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As I merrily go about my daily life working in Office and administering advice about what I've learned, I often come across little nuggets of gold disguised as tips and tricks. These treasures make my life in front of the computer more efficient and less irritating, and I get much satisfaction out of them. So as crabby as I purport to be, I can't help but share them with you. And anyway, you folks are always asking for tips for this or for that. So here they are, ones that I love like I love my own children (on the days when they still listen to me, that is).
The columns I write about my favorite Office tips are, by far, the best received. Why? Because you keep imploring me for them, and I can't keep these gems to myself any longer. Now, of course this is a blog and so it is an unspoken rule (unless someone above me speaks to me about it) that I can’t list six tips for 10 programs. So today I'm just offer a little smattering of what you can receive with love and joy in your hearts when you head over to the two columns ()yes! It took two columns) I wrote about my favorite tips.
So, here is one tip for each of the ten programs I (and probably you, too) use the most. Then, at the end of each tip’s entry, I’ll link off to the columns that will give you the full metal jacket of the best tips I know.
People who love Access just love it. People who don't love it, just don't understand it. There's no time like the present to get to know your friendly database program...
Tip # 1: Dragging is the best shortcut. To create a shortcut, drag a database object in an Access project or Access database to the desktop.
Get more tips here.
Excel is one of the most versatile programs we make. Lists, PivotTables, and data analysis. You name it, Excel can do it.
Tip #1: Copy it how you want it, not how Excel wants it. When you want to copy content from a Word document, a Web page, or whatever into Excel, and you want that content to have the same formatting as what's already in your Excel spreadsheet, double-click the cell before you paste the content in.
Note I showed this little gem of a tip to a particularly excitable Frenchman around here, and he nearly hit his head on the ceiling he was so ecstatic....
Get more Excel tips here and here.
As you know, I have a soft spot in my heart for OneNote. I frankly don't know how I got along without it. I'm its personal evangelizer (and I don't even have my own TV show or ministry).
Tip #1: Don't burn your retinas with bad formatting. If copying and pasting from a Web page to your notebook doesn't retain the Web formatting, try capturing text in a screen clipping instead. On the Insert menu, click Screen Clipping, and then drag the pointer to create a rectangular selection around the content on your screen that you want to capture. A picture is worth a thousand words. Especially a picture of a thousand words.
Get more OneNote tips here and here.
Sure, there are some things I can go without: Coffee in the morning, wine with dinner, your snarling e-mail messages tossed my way without a thought for my feelings. But Outlook? No. I cannot — no, will not — go one day without it (and, to be honest, I'd like to take back that coffee thing, too).
Tip #1: Finding related messages without a search and rescue team. To find related messages, right-click the message, and then on the shortcut menu, point to Find All and then click Related Messages. The Advanced Find dialog box appears with a list of related messages.
Get more Outlook tips here and here.
I have a cartoon on my bulletin board from The New Yorker magazine: One demon is interviewing another demon for a job, and the interviewer says, "I need someone well versed in the art of torture — do you know PowerPoint?" Go ahead; laugh all you want. But the butt of this joke is the premier presentation software, and it's having the last laugh.
Tip #1: Limit your carry-on baggage (PowerPoint 2007) When you embed a font into your presentation, the file size grows by as much as the font file (which is usually a lot — some of the new Unicode fonts are monsters). This means you are carrying umlauts and italics you don't use. PowerPoint 2007 enables you to embed only the specific characters actually used in the presentation, baggage you packed yourself. This will cut down on the size by quite a bit.
Get more PowerPoint tip here and here.
Publisher makes every task seem like a fun arts and crafts project. It always offers a quick way to take your creativity to the off-leash area.
Tip #1: Embed in e-mail You can send a copy of your publication in e-mail so that it appears when your recipient opens the message. In other words, it's not sent as an attachment; it is the e-mail message itself. Here's how:
On the File menu, point to Send E-mail, and then click Send as Message.
Get more Publisher tips here.
Named appropriately, this handy tool will take you from start to finish. Align your people and your objectives, come up with project plans, and watch the magic happen as the tasks become complete.
Tip #1: A tisket a tasket…are they together? To quickly link tasks, select the two tasks and press CTRL+F2. To unlink tasks, select them and press CTRL+SHIFT+F2.
Get more Project tips here.
Design a home. Assemble diagrams. Create an organization chart. Visio is the artsy-fartsy kid in the family with the really high I.Q.
Tip #1: Let’s go barrel racing and chute doggin’! If you want to select multiple shapes, use the Lasso Select tool to drag a selection net around the shapes you want. (To find that tool, click the arrow next to the Pointer tool on the Standard toolbar.
Get more Visio tips here.
Basic. Standard. Useful. Old Faithful. Just a few terms I use to talk about Word, my right-hand guy. Or gal. Or someone in between because human beings fall on a variety of spectrums.
Tip #1: A gaggle (a pod? a murder?) of hyphens together is not
a line. To create a line, press and hold the hyphen key to make at least four hyphens, and then press ENTER. (Who knew?)
Get more Word tips here and here.
-- Crabby
Comments: (4) Collapse
I typed four hyphens in Word 2007 and hit Enter -- and all I got was four hyphens forlornly standing in a line on its own. What gives? Is this feature only for earlier versions? Requires some obscure option switched on or off?
Great list, Crabby. I love that you have a soft spot for OneNote (so do I)! :) By the way, here are some more quick tips for OneNote 2007:
office.microsoft.com/.../HA101951431033.aspx
@WordBoy: Autocorrect needs to be turned on. I know a lot of people who turn it off because they have some obscure acronyms that are business specific that Word continues to correct, and they're too lazy to add them to the dictionary. May also be turned off by your IT people because they don't like it for whatever reason :-/
Office Button=>Word Options...(At bottom right)=>Proofing=>AutoCorrect Options Good luck.
Good tip, WordBoy (good moniker, too).
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