in the land of the dex

[calimac]

Still frantically (for I've just passed the second deadline), but as cautiously as possible to avoid typos and such, compiling that index. Almost, almost done. I skipped over the biggest single entry so that I could use the data in other entries to help guide the sub-entries for this one. But it's not a simple process because entries involving two indexable points are not always reciprocal. (Delete long explanation here.)

So I'm moving a lot of data around Excel databases and retyping it into Word - or, more usually, cut-and-pasting using Notepad for my draft files, because Notepad deletes the Excel formatting and Word doesn't: if you paste Excel cells into Word, the data comes in little boxes, and I don't want that.

The bane of all keyboard shortcuts, the mistyped chord, has been plaguing me. I keep issuing commands that I didn't intend, have never seen before, and have no idea how I got. One in particular in Excel is annoying. So I'm copying and pasting data between cells to avoid retyping it: Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, right? Far too frequently, something in this process suddenly takes me - no matter that the file is only a couple hundred fields long - to a place thousands upon thousands of empty fields below. It's like passing by the Hidden Centuries in The End of Eternity. And then I have to scroll back. Again.

Comments

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Excel > Word
In Word, it's easy to remove the boxes, which Word thinks are little tables. Click the box, then do the Convert Table to Text thing. (I'm not sure which version of Word you're using, but that option is present in most word processors these days.)

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Thanks, but I'm moving the boxes over one by one as I need them, because the Excel table doesn't automatically turn into the index, and I don't want to have to change them each time, or wait till I'm done to do so. I find using Notepad and thus stripping out the formatting automatically, a much better solution.

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

Bah on macros! Hardware ones are even worse. Ten years ago, doing tech support at a CPA firm where we had lots of Gateways, I swear there were days when my typical response to everybody was "Control, Alt, Suspend Macro."

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Thanks, but what I really want to know is, what macro am I hitting that does this? If I know what typo I was making, it'd be easier to try to avoid.

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

And then I have to scroll back. Again.

There are ways of getting around quickly in Excel. One of the most convenient ones is END - [arrow], which will bring you as far as you can go in that arrow's direction until you hit something (empty space if there's all filled cells in the way, filled cells if there's all empty space in the way). Sorry I can't explain it more clearly.

And while I don't know if it's documented anywhere, the old Lotus 1-2-3 command of using the F5 key to go directly to any cell whose address you specify, still works.

Apologies if you know these already.

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

Oh, and as for pasting text from Excel into Word without also bringing over the little boxes, don't use Paste, use Paste Special, and select Unformatted Text.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Since I'm moving the data over bit by bit - the edited Excel table is not the same as the index - I don't want to have to go through Paste Special every time I move one. Letting Notepad strip the formatting is much easier.

But I should keep that in mind next time I'm bringing some Excel data over on a one-shot basis.