|
|
|
|
Use the Posts list for posts in this blog.
| Recovering Unsaved Documents in Office 2010 |
We’ve just found a great trick with Office 2010. It’s the ability to recover unsaved documents. Just occasionally, you might accidently close a document without saving it. It seems that I do it more often when I’m up against a deadline
Great news – with Office 2010, you can get the file back! Simply drop into the ‘backstage’ (File) menu, click on ‘Info’ then hit the ‘Manage Versions’ button.
From the menu, pick ‘Recover Unsaved Documents’. You’ll now get a window up with your unsaved files. Simply click on the one you want and there it goes.
| | Save your frequently used table in the Quick Tables gallery |
Works for: Word 2007, Word 2010
You can save a table that you have designed and refined for your needs, so that you can use it again and again. At last, that awesome-looking table you spent ages slaving over can be saved, reused and marvelled at by others, many times over.
1. Create the table, apply formatting and refine the table columns and rows to your specification.
2. Select the table.
3. Go to Insert > Table > Quick Tables and click Save Selection to Quick Tables Gallery.
The table is saved in the Quick Tables Gallery for easy, future access. You can delete any unwanted tables by right mouse clicking over a table in the Gallery and selecting Organize and Delete… | | Using an email address in your email signature |
Works for: Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
You probably already know that you can set your email signature in Outlook, making it easy to provide the recipient of your email with relevant contact details, such as your company website, fax number and direct phone number. You can also add your company logo or any relevant image to the signature.
But, here is something you should double check, especially if you have set your signature by copying an example sent by one of your colleagues (perhaps your office manager has sent a sample signature for you to copy, edit and save to use as your own).
At recent coaching events, I’ve noticed that some users have copied the correct format and layout (following their company’s standards for email signatures), but have inadvertently left the email address hyperlinking to the wrong address. Even if you overtype the email address with your email details, the actual hyperlink still points to the original email address.
To resolve this:
1. Go to Options > Mail > Signatures
2. Select the hyperlinked email address
3. Ensure Text to display displays the correct email address
4. Ensure E-mail address displays the correct email address
5. Click OK to save any changes you make
| | Outlook 2007: Create and use email templates |
Recently, a client asked how to create a template in Outlook 2007, enabling them to quickly compose consistent messages, and reuse the same message again and again. Here’s the quick way to create and then use an email template.
To create a template:
1. Click the New icon to create a new mail message.
2. Type the content for your email template; enter the Subject and other relevant information in the body of the message.
3. Go to Office button > Save As.
4. In File name, enter the name of the template.
5. In Save as type, select Outlook Template from the drop down menu.
6. Click Save.
Use a Template:
1. From Outlook, click Tools > Forms > Choose Form...
2. Browse to your email template, select it and click Open.
3. The template will open, you can still make changes to it, and Save As a new template, if required. Alternatively, add the recipient’s name and send the message.
| | Add random placeholder text to a document |
Sometimes you need to add random text to your document, as a part of a demonstration, or to get the feel of a new layout. I use this quick random text generator during coaching sessions, and it never fails to impress.
1. Type the following formula anywhere in a blank space on your document:
=rand(x,y)
· The equals (=) sign tells Word you are typing a formula.
· Rand is abbreviation for ‘random’.
· x is the number of paragraphs you wish to insert, and y is the number of sentences within the paragraphs.
2. Change the x and y to numerals, e.g. =rand(4,3).
3. Press Enter.
Once you press Enter, text will be automatically added to the document. In the example given in step 2, four paragraphs will appear, each containing 3 sentences.
Try it! It’s a handy way to generate natural looking text at blazing fast speed.
(Works with Word 2003, 2007, 2010) | | Deleting old 'frequent' eMail Addresses |
One of the most popular features in Outlook is the way that it recalls your most commonly used email addresses. We're used to typing in the start of a name, and Outlook magically completes it for us.
Sometimes though, the list gets out of date - old email addresses remain. Even worse, when you accidentally use one of them!
The good news is that its relatively easy to maintain.
Next time you begin to send an email, and the wrong (old) names appear in the address list, just highlight them in the drop-down, and hit 'delete' - that'll fix them so they don't appear again.
One of the neat features on Outlook2010 is that it makes this more obvious by giving you a little 'delete' button - so it's even easier.
| | Comparing two documents in Word |
We get asked for this by our legal clients all the time - "how do I compare two versions of the same document and highlight the changes?"
View documents side by side
Word 2007 enables you to compare two documents, side by side, without having to switch between the documents.
