that can be used to demonstrate the various features.

"Microsoft Access is a development environment used to create computer databases for the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. This site provides lessons, examples, and links on how to use and explore MS Access. We also separately provide some guidance on VBA, the programming language that ships with Microsoft Access."

FunctionX.com Tutorials

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Calendar on the Web

2012-05-26T03:25:00.000-07:00

Exchange not required

Outlook has made it possible to share your calendar on the Internet as a web page.

Click Calendar.
On the File menu, click Save as Web Page.
Under Duration, set the Start date and End date.
Under Options, set the options you want.
(Show appointment details, use a background graphic)
Under Save as, type the calendar name, and then specify the Web page file name and the path where you want to place the calendar.
Click Save.

Add an Outlook calendar to a Web page

Here's a step by step pictorial:

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center:
Publishing an Outlook Calendar to the Web
Also:
Sliptick.com:
Publishing Outlook Calendars on the Internet or an Intranet

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Certificate of Anything

2012-05-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

Make your own

Give your kid an award for not setting the house on fire in the last 24 hours.

Make a formal presentation to your dog for scaring away imaginary burglars.

The desktop publishing power of your computer can create official (looking) honors.

Here's a collection of free templates:

Southworth.com
Free Award And Certificate Templates

EducationWorld.com:
Award Certificates

Office.microsoft.com:
Certificates
(86 Certificates, labels, etc. Word, PowerPoint, and Publisher)

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Zip/Compress

2012-05-24T03:42:00.000-07:00

I remember PKZip

Compressing files, folders, and programs decreases their size and reduces the amount of space they use on your drives or removable storage devices Drive compression decreases the amount of space used by all of the files and folders stored on that drive.
Windows supports two types of compression: NTFS compression and compression using the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature.

NTFS compression versus Compressed (zipped) Folders

NTFS compression

If you do not have an NTFS drive, this option is not available. To determine whether your drive is formatted with NTFS, open My Computer, right-click a drive, and then click Properties. The file system is indicated on the General tab.
You can compress individual files and folders using NTFS compression, as well as entire NTFS drives.
You can compress a folder without compressing its contents.
You can work with NTFS-compressed files without decompressing them.
You can display NTFS-compressed file and folder names in a different color to make them easier to identify.
You may notice a decrease in performance when working with NTFS-compressed files. When you open a compressed file, Windows automatically decompresses it for you, and when you close the file, Windows compresses it again. This process may decrease your computers performance.
NTFS-compressed files and folders only remain compressed while they are stored on an NTFS drive.
You cannot encrypt an NTFS-compressed file.
NTFS file encryption is not available on Windows XP Home Edition.

Compressed (zipped) Folders

Files and folders that are compressed using the Compressed (zipped) Folders feature remain compressed on both FAT and NTFS drives.
You can run some programs directly from these compressed folders without decompressing them. You can also open files directly from compressed folders.
Zipped compressed files and folders can be moved to any drive or folder on your computer, the Internet, or your network, and they are compatible with other file compression programs.
Folders compressed using this feature are identified by a zipper icon.
You can protect files in a zipped compressed folder with a password.
Compressing folders using Compressed (zipped) Folders will not decrease your computer's performance.
To compress individual files using Compressed (zipped) Folders, create a compressed folder and then move or copy the files to that folder.

This step-by-step article describes how to create and use compressed (or "zipped") folders in Windows XP. You can use compressed folders to store files in a compressed format that uses less space than normal, and if needed, you can protect those files with a password.

How To Use Compressed (Zipped) Folders in Windows XP

Also:
Newbie Guide to NTFS File and Folder Compression
Windows XP's "Compressed Folders" Feature

"In classic Microsoft fashion, a third-party feature—file compression in this case—has become so useful and widely utilized that Microsoft has decided to include it in the operating system.
Also in classic fashion, Microsoft implements this new feature with limited functionality—just enough to tantalize you, but if you want full functionality, you still need to get the third-party product. The new compressed folders feature in Windows Server 2003 provides similar capabilities as third-party add-ons such as PKZip and WinZip. But can it be used as a replacement? If you just want to be able to compress files, yes. However, the Zip programs (particularly WinZip) provide additional features that might make it worth the cost."

