Microsoft gave Excel a major facelift with its introduction of Excel 2007. Depending on which version you have, there are different options available for formatting numbers in Excel. I’ll go over the universal step first and then cover some of the other ways to do this.

Format Numbers in Excel

In order for Excel to show negative numbers in parentheses, you have to instruct Excel to do so. This is done in the “Format Cells” dialog. No matter which version of Excel you have, you should be able to quickly access this dialog box by selecting the cell or range of cells that you want to format and then right-click on Format Cells. This will open a dialog box with the following tabs: Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Fill, and Protection. Obviously, you will want to use the Number tab.

In the Category section, click on the type of number you are working with such as number or currency. Since you mentioned currency in your question, let’s look at currency as an example. Once you select currency, you’ll see the main part of the pane now displays several options. It shows you a sample and provides you with three editable fields: decimal places, symbol, and negative numbers.

Select the number of decimal places you want to display. If you select 2, then the numbers will display two decimal places such as £50.00 whereas if you select five decimal places, the numbers will look like this: £50.0000000.  If you want to change the currency symbol from £ to $ or even ¥, do so in the Symbol field.

Finally, the answer to your question lies in the next field, negative numbers. You have four choices for displaying negative numbers:

-£50

£50 (red text)

(£50)

(£50) (red text)

Choose the third or fourth option to place your negative numbers in parentheses. If you want your negative numbers to be displayed in red text, choose the fourth option.

Format Numbers in Excel 2003

While it’s easy to simply right-click a set of numbers, Excel offers other ways to access the Format Cells dialog. If you have Excel 2003, select the cells you want to format, go to the menu bar, and click on Format > Cells. From there, follow the above directions to format your numbers.

Format Numbers in Excel 2007

Excel 2007 does not have the handy menu bar. In its place is the infamous “ribbon.” You must have the Home tab active and then find the area of the ribbon labeled “Number.” A drop-down box allows you to quickly change the basic number type such as from General to Currency. However, if you want to change the way negative numbers display, you’ll need to click on the tiny square found in the lower right corner of the Number section. This will open the Format Cells dialog box.

Windows Updates

Since you’ve had to reinstall Windows XP, you have the original version of XP that came out when your computer was brand-new. Since then, Microsoft has issued numerous updates that add functionality and security. Hopefully you have already applied the necessary updates, but if you haven’t, then do so ASAP. While the updates aren’t likely to affect the installation of Office Accounting, they are important - and who knows, maybe they will solve the installer problem. Do this by going to Control Panel > Windows Updates. This will be time consuming and you will need to reboot your computer once the updates have been installed.

Office Updates

The same is true of Microsoft Office. Go ahead and update your version of Office before moving forward. If you use Office 2007, this is done by going to the Office button in an Office program and clicking the program’s Options button. Click the Resources link followed by the Check for Updates button.

Cleanup the Microsoft Office Accounting Installation

Since you’ve already tried to install Office Accounting and something went awry, it’s not a bad idea to clean up the installation. Microsoft offers a free “Windows Installer Cleanup Utility” that you can use to clean up after a failed installation. It will remove the installation files so that you can start over from scratch.

Because Office Accounting is considered a Microsoft Office 2007 product, the preferred method is to use Add and Remove Programs (if possible). Since the program didn’t install in the first place, it’s unlikely that you’ll find in Add and Remove programs. However, it may have partially installed, so check to see if it’s listed there. If so, remove it before trying to reinstall it. If not, use the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility.

Reinstall Microsoft Office Accounting 2008

Once your computer’s been updated with Windows updates and you’ve cleaned up the first installation, try reinstalling the program one more time from the CD or by downloading it from Microsoft.

InstallShield

If you are still having trouble installing Office Accounting, try updating your installation of InstallShield. Instructions for doing this are provided here by InstallShield.

Since you have Windows Vista, I’ll assume that you are also working with Excel 2007 so I’ll give you instructions for working with your header using Excel 2007 as an example.

