If you start a spreadsheet instead of a word processing document, you'll be surprised at how nicely things fall into place. There are three major spreadsheets that people are using - Excel (which comes with MS Office) QuattroPro (which comes with WordPerfect) and MSWorks Spreadsheet. They all do the job, and they all work pretty much the same.

One of the scary things about starting a spreadsheet is the fact that all of the columns are of equal size, as are all the rows. But if you put your mouse at the very top of the column between A & B, right on the dividing line, you'll see that it becomes a different "arrow" and has the text "Adjust" showing. When you see that, click/HOLD and drag the mouse to the right to adjust the left column. Be sure to drag it over far enough to allow you to type information without going past the end of the cell. You can always re-adjust the column later for proper printing.

Resize subsequent columns as needed, and in the very top row of each column, type the name of the information that column holds. For CDs, for instance, you might want the columns to read "ARTIST" - "ALBUM" - "YEAR" - "1-10" (to indicate your rating)

Once you have your columns built the way you want them, you can start entering data. After you've entered several lines, you should File, Save As and name the file, saving it to whatever location you prefer - usually My Documents. Then every 15 or 20 entries, you should save again - only you can then just click File, Save - or use the Save icon on the toolbar.

Check your program to see if you can set up an "auto save" feature, so that your work saves automatically at a pre-set time. That can save a LOT of headache.

When you print the spreadsheet, the numbers along the left won't show, nor will the letters of the columns - that information is there so you can go to a certain cell in the spreadsheet if you wish. This is not normally used when doing inventory lists.

If you decide you want to change the font after you've started, you can click Edit, Select All and then choose a new font and/or font size. Whatever you choose will affect the entire document. Be aware, however, that it probably won't change any new entries you make.

As you go along with your work, check now and then to make sure that all of the data entered fits into the current column width. If it doesn't, you can resize the columns easily. If you find that making the columns wider doesn't allow you to print in Portrait mode, try Landscape. That setting is usually made under File, Page Setup.

I would also recommend that you use the Print Preview. If the columns are too wide, then you get columns A-G, but H-J end up on a page of their own. This will show in the Print Preview window. If it shows that there are 2 pages instead of 1 page, you can try to adjust the font size and then narrow the columns, or change the page layout to Landscape instead of Portrait.

Fonts

You need to keep an eye on how many fonts you have in Windows - some programs don't really want you to have 800 - 1,000 different fonts. It gets rather tricky deleting fonts, as there are some that are required by Windows, and some that are the normal default of other programs.

Here is a list of DO NOT DELETE fonts:

You can get more information about deleting fonts at:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/aboutgraphics/a/fontoverload_3.htm

There you will find more about what fonts should be left because certain programs use them as defaults. When in doubt about deleting any particular font, be sure to check with that page, or with someone you know that has deleted fonts without dire results.