1.Choose Insert, Shapes dropdown, Rectangle. Draw a rectangle to cover your print area.

2.Select Drawing Tools Format, Shape Outline, No Outline.

3.Right-click the shape and choose Format Shape. Ex- cel displays the Format Shape dialog.

4.In the Fill category, choose Picture or Texture Fill.

5.In the Insert From section, click the File button. Browse, select a picture, and click Insert.

6.At the bottom of the Format Picture dialog, increase the Transparency slider. You can preview the picture transparency as you slide. Around 60% seems to be appropriate. The figure below shows the worksheet at 60% behind the dialog.

7.Click Close to dismiss the Format Picture dialog box.

Results: Excel will add a background that can be printed. Figure 1302 When you use fill for a shape, you can adjust picture transparency.

Gotcha: It is now difficult to select a cell with the mouse. If you click on a cell that is covered by the trans- parent picture, you will select the picture. To avoid this, you click outside the picture and then use the arrow keys to navigate to cells behind the picture.

REMOVE HYPERLINKS AUTOMATICALLY INSERTED BY EXCEL

Problem: Excel has an annoying habit. Whenever you type something in a cell that looks like an e-mail address or a Web site URL, Excel will underline the value, change the font color to blue, and make it a clickable hyperlink.

Figure 1303 Excel will automatically create hyperlinks.

Strategy: To remove a hyperlink, you right-click the cell and choose Remove Hyperlink.

You can prevent Excel from adding hyperlinks in the first place. Choose File, Options. Select the Proofing 4 category and then click the AutoCorrect Options button. Choose the AutoFormat As You Type tab in the AutoCorrect dialog. Uncheck the Internet and Network Paths with Hyperlinks check box.

Additional Details: New in Excel 2010, you can remove the hyperlinks from an entire range at one time.

Select the range of hyperlinks and make sure that the active cell contains a hyperlink. Right-click and choose Remove All Hyperlinks.

SELECT A HYPERLINK CELL WITHOUT FOLLOWING THE HYPERLINK

Problem: I have a hyperlink in my worksheet in cell A10. I want to select that cell without following the hyperlink.

Strategy: Click and hold the mouse on the cell. When the pointing hand changes to a white cross, release the mouse button. You will select the cell instead of following the hyperlink.

Problem: I pasted hundreds of web site addresses into Excel. They did not turn into hyperlinks. I found that I could select a cell, press F2, then Enter to make the hyperlink. But I don’t want to have to do that hundreds of times.

Figure 1304 Pasted hyperlinks are not hot.

Strategy: Use the =HYPERLINK() function. Insert a blank column near your data. Use =HYPERLINK(A1,A1).

Figure 1305 The second A1 is supposed to be a friendly name.

Enter the formula and copy it down to all rows.

Figure 1306 Column B contains live hyperlinks.

Hide column A, leaving column B intact.

Gotcha: This strategy works great for web addresses that have the leading http://. It will not work for cell A5. A hyperlink will appear, but when someone follows the hyperlink, it will say the address is invalid. In that case, you could use this formula: =HYPERLINK(“http://”&A5,A5).

DEBUG USING A PRINTED SPREADSHEET

Problem: I need to proofread cells in my spreadsheet. It would be easier to do this from a printed piece of paper, but I need to see the row numbers and column letters in the printout.

Strategy: You can print row numbers and column letters. On the Page Layout ribbon tab, you choose Print under both Gridlines and Headers.

Figure 1307 Choose to print gridlines and headers.

Results: The printed copy of the spreadsheet will show column letters across the top and row numbers down the side.

2.Type a comment.

3.Click the mouse outside the comment box to complete the entry of the comment. A red triangle remains in the cell to indicate the presence of a comment there.

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