 Number 217 - June 2001 |
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| Use a spreadsheet to organize your stuff | ||||||
| by Jennifer Fulton | ||||||
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Most of us have way too much stuff to keep track of: videos, CDs, books, photos, nieces, nephews, and other personal items. And that's not even counting our collections of old teacups, jewelry, angel figurines and what have you. Unfortunately, keeping track of things is important, if not for our sanity, then for the sanity of others whose lives we share. For insurance purposes, keeping track of what we own is vitally important should anything happen to any of it. But how can you get organized without spending weeks and weeks on the process? You need look no farther than your spreadsheet program. Most of us have one, but never use it. There's a spreadsheet program included in Microsoft Works, Microsoft Office (Excel), Lotus SmartSuite (Lotus 1-2-3) and Corel WordPerfect Office (Quattro Pro); one of these programs is typically included with the applications installed on every new computer, so chances are you have one. Most of us have a spreadsheet program but never use it.
Spreadsheets 101 Before you can begin to use a spreadsheet program, you need to know a few basics: Data in a spreadsheet (also known as a worksheet) is organized in columns and rows, as shown here.
Columns are labeled using letters, starting with A, B, C and so on. Rows are labeled using numbers, starting with 1, 2, 3 etc. The intersection of a column and a row forms a box known as a cell. The address of a particular cell consists of its column letter and row number. For example, the text 'Ruby and gold necklace' is in cell B2. You need to know this address stuff if you plan on entering formulas; for example, you could use a formula to total the value of your goodies. The formula shown in cell D4 is from Excel; if you use Lotus 1-2-3 or some other spreadsheet, the way you type a formula may be slightly different. Creating an Inventory As an example of how to use your spreadsheet program to help you organize your stuff, let's create an inventory of your CD collection. First, start your spreadsheet program. You'll see a menu and toolbars at the top of the screen, and then underneath, you'll see the column and row labels and a whole lot of empty cells. Click in any cell and type a title for your spreadsheet. I like to leave some space at the top of my spreadsheets, so I usually click in cell B3 (that's the second column over, third row down). You'll notice that when you click in cell B3, its outline becomes darker. This tells you that cell B3 is now the active cell. If you type anything, it will appear in this cell. So type 'My CD Collection' and press Enter. The cursor moves down a row when you press Enter, and now cell B4 is 'active' (it has a darker outline). Press the down arrow to move down one more row to row 5. Cell B5 now has a dark outline. You're now
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ready to enter your column labels -- typically one- or two-word descriptions of the contents of each column. In cell B5, type Category and press the right arrow key instead of Enter. The active cell is now cell C5. Type 'Artist' and press the right arrow key again. Type 'Title' and press Enter. Your spreadsheet now looks like this:
To complete your inventory list, you enter the information for each CD on a separate row, as shown here. To make your column labels stand out, select them and click the Bold button (generally the button with the big letter 'B,' located on one of the toolbars at the top of the window). For example, click in cell B5 and keep the mouse button held down as you drag to the right, selecting cells C5 and D5. The selected cells appear highlighted. Click the Bold button on the toolbar, and the column labels are now bold. To make your title, My CD Collection, appear a bit nicer, you can make it larger. Click cell B3, then select a larger point size. Click the arrow on the box at the top of the window that reads '10' and select something like 18 or 20. After you enter the information for your CDs, your spreadsheet will look something like this:
Save your spreadsheet by clicking the Save button at the top of the window, typing a name such as 'My CDs' and pressing Enter. To print your inventory, click the Print button at the top of the window and press Enter. Most spreadsheet programs allow you to quickly sort a list such as this. In Excel, for example, you can just click anywhere in the list within the column you want to sort by (such as Artist), then click the Sort Ascending or Sort Descending button. Notice that the column labels are not sorted along with the data -- instead, they remain at the top of the list, where they belong, like this:
Good luck! Remember that your spreadsheet program is pretty powerful, so there are a lot of other features you can explore when you're ready. In the meantime, as you can see, it's pretty easy to create simple lists that will help you organize your belongings. Now if the computer could only help me find my car keys....
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Number 217 - June 2001
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