1. Open both of the documents that you wish to compare.
2. On the View tab, click View Side by Side.
By default, both documents will scroll at the same time, but you can control how each document scrolls:
· To scroll both documents at the same time, click Synchronous Scrolling in on the View tab.
· To close Side by Side view, click View Side by Side again to toggle off.
If you don't see View Side by Side or Synchronous Scrolling, click Window on the View tab, and then click View Side by Side or Synchronous Scrolling.
Compare and Merge Changes
You can also compare documents and merge any changes into one document. From the Review tab, select Compare > Compare and browse to the original and revised documents you wish to compare.
After clicking OK, the original, revised and compare documents will open in 3 separate window panes. The 3 panes scroll synchronously.
· The original document displays in the top right hand pane.
· The revised document displays in the bottom right hand pane.
· The compare document displays in the centre.
You can accept any changes by clicking against a difference and then clicking Accept from the Review tab. The review pane details what changes have been made and displays a summary at the top.
1. On the Review tab, click Compare.
2. Click Combine revisions from multiple authors.
3. Under Original document, click the name of the document that you wish to hold the combined changes from reviewers. If you don't see the document in the list, click Browse for Original .
4. Under Revised document, browse for the document that contains the changes suggested by one of the reviewers.
5. Click More.
6. Under Show changes, set relevant options. By default, Word 2007 displays changes to whole words, e.g. if the word ‘dog’ has been changed to ‘dogs’, the entire word ‘dogs’ will show as changed, not just the letter ‘s’.
7. Under Show changes in, click Original document.
8. Click OK.
To change which documents appear on the screen when you click OK, click Hide Source Documents or Show Source Documents on the Review tab.
If you have multiple documents returned from multiple reviewers, you can repeat the steps above comparing two documents and merging changes into the original document.
NOTE: Word can only store one set of formatting changes at a time. When you merge multiple documents, you may be prompted to keep the formatting from the original document, or use the formatting from the edited file. If you don’t need to track formatting changes, you can clear the Formatting checkbox in Compare and Merge Documents dialogue box.
Compare Documents using Legal Blackline
The legal blackline option compares two documents and only displays what has changed between them. The documents that are being compared are not actually changed. The legal blackline comparison is displayed in a third document pane.
1. On the Review tab, click Compare.
2. Click Compare two versions of a document (legal blackline).
3. Under Original document, browse for the document that you want to use as the original.
4. Under Revised document, browse for the other document that you wish to compare.
5. Click More, and select relevant compare settings. In Show changes, choose whether you want to show character or word level changes. If you do not wish to display changes in a third document, choose which document you want the changes to appear in.
NOTE: Any options that you select in More will be the default options for comparison next time you use Compare.
6. Click OK.
7. If either version of the document has tracked changes, Word displays a message box. Click Yes to accept the changes and compare the documents. Word displays a new third document in which tracked changes in the original document are accepted, and changes in the revised document are shown as tracked changes. | | Using Favourites when opening or saving documents |
Often, we use some file directories more than others. We set up a subdirectory for a particular client, or a project, to help us organize our documents. And some of these folders get absolutely hammered as we use them over and over. But each time you go to access that directory, you have to remember to navigate all the way through your directory structures. It can get a bit boring and time consuming.
The answer is sitting right on the screen when we open documents, but often we glance right past it. To the left of the file dialogue is a ‘favorites’ group. These screen shots are from Windows7 and Office2010 but the same basic idea exists in Vista and XP and the concepts will work with those as well.
In the screen above, I’ve set up favourites to our intranet document library, our client documents, admin files and sales files. As it happens, these examples are all on our SharePoint intranet which means I can even access them from home. I’ve also shortcuts to my hard drive, and to my home server – they can be anything that you open files from.
Adding in your favourites is easy. And once you have them, it’s a just a single ‘click’ to access your most-used file directories – no more tedious navigation!!
In this example, I am going to create a shortcut to my company planning folder – I’m busy doing next year’s budgets, business and marketing plans, and I’m using source files quite a lot at the moment, so a shortcut will be very useful.
First, I start to open a file as I usually would. I hit ‘file open’ then navigate to the directories that I use a lot. Once I’m there though, rather than simply opening the file I want, I take one moment to add the directory to my favourites. I simply ‘right-click’ on the word ‘favorites’ in the left hand of the dialogue box, and chose ‘Add current location to favorites’.
