Excel 2020: A Great April Fool’s Day Trick

December 14, 2020 - by Bill Jelen

A Great April Fool’s Day Trick Photo credit: Ferdinand Stöhr at Unsplash.com.

Do you want a harmless prank to pull on a co-worker? When he leaves his desk to grab a cup of coffee, add the fifth icon to his Quick Access Toolbar: Speak Cells on Enter. Click the icon once, and the computer will say, “Cells will now be spoken on Enter.”

Once you’ve turned on Speak Cells on Enter, right-click the icon in the Quick Access Toolbar and choose Remove from Quick Access Toolbar to hide any sign that you were there.

To complete the April Fool's Day prank, right click Speak Cells on Enter and choose Remove From Quick Access Toolbar.

Your co-worker comes back, sits down, and starts to build a worksheet. The computer repeats back everything the co-worker types.

When the unsuspecting prankee types Income Statement in a cell, the computer will repeat back "Income Statement".

If you have a little more time and want Speak Cells on Enter with attitude, add the following macro to the code pane for the current worksheet.

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target as Range)
	Application.Speech.Speak "Damn Straight! " & Target.Value
End Sub

Here is how to get here. Press Alt+F11 to switch to VBA. Ctrl+R to display the Project Explorer. Find the current workbook and worksheet. RIght-click that worksheet and View Code. In the top left drop-down, choose Worksheet. In the top right drop-down choose Change.

Title Photo: Ferdinand Stöhr at Unsplash.com

This article is an excerpt from MrExcel 2020 - Seeing Excel Clearly.