MOVE (OR COPY) A BATCH OF EXCEL WORKSHEETS
Q. How can I move many Excel worksheets at once from one workbook to another? It’s very time-consuming to move them one at a time.

A. I’ll show you an easy way. The process also gives you the choice of moving them or copying them to another worksheet. Here are the steps:

Open the workbook. Let’s say you named it Division Finance, which contains four worksheets—Divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4. Hold down the Ctrl button and click on the tab of each worksheet you wish to move or copy. When you’re finished, right-click to bring up the screen below.

Click on Move or Copy. Notice Excel recognizes which worksheets you want to act on, as shown in the screen at below.

Now you must instruct Excel whether you want to move or copy the worksheets. If you want to copy them, check the Create a copy box; to move them, leave the box empty. No matter whether you want them moved or copied, tell Excel, in the box labeled To book, where to place the sheets. The default location is the same workbook. If you click on the down-pointing arrow, the screen at right will appear, giving you the option of moving (or copying, if you checked the Create a copy box) to a new file, which is automatically named Book1 by Excel. Afterwards, you can give Book1 a new name.

When finished, click on OK.

EXPAND THE USE OF FORMAT PAINTER IN WORD
Q. Format Painter is a very handy tool for copying a format style from one place to another, but it seems to work with only one section at a time. Is there a way to get it to work like a rubber stamp in as many different places as I wish?

A. Yes, there is, but before I show you, I want readers to understand how to use Format Painter, which is in your Word and Excel toolbar and looks like a paintbrush.

Let’s say you have a word (or a sentence or paragraph or spreadsheet cell) whose format you’d like to replicate in another part of your document or worksheet. Begin by highlighting the source word (or whatever it is) and then click on Format Painter. As you move your cursor, it instantly will change to a small paintbrush. Wipe it across the words or cells to which you want the new formatting to apply and click again. That’s it: The target text or cell will have the new formatting.

Now to answer your question—how can you use the Format Painter on multiple sections of your document or spreadsheet without going back each time to copy the format source? After you highlight the formatted characters you want to copy, double-click on the Format Painter and paint the formatting style anywhere you want. The cursor-turned-paintbrush will remain as long as you wish. To turn it off, press Esc or click again on the Format Painter icon.

If Format Painter is not in your toolbar, click on Tools, Customize, the Commands tab and then Format. Cursor down the list and when you find the paintbrush icon just drag it up to your toolbar.

SAVE YOUR FAVORITES WHEN SWITCHING BROWSERS
Q. I’m told that because Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser has become the principal target of hackers, I’d be wise to switch to one of the other less popular, but equally effective, browsers. I’m hesitating making the switch because I’ve built up so many handy bookmarks over the years that I’d hate to have to create a new browser list. Is there a way to copy them to the new browser?

A. I share your concern about Internet Explorer. I suggest you experiment with several browsers—they’re all free and downloadable. While it may take an hour or so to uncover how each works, it’s time well-spent. Not only will you get, in my opinion, a safer browser, but you’ll find they do everything, and sometimes more, than Internet Explorer. To locate all the available browsers, type Internet Browsers into Google or any search engine.

To answer your question, yes, all of the browsers have a way to import bookmarks and the processes are similar. To begin, open Internet Explorer and go to the File menu, where you’ll find the Import and Export option; click on it.

That will take you to the Import/Export Wizard; click on Next and in the screen that appears click on Export Favorites, which then will take you to a screen that asks which group of Favorites you want to import (you can export only one group at a time). Then continue to follow the screen instructions.

CHANGE THE CASE OF TEXT IN WORD—BUT NOT IN EXCEL
Q. Is there some fast and easy way to change the case of text in Word and Excel?

A. You can in Word, but although many users desperately wish they could do it in Excel, I’m sorry to say, they can’t yet. I’ve seen some very complex macros written that are supposed to be effective, but none that I’ve tried works very well.

In Word, case changing is a snap. One way is to put the Change Case icon on your toolbar. To do that, click on Tools, Customize, click on the Commands tab, go to Format and then scroll down to Change Case. If you keep moving down, you’ll notice another Change Case icon: Next to it is an icon with three letter As.

They both can do the job, but they do it in slightly different ways. Drag either the first Change Case or the triple A icon up to your toolbar.

If you choose Change Case, highlight the target text and click on Change Case; the highlighted text will toggle among upper case, lower case, title case and sentence case. But if you select the triple As, this screen will pop up:

There still is one more way: After highlighting the target text, press Shift+F3; each time you press those buttons, it toggles the text among upper, lower and title case. It doesn’t do sentence case unless the highlighted text contains a period or semicolon.

A. To transfer data, enter them in sheet 1, go to sheet 2 and the cell in which you want the linked number to appear and enter the equal (=) sign. Then go back to sheet 1 and the source cell and press Enter.

Now, to transfer a formula: Assume the formula is in sheet 1, cell A1. Highlight A1, Copy (Ctrl+C) it, go to the cell in sheet 2 where you want the formula to go and Paste (Ctrl+V) it. Excel will adjust the formula to =Sheet1!A1.

RETRIEVE A LOST CD KEY CODE FOR WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM
Q. I lost my CD key code to Windows XP and I have to reload the operating system, which I can’t do without the code. Is there some way I can retrieve the code without doing anything illegal? I certainly don’t want to buy a new one.

A. You’re lucky. There is a freeware (no charge) tool that will retrieve the CD key code for Windows operating systems. And while I don’t want to deliver a sermon, I do hope this loss is a wake-up call for you: Always store CD key codes in a safe place; the loss of a code could mean the loss of the application if you need to reload it. I learned the lesson the hard way. When I asked a software publisher to supply a replacement key code, he correctly demanded to see proof that I had bought it. Fortunately I had it.

The freeware program is called Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder. It downloads quickly and the instructions are clear. Get it at www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml.

LIMIT THE DATA EXCEL WILL ACCEPT
Q. I often have to create a weekly job-assignment list. We have 59 employees eligible for the assignments, and I must be careful to use every name only once. Is there some Excel tool that can help me?

A. The solution is to use Excel’s Validation tool. Once you set it up, which takes only a few minutes, you can reuse it every week. Begin by placing all the names in a worksheet; for this example I’ll use 10 names. Give the list a defined name such as ValidNames; to do that, highlight the list and place your cursor in the Name Box, which is in the upper left corner of the Excel screen shown below:

Now highlight the cells where you will enter the selected names, providing just enough space to eventually hold the entire list. Since there are 10 names, let’s select cells A1:A10.

Click on Data and Validation to bring up the Data Validation dialog box. Click on the Settings tab, and in the Allow drop-down list, select Custom. Then, in the Formula box, enter this:

=AND(COUNTIF(ValidNames,A1)=1,COUNTIF($A$1:$A$10,A1)=1)

Now click on OK.

To test the formula, try entering Tony’s name twice. You should get the message below:

SHORTCUTS
Excel: A fast way to add numbers in columns or rows: Highlight the target numbers, press Alt+Shift and then the plus sign (+)—the one above the equal sign (=), not the one on the numeric keypad.

Excel: A quick way to move a column or row of numbers down or to the right: Highlight the target numbers, press Ctrl+Shift and then the plus sign (+)—the one above the equal sign (=), evoking this screen.

As you can see, you now also have the option of moving not just the highlighted cells but the entire row or column.