Part VII: Appendixes
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Table C.1 lists the most popular English-language Excel newsgroups found on the Microsoft news server
(and also available at Google Groups).TABLE C.1The Microsoft.com Excel-Related Newsgroups
Newsgroup Topicmicrosoft.public.excel General Excel topics
microsoft.public.excel.charting Building charts with Excel
microsoft.public.excel.interopoledde OLE, DDE, and other cross-application issues
microsoft.public.excel.macintosh Excel issues on the Macintosh operating system
microsoft.public.excel.misc General topics that don’t fit one of the other categories
microsoft.public.excel.newusers Help for newcomers to Excel
microsoft.public.excel.printing Printing with Excel
microsoft.public.excel.programming Programming Excel with VBA macros
microsoft.public.excel.templates Spreadsheet Solutions templates and other Xlt files
microsoft.public.excel.worksheet.functions Worksheet functionsSearching newsgroups
The fastest way to find a quick answer to a question is to search the past newsgroup postings. Often, search-
ing past newsgroup postings is an excellent alternative to posting a question to the newsgroup because you
can get the answer immediately. Unless your question is very obscure, there’s an excellent chance that your
question has already been asked and answered. The best source for searching newsgroup postings is Google
Groups, at the following Web address:
http://groups.google.comHow does searching work? Suppose that you have a problem identifying unique values in a range of cells.
You can perform a search using the following keywords: Excel, Range, and Unique. The Google search
engine probably will find dozens of newsgroup postings that deal with these topics.
If the number of results is too large, refine your search by adding search terms. Sifting through the messages
may take a while, but you have an excellent chance of finding an answer to your question. In fact, I estimate
that at least 90 percent of the questions posted in the Excel newsgroups can be answered by searching
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