FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 140 (17/12/98)

DRAWING THE LINE

I know exactly what Nigel Horder is talking about in his letter ('Er…' F!F!F! December 3rd) and agree it's an infuriating problem.  What he wants to do is draw a line under a column of figures, add up the total (or subtract or whatever), and then put a double underline under the final figure.

There are ways around this but none are completely satisfactory.  The easiest

way I've found is to put the figures in a borderless table and then put a single-line bottom border to the cell under the last number to be totalled and a double line bottom border in the cell with the total or final figure. This looks quite neat if you adjust the column to fit the figures as closely as possible.  It works best with sums, as the final figure tends to be the largest in width, so the line matches it more exactly.

Another way, avoiding tables, is simply to single-underline the last figure in

the column.  If the total is going to be larger, click the underline icon before typing and use the spacebar to underline a space so that the line will extend over the entire total figure.  You may need to go into your word processor's "preferences" window to make it let you underline blank spaces. Then repeat the procedure with the double-underline icon clicked for the total

(put this on your toolbar if you use it a lot).

Finally, if you have Word 6, 7 or 97, you can use the drawing tools.  Click on the 'Draw' icon, choose the line tool, hold down shift to ensure a smooth, straight line, and draw the line where you want it.  You can choose different types of line, including a double one.  This is more precise than the other methods but needs a steady hand.  You can also do this in WordPerfect but not as easily.  Tables are best with WordPerfect, in my experience.

Anne De'Ath

A few solutions to the Er... problem.

1. Use a Word table: apply the rules above and below as cell borders. This has the added benefit that mathematical formulae, e.g.  "SUM(above)", can be added to cells for calculation purposes (elegant).

2. Use Excel (defeatist).

3. Create a custom font using, e.g. Corel Draw or Fontographer (plucky).

4. Draw them (last resort).

Roy Walter

In Word, to double-underline a figure set with decimal tab, highlight the figure and press Ctrl + shift + D. The overline can be added by selecting and underlining the figure in the line above (or adding a line and typing underlined spaces).  Your correspondent's problem arises with spaces to the right of the decimal tab - they won't underline.  However, this one is easy to solve; instead of using the spacebar alone, key Ctrl + shift + spacebar (non-breaking space).  Non-breaking spaces accept underlining to the right of decimal tabs.

Jean Elliott

Use the line tool on the drawing toolbar in Word or Excel.  Click on the 'Line' icon and take the mouse pointer to the figure to be over/underlined.  Draw a line above and below the figure. In order to have the second line as a double line, select the lower line, then click on the 'Line Style' icon on the drawing toolbar.  This gives you the option of several double line styles - voila!

Anna Burgess

Position a normal left tab where the line is to start - change to the MSI Console font - go to the character map to find a single or double line character (in the sixth row) - copy it to the clipboard - paste it into Word - repeat the paste until

the required length of line is reached.  This will produce a continuous single or double line which is unaffected by the decimal point tab.  If the line turns out to be a little too long or short, experiment with its point size. As an accountant I usually use Excel for reports containing figures.  I find that instead of the old-fashioned single-line-over and double-line-under, a box around a figure looks neat and modern.

Peter Astill

A

We received an incredible response to this problem, thanks to everyone; this little lot should keep Nigel Horder busy...

DOTTY SOLUTIONS

Your answer to the reader with a daughter called Zoë, about how to type her name correctly (F!F!F! December 3) seemed very long-winded. I simply type 'Z' then 'o' then Alt + 0235 that gives the ë.

Andrew McCallum

To get a vowel with an umlaut in Microsoft Word, hit and hold Ctrl, shift and ':' (colon), release, then hit the vowel key as either upper or lower case.

Peter Franklin

A

This question produced another bulging E-mailbag. Thanks to everyone who came up with keyboard shortcuts for inserting umlauts but we maintain our method is easier and quicker for a frequently used name or word. Once AutoCorrect is enabled it inserts the accented character automatically, as you type.

DIRECTORY ENQUIRY

I have a number of floppy disks, each of which contains a large number of files. I can open the Explorer window showing all of the files on each disc, is there any way in which this list can be printed to form an index? At the moment I am writing out the list by hand and then retyping it.

Ron Taylor

A

There is no direct method of printing from Windows Explorer but here's three ways of achieving the desired result, i.e. creating a printed copy of the contents of a directory or folder on a floppy or the hard disc.

1.      Open Windows Explorer, press Alt + Print Screen and an image of the window -- as it appears on the screen -- is copied to the clipboard. Open the Paint program, press Ctrl + V to paste the image and it can be printed using the Print command.

2.      Click Start, then Programs and click the MS DOS icon. In the DOS window that appears type A: (or C: if that's where the directory or files are located). If necessary use the change directory 'cd' command to navigate to the relevant file folder, i.e. type cd\Letters at the C: prompt, where Letters is the name of the folder. If the folder is inside another folder use the cd command again (this time without a backslash) until the full path is displayed, i.e. A:\Letters\Personal. Now enter the following: 'dir > filename.txt' and press return (where filename is the name of the folder or directory you're interested in) and a text file containing a list of the contents of that folder will be created and stored in that folder. You can now close the MS DOS window and open and print the text document using your word processor.

3.       Create a batchfile to print the contents of a directory by opening Notepad and type in: DIR %1 > LPT1 (where LPT1 is your printer port). Use Save As to give it a name, use the extension .bat, (i.e. foldprnt.bat), and save it in the root of the C: drive. Now go to the Run command on the Start menu and type C:\ foldprnt.bat A:\directory. (Where A: is the drive where the folder or files are stored -- use C: if it's on the hard disc -- and directory is the name of folder whose contents you want to print out). If you just want to print out the list of files on the disc just type C:\dirprnt.bat A:

ARE YOU RECEIVING ME?

I have Netscape Communicator 4 and Outlook 98 installed on my PC. I use MS Word as my E-mail editor. Cable and Wireless are my service provider. When I send E-mails I would like to receive an acknowledgement of the exact time the recipient opened my message. How can I do this?

Michael O. Famakinwa

A

Sorry, it can't be done if you are sending an E-mail to a recipient using another Internet service provider. Some ISPs provide notification when mail is sent 'internally' to other subscribers on the same server, but once a message goes out on the Internet there is no way of knowing when or even if it has been received.