The Mighty Mouse: Enhancing Spreadsheet Productivity
The mouse became popular in the early days of personal computers because it simplified their use. Today the mouse and other pointing devices increasingly are being integrated into mainstream accounting applications, especially those for Windows. Richard A. Johnson, CPA, PhD, associate professor of accounting, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Maryland, provides an overview of some of the innovative ways the mouse is being used to increase spreadsheet productivity. When computer users first encounter a mouse, they generally have difficulty synchronizing its movements. With a little practice, they discover the device speeds computer commands, adding significant power to many software applications. While the examples in this article are drawn from using a mouse with Microsoft Excel 4.0 for Windows, similar effects can be achieved with other Windows spreadsheets. With the growing popularity of graphical environments, pictures representing program functions - called icons - increasingly replace menu selections or typed commands. Such icons are depicted along the sides and top of exhibit 1, page 92. For example, in this exhibit a dollar sign is the icon that represents currency formatting. By clicking a mouse button while the cursor is on the icon, users can launch the command it represents. (Using a mouse with a spreadsheet program is an efficient way of maneuvering around the screen, too.) In Excel, individual icons are called "tools," and sets of related icons are grouped into categories called "toolbars." While many tools available through toolbars also can be accessed through a drop-down command menu, toolbars provide a visual cue of the available functions move or copy objects to different screen locations. It's especially handy when working with a range of spreadsheet cells. Individual cells or groups of cells can be moved simply by dragging the border of selected cells to a new location. If the CONTROL key is held down at the same time, the cells are copied instead of moved. Exhibit 3, page 93, shows such a group of cells. When the mouse pointer is properly positioned on the selected cells, it transforms into an arrow, providing visual confirmation that it is correctly positioned to begin the drag and drop process. Another innovation is Autofill, also shown in exhibit 3. Autofill quickly enters a logical sequence of months, days, dates, times or numbers in a range of cells. …