Compressed Folders Versus Zip

DonZeigler.com:

"Much like Linus Torvalds, father of the Linux operating system, the name Phil Katz isn't familiar to most home computer users of today. Mention his name to anyone who's been involved with the hobby since the very beginning, however, and you'll likely get a nod of recognition and a grin. Phil's story is fascinating but cut short by tragedy.

On April 14, 2000, Phil Katz was found dead in a Milwaukee motel room. An empty bottle of peppermint schnapps was still clutched in his hand, and five more empties were scattered about the room. It was a miserable, lonely end for a man who had created a product now in use by millions of people; a product that revolutionized computer data storage and made file transfers less complicated and more efficient. He was only 37 years old when he died."

Phil Katz
and
Obit Phil Katz

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Path to Control Panel

2012-05-23T03:32:00.000-07:00

Browser direction

Instead of leaving the IE browser, to open Control Panel, just type in the address bar
(without quotes).

"control panel\"

followed by whatever feature in the Control Panel you want.
For example,

"control panel\display"

takes you to the display settings.

Also:

How to Open Control Panel Folders from the Command Prompt

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Keyboard Nviigation

2012-05-22T03:22:00.000-07:00

Change directions

You can change how your direction arrow and Enter keys behave in Access.

By default, when you press Enter the focus moves to the next field and the contents of the field are selected. When you press the direction arrow keys, the focus moves to the next field in the appropriate direction.

If you would like, you can set up the arrow keys to move from one character to the next in the current field, rather than moving focus to the next field.

You can configure the Enter key to move to the next record when it's pressed or configure it to do nothing at all.

When you do move focus to another field, you have the option to place the insertion point at the beginning or end of the field, rather than selecting the field's entire contents.

To modify these settings, choose Tools> Options from the menu bar and click on the Keyboard tab. Make the selections you want and click OK.

Access Options.Advanced for 2007:

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Locate Duplicates with Conditional Formatting

2012-05-21T03:46:00.000-07:00

Highlight entries

Conditional formatting can be set up by selecting the whole range, or for the first cell in the range and then copy down that conditional format. I find it is usually just as easy to select the whole range to start with. The formula will adjust itself.

In this example, cell B2 has a heading of Product Numbers.

Select cell B3 (or the entire targeted range) and from the menu.

Select Format > Conditional Formatting.

The Conditional Formatting dialog opens with the initial dropdown saying
"Cell Value Is".

Click the arrow next to this, and choose
"Formula Is".

After selecting "Formula Is", the dialog box changes appearance.
Instead of boxes for "Between x and y", there is now a single formula box.

You can type in any formula as long as that formula will evaluate to TRUE or FALSE.

The formula to type in the box is
=COUNTIF(B:B,B3)>1

This says, "look through the entire range of column B.

Count how many cells in that range are the same value as what is in B3."
(In the graphic, B7 is the Active cell.)

That same comparison will be made in every cell that contains the conditional formatting.

(If your data is in column E and you are setting the first conditional formatting up in E5, the formula would be =COUNTIF(E:E,E5)>1.)

Anytime a duplicate appears in the range, it will receive the special formatting.

In this example, any time a duplicate number appears anywhere in column B, even if it is not itself formatted, the selected range will reflect the duplicate.

=COUNT(B:B,B3)>2 would count entries that appear more than two times.
=COUNT(B:B,B3)=2 would count entries that appear twice.

