Microsoft Excel is a powerful spreadsheet program that comes with Microsoft Office. And, by inserting an Excel table into PowerPoint, you get access to all kinds of Excel features including number formatting, Sort & Filter and calculations.
So, if you’re looking to insert a table into your presentation that contains totals or other calculations, inserting an Excel table as opposed to a PowerPoint table is definitely the way to go.
Inserting a Microsoft Excel Table
1. Choose the Table command in the Tables group on the Insert tab
2. Choose Excel Spreadsheet
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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Office
A great shortcut that works in PowerPoint, Excel, and Word is the Go To shortcut feature. In any of these programs, just press F5. You’ll be presented with a dialog box asking you which slide, cell or page you want to jump do in the file you’re working on. You enter the number, press enter and Voila!—you jump to the desired location. This is a fabulous navigation technique when working on large file.
So, next time you’re working, press F5 and see what happens!
Friday, May 02, 2008
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Word
Using Tabs ensures that when your document prints, paragraphs and text are all lined up in the way you intended. I’ve seen many people use the space bar to indent text and while everything appears lined up on the screen, once printed, text rarely lines up appropriately.
To effectively work with Tabs, you’ll need to have your ruler displayed. If you don’t see the ruler at the top of your document workspace (below the Ribbon), you’ll want to turn it on.
Turning on the Ruler Using the Ribbon
1. Check the box next to Ruler in the Show/Hide group on the View tab
Turning on the Ruler Using the Jump Button
1. Click the Ruler Jump Button at the top of the vertical scroll bar ( )
Tabs are set, by default at every ½ inch between your margins (until you start setting custom tabs). You don’t have to do anything special to use the default tabs except press the [Tab] key on your keyboard.
When you do, you can see tabs in the form of arrows on your screen. (You may need to click the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group on the Home tab to see the [Tab] characters.)
If you look closely at the ruler bar, you can see small tick marks at every ½ inch along the bottom. Those at the default tab stops. However, when you begin to set custom tabs, any default tabs to the left of (or before) the custom tab stop are automatically deleted.
The tab stop indicator is located on the very left edge of your ruler, just under the Ribbon. Typically, it displays the Left-Aligned Tab symbol ( ). In addition to [Tab] stops that align along the left, you can create [Tab] stops that align in the center, at the right or with a decimal.
Setting a Left-Aligned Tab
1. Select the paragraphs that will be affected by the new [Tab] stop
2. Verify the tab stop indicator displays the symbol for a Left-Aligned Tab ( )
3. Click in the Ruler Bar at the location of the new [Tab] stop
The “L” indicates a custom, left-aligned tab. You can see the default tabs stops before the custom stop have been removed. But, the tab stops after the custom stop remain.
Setting a Center-Aligned Tab
1. Select the paragraphs that will be affected by the new [Tab] stop
2. Click the tab stop indicator until you see the symbol for a Center-Aligned Tab ( )
3. Click in the Ruler Bar at the location of the new [Tab] stop
Setting a Right-Aligned Tab
1. Select the paragraphs that will be affected by the new [Tab] stop
2. Click the tab stop indicator until you see the symbol for a Right-Aligned Tab ( )
3. Click in the Ruler Bar at the location of the new [Tab] stop
Setting a Decimal-Aligned Tab
1. Select the paragraphs that will be affected by the new [Tab] stop
2. Click the tab stop indicator until you see the symbol for a Right-Aligned Tab ( )
3. Click in the Ruler Bar at the location of the new [Tab] stop
Moving a Custom Tab
1. Select the paragraphs that will be affected by changing the custom [Tab] stop
2. Click and drag the custom tab stop to its new location
Deleting a Custom Tab
1. Select the paragraphs that will be affected by changing the custom [Tab] stop
2. Click and drag the custom tab stop DOWN off the ruler
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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Excel
Knowing how to get help when you’re stuck is an important part of the learning process. It’s probably unfair to expect yourself to recall all of the steps in any given Excel process or every function the program is capable of calculating. But, if you know some of the basic terminology and how to work with the Help system, you’ll be able to get the answers you need when you need them without losing much down time.
Getting Help with F1
1. From any box or window, just press F1 (context-sensitive Help opens)
Getting Help with the Excel Help button
1. Click the small question mark in the upper-right corner of the Excel 2007 window
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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Outlook
Another question from a blog reader...
Q. Do you know how to add a table to a signature? I want to have an image (company logo) justified left, and then 4-5 lines of text beside it that is my contact info. the idea is that it looks like my business card. Back in the day, when office was good (2003), i could edit my signatures in Word and this was easy. Now my company has upgraded and I can’t figure it out. Can you help?
A. The best workaround for this is to generate an image of your signature. Images are easily uploaded into Outlook signatures. If you’re unsure how to go about doing this, create it as you would have done previously in Word then take a screen capture. Windows Vista has the new Snipping Tool that makes screen captures incredibly easy to take and save.
Friday, March 07, 2008
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Word
Another great question from a blog reader:
Q. As I work in Word for several hours daily (medical transcription)I was able to use autotext and spend a tenth of the time typing. I’ve just started to use Word 2007 and if there isn’t a keyboard short cut (at the very least)to insert building blocks I will be getting a refund on my upgrade and reinstalling Office 2003. I don’t see the improvement with these programs. If you have any additional knowledge I would love to hear from you.
