Archive for July, 2010

A Simple Time-Saving Summation Excel Macro

One of my first blog posts was about how I use macros with QuickBooks reports exported from Excel.  That post also contains a brief explanation of what a macro is, so please read it first if you are unfamiliar with macros. In my work, I often find myself combining similar types of expenses provided by a client on a spreadsheet for a more condensed presentation on a financial statement or a tax return.  The repetitive task of selecting cells, adding borders, and entering formulas became tiring with one particular financial statement I was working on, so I decided to write a macro that would perform those tasks automatically. The video below shows me combining expenses from a spreadsheet twice.  The first, in which I add borders to the cells and enter the sum formula manually, takes 57 seconds.  In the second, I select the range of cells and use a shortcut key on my mouse to run the macro.  With the help of the macro, I complete the spreadsheet in only 11 seconds. There are benefits to using the macro besides just saving time.  It reduces eye movement and mouse clicks, both of which seem to wear me out from using the computer over a period of time. Note: The data contained in this video is completely fictional.  You may want to make the video appear in full-screen mode to better read the text.  If you can’t see the video below, click here.

Managing What I’ve Read with Google Reader

Have you ever read a good article on the Internet, but when you wanted to go back and read it a few days or months later, you weren’t able to find it?
It used to happen to me quite often, but it has become less of a problem since I began using Google Reader to read RSS feeds. When I like an article I’ve read in Google Reader, I either “share it” or “star it.”  I typically share an item that I think others would be interested in.  My shared items show up on the left sidebar of my blog, and they also show up in the reading list for those who follow me on Google Reader.  Usually, I star an item to which I might need to refer again later but others may not find interesting.  Unlike my shared items, my starred items are not publicly visible. The search function in Google Reader is very helpful.  Recently, someone asked me about the differences between the accounting programs QuickBooks and Peachtree.  I remembered reading a great blog post comparing them a few months ago that I shared in Google Reader, so  I searched my shared items for QuickBooks and Peachtree.  The article I was searching for appeared in less than a second, which was a lot faster than things I might have done in the past, such as look through my web browsing history or do a search in Google for terms I may have remembered from the article. Do you have any other ideas to share about managing the content you read to make it easy to find later?  Please share a comment in the box below.