If you want only a part of the column in the formula, it is easier to use absolute addresses, such as =COUNT($B$3:$B$200,B3)>1

Adapted from MrExcel.com

Also see:
Chip Pearson's discussion of duplicates:
Duplicate And Unique Items In Lists
and:

Contextures.com:
Conditional Formatting
(See Hide Duplicate Values)

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Sort Worksheets

2012-05-20T03:40:00.000-07:00

Order tabs

Worksheets can be dragged and dropped into any order required. They can be set up in numeric or alpha order, but doing it by hand is a bother.

Chip Pearson has written some macros that will do the job for you:

Sorting Worksheets In Alphabetical Order
Sorting In Custom Order
Grouping Sheets By Color

Here's the code to sort by tab color:

Sub GroupSheetsByColor()
Dim Ndx As Long
Dim Ndx2 As Long
   For Ndx = 1 To Worksheets.Count - 1
   For Ndx2 = Ndx To Worksheets.Count
     If Worksheets(Ndx2).Tab.ColorIndex = _
      Worksheets(Ndx).Tab.ColorIndex Then
      Worksheets(Ndx2).Move after:=Worksheets(Ndx)
     End If
    Next Ndx2
    Next Ndx
End Sub

Sorting Worksheets In A Workbook

(The colorindex variable chooses one of the 56 colors in Excel's basic palette.
Here are all the colors and numbers as compiled by F. David McRitchie:Excel Colors )

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Slide for the a Day

2012-05-19T03:02:00.000-07:00

Don't forget Friday's Special

Let's say you have a presentation that you are going to deliver to different people all week long.
You have Specials to demonstrate on Wednesday and Friday.

Rather than having to re-shuffle your deck and try to remember which slide should be up on which day, look at this free add-on from PresentationPoint.com.

"PlanPoint is a free Microsoft PowerPoint add-on that enables you to show or hide slides in a presentation at specified dates and times."

Features At A Glance

Display a slide in a period.
Display a slide in a time frame.
Display a slide on specific days of the week.
Keep your predefined presentation running.

PlanPoint

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Security Prompt

2012-05-18T03:55:00.000-07:00

Avoid the warning

"A program is trying to automatically send e-mail on your behalf. Do you want to allow this?"

or:

This is the result of a security update in Outlook 2000+.

Here's how to get out of the problem:

Express ClickYes

. . ."a tiny program that sits in the taskbar and clicks the Yes button on behalf of you, when Outlook's Security Guard opens prompt dialog saying that a program is trying to send an email with Outlook or access its address book. You can suspend/resume it by double-clicking its taskbar icon. Developers can automate its behavior by sending special messages."

Also see:

Automation Security from Slipstick.com

Outlook Email Security

Administrative Options for the Outlook E-mail Security Update

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WordPerfect?

2012-05-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

Word!

I used to ask "How many have ever used WordPerfect?" Over the years it has gone from about 50% to blank stares.

WordPerfect (WP) couldn't bring itself to accept the existence of Windows, and Microsoft ran past, taking over the market.

Word is Object-Oriented, WordPerfect is Stream-Formatted.

"What does this mean? Well, this basically means that when you make a change to a WordPerfect document, the changes take effect 'From THAT Point Forward'. You generally don't need to select an Object (e.g., a word, sentence, or a paragraph) in order to effect a change. You can simply select a color, a font, a paragraph style, etc, and the whole document will be affected (as stated, from that point forward). Stream Formatted is, as you can imagine, like a stream of formatting that flows throughout the document.

Word, on the other hand, is object-oriented. Every letter, word, sentence, and paragraph is an object. To help people grasp the concept of object-oriented programming, Microsoft uses a simple analogy: oranges. You can imagine that an orange has several attributes that can be changed: it has a color, a texture, etc. It can be changed by being painted or peeled. Therefore, once you understand that you need to select an object when you want to manipulate your Word document, you begin to understand how to work in Word."

WP vs. Word

WP is still around. Mostly used in the legal profession by those who still bemoan the loss of powdered wigs.

Here are some references:

The history of WordPerfect:
Almost Perfect
(a book by W. E. Peterson)

Wikipedia:
WordPerfect

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WinPatrol Protection

2012-05-16T03:56:00.000-07:00

Installation warnings

A favorite trick of spyware programs is to make changes to the Registry. They attempt to do this in the background without your knowledge. WinPatrol is like having a guard dog on duty to warn when intruders are skulking about.

Scotia, New York, August 9th, 2005

"BillP Studios announced today that results of recent tests show WinPatrol PLUS with R.I.D. will detect 100% of the top spyware threats on a Microsoft Windows-based PC. Recent results by independent testers confirmed WinPatrol's "Real-time Infiltration Detection" methodology is effective in alerting users to newly installed software."

"WinPatrol takes snapshot of your critical system resources and alerts you to any changes that may occur without your knowledge. You'll be removing dangerous new programs while others download new reference files.

WinPatrol isn't the only software we recommend for complete safety but with Scotty on Patrol you'll find yourself informed on what's going on inside your computer. WinPatrol puts you back in control of your computer so you'll know what programs are and should be running at all times."

WinPatrol.com

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Bad Persons

2012-05-15T03:14:00.000-07:00

Is this your neighbor?

"Three things you can count on in life: death, taxes, and screwing up. Don't feel badly, though. Everyone does it, including your favorites from the worlds of business, television, music, and film. And most likely, no one is looking up your photograph on the web to see how badly you messed up this time! You won't believe whom you'll find with one of those attractive letter boards with the name of the local lockup underneath his or her illustrious chin."

JAMES J. BULGER
Date of Birth: September 3, 1929
Hair: White/Silver
Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'7" to 5'9"
Complexion: Light
Weight: 150 to 160 pounds

Bulger is an avid reader with an interest in history. He is known to frequent libraries and historic sites. Bulger is currently on the heart medication Atenolol (50 mg) and maintains his physical fitness by walking on beaches and in parks with his female companion, Catherine Elizabeth Greig.

Bulger and Greig love animals and may frequent animal shelters. Bulger has been known to alter his appearance through the use of disguises. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Mexico.
Caution James J. Bulger is being sought for his role in numerous murders committed from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.

He has a violent temper and is known to carry a knife at all times. Considered armed and extremely dangerous if you have any information concerning this person, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest U.S. Embassy or consulate.

Reward The FBI is offering a $1,000,000 reward for information leading directly to the arrest of James J. Bulger.

Mugshots.com

Also ( in a different category):

Your worst day:

And then there's:

Charles Paul
" 14 days in an adult gaol and five years in a reformatory for allegedly stealing six pairs of his father's drawers."

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Null, Nothing, Nada

2012-05-14T03:59:00.000-07:00

Empty entries

"An example might be fax numbers in a customer database. If you store a Null, it means you don't know whether the customer has a fax number.

If you store a zero-length string, you know the customer has no fax number.
Access gives you the flexibility to deal with both types of 'empty' values."

Nulls and Zero-Length Strings

From John L. Viescas at Viescas.com

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Mothers Day

2012-05-13T03:44:00.001-07:00

Great clips

Paul Blanchard has produced a series of video clips, mostly based on his kid's elementary school.
Kevin Freitas has pointed out this addition to the Tacoma area.

You can also subscribe to his YouTube collection.

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E-Mail Delivery Design

2012-05-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

Don't look like spam

A discussion:

"Transactional email can be a website's customer service ambassador, but messages must first survive a ruthless selection process in the user's in-box. Differentiating your message from spam is thus the first duty of email design.

Email is one of a website's most powerful tools for strengthening customer service and increasing users' confidence and trust in the site. Confirmation messages and other automated transactional email can complete the user experience: they reach out to customers in ways that are otherwise impossible for websites, which must sit still and wait for users to approach."

