Software Africa News - January 2025

Main Article ~ Online Business Tip ~ Excel Tip ~ Training Tip

Rick's Editorial:

Welcome. We hope you all had a happy, safe, and festive season. We wish you a prosperous 2025!

Autodesk customers, please note the following: 

URGENT: Autodesk Prices Increase 4%-11% on 7 January 2025

Do you have an AutoCAD renewal coming up in the next 3 months?  Get current pricing and beat the increase on Tuesday!  We will need to receive payment by 16:00 on Monday 6 January 2025.  Please contact us urgently for this by return email, or phone 011 802-6440.

Autodesk says there will be a Suggested Retail Price increase in South Africa on 7 January 2025. These changes are:

Multi-year subscriptions will continue to receive a renewal discount of 5% over the new seat pricing, but Annual subscriptions will now cost the same as a new seat.  Hence, if you do not renew on time, you might as well rather buy a new package and score the days for which you were unable to use your package.  Autodesk's logic in this escapes us, as do many of the doings of Autodesk.

There will also be a biennial (once every two years) M2S price increase of around 5% expected on 7 May 2025.

Please note that this increase is NOT due to recent Rand/Dollar weakening. It an Autodesk price rise in USD for the whole of Africa. Another increase is possible, since the South African Rand has depreciated recently.

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On-Line Business Tip #92 – Get Back the Window Arrangement you had when Screensaver Started

Since setting up my current laptop with multiple monitors, I have an interesting problem: When I log on again after the screensaver has come on or I have hibernated the computer, the windows I had open have resized and moved to another monitor.  This is a nuisance!

You would expect that Microsoft Windows would put its windows back where they were, wouldn't you?  Or at least have a setting to turn such a feature on? There may be for Windows 11, but nothing offered online for Windows 10 seems to work.  Do you have any fix for this?

In desperation, I added to my Flag Changes toolbar an option to save window positions and move open windows to the saved positions at the click of a button.  It works nicely and saves me a lot of time.  Would this be useful to anyone else?  Reply to let me know.

The Excel for Engineers Online Course is Live

The Excel for Engineers course is on our online platform, systeme.io.  It has video in most lessons,  This is the most complete one we have produced. There are extra sample files and material we don't have time for on the regular two-day live course.

Why should you take the Excel for Engineers course?

The course is chock-full of benefits for any Excel user in a technical field.  Using 19 pre-built spreadsheets (yours to keep), we comprehensively cover using Excel as an Engineering and Scientific Tool.

Do it at your own pace at times that suit you.  Take half an hour a day and complete it in a month.  Spend an hour a day and finish it in two weeks.  Or dedicate two days –a weekend, perhaps?– and crack the whole course.  Then revise until your memory is solid.

Sign Up Now and get three Free Bonuses.

Excel Tip #239 – Problem: A Basic Drop-Down List

In a previous tip, the customer had a spreadsheet where various issues were rated by severity as H (High), M (Medium), or L (Low)  They wanted a pie chart where the number of issues at each level could be displayed.  The relevant part of the spreadsheet looked like this:

How did they get that drop-down list on the right?  Here's how:

  1. In a new sheet (or somewhere out of the way), type the entries you want to appear in your drop-down list. For example:
     
    Data Validation
    Rating Description
    H Was logged since last progress Meeting
    M Work is currently being carried out and there is no delay
    L The Action is now behind the original due date
  2. Optionally, give the list a Range Name (in the above case, name only the cells containing H, M, and L).
  3. Select the cell in the worksheet where you want the drop-down list.
  4. On the Ribbon, click on the Data tab. In the  Data Tools group, choose Data Validation > Data Validation.
  5. On the Settings tab, in the Allow box, select List.
  6. Click in the Source box, then select your list range (or type "=" and the range name).
  7. If it’s OK for people to leave the cell empty, tick the Ignore blank box.
  8. Make sure that the "In-cell dropdown" box is ticked.
  9. Your dialog box should now look like the picture below.
  10. Click OK.

Next time: More sophistication: Input Message & Error Alert!

Be More Fulfilled by Learning a Timesaving New Excel Skill

Do you use Microsoft Excel a lot?  Do you repeat the same actions every week or month?  You can record them and simply play those actions back –lightning-fast– at the press of a button.  Take the Excel Macros online course now and learn how!  Do the repetitive work in a flash, instead of repeating the same boring stuff by hand.  Save hours not working late, and spend more time with your family...  The Software Africa Quick 'n Easy Turbo-Start Excel Macros course is online.  Take it now, and lead a better life.

Computius Say:

Air conditioned environment - Do NOT open Windows!

Remember:  We can make your business run better by:

All the Best from
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