Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Spreadsheet Discovery!

I love when I figure out alarmingly simple and intuitive procedures on my technological devices.

Recently, I mentioned that I am working on writing my Downtown Dad book. My cousin had a great idea for a spreadsheet to match blog entries with themes.

My problem began when I began creating columns that ran off the screen, then rows that made it impossible to see the column headings. Drat! There must be a way I can make the column headings remain visible as I scroll down the spreadsheet!

None of the drop-down menus helped me. Curses! I thought and continues my research.

At some point, I had the spreadsheet at the very top. Bordering A1 was a shaded line. Hmmm, I wondered. What is that for? So I moused the arrow over that area when the arrow turned into a hand!

First, I moved the horizontal line down. Then the moment of truth: I used the wheel on the mouse to scroll down the page. The headings remain! I repeat, the headings remain!

Later, I realized that it would be helpful to keep the entry names visible when scrolling horizontally through the columns. Success again!

Two things to consider:
If you think you've had an original thought, you haven't read enough. (Citation needed.)
How that statement applies to this setting: if you want the technology to do something for you, it probably does because people a lot smarter than you developed the stuff.

Second, if you don't try to make things happen, then nothing will happen. Don't be afraid of mistakes. If I had been afraid of making a mistake, I may not have discovered my new friend, the ability to keep various columns and rows visible while scrolling to other parts of the spreadsheet.

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