Q: I can’t find the tabs along the bottom of my Microsoft Works spreadsheet for switching between different spreadsheets. How do I turn them on?

A: It sounds like you’re confusing Microsoft Works’ spreadsheet with its more powerful cousin, Microsoft Excel. Although both spreadsheets look similar on the surface, Microsoft Works’ spreadsheet has a major limitation: It can only work on one spreadsheet at a time.

Excel, by contrast, lets you work on several spreadsheets simultaneously, switching between them by clicking the little tabs in the window’s bottom left corner (shown in the image above).

Microsoft hopes that difference is enough to make people buy the more expensive and feature-packed Excel. However, you might download the free OpenOffice program, to see if its spreadsheet meets your needs. That spreadsheet, called Calc, offers tabs for switching between several spreadsheets.