Gallery: Use Excel to create secure Pin reminders

Once you’ve laid out the letters in this way, ensure that they’re legible by checking in Print Preview. In Office 2007, click the Office button, followed by Print then Print Preview. In earlier versions of Excel, Print Preview is found in the File menu. Close Print Preview and, if deemed necessary, adjust the font and point size of the letters entered. The card needs to be easily read to avoid fumbling and squinting at the cash point or check out. A quick glance should be all that’s needed to read the Pin.

In the cells next to the letters that make up the selected four-letter word, enter each digit of the Pin. Assuming that ‘bank’ is the chosen code word and the Pin is ‘9331’, put 9 in the cell next to the letter B, 3 next to A, another 3 next to N and 1 alongside K. This provides an easy way to look up the Pin using the code word. Now it’s important to enter numbers in the cells next to every other letter so that no one else can read the Pin from this card. We’ll get Excel to generate random numbers.

Click in the first empty cell next to a letter not included in the code word. Type the formula =RAND()*10 into this cell and press Enter. Select the cell again and choose Copy on the toolbar or select Edit, Copy if the icon isn’t shown. In Excel 2007 the copy icon is in the Home tab of the ribbon. Alternatively, just use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl and C.

Select the remaining empty cells and paste the formula into them. Choose Paste from the Edit menu, or the paste icon from the toolbar or the Home tab of the ribbon, depending on the version of Excel used. Alternatively, just hold down Ctrl on the keyboard and tap V. As things stand, the numbers generated by the formula we’ve used may include decimal places. This would be a dead giveaway, so we need to limit the generated results to whole numbers. Select the whole sheet and choose Number from the Home tab, followed by number formats, Number. In earlier versions of Excel pick Number from the Format menu. Change the number of decimal places to zero and click OK.

Print the spreadsheet and cut out the section including the letters and numbers. Stick this on a card to carry around in your wallet. Refer to the card and use the code word to remind you of your Pin when needed. We’d also suggest deleting the file used to generate the card, as this could potentially reveal the Pin if someone looks for the numbers that aren’t generated randomly. Create a new card for each Pin. There’s no need to change the code word, but ensure that each card is a different colour to tell them apart.

Print the spreadsheet and cut out the section including the letters and numbers. Stick this on a card to carry around in your wallet. Refer to the card and use the code word to remind you of your Pin when needed. We’d also suggest deleting the file used to generate the card, as this could potentially reveal the Pin if someone looks for the numbers that aren’t generated randomly. Create a new card for each Pin. There’s no need to change the code word, but ensure that each card is a different colour to tell them apart.