Closed without saving?? Never fear!

Did you ever accidentally close a document that you had worked on for a while and clicked “no” when prompted to save changes? Good news! The applications in the Microsoft Office 2010 suite have the ability to recover these documents. Instead of gnashing your teeth, try this!

First, make sure that AutoRecover is turned on!

1.  In the backstage view (File tab), click Options. In the Save category, make sure that the check box for Save AutoRecover information every xx minutes is selected.

Note: This must be enabled separately for each application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)!

     2.  Test it! When you close a document, you should see the following warning:

           “Do you want to save changes…?
            If you click “Don’t Save”, a recent copy of this file will be temporarily available.”

Recover an unsaved document:

1. Open the backstage view (File tab).
2.  From the Info category, click Manage Versions. The Recover Unsaved Documents button will appear.

          Alternately, choose Recent from the backstage menu. 

          Near the bottom of the window, click the Recover Unsaved Documents button!

      3.     Open the unsaved document from the UnsavedFiles folder.

      4.       When the document reopens, don’t forget to save it properly!
             You can thank me later :-)

Create your own custom AutoFill list in Excel 2007 or 2010

Do you need to type the same list of departments, names, regions, etc. over and over again in Excel? Create a custom list and use AutoFill to do the job!

Excel 2007

1. Click the round Microsoft Office button in the top left corner of the Excel Window.

2. Click the Excel Options button at the bottom of the menu. The Excel Options dialog box will open.

3. In the Popular group, click the button to Edit Custom Lists…

4. In the Custom List dialog box, NEW LIST is already selected. Type the list entries you would like, touching ENTER after each entry.

5. When you are done typing the list items, click the Add button. Your new Custom List will appear below the built-in lists.

6. Click OK to close the Custom Lists dialog box and return to the Excel Options dialog box.

7. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

8. Try it out! Type a list entry into a cell. Select the AutoFill handle in the bottom right corner of the cell. The mouse pointer will change to a skinny plus sign (+); click and drag down or over to complete the list.

Note: Although you cannot change or delete the built-in Custom Lists, you can delete any list you create or add other lists at any time.

Excel 2010

1. Click the File tab in the top left corner of the Excel Window to enter the Backstage view.

2. Click the Excel Options button near the bottom of the menu. The Excel Options dialog box will open.

3. In the Advanced group, click the button to Edit Custom Lists…

4. In the Custom List dialog box, NEW LIST is already selected. Type the list entries you would like, touching ENTER after each entry.

5. When you are done typing the list items, click the Add button. Your new Custom List will appear below the built-in lists.

6. Click OK to close the Custom Lists dialog box and return to the Excel Options dialog box.

7. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

8. Try it out! Type a list entry into a cell. Select the AutoFill handle in the bottom right corner of the cell. The mouse pointer will change to a skinny plus sign (+); click and drag down or over to complete the list.

Note: Although you cannot change or delete the built-in Custom Lists, you can delete any list you create or add other lists at any time.