To see more "lazy" or "ox" pictures, visit office.com/imagesToday I'm engaging in a bit of laziness but still trying to help out as much as I can: I'm going through the comments and emails I've received the past few weeks and picking out a few that I think might help the great majority of you. These are comments where people have asked questions, I've provided answers, and we all go on to lead productive, happy lives. But like I have always thought (and said...LOUDLY and often): If one person has an issue, chances are many more have the same issue.

So let's let everyone in on the secrets to success, shall we?

ScreenTips or document tooltips?

Gerry wrote to say that while he was working in a Word document that was in Review mode (the Review tab was selected), when he was hovering over a comment, ScreenTips kept popping up even though, gosh darn-it, he had turned off that feature in Word options.

Okay, I thought; that IS annoying. But first, let's talk about what ScreenTips are: They're small windows that display descriptive text when you rest the pointer on a command or control. Like this:

 Example of a tooltip when hovering over theme choices

Now Gerry is correct: You can choose to turn these things off; some people don't need them and, frankly, even find them annoying. To do this in Word (and in just about any Office 2010 program), click the File tab (in Office 2007, click the Office button Office button (2007)). Then, under Help, click Options. Click General, and then under User interface options, in the ScreenTip style list, click the option that you want.

So Gerry did that. But things weren't working as he was expecting them to (meaning NO ScreenTips), and he seemed mighty irritated (with the program, with me, with Microsoft, with his newspaper delivery person who couldn't throw farther than the end of the sidewalk—who knows). What Gerry didn't realize was that he was probably having an issue with document tooltips, a horse of a different color from ScreenTips.

A document tooltip tells the user what they can do with a certain button when they hover over it with their cursor...and here is how you turn them off: Click File  (or in Office 2007, click the Office button Office button (2007) ) > Options > Display. Under Page display options, deselect Show document tooltips on hover.

Gerry never wrote back to let me know if that worked or not but sometimes no news is good news, right? Gerry?

Who changed my views? Outlook at its most naughty

This next tip comes from ME, Annik, not Crabby. Nope, just me as a regular Microsoft drone/employee who could NOT find an answer to an issue that all of a sudden popped up just today (Tuesday, March 1) when I first opened Outlook. Here's what happened:

  1. I double-clicked a message to open it.
  2. Instead of the Message tab being selected (to show the entire message), the File tab was selected, not showing me the message at all; it was showing me all the options available to me when I click the File tab.

And so, because I work at Microsoft (which is actually a ROCKING place to work—I've been here 11+ years and counting) I popped off an email to my go-to Outlook expert, Bruce, and he told me this:

"Double-click the Message tab; you've got the ribbon running in 'hidden mode.'" I did that and it worked as he said it would, but I was wondering if I had to do it every time I opened Outlook. Bruce told me no, it would be "sticky" (meaning when I did it once, it would stay the same way until I changed it).

(Note that I have no idea how I ended up with the ribbon in "hidden mode" but I'm always going back and forth between programs with lightning speed, so one never knows what one accidentally does during those speedy tasks.) 

In any case, Bruce saved the day for me and I'm pretty sure he can save the day for you if this ever happens.

The myth of the stressful environment

Finally, this is sort of a tip from a new Crabby blog reader...and sort of a self-promo from him too. Normally I don't deal with this sort of promotional stuff posing as a comment on my blog (mostly because it's about how to buy cheap Rolex watches or fake prescription drugs or meet hot women from Asia), but Tom, the commenter, read my post from late last May called Managing stress at work and pointed me to HIS EzineArticle called The Myth of the Stressful Environment. (I had to go read it because he flattered me first and what woman isn't a sucker for that, I ask you?)

One thing that really got my attention in Tom's article was this: "Stress has its proper evolutionary place in our lives, and that is to keep us alive when we are facing danger, such as being chased by a wild animal." And he's exactly right. It doesn't matter if that "wild animal" is a coworker trying to sabotage you (and oh, I've been a victim of that saboteur—and you know who you are, fella, as do others around you), a non-communicative manager, or even yourself, paralyzed by fear or inaction, a little stress can be a not-so-bad-thing. But as my dad always says, "Everything within reason." Take a gander at Tom's article; I think you'll find it quite refreshing.

 So see? Ask a question, get an answer...and even get a mention. And again, if you're having a problem, chances are someone else is, too.

— Crabby