Make it easy for users to enter symbols in Excel worksheets

While Excel has a number of special characters for you to work with, they require a number of menu choices to insert them. You can speed up data entry by creating a button or shortcut key for inserting frequently used special characters. For example, suppose the Sales Journal worksheet requires the user to enter a check mark in column D for each transaction posted to the Sales account in the General Ledger. To create a shortcut key, follow these steps:

1. Go to Tools | Macro | Record New Macro.
2. Enter Check Mark in the Macro name box.
3. Enter K in the [Ctrl] box.
4. Click OK.
5. Go to Insert | Symbols.
6. Click the Symbols tab and scroll to and select Wingdings from the Font drop-down menu.
7. Scroll to and select the ✓ symbol.
8. Click Close.
9. Go to Tools | Macro | Stop Recording.

To enter the Check Mark into the Sales Journal worksheet column D cell, press [Ctrl]K. You can also create a button for the Formatting toolbar that will enter the Check Mark. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Tools | Customize.
2. Click the Commands tab and select Macros under Categories.
3. Under the Commands list, click and drag the Custom button to the Formatting toolbar.
4. Click the Close button.
5. Right-click the Custom button, move to Change button image, and click the picture of the pencil.
6. Right-click the Custom button and select Assign Macro.
7. Click Check Mark and then click OK.