Setting Headers in Excel 2007

In order to create a header in Excel 2007, open your spreadsheet and click on the Insert tab. Find the Header & Footer icon located in the Text section of the Ribbon and click on that. A blank header will be inserted at the top of your spreadsheet. It will have three different sections (one justified to the left, one center justified in the middle, and one justified to the right) where you can then add your desired header information such as title, file name, number of pages, date, and so forth.

You’ll notice that when you are editing the header, a new tab opens on your Ribbon called the Header and Footer Tools tab. In addition, new rulers appear on your screen. You’ll use a combination of these tools and the ruler to fine tune the width of your spreadsheet’s header or footer.

Making Excel’s Headers Match the Margins

First, enter your header text so that we have something visual to see. Next, take a look at the ribbon and find the Options section. See the area labeled Align with Page Margins? Place a check mark in the box there if there isn’t one already in it. This will make the header the same size as the page’s margins!

While it would seem that’s the end of the story, you may need to fine tune the column widths of your spreadsheet to get it to look right. The left side of the header is flush with the left margin and the right side has a slight overhang. Use your mouse and the ruler tool to drag the columns if needed. It looks as though there’s about 1/8″ of overlap on the right that you can’t do much about, even with the Align with Page Margins option selected. Hopefully this is something you can live with.

I think that something happened to the printer drivers, although I’m surprised that it happened when you replaced the ink cartridges. Because Word is so printer-intensive, a minor problem with the printer driver will affect Word more quickly than it will other programs. You can try to use the generic, default printer driver to see if that works.

Install Printer Driver

The first thing to do is try to install a new printer driver from the manufacturer’s website. Most printer manufacturers will make it easy to find and download the new drivers for your model on their websites. Often, once you have downloaded the driver, there will be an option to delete the old driver - choose yes. If you want, you can also go to Printers and Faxes, find the driver and manually delete it before you download a new one.

Install the Generic Driver

You can also test the driver by reinstalling the generic printer driver. Go to Start and then Printers and Faxes. Click on Add a Printer under Printer Tasks. You will see the Add a Printer wizard. Click Next. Click on “Local printer attached to this computer” and make sure “Automatically detect and install my plug and play printer” is not checked. Click Next. Chose File for the port and click Next. Under Manufacturers, click Generic and next. You will be asked whether the printer is the default. Choose Yes and then Next. Do not opt to print a test page. Click on Finish. After the drivers have installed, go to a Word document and try to print it.

Detect and Repair

If reinstalling the printer drivers doesn’t work, you can use Microsoft’s Detect and Repair feature to reinstall missing or damaged program files. Get into Word and go to Help. Click on Detect and Repair and choose Start. You may be prompted to install the Word CD ROM. Do so and click OK. If you have Word 2007, Detect and Repair has been replaced with Microsoft Office Diagnostics. Go to the Office button, click Word Options > Resources > Microsoft Office Diagnostics and follow the prompts.

If you find that you are still having problems, there are other, more involved methods to find the problem such as clean boot troubleshooting. I really think new drivers will solve your problem, but if you need more help, please let us know.

Office 2007 Service Pack 2

Sounds like we may have two separate issues here. The color selection tool problem may be related to a recent update to the software or damage within the Microsoft Office suite. Microsoft recently issued a service pack for Microsoft Office 2007. Before we begin, think about when the problems began. The Office 2007 service pack was issued on April 24, 2009 as an “important” update, so if your problems began around then, it’s possible that the service pack is to blame. If you suspect that the service pack has adversely affected your computer, you can download the Service Pack Uninstall Tool for Microsoft Office 2007.

However, since this service pack is an important update, it’s not necessarily automatic, so there’s also the possibility that your version of Office is out of date. Installing the service pack could correct your errors with Word and Excel. So, even though I know the advice sounds contrary to what I just said, you might want to download and install it. When it comes to updates and service packs, errors can work both ways. Sometimes the updates cause errors; other times they fix them. When updates cause more problems than they fix, they’re eventually updated with yet another update.

Repairing Office

If you think that your copy of Office might have damaged files, then you can “repair” Office easily enough. In Office 2007, go to the Office button while in Word and then click Word Options. Click the Resources link and choose Run Microsoft Office Diagnostics > Diagnose. In earlier versions of Office, use the Detect and Repair Tool which is found under the Help menu. These diagnostics tools will scan your copy of Office and repair or replace any damaged files.