That’s it. Finished! Next time I go to open or save a file, the directory is right there in my favorites and it is just a single click to jump straight to it.
| | Screen Snips |
How often have you needed to grab an image from a screen for a user manual, or a logo for a sales proposal or similar?
One of my favourite tools in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is the 'Snipping Tool'. It isn't the most obvious tool, it's not obvious on the start menu, so I've pinned it to my Windows7 task bar.
To find the Snipping tool, type in 'Snip'.
Once you've got the Snipping Tool on your screen, simply click the 'New' button - this will change the mouse icon to a crossbar, and whiten the screen. Drag the mouse, holding down the mousebutton to highlight the area you want to 'snip'.
Now, you've captured your image, and you can hit the Save button to save the image as a PNG, JPG, or GIF, or copy it to the clipboard, or email the image.
It's that easy. As you explore the Snipping Tool, you'll see there are also freeform clips available, along with pen, highlighter and erasers allowing you to mark-up the image.
I find this a really useful tool for doing documentation, or even for writing these hints!
We do caution you to respect the copyright of images you find on the internet. Just because you can copy it, doesn't mean you have the legal right to do so - but of course all our readers are careful of intellectual property! |
| | | Word Calculations |
We know Excel is great at adding up numbers and so forth - but did you know that Word 2007 can too? Its one of the great secrets of Word!
Here's a simple trick to make your Word sales proposals and other documents easier. In your table of data, simply move to the cell where you want the total (or average, count or other summary data), then, on the 'layout' menu, on the right hand side, hit the Fx button.
This will pop up a simple dialogue, giving you a bunch of options. By default it will try and add the numbers above (or the left - it's pretty clever at guessing). There are format options, and a range of formulas you can choose.
We think this is pretty clever. if you change the data, you can recalculate simply by highlighting the cell and hitting F9. Some readers will realise that this works outside tables as well - but that's another story for another hint one day! | | Google Wonder Wheel |
When the Bing search engine was launched, we were delighted to discover the 'related searches' option listed.
Google has a similar trick, and it's presented very cleverly in their "Wonder Wheel".
Next time you search on Google, look for the '+Show Options' on the first line - as we've highlighted in the picture below. It'll put a menu on the left hand side of your screen. From this, choose "Wonder Wheel"
In this example. I searched "Auckland Zoo", then when the wheel gave me the option, I clicked on "Auckland attractions" - and I could keep on going until I found exactly what I wanted. It's very intuitive indeed.
Now, try the "Timeline" option - that's pretty cool as well! Competition is a great thing - the Google/Bing battle is producing some excellent innovations.
(And, you heard it here first - rumour is of a new Google look and feel - with a cleaner logo and these search options being more obvious) | | Translating Foreign Languages |
My eldest daughter has been learning French for a couple of years and is getting quite fluent. The problem is, she is under the misapprehension that I understand what she's saying.
At least for the written stuff, there is an answer. One I've used a few times and one I found in error just this morning.
Firstly, there is Google Translate - it can be found from the 'more' menu.
Once you have this on the screen, you can either key in text, or load up a web page URL and get the whole thing translated. I like the 'hover' feature that helps you see the original text.
But then, today, I stumbled on the Translator Accelerator in IE8. I realise it's been there for a while, and I've been slow to find it!
If you 'right click' on a web page, the translate accelerator is right there in the menu ..
Once you translate content, you have the same hover functionality, but a richer number of presentation options than Google offers. And like Google, its right there on the 'Bing' search menu as well.
Of course, the big question is 'which does the best job', and for that I simply can't comment. Maybe readers might be kind enough to tell us?
| | Displaying Graphs in WSS |
One of my clients show me a brilliant mechanism for displaying graphs in WSS.
The elegance of the solution is breathtaking!
Simply take the spreadsheet with the graph, select the grpah then just save it as an HTML file in your SharePoint forms library somewhere. Choose the 'Publish' option and select 'Auto Republish'. Now, whenever the spreadsheet is saved, the HTML file will be updated. Automatically!!
The last step is simply to go to the webpage where you want to display the graph, and add a 'PageViewer' Webpart. Tell it to link to the HTML file you created above. That's it - done!
Now, whenever your spreadsheet is saved, the graph will be updated, and it will present on your webpage with the latest information. Stunningly simple! | | What's Del.Ico.Us? |
One of the most common questions I get asked at the moment is to explain the little logos that appear on most news websites at the bottom of articles.
