As Christmas 2011 approaches we thought it would be a nice idea to list some geeky gifts that you can give to yourself. And the best thing is that they're all completely free!

Santa Claus has decided not to use Microsoft Project to manage the present distribution process - read this blog to find out why!

Although it's usually easiest to create references to other applications using Tools -> References as described in an earlier blog, you can use the method shown in this blog instead.

Even if you're writing Visual Basic macros within Excel, there's nothing to stop you inserting text into Word documents, manipulating PowerPoint slides or sending Outlook emails. This blog explains how to reference other applications, and write macros in Excel to link to other Microsoft Office software

Some tasks in Excel always seem to take longer than they should - if only you knew a bunch of quick shortcuts to speed up the simple things. Read on to see how much time you could save!

What happens when your macros go wrong? That depends what error-handling you have in place. Learn how to use ON ERROR and other commands to trap errors in a structured way.

This series of blogs is intended to provide online training in how to debug in Visual Basic for Applications, including using breakpoints and the immediate window.

Want to do something when a user opens a workbook, or stop them clicking on a particular cell? You need to learn how to attach code to Excel workbook or worksheet events!

There are 4 types of loop in Visual Basic for Applications - this blog shows how and when to use each type of VBA loop structure.

This part of the Excel VBA training series of blogs shows how to use IF / ELSE / END IF within VBA, and also how to use the alternative SELECT / CASE syntax within macros.

One of the most time-consuming things when creating charts in Excel is having to format them. This blog shows you how to save and reuse custom charts to ensure that you'll never have to format a chart again!

When you create a chart, by default Excel always tries to give you a boring old column chart. If you primarily create pie charts it can be really annoying having to change the chart type every time you create one. This blog shows you how to set Excel to always create the type of chart that you want.

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is what's called an object-orientated programming language. This blog explains what this means!

Report Builder and BIDS (the Visual Studio add-in for creating Reporting Services reports) are essentially the same underneath their very different looking skins. This blog lists the small number of differences.

This blog shows how to create multivalue parameters based on dropdowns, whether in SQL Server Reporting Services or Report Builder 3.0.

Struggling to install Report Builder 3.0 because of a message about the .NET 3.5 framework? The problem is more likely to be to do with Internet Explorer 9.0, as this blog explains.

When you enter dates into cells in Microsoft Excel you're initially limited to a short list of fairly boring formats. Using custom date formats means that you can display your dates in almost any way you like!

This blog gives training on writing CTEs in SQL, or Common Table Expressions to give them their full title. The blog also includes a section on creating recursive CTEs.

If you want training in how to use temporary tables in SQL, read on! This blog shows how to create temporary tables and how to drop them safely whether or not they exist. Finally, the blog lists the pros and cons of using temporary tables in SQL.

This article looks at one of the new features in Conditional Formatting in Excel 2007/2010 which we can use to make our boring lists more interesting!