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Yes, this is HF related! LOL! I downloaded my TBR into an Excel spreadsheet. I would now like to just print the first two columns (column one is the book title, column two is the author's name). When I print it, all of the pages of column 1 print out, then all of the pages of column 2 print out. What I would like is both columns to appear on the same page, and for the life of me, I can't figure out how to do it! I NEVER use Excel, so I'm a complete novice. I've spent enough time trying to figure it out, and I thought I'd post and see if an Excel expert out there can give me quick (easy) instructions. Is it too much to ask to want to have the book title and authors' names on the same page? One more question - is it then possible to print the columns in the reverse order so that the authors' names appear in column 1 and the book title in column 2 or do I have to re-sort my list on PBS by author and then downloaded the newly sorted version? Last Edited on: 4/16/10 11:53 AM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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I don't know why you'd be getting each column as a separate page. That's an odd default setting. But first, to change the column order, the easiest thing to do is click on Column A, then go up to the Insert option above, and from the drop-down, select Column. This will insert a new Column A and move the Title to Column B. Then Just drag and drop what is now Column C, the Authors, over to Column A. There will then be an empty column C, which you can delete. For the printing. Try View, and then selecting from the dropdown, Page Break Preview. This will show you a blue dash line where the page breaks are. I'm guessing that there's one between each column. You can drag the line between the column over to the right, so that both columns are on one page. Good luck! PS. I just did that myself with my own TBR, to see what happened. The authors will sort by first name, not last. And going back to the PBS and resorting the TBR to author doesn't change that. It still converts to the spreadsheet alpha by title. If you want to sort the spreadsheet so that the authors are in alpha by first name, I can help you do that, but I'm not skilled enough to tell you how to change the formatting so that it sorts by last name. Last Edited on: 4/16/10 12:33 PM ET - Total times edited: 2 |
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Highlight whatever sections/columns you wanted printed and then click on File/Print/Set Print area. Then print and it will only print your selection. Moving columns around, I click on the column header and highlight the entire column then cut and/or copy and then paste it where you want it. |
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Sharla - Thanks, I tried dragging the blue-dash page break line showing up between the columns, but that doesn't help. Grrrr. I suppose I'll have to wait until this evening and hope DH can help me with it when he's home. I'm going crazy! This can't be that hard!! LOL! When I sort my list by author name, the authors' first names appear first but they are actually sorted by last name. Cathy - Tried that too. There's a freakin' page break in between the columns that I cannot move, cannot delete, cannot do anything with, and I think that's what's screwing it up. Again I say, grrrrrrr!!! NEVERMIND! Perseverence pays off. I finally got the page break lines between columns to move so I was able to print both columns. I was also able to successfully switch which column printed first by cutting and pasting them as Sharla directed. Thanks, guys! It's so nice to have my TBR list by title and author at my fingertips. Now if only I could shrink it down, laminate it and keep it with me at all times! LOL! Last Edited on: 4/16/10 1:02 PM ET - Total times edited: 2 |
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Shelley -- Click on the help button (the question mark on the upper right corner of the Excel spreadsheet). Then in the search box, type "sort within column." You will get a lot of options. About the 10th one down is "split names by using the convert text to columns wizard." Click on this and follow the wizard's directions. Essentially this lets you split the authors' column into two columns -- one for first names, one for last names. (Your delimiter will be "space.") Then you can switch columns by putting the last name column first and then resort by alphabetical order. Just be sure when you're asked whether you want to expand the selection, you say yes -- that keeps all the columns linked (i.e., you don't want to sort just one column -- or your books won't go with the authors). I'm assuming that you're using Excel 2007 -- though I would imagine that you could do the same in an older version. If you have problems, let me know -- I can give you step-by-step instructions -- or you can just email me your spreadsheet and I can sort it for you and send it back. Hope this helps. ETA: Looks like you got it all sorted and printed without any help from me!!! ETA (2): Actually, my instructions wouldn't have been that helpful because I was trying to have you sort the list alphabetically by authors' last names but it looks like that wasn't a problem for you. I seemed to be responding to Sharla. Last Edited on: 4/16/10 1:25 PM ET - Total times edited: 3 |
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OK, you can try one more thing. Go to the File, the first Menu item on top, and from the drop down, select Page Setup. You will get a dialogue box with an Orientation section (options are portrait and landscape) and a Scaling section. In scaling, the default option is (usually!) adjust to 100% normal size. The other option is Fit to: 1 pages wide by 1 pages tall. Select this option, with 1 page wide, but delete the number of pages tall to just blank. Then go to the right with the printing buttons, and select Print Preview. It will open a new window to show you the first page of your document. You should be able to see both columns on the page. If it looks good, then just hit the Print button in the line of buttons across the top. I hope this works! EDIT: Ah, I see you got it to work while I was responding. Great! The lists I should print and keep with me at all times are the WL and RL. It would be so much easier to decide whether to break down and buy a book, if I had the list there to help prioritize it. Last Edited on: 4/16/10 1:14 PM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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Shelly, If you're still having trouble, you can send me the file and I'll look at it. I'm no expert; just a geek that likes tech puzzles. PM for my email. |
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Here's something interesting. I notice the alphabetization (is that a word?) is funny. On my list sorted by author name, as I said, it is alphabetical by last name even though the first name appears first. What's strange is that it's somewhat random. For example, the Sharon Kay Penman books - Devil's Brood, Falls the Shadow and Time and Chance are alphabetized under "K" (I assume for Kay), but Falls the Shadow, Here Be Dragons, and The Reckoning are alphabetized under "P" (for Penman). Yes, Falls the Shadow is listed under both. I haven't looked for other discrepancies, but I'm sure there are some. Strange. |
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I've noticed that discrepency, too, with several authors who have a long series. I've put all the series on RL, and then WL or order as the urge hits. Dana Fuller Ross sorts as Fuller for 4 of the series, and as Ross for the rest. And IIRC, The Moreland Dynesty, one of the sorted to Eagles, but the rest to Harrod. Oh, and Daphne du Maurier is sometimes sorted to the D, others to the M. And then there's the real puzzler. I have WL Legacy by Susan Kay. I have two different ISBN listed, and when I sort by Author, one of them sorts to the very first entry, above my A authors, while the other sorts where it belongs, with Kay. There is no visible difference between the two. I can only speculate that the software must not be able to tell anything about that one, for some reason, and just throws it to the top. Maybe the data entry has a space entered in front of the K? But if that were the answer, I would have expected it to throw it to the bottom, rather than the top. Last Edited on: 4/16/10 2:14 PM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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I use excel every day at my job. I format (and reformat) my TBR all the time. If you continue to have problems you can send it me. PM me for my email address. |
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