The other question we get asked is “Why does it seem that everyone else in the office know what’s cool?” How do they find it? Is there some secret place on the ‘net of neat new stuff where I can find out what’s happening?
| | Zoomin' in Word |
Sometimes, your Word document is simply too big or small to see on the screen, a the right level of detail. The great news is that it's dead easy to zoom in and out so you can get the perfect presentation of your document. | | Choosing a Search Engine? |
For years, Google has had the search market to itself.
Microsoft is fighting back with Bing (quote Kevin Turner, Microsoft COO - "let's make it a verb!")
Personally. I find Bing is smarter. I get more relevant hits faster. But now, you can decide for yourself. Try this little cracker of a website : Bing vs. Google | | Managing the Office 2007 Ribbon |
Love it, or hate it, the 'ribbon' is part of Office 2007, and it's going to be part of Office 2010.
The main criticism of the Office ribbon is the amount of screen space the ribbon takes. But did you know you can hide it? | | Ever need to co-ordinate your appointments with someone in another timezone? |
By default, Outlook shows your calendar in your local timezone. Oddly enough, that suits most people. But did yo know that you can extend Outlook to include a second timezone? | | Quick Access Toolbar in Excel or Word 2007 | | | The most useless key on the keyboard? |
The other day, a friend asked me about a weird problem in Excel. Normally, the arrow keys help you move from one cell to the next. But he was finding it would move his whole screen one cell at a time.
Introducing the Scroll Lock Key! The most useless key on the keyboard! | | Excel - Speed data! |
Often, creating a spreadsheet model means that you need to set up a series of items.
These might be dates, numbers, names or anything else.
Did you know that Excel can predict items in a range and help you to create your range without having to key in every single item of data? | | OCR - Image to text conversion in Office 2007 |
The best OCR programs can do a great job, but they can also cost a lot of money. Mostly, all you want is to convert the files to text so that you can copy/paste the words into other programs. So it'll come as a great bonus to find that Office 2007 can do OCR - so you don't need to buy an additional piece of software. | | Save a Powerpoint Slide as a Picture |
You can use PowerPoint to create a postcard, advert or brochure. You may want to email the picture, place it on your website, or print it. | | RSS - Making it easy to keep up with the news |
Everyone has internet sites they are interested in, covering topics they care about. But who has time to look at these sites all the time, in case there is something new?
That's where RSS comes in. RSS makes it easy to bring the information to you. | | Finding the right words |
Sometimes the right word escapes us. We know what we want to say, but knowing how to say it proves elusive. Office can help. | | "Pin the tail on the Window" : Finding Regular Documents |
We all have documents we use a lot. Documents we need to find quickly, but, for various reasons, we may have filed them in a variety of places - some on our local hard drive, and some is various directories on our server or in our online document portals.
So, how can you make them easy to find quickly? | | Is someone available now? |
How often do you need to know if the person who's just sent you an email is availlable to tlak to? Here' a quick way of finding out. | | Making a "row"in Word |
Here is a great tip for quickly and easily creating horizontal lines that span across your Word document. | | Maps on your phone |
Not only will your phone map where you are, even without GPS, but it can now help you find the nearest carpark, gas station, supermarket or whatever else you need. | | Making PDFs directly from Microsoft Office 2007 | Making PDF's directly from within Office is a great way to send out secure, properly formatted documents. And it's easy ... | | Quick Formatting in Microsoft Office | Documents look so much better if they use consistent fonts throughout. Word makes it easy ... | | Windows Mobile - Extending the address book | Now your Windows mobile phone can access all of the companies address book, making it easier to do more while on the road | | Vista Searching Tricks | Most of us will have saved a document at some stage and forgotten where it is. Windows search function is the best way to track it down. | | Maps on your cellphone | Never get lost again. Your phone knows where you are. The stuff of movies is now real and you can have it today. | | Windows Quick Keys | Share a few handy keyboard shortcut tips to save you time every day | | Where is your server? On the floor? | Is your computer resting on the floor? If so, we advise moving it |
|
| Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /CoachingHints/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XsnLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xsn | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /CoachingHints/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /CoachingHints/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.2 | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /CoachingHints/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.3 | 255 | | Edit in Browser | /_layouts/images/icxddoc.gif | /CoachingHints/_layouts/formserver.aspx?XmlLocation={ItemUrl}&OpenIn=Browser | 0x0 | 0x1 | ProgId | InfoPath.Document.4 | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /CoachingHints/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /CoachingHints/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 255 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /CoachingHints/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 256 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /CoachingHints/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 256 |
|
|
|
|
|