~WRS Files

Now, let’s take a look at the ~WRS file. When you see a Word file with the tilde (~) mark at the beginning of the file name, this indicates a temporary file. A similar issue, albeit with a different file name than appears in your error message, involved problems with Word saving temporary files properly when it was closed. This error occurred with Word users who had HP printers set as their default printer. The workaround was to set a different printer as the default until HP eventually released an updated printer driver to solve this issue. If you have an HP printer, updating its printer driver or using an alternative printer as the default should solve this problem.

Sounds like, yes, you will need to do a little bit of work to get your fully functional version of Office working once again. Since you have the disc and product key, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Upgrade the Trial Version or Remove and Reinstall?

Two different approaches to this problem exist: upgrade trial version and uninstall/reinstall. Some versions of the Office Trial version are upgradable to the full version which eliminates the need for uninstalling and reinstalling the software, so this is the first thing to try.

Note that you can only upgrade the trial version for the retail version that you have. For example, since you have Office Home and Student 2007, the trial version on your computer must be the trial version for the Office Home and Student 2007 software. If the trial version is for a different version of Office, then uninstall it and use your disc to install your software.

Assuming the trial version is the Office Home and Student 2007 version (as that’s most likely), let’s move on. Launch the trial version and see if the Activation Wizard appears. If so, click the option that says, “I do not want to activate my copy. Instead, I want to convert to the full version now.” Click the Next button followed by Enter Product Key. From there, enter your 25-digit product key which should be affixed to the CD case of your Office 2007 disc. Click Continue and agree to the terms. Click Install. Now, your trial version is actually the fully functional version!

What if the Activation Wizard doesn’t appear? That probably means that you’ve already activated the trial version so that you can start using Word, Excel, and the other programs. No problem, launch Word and then click the Office button. Click on Word Options and then on the Resources link in the left pane. Click Activate. From there, you’ll enter the product key and convert the Office trial version into the fully functional version of Office 2007.

If the trial version is not upgradable, use Add and Remove Programs (Programs and Features in Vista) to remove it before installing the Office 2007 disc.

While both computers may have the same software version, it’s not uncommon for different users to have made different adjustments to the interface. This is true of any software offering any level of customization.

Disappearing Menu Bar

The File | Edit | View | Insert | Format | Tools | Table | Window | Help display that you are referring to is called the “menu bar.” When the menu bar disappears, it’s extremely difficult to work unless you know all of the keyboard shortcuts for your favorite commands. Fortunately, restoring the menu bar is relatively easy.

Full Screen Mode

The first thing to check is to see whether you are running Project in full screen mode or not. Full screen mode automatically removes the toolbars and menu bar so that more of your document is visible on the screen. To switch to regular mode, press Alt + V and then press U.

Checking the Toolbar Settings

First, if you have any toolbar showing in the upper screen at all, right-click a blank area of one of the toolbars. Does a submenu come up? Does it have a line that says “menu bar?” If so, click the menu bar line to enable its reappearance. This works in many programs including Internet Explorer. This technique is useful whenever you suspect that a toolbar is missing from any number of software products.

Using the View Menu Command to Restore the Menu Bar

Press the Alt + V keys which will open up the View Menu command. Now, press T to display the Toolbar menu.

Resetting Menu Bar                  

Another option is to try resetting your toolbars to the default setting. To do this, press Alt + T + C. This opens the Customize Toolbars command. Here you can select the menu bar and choose “reset.” This should replace your missing menus.

Tables as a Design Element

Whether you’re working with tables in Microsoft Word, Excel, or even a Web page, the table’s layout is a key design consideration. In fact, many Web pages are plotted out in tables rather than one solid block where the text and images fall wherever they may. Tables, which are like configurable grids, allow the designer to accurately place each of the elements on the page and control its alignment. Without tables, text, photos, and other elements are harder to control.

