Page 98 - Excel Timesaving Techniques for Dummies

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“Can You Hear Me Now?”
Speak Cells By Rows Speak On Enter 1. Position the cell pointer in the first cell of the
range whose values you want to verify with
Text to Speech.
2. If the Text to Speech toolbar is not displayed in
Excel, choose Tools➪Speech➪Show Text to
Speech Toolbar.
3. Click the Speak Cells button (the first one) in
the Text to Speech toolbar.
Stop Speaking By Columns
• Figure 16-1: Use the tools on the Text to Speech toolbar As soon as you click this button, Excel automati-
to verify the data entries you make. cally selects all the cells it can identify as a single
range in the region around the cell pointer. It
Speak on Enter then starts reading the entries out loud across
the rows of the range as it moves down the
One of the most effective ways to use Text to Speech columns.
is its Speak on Enter mode. When you click the 4. (Optional) To change Text to Speech’s direction
Speak on Enter button on the Text to Speech toolbar, from across rows to up and down columns,
the Text to Speech feature reads every data entry click the By Columns button.
you make back to you. (The program actually says
the words, “Cells will now be spoken on Enter,” the If you catch a mistake, click the Speak Cells button
moment you click this button.) to temporarily halt the reading of the rest of the
range and then move the cell pointer to the appro-
When the program is in this speaking mode, the Text priate cell and edit its contents. To resume reading
to Speech feature speaks every data entry you com-
the remaining cells in the range, click the Speak Cells
plete. Note that, in the world of Excel, “complete” in button again.
this case means you’ve either pressed the Enter key
or pressed a cursor-movement key such as an arrow Don’t use the arrow keys to move the cell
key, Tab, or Page Down. The feature does not speak
pointer, or you’ll collapse the cell selection,
the entry if you complete it by clicking the Enter reducing it from the current range down to
button on the Formula bar. the current cell. Instead use Tab, Shift+Tab,
Enter, or Shift+Enter to move the cell pointer
Note that the Speak on Enter button is a toggle; you and to complete the cell edit. (Refer to Table
turn off this speaking mode by clicking the button a 12-1 for more on using Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter,
second time. When you click the button to turn or Shift+Enter to move the cell pointer.)
Speak on Enter mode off, Text to Speech says,
“Turn off Speak on Enter.” When Excel reaches the last cell in the selected
range and reads its contents, Text to Speech auto-
Reading by columns and rows matically stops and takes the program out of Speak
Cells mode. If you want to turn off Text to Speech
Text to Speech is not just useful when entering new before it reaches the last cell, click the Stop
data in your spreadsheet. You can also use it to ver- Speaking button.
ify the accuracy of ranges that have already been
entered into a worksheet. To have the program read
back the entries in a cell range, follow these steps: