OVER 2 YOU 205 (09/11/04)

EXCEL BORDERS

In MS Office XP I have pasted and linked an Excel object into a MS Word document. I have tried everything but to no avail to get rid of the unwanted gridlines surrounding the linked objects.  I’ve tried Cell Formatting, Borders On/Off, Eraser and even attempting to remove all the gridlines from the source spreadsheet work unpredictably or not at all.  Can anyone help?

Andrew Humphries, via email

Assuming the cells haven't been formatted to have borders, these "lines" are visible only on screen in Excel are switched off/on from Tools, Options, View menu in Excel. I seem to remember that, in earlier versions of Office, they had to be switched off before inserting into the Word document but XP doesn't have a problem having them switched off after the spreadsheet has been put into the document. You might also make sure that "print gridlines" is not checked in Page Setup, Sheet options in Excel before importing.

Bryan Peak, via email

When you paste and link an Excel object into a Word document it becomes a picture.  Therefore in order to remove the lines surrounding the linked object, having pasted and linked your Excel object into a Word document, click onto the object (or picture as it has now become) to select it, click onto the drawing tools within your Word document and then onto “line colour”, which then gives you the option to click onto “No Line”.  This should, I believe, remove the lines surrounding your Excel object.

Andrea Grover, via email

If Andrew Humphreys copies and pastes his data first to a database and then copies and pastes to a Word document, he should lose the gridlines.

Nancy Edwards, via email

Copy the cells as one would normally in Excel, then in Word, go to Edit > Paste Special and select 'Unformatted Text' and hit 'OK'

Robert Reeves, via email

POSTCODE FINDER

I work as a volunteer for a regional cancer charity, and some of our fund raising events are too small to warrant media advertising. Is there a resource, database or web site where by inputting a central postcode we could ascertain the number of letterboxes within a defined area? This would save wastage by reducing of the number of leaflets we need to print.

Malcolm Harvey, Wessex Cancer Trust

I may have found just what your correspondent is looking for on the Postcodeanywhere web site. Simply enter a postcode and it instantly displays a list of all of the addresses that share the same code. In my own case I was intrigued to discover that my postcode is shared with all of the odd-numbered houses in my road, and I suspect that this, or a similar pattern is repeated nationwide. The web site address is: www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/

home/tryit.aspx and it is completely free to use.

Amanda Cummings, via email

If you go to the Royal Mail home page at: www.royalmail.com/portal/rm and click on the Postcode Finder button you’ll find details of a service that lets you look up details of up to 12 postcodes in a 24-hour period, you have to register to use it but as far as I’m aware it is free of charge for non-commercial users.

Paddy Taylor, via email

BOOK CATALOGUE

I have always planned to catalogue my library of some 500 books when I retired. So I am retired and it doesn't seem such a good idea! I wondered if anybody had worked up a solution by inputting the scanned front page(s), where most of the information can be found, into some software that could sort titles from authors and from publishers, etc?

Gerry Tickner, via email

I suggest Gerry Tickner looks at  'Book Collector' at www.collectorz.com where he will find a free version, which should be suitable for his requirements.

Ron R., via email

EMBROIDERY

My wife loves doing embroidery but has difficulty finding suitable designs in retail outlets, which appeal to her and are not cross-stitch.  Can anyone suggest any websites where designs can be downloaded, either for free or to buy and a method of transferring these to linen from paper ready for stitching, once having downloaded and printed these to paper.

Michael Dewhurst, via email

We have a stitching website at www.classicstitches.com, which has hundreds of free design which can be downloaded for personal use.  There is a how-to-section and information for enthusiastic stitchers. We also run on-line classes in specific techniques. This is backed up by a bi-monthly magazine full of designs and a free-iron-on transfer in every issue, which allows easy transfer of the free-style designs within the magazine. We offer instruction of various stitching techniques. All details, including an on-line ordering facility are on our web site.

Bea Neilson, via email

FRAKTUR FONT

I am interested in German history and many documents and books published pre-1945 are in what is called Fraktur (sometimes described loosely as German Gothic) I have used Read-Iris 8 to scan and convert text, but whilst it works with modern German it cannot deal with Fraktur. Does anyone know of an OCR that can do the job?

Also, I would like to know where I could find a downloadable set of fonts so that I can type in Fraktur. Presently, the nearest option in the XP Professional suite is Old English Text, though there is no font that equates to the old German "f"-like letter "s", nor the "SZ" which has to be shown as SS or by inserting ß, but this "SZ" is a modern version of the dopple-S.

Graham Rumney, via email

Any German font will have the double-s "SZ" sign, but it is also important to make sure

the font he chooses has both the long and the round single "s" as these have different functions. Some German display fonts used in advertising seem not to have a round "s" (or else users find it too much bother to find), and to put a long "s" at the end of a word or word-element is a solecism. I recommend the reader to go to: www.fontsarea.de/fontsfrakt.htm, where he will find at least three suitable free downloadable fonts: Becker Fraktur, DS-Normalfraktur or Schwaben Alt. These provide both types of "s" (the long one is obtained by hitting the "s" key, the round one via the Insert Symbols window in Word). If he is using an English keyboard with no SZ key, that sign can also be obtained via the Symbols window. Keyboard shortcuts can be set up for both, of course. There are better fonts around, but not for free.

Michael Scuffil, via email

CAN YOU HELP?

I don’t know if this was an urban myth but many years ago I remember hearing or reading of a chap living near a large TV broadcast antenna who was able to save on electricity bills, lighting their home by tapping into the power coming from the transmitter.  I also live close to a TV mast and would be extremely interested to know if this is possible and if so, how it can be done.

Peter Stuart, via email

Advertisers and politicians can be difficult to judge as their words contain little or no meaning and are often self-contradictory. In the seventies there was a computer language called Structured English, which in the form used for program specifications was completely unambiguous. Is there a current computer program, which will read a statement or series of statements, validate them rejecting the invalid parts, and convert the rest into a language such as Structured English?

Brian Gilbert, Hampton Middlesex