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Excel - Excel Prank: Freak out your manager with this April Fools Day trick! - Episode 476

291 views · Published 11 May 2009 · 4:11 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial - Excel Prank: Freak out your manager with this April Fools Day trick!

Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast! I'm Bill Jelen and today is a special day - it's Friday, April Fools Day! My favorite day of the year, but unfortunately, it falls on a Sunday this year. So, I have a great trick that you can use today, Friday, or even on Monday. It may not be as good as pulling a prank on April Fools Day, but it's still a fun one to try out.

Do you have a lot of data in Excel that needs to be proofread? Well, there's a great feature in Excel that can help with that. Simply go to Tools, Speech, and select "Show Text-to-Speech Toolbar". This will bring up a small toolbar that allows you to read cells out loud. Just select the cells you want to hear and click "Speak Cells". Excel will then read the data to you. Pretty cool, right?

But here's where the prank comes in. The last button on the Text-to-Speech Toolbar is called "Speak on Enter". If you turn this on and then close the toolbar, every time your manager types something in Excel, the computer will repeat it back to them in a robotic voice. It's like having your own personal computer from Star Trek! This is a great trick for pulling a few laughs, and you can even hide the toolbar so no one knows who did it.

Now, if you're using Excel 2007, the Text-to-Speech Toolbar is no longer available. But don't worry, you can still use this prank. Just right-click on the Quick Access Toolbar, choose "Customize", and then select "Commands Not in the Ribbon". From there, you can add the Speech commands to your toolbar, turn on the "Speak on Enter" feature, and then remove the commands from the toolbar so it stays hidden. Your manager will be left wondering how their computer suddenly gained a voice.

But here's a fun fact - did you know that in the Control Panel, you can choose from different voices for the Text-to-Speech feature? Most computers have Microsoft Sam as the default voice, but you can also choose from Michael or Michelle. And if you really want to annoy your coworkers, you can even adjust the speed of the voice. Trust me, it's hilarious.

I always show this trick in my Power Excel seminars and it never fails to get a laugh. And speaking of laughs, I hope you have a great April Fools Day and try out this prank on your coworkers. And if you're in the United States, don't forget to stop by on Monday for a special baseball-themed podcast. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time!

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Bills favorite Excel-related April Fools day trick will freak out your manager. Take a look at how this old trick plays out in the old Excel, the new Excel, and in Vista. Episode 476 shows you how.

This blog is the video podcast companion to the book, Learn Excel from MrExcel. Download a new two minute video every workday to learn one of the 277 tips from the book!

Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction and April Fools Day
(00:24) Trick for April Fools Day
(00:39) Excel feature for proofreading data
(00:49) Text-to-speech tool bar
(01:10) Speak on enter feature
(01:39) Using the trick in Excel 2007
(02:12) Different voices available for text-to-speech
(03:00) Options for changing the voice speed
(03:33) Better voice in Windows Vista
(03:46) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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