Page 73 - Excel Timesaving Techniques for Dummies

13_574272 ch11.qxd 10/1/04 10:27 PM Page 58
11 Speeding Through
Long Data Entries

Technique with AutoCorrect

utoCorrect is Excel’s attempt to save you time when doing data
Save Time By entry in a spreadsheet. It anticipates what you enter and, if neces-
Asary, corrects it or converts it into special types of data such as
Setting your AutoCorrect
options live hyperlinks and smart tags — data recognized as being of a particular
kind, such as Wall Street financial symbols and personal names. The
Turning off the hyperlinks AutoCorrect feature in Excel encompasses three areas:
to Internet and network
paths AutoCorrect: Automatically corrects common spelling errors when-
Modifying the smart tag ever you make them in cell entries
settings AutoFormat As You Type: Automatically turns Web addresses and net-
work paths into live hyperlinks and expands data lists when you add a
new record to them
Smart Tags: Enables you to control all the smart tag settings, including
checking the workbook for data that Excel identifies as a type of smart
tag, controlling the appearance of the Smart Tag indicator in the work-
sheet cells, looking online for more smart tag applications, and making
the smart tags identified in your spreadsheet a permanent part of the
workbook file by embedding them in it

Setting the Correct AutoCorrect Settings

The AutoCorrect options can save you a great deal of spell-checking time,
especially if you go to the trouble of adding your own common typos to
the ones that the feature is already set to take care of. When you first
open the AutoCorrect dialog box (Tools➪AutoCorrect Options) and
select its AutoCorrect tab (see Figure 11-1), Excel activates all the check
box settings that dispose of many common typing errors such as typing
with the Caps Lock key on or failing to capitalize the days of the week or
the beginning of a sentence.