From Dr. Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox

Automated Email From Websites to Customers

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Photoshop Blog Templates

2012-05-11T03:15:00.000-07:00

Design suggestions

I haven't done any remodeling of this blog in awhile, but when I do I'll be looking at Jennifer Apple's site:

www.PhotoshopSupport.com

"Once you choose a blogging service and set up an account, you will be provided with a standard blog template. But this template will suffer from a cookie-cutter design, and if you don't personalize it your blog may become lost. To be noticed your blog needs to make a splash - as there are more than ten million blogs out there. So what we'll concentrate on here is working with some design elements that can help you add more zing to your blog."

Tips For Blog Templates & Blog Design In Photoshop

Here are a few of the link categories:

Inspiring blog designs
Free fonts for blogs
Free photos for blogs
Free blog templates
Free blog backgrounds, tiles & patterns
Free color schemes for blogs

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Lotus 1-2-3?

2012-05-10T03:16:00.000-07:00

Excel!

You could tell when Lotus was being taught by the instructor's chants of the multiple keystrokes. "Slash, F, Down arrow, Return, Slash, . . ."

"Another feature that illustrates 1-2-3's human-engineering design is its jargon-free prompts, explanatory messages, and fail-safe mechanisms.

Suppose I want to delete a spreadsheet file. When I type "/F", I get a menu of possible file actions, the first of which is in inverse video. I can execute any action by either moving the inverse video cursor to that action name and hitting the Return key or hitting the key that is the first letter of the action name.

If I hit the right-arrow key until the action name "Delete" is in inverse video, I get an explanatory note immediately below the command line that says, "Delete a worksheet, print, or graph file" ("worksheet" is Lotus's name for a spreadsheet).

That's what I want to do, so I conveniently hit Return. The inverse video cursor is already positioned on the option I want, "Worksheet", so I hit Return again. 1-2-3 now reads the current disk and gives me a menu of all the spreadsheet files by name.
I then move the inverse video cursor to the spreadsheet I want to delete and hit Return again (there's no need to type the file name - just point to it). 1-2-3 displays two options, "No" and "Yes", with the cursor on the "No" option and an explanatory note, "Do not delete the file". By moving the cursor onto the word "Yes" (which includes the note "Delete the file") and pressing Return, I can delete the spreadsheet file.

Wouldn't you like a piece of software that does all that for you?"

First Lotus 1-2-3 Review

Lotus was another application that missed the Windows train.

Here is a video discussing the spreadsheets about twenty years ago:

"Excel now dominates the spreadsheet world, but once upon a time there was actual competition among spreadsheet products. This program looks at Quattro 1.0, Allways 1.0, Lotus 1-2-3 3.0, Ashton-Tate's Full Impact, and Excel 2.1. Guests include Gary Kildall, Jan Lewis, and Jared Taylor of PC Magazine. Originally broadcast in 1988."

Spreadsheet Wars
One of the problems expressed in this program, was that you needed to run Excel on a 286 or 386 machine.

Wikipedia.com:

"The rise of Microsoft Windows in the personal computer market was accompanied by the rise in Microsoft's competing spreadsheet, Excel, and it gradually usurped the position of 1-2-3. Being loyal to OS/2, Lotus was slow to embrace Windows. Additionally, several versions of 1-2-3 were available concurrently, each with different set of functionality and slightly different interface."

Lotus 1-2-3

Here is the original PC spreadsheet program. You can download it, play with it, and then run back to Excel.

VisiCalc.exe

VisiCalc: Information from its creators, Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston

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Too Many Slices

2012-05-09T03:21:00.000-07:00

More data than the pie will hold

A pie chart displays the per cent of the whole is represented by the component elements. Four salesmen, four slices of pie.

The problem arises when there are 10 or so components that vary in size. The labels begin to overlap and the chart is difficult to read:

One suggestion that Chris Weber offers is to rearrange the order of the slices:

The article uses MS Graph in Access, but the techniques are applicable in all the other applications that can use graphs.

SmartAccess:
Easy as Pie. . .

"Chris Weber provides you with a generic method to control the data for pie charts that are actually readable."

(A downloadable example file is also provided

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