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Hidden Treasures in System Information

by Beth Melton, MVP, MOS Master Instructor
Skill rating level 4.

Have you ever wondered how many columns, rows, or cells you've used in an Excel Workbook? What about a quick list of all styles in use and their descriptions or a list of all hyperlinks and fields in a Word document?

This type of information, and more, is just a few clicks away!

Aside from the stats for your system such as processor, operating system, or memory, System Information also reveals valuable information on the Office document you currently have open.

If you don't know how to access System Information, start any Office application and select Help then click About (Application Name). There you'll find a command for System Info.

Once in System Information expand the branch for Office 10 Applications or Applications.

System Information Dialog Box

The information you are able to view for each application depends on your operating system*, the application(s) currently running, and the file(s) you have open. For some categories the information is relates to the active window and placement of your cursor.

Out of all applications, Word contains the most information and is the application where I primarily utilize the data found in System Information. Here is a list of some of my favorites:

Category Description

Fields

Total number of fields, type, and field code.

If you need to determine Locked/Unlocked fields in a document the information provided is invaluable!

Also a handy way to copy a field code instead of the value of the field.

Headers and Footers

Aside from listing Headers and Footers in a document, in long documents this is a quick way to scan linked/unlinked Headers and Footers.

Hyperlinks

Provides details on all hyperlinks in the active document.

If you need a list of just the hyperlinks, hold Ctrl to select multiple hyperlink addresses, and then copy/paste the selected hyperlinks.

Styles

Lists all active styles and their descriptions.

Wonderful tool for style documentation and troubleshooting!

Settings

Provides list of the majority of user preferences found under Tools/Options and Tools/AutoCorrect

Tables

Lists Table Properties for the active table such as table location, total number of columns and rows, nested tables, etc.

Additional Notes: Application information does not automatically update. Use View/Refresh to update display.

If you have multiple versions of Office installed the Application name may not correspond with the details.

Useful Commands: Hold Ctrl for noncontiguous selection
                              Hold Shift for contiguous selection
                              Press Ctrl + A to select all
                              Press Ctrl + C to copy
                              Use File/Export to export selected branch as text

* Information provided was obtained using System Information 7.0 found in Windows XP.

 

 

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