OVER 2 YOU 215 (25/01/05)

COPYING COLUMNS

In Excel 2000, when copying contents and formats from one spreadsheet to another sheet or workbook, it is possible to copy column widths by using 'Paste Special'. Is there any way that one can copy row heights? I can copy merged cells, and expanded row heights when containing wrapped text, but not if the rows are blank and/or more than the default 12.75 high.  

Joy Newman

Excel 2000 does allow the use of Paste Special to copy column widths (either by using the Edit menu or right clicking the appropriate cell and choosing from the drop-down menu which appears), simply double-click on the 'Column Width' button or click it once and then 'OK'. Copying and Pasting entire columns will also transfer column widths (with some minor and esoteric exceptions).

You can get the column width to 'auto-fit' by double-clicking the black cross which appears when you place the cursor over the line between columns on the column heading (e.g. double clicking over the line between columns A & B gets column A to resize itself) or choose the size you want by holding down the left mouse key and dragging the cross until it's the right width.

Although you can auto-fit or adjust row heights in similar fashion you can't paste row heights via Paste Special. I'm fairly sure this is intentional as if you format a cell to 'wrap text' the row height varies automatically depending on the amount and nature of what that cell contains.

John Bushby, via email

Highlighting the portion of the Spreadsheet to be copied and then using the 'Copy' then 'Paste special,' routine, in Excel 2000, will transfer the contents and the formatting of the 'cells' and borders to another Spreadsheet or work page. It does not however preserve the column widths. The workaround this is to use a two-stage process. Highlight the portion of the Spreadsheet to be copied. 'Copy' this to the clipboard. Using the 'Paste special' routine choose the option 'column widths' this will transfer the column widths to the new spreadsheet. Select the 'Paste Special' routine again and select 'all' this will transfer the data and the formatting, whilst preserving the column widths to the new spreadsheet.

Ken Capps, via email

To do a complete copy of a spreadsheet including column width and row height, hold down the control key and click on the spreadsheet name tab and when a box with a plus sign appears, drag to the next spreadsheet and release the left mouse key. A new spreadsheet with an identical name followed by (2) now exists.

F. W. Cox, via email

One solution is to right click on the tab of the sheet she wishes to copy the formats from. Select Move or Copy and specify the spreadsheet she wishes to copy to and where the sheet should go. Any contents can then be cleared, if necessary to retain the formatting. Be careful to close the source spreadsheet without saving as otherwise the file will be missing the ‘moved’ sheet.

David Pike, via email

To copy column widths, simply highlight the entire columns by selecting the column headers and Copy and Paste formats using Paste Special. The same can be done for rows by selecting the entire rows using the row headers. If you wish to do both at the same time, this can only be done by selecting the entire worksheet by clicking on the grey square at the top of the left of the column headers. 

Neil Watson, via email

REPAIRING LAPTOP BATTERY

The battery pack on my three-year old Sony Vaio laptop now barely holds a charge. I can find replacement packs on the net but they are stupidly expensive, probably more than the PC is worth. I’m quite handy with a soldering iron so I was wondering if anyone knows of any web sites or companies that can tell me what type of cells it uses, and where I can obtain replacements?

George Marshall, via email

Your correspondent should contact Cell Pack Solutions (www.cellpacksolutions.com). Eddie Czestochowski, the proprietor, refurbished a discontinued PC notebook battery for me at about 60pc of the cost (including VAT, packing and postage) of the new equivalent.

Malcolm Walker, via email

George Marshall will find practical help in the paragraph "Renewing a Laptop battery pack." at www.eurobatteries.com/sitepages/nimh.asp.  It worked well for me when I had a similar problem.

Callum Boyd, via email

An article in "Good Woodworking" No.147 May 2004 dealt with replacing the individual cells in a screwdriver power pack. www.cpc.co.uk was recommended as a source for the individual cells to build up a power pack. The cells can be located by entering "battery cells" in the search box on Google. It appears that GM will have to dismantle his battery pack to identify the cells he needs.

Donald Pink, via email

CAN YOU HELP?

I am a jazz musician and spent many hours putting our band repertoire of chord charts on a Lotus 1-2-3 Spreadsheet. I did this using the Opus Chords font. This enabled me to use the standard chord symbols such as an equilateral triangle for a major 7th chord, a proper flat symbol rather than a lower case "b" and various other standard symbols.

I had to reformat my hard drive and the font has simply disappeared. I've gone through every font I have and none of them support the full range of symbols.  I've looked on the net but can find nothing that completely fits the bill. Can anyone help?

Sandy Barclay, via email

I have just received a letter from Intuit stating that they are withdrawing Quicken and Taxcalc from the UK market and ceasing support next year. I have looked at Microsoft Money, my attempt to convert a Quicken file to Money failed (a very simple set of records of a Charity for which I am a trustee and treasurer). My own records are more complex with the usual array of PEPS, unit trusts standing orders etc.

Can anyone suggest an alternative to Microsoft Money developed for the British market? An Internet interface with banks and financial institutions is now virtually essential as is a good technical help line.

Rodney Newth, (retired chartered accountant), via email