Using Tables to Align Text or Numbers

Just as you can center, justify, indent, align, and manipulate text in a regular document, so too can you do the same in tables. For example, if you were to create a table in Microsoft Word and wanted all of your text in column 1 aligned left, you would simply enter your text, highlight the column and then click the left alignment icon in Word’s toolbar. This works for single cells, columns, and rows.

In addition, you can align the entire column within your page through the Table Properties dialog box. Go into Table Properties by right-clicking the small table symbol (it looks like a plus sign) and choosing Table Properties. Once inside this dialog box, choose the alignment that meets your needs.

In Excel, the entire workbook is like one giant table. To adjust the alignment, simply highlight the cells that you want to align and then click the desired alignment icon on the toolbar. Excel offers even more table alignment options. For example, if you to Tools >Format Cells (or click the Alignment icon in the Home tab of Excel 2007) and then go to the Alignment tab, you can choose from both horizontal and vertical alignment types as well as rotate the text 180 degrees.

Word’s AutoFormat Tool

Okay, I feel your pain. What you are seeing in action is Word’s AutoFormat feature. When enabled, a series of dashes followed by pressing the Enter key automatically become a Word border. If you act quickly, you can undo this change by either pressing the little lightning bolt symbol that appears and then choosing Undo Border Line.

But as you discovered, if you don’t act quickly, removing this border line becomes an exercise in frustration. In fact, the first thing that I did when starting this article was type in a series of dashes and press Enter. I, too, have an annoying border line that is stubbornly refusing to go away.

Unlike a line inserted using drawing tools, you can’t simply click the line and then press the Delete key. Plus, you can’t even simply copy and paste your text elsewhere because the line follows you.

Steps for Removing the Page Border

In Word 2003, try placing your cursor just above the line and then go to the Format > Borders and Shadings menu. Choose None. You may need to highlight the line first or choose Control + A for selecting all text.

In 2007, the steps are different. Word 2007 users need to go to Page Layout and click the Page Borders icon. From there, click the Borders tab and choose None. Since I have Word 2007, I used these steps. After much fiddling, the pesky line finally disappeared.

If your first few efforts don’t work, keep trying. My line finally disappeared when I placed the cursor at the end of the text just preceding the line.

Preventing Future AutoFormat Lines from Appearing

If you want to prevent future lines from appearing, you can turn off AutoFormat borders as you type option. Go to Tools > Auto Correct> AutoFormat as you type. Find the “Apply as you type” section and remove the checkmark for border lines.

Microsoft Office is finicky about installing when the computer has another version of it lurking in the background. Since you’ve already uninstalled the trial version of Office Professional, I’m wondering if your computer might not have another trial version installed on it. For example, many computer manufacturers preinstall the trial version of the Home and Student version of Office 2007. Another possibility is that the uninstall somehow failed. Let’s take a look in the Add & Remove Programs (Programs and Features in Vista) section to see if we can find any versions of Office that may have been overlooked.

Add and Remove Programs

Go to Start > Control Panel and find either Add and Remove Programs or Programs and Features (depending on your operating system). Scroll through the list to make sure that no instances of Microsoft Office are installed. If any are, remove them. If you do find a version of Office on your computer and remove it, you should now be able to load the new version from your Microsoft Office disc.

Manual MS Office Removal Steps

On the other hand, if Add and Remove programs didn’t show any additional copies of Office or didn’t work, the next step is to try a manual workaround. The uninstaller program that you used should have completely uninstalled Office but it appears that something has been left behind and is tricking the new installation program into thinking that Microsoft Word is still on your computer. Since it sounds like original trial version was partially uninstalled, you may have a leftover file in an installation folder or the Windows registry.

Manually removing Microsoft Office is a complex process involving:

• Removing Microsoft Office installer packages
• Stopping the Office Source Engine service
• Removing Microsoft Office installation folders
• Removing Microsoft Office installation files
• Removing registry subkeys for Microsoft Office

Fortunately, Microsoft provides a step-by-step knowledge base article detailing these steps. Read Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 928218 and follow the steps. Restart the computer and try installing your copy of Office from CD. It should work now that all of the leftover installation files have been removed.