Cantwell
ComputersA recent enquiry by a Real Estate Agent prompts this tutorial.
The requirement was to make a form that would allow for Tenancy enquiries to be recorded and saved and printed out if necessary. The existing method used photocopied forms that were getting untidy and lost.
Step 1
Open "Excel" or a similar spreadsheet program . A blank new page appears. Save this page to a location that suits your usage naming it appropriatley. In this case " Application "
Click on " File, Page Setup, Margins " , change the left and right margins to 0.5 and click OK. This make more efficient use of the page and shows the page size on the Excel sheet.
To insert a heading - highlight the top row of cells by holding down the left mouse button and moving over the required cells. Click on the "merge cells and center" button to merge the cells
You can then type the heading in and setup your style using a font and size to suit. Color, Background, Surround etc can be changed by highlight the cells and using " Format, Cells and choosing styles .
Next you setup the body of the form.
Check the layout of your draft and type the information onto the sheet . Merge the cells where you want to input data, you can also merge cell behind the headings to make setup easier.
The form can be modified to suit your requirements. Save the form regularly to make recovery from errors easier.
Multiple cells can be selected by holding down the " Ctrl " button and clicking on the required cells.
When you are happy with the Form it is time to set up the " protection " so only the input part of the Form can be changed.
While holding down the " Ctrl " button click on all the input cells. In the image above these are the yellow cells.
Now click on " Format , Cells , Protection "
Untick the box next to " Locked " and then OK
Now click on " Tools , Protection , Protect Sheet "
Make sure only the " Select unlocked cells " is ticked. Click on OK and save the sheet. Close the file.
It is now time to protect the file from unwanted changes by change the file attributes to " read only "
Browse to the file you have created. This might be in " My Documents " or similar. With the mouse click on the file name with the " right mouse button " and then click normally on " Properties "
Tick " Read-only , Apply and OK
This should complete the form. When the form is opened again the only changes you will be able to make are in the unprotected cells. When you save the newly completed form filled with applicants details you will need to name the file with a new unique name that can be found later.
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