June, 2007

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have a lot of users who let unread email messages pile up in their Outlook Inboxes; after awhile, that causes their Inboxes to fill up. How can I write a script users could run that would delete any unread messages that are more...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I write a script that prompts the user for a computer name, then goes out and deletes that computer account from Active Directory? -- PH Hey, PH. As a general rule, technical writers never experience writer’s block. Why...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I remap network drives so they point to the IP address of the remote computer rather than the computer name? -- YM Hey, YM. You know, yesterday we started off this column by saying, “Never mind,” referring to the fact that...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a huge document that features occasional lines printed in red. How can I extract just the lines that are printed in red? -- GH Hey, GH. To begin with, the Scripting Guy who writes this column would like to say just one thing...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I create a folder for each user in my domain? I’d like the folder name to consist of the user’s first initial and their last name (for example, KMyer). -- GN Hey, GN. You know, this has been an interesting week for the Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I delete a row in an Excel spreadsheet if there is a specific value in column A of that row? -- OI Hey, OI. Before we get rolling on today’s column, have we mentioned that time is beginning to run out on the Scripting Guys...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I open a window to a UNC location? You've given many examples that involve opening a web page. I have been unable to get a similar result trying to get a script to open \\server\share. -- CY Hey, CY. You know, during the...

Hey, Scripting Guy! When I create a new Excel spreadsheet, I’d like to color every other row in that spreadsheet. How can I do that? -- TM Hey, TM. We know a lot of you have been wondering, “Gee, what’s the matter with the Scripting Guy who writes...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I insert commas at specified locations in each line in a text file? -- MM Hey, MM. Seeing as how Father’s Day has just come and gone we couldn’t talk about inserting commas into text files without first relating a heartwarming...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I delete all the users whose name starts with GER/ad_ from the local Administrators group on a computer? -- ID Hey, ID. It’s a Friday as the Scripting Guy who writes this column writes this column. Usually Fridays are a...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I randomly select an email from an Outlook mail folder? -- TV Hey, TV. You know, for a brief moment last night the Scripting Guy who writes this column thought he had achieved every father’s dream. The Scripting Dad and...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’m running Word 2007, but most of my colleagues are still running Word 2003. Is there a way I can use a script to change the default file type when saving documents in Word? I’d prefer that, by default, documents are saved in Word...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a file that has the name BackupFile-06122007.txt, where the 06122007 represents yesterday’s date (June 12, 2007). Each morning I would like to run a script that changes the name of that file so that it uses today’s date: BackupFile...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’ve seen Word documents where the file name appears in the footer. Except that this file name is dynamic: if the name of the document changes then the footer changes, too. How can I add that kind of a footer using a script? -- ZK...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I clear the contents of a text file? -- JJ Hey, JJ. Well, today is Monday, June 11 th , and the Scripting Guys are finally back from a week in Orlando . After all that time spent lounging around in luxury hotels, eating...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of all the .PDF files (only the file names; I don’t want the file path or file extension) in a folder and its subfolders, and then put that list into a text file? -- PS Hey, PS. You know, PS, this is actually...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I create a shortcut where the target path is an executable file that uses parameters (for example, something.exe -t –s )? -- MC Hey, MC. A week or so ago we mentioned that we were going to make some changes to Hey, Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I saw your article on adding page numbers to the footer of a Word document . However, I need my page numbers to be in the format "Page X of Y," where X is the current page number and Y is the total number of pages. How can I do that...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add the letter s to the end of a specified field for each record in an Access database? -- A Hey, A. It’s day 2 of TechEd 2007 and the Scripting Guys are still sitting here in the CMP Media booth (that’s booth No. 1301...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I copy selected columns from a CSV file to an Excel file? -- MdP Hey, MdP. One thing that people always worry about (and rightly so) is that one of these days the Scripting Guys will do something that tears a hole in the...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We backed up a whole bunch of files in a folder; when these files were backed up the word "old" was inserted as part of the file extension (e.g., Filename.exe became Filename. old exe). How can I restore these files to their original...