Figure 130 Examine the workbook to make sure it is better than the last saved version.

If this workbook is the one you want to keep, click Restore. After you confirm, the workbook will overwrite the saved version.

ROLL BACK TO AN AUTOSAVED VERSION

Problem: I need to roll back to an AutoSaved version. I screwed up something that I can not fix with the 64 levels of Undo.

Strategy: Go to the Excel File menu and choose the Info pane. If any autosaved versions are available, they will be listed under versions.

Figure 131 The last two autosaved versions are available.

Additional Details: When you open an AutoSaved version, it will open as read only. The info pane will alert you that it is not the most recent version. The message bar in Excel will allow you to make that version the current version.

HAVE EXCEL TALK TO YOU

Problem: I have many numbers to enter, but I am notoriously bad at keying data. How can I get my numbers into Excel accurately?

Strategy: You can verify your typing by having Excel’s speech utility speak each number as you complete an entry.

In my Power Excel seminars, I frequently show this trick as both a useful tool for proofreading and a great

April Fool’s Day prank: You can turn on the Speech option on a co-worker’s computer and then hide the icons. Despite my efforts at popularizing it, either this feature wasn’t used by enough people or it was too annoying. The feature was banished to the Commands Not on the Ribbon category in the Quick Access toolbar customization dialog. To use the Text to Speech option, you have to add the icons to the Quick Ac- cess toolbar. To do so, follow these steps:

1.Right-click the ribbon and choose Customize the Quick

Access Toolbar. In the left dropdown, choose Commands Not in the Ribbon.

2.Scroll down to the icons that start with S. Locate and click on Speak Cells.

3.Click the Add>> button five times to move the Speak Cells icons to the QAT.

You can now select a range of cells and click the Speak Cells icon. Excel will read you the cells, so you can focus on the original paper from which you’re keying the data.

Figure 132 Add these icons to the QAT.

Gotcha: If you accidentally select a million cells and ask Excel to speak the cells, you can click the Stop Speaking Cells icon to stop Excel from reading the cells. (I’ve worked for a couple managers who should 1 have had this button on their forehead.)

Additional Details: You can choose whether Excel should read a rectangular range column by column or row by row by using the Speak Cells by Columns or Speak Cells by Rows icons.

The Speak on Enter icon is a fun icon. Imagine that your co-worker heads out to lunch on April Fool’s Day. You could add the Speak on Enter icon to the Quick Access toolbar, turn on this feature, and then remove the icon from the Quick Access toolbar. Your co-worker returns from lunch, starts typing, and is perplexed to find that the computer starts repeating everything he types, reminiscent of the computer on Star Trek.

Gotcha: Be careful if you have kids in middle school. I showed some this feature, and they very quickly demonstrated that Excel knows how to say all words, including bad ones!

Additional Details: Visit Control Panel, Speech to make Excel talk faster.

ENTER SPECIAL SYMBOLS

Problem: I work in the music business, and I routinely have to enter copyright symbols. How can I do so easily?

Strategy: You can enter (c) followed by a space as a shortcut for the © symbol. You can use (r) for the registered trademark symbol, ®. For other special symbols, you can use Insert, Symbol to display the Symbol dialog.

You simply select any symbol from the Symbol dialog and choose

Insert to type the symbol in the cell.

Figure 133 Look at both tabs.

WHAT DO ALL THE TRIANGLES MEAN?

Problem: In “Find Text Entries,” you described the green triangles. What are the red triangles and purple triangles that sometimes appear in my worksheets?

Strategy: Each color of triangle serves a different purpose.

The red triangles in the top-right corners of cells are comment indicators. Where you see one of these, someone used Review, New Comment to add a bit of explanatory text to a cell. If you hover over a red indicator, Excel will display the comment, as shown below. If the red indicators are bothering you, use

File, Options, Advanced, Display, For Cells with Comment, Show No Comments or Indicators. For more information, see "Leave Helpful Notes with Cell Comments" on page 507.

Figure 134 Red triangles are cell comments.

The green triangle appears in the top left of a cell. This indicator appears whenever Excel thinks you might have made an error. This figure shows the complete list of errors. You can control which errors are flagged by selecting File, Options, Formulas, Error Checking.

Figure 135 You can choose which errors Excel should mark.

Additional Details: Errors are usually flagged with green triangles, but as you can see above, you can change the color used to flag errors. The indicator will always appear in the top left of the cell; you cannot change its position.

Back in Excel 2007, financial symbols would often have a purple triangle in the lower-right corner of the cell. If you open that icon, Excel would offer to insert a stock price in an adjacent cell. The downside to this was that many text values such as TRUE or COST would get a purple triangle when the cell had nothing to do with a stock symbol.

If you still want this functionality in Excel 2010, follow these steps: 1. Type Alt+T+A to display the AutoCorrect dialog.

2. Choose the Actions tab.

3. Choose Enable Additional Actions In the Right-Click Menu.

4. Click OK.

Figure 136 You have to turn the old SmartTags on.

When you choose a cell with a financial symbol, right-click the cell. From the bottom of the dropdown, choose Additional Cell Actions.

The actions available for a date now include checking your calendar in Outlook.

Figure 137 Check your calendar in Office 2010 by right-clicking a date.

Figure 138 Excel inserts cell references as you arrow through.

This is maddening! The solution is very simple, though.

Before you touch the arrow keys in a RefEdit box, press F2.

You will see the status indicator in the lower left corner of

Excel change from Enter or Point to Edit. Once you are in

Edit mode, you can use arrow keys.

Figure 139 Press F2 to change Point to

Edit. Problem solved.

F4 REPEATS LAST COMMAND

Problem: I have to do a certain command 20 times in a row. Even with keyboard shortcut keys, it is several keystrokes over and over.

Strategy: Most people know F4 as the shortcut to toggle dollar signs within a reference while you are editing a formula. When you are not editing a formula, F4 will repeat the last command. Use the shortcut keys to perform the first command, and then use F4 to repeat the command. In some cases, you can use the arrow key to move to the next cell, then press F4 to apply the same formatting as the previous command.