A. I completely understand the frustration in upgrading, especially to something as different as Word 2007. It took me a full two months to become acclimated to the new environment, but at this point could never see myself going back to 2003.
Having said that, it is true that Word 2007 has technically removed the AutoText command in favor of the new Building Blocks. However—and this is a big HOWEVER—the old F3 function does still work.
This means, you can create your AutoText entries in Word 2007 and save them as Building Blocks (they’re still AutoText, just saved under a new entry). The trick here is to keep the name of the new entries short.
Now, when you’re ready to add these entries into your document, just type the name of the AutoText/Building Block and then press F3 on your keyboard.
Another option is to add the AutoText command button to your Quick Access toolbar. You can add the AutoText command to the Quick Access Toolbar by doing the following: Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options. Click Customize. Click Commands Not in the Ribbon in the Choose commands from list, click AutoText, and then click Add.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
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Word
In the next few blog entries, I’ll be answering some questions that were buried in the comments on this site.
Q. Hello the first sorry for my english, i`m training. I need remove or disable the autocorrect in word 2007 but the user will complet a exam and can’t use autocorrect, i search in the regedit but i I did not find any solution Can you help me please?
Try this…
Click the Office button (upper left corner of your screen) and choose Customize. Click the Proofing option on the left side and then click the AutoCorrect Options button. Remove the checkbox next to “replace text as you type” located on the AutoCorrect tab.
Friday, February 29, 2008
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Word
Format Painter has to be one of the coolest Word features. With the Format Painter, you can copy all formatting you’ve applied to one set of text and apply it directly to another set of text.
Using Format Painter to Copy Formatting to One Set of Text
1. Select the text that is already formatted
2. Click the Format Painter command in the Clipboard group on the Home tab
3. Select the text that needs to be formatter
Using Format Painter to Copy Formatting to Multiple Sets of Text
1. Select the text that is already formatted
2. Double-Click the Format Painter command in the Clipboard group on the Home tab
3. Select the text that needs to be formatted
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
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Outlook
You can find all kinds of cool things to place in your Outlook e-mails on the Insert tab including ClipArt and SmartArt.
The Include group on the Insert tab is designed to help you attach items such as files, business cards and signatures to your e-mail messages.
The Tables group on the Insert tab is there specifically to help you insert tables into your e-mail messages.
In the Illustrations group on the Insert tab, you’ll find commands for all sorts of graphics including pictures, ClipArt, Shapes and Charts.
In addition to creating hyperlinks to other files, websites or email, the Links group on the Insert tab contains a command to insert a Bookmark.
The Text group on the Insert tab contains commands for inserting text boxes, WordArt and the Date & Time among other items.
The Symbols group on the Insert tab contains commands for inserting horizontal lines, symbols and equations into your e-mail messages.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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Outlook
Rules are used typically for unread messages. For instance, you may want to save a copy of any message you send to your boss to a specific folder. Or, you might want any message with a certain word in the subject line saved to a different folder.
In each of these scenarios, you have Outlook perform these copy functions for you.
Creating a New Rule
1. View your Inbox
2. Choose Tools from the Menu Bar
3. Choose Rules and Alerts…
4. Choose New Rule…
5. Under Step 1, select the rule template you want to use (Stay Organized or Stay Up to Date)
6. Under Step 2, click the blue, underlined text to assign specific criteria to your rule
7. Click Next
8. Under Step 1, select any conditions your messages must meet before the Rule will run
9. Under Step 2, click the blue, underlined text to assign specific criteria to your rule
10. Click Next
11. Under Step 1, select any actions you want your rule to take when it runs
12. Under Step 2, click the blue, underlined text to assign specific criteria to your rule
13. Click Next
14. Under Step 1, select any exceptions to your rule
15. Under Step 2, click the blue, underlined text to assign specific criteria to your rule
16. Click Next
17. Under Step 1, create a name for your rule
18. Under Step 2, set your rule options
19. Click Finish
20. Click OK
An action button works just like a hyperlink. The cool thing about Action Buttons is they are typically in recognizable shapes like arrows.
In this way, you can create one arrow that moves a user to the previous slide and another arrow that moves a user to the next slide.
Action buttons make a presentation extraordinarily easy for even a PowerPoint novice to navigate. They work particularly well on training presentations or on presentations left unattended at kiosks.
Inserting an Action Button
1. Click the Shapes command in the Illustrations group on the Insert tab
2. Under Action Buttons, choose a shape
3. Draw the shape on your slide (click and drag)
4. Choose Hyperlink to
5. Select a Slide
6. Click OK
7. Click OK
Friday, February 15, 2008
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Excel
I’ll make this short and sweet… To quickly total a range of cells, place your cursor in the total cell next to any range you want to add and press [ALT] + =.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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Excel
Okay. You already know that PivotTables and PivotCharts are ways to quickly summarize your worksheet data. But, if you’ve never seen a PivotTable in action, I think you’re in for a wonderful surprise. And, if you were one of the unlucky ones trying to create PivotTables in previous versions of Excel, prepare to be amazed at how the technology has improved.
Let’s talk about PivotTables first.
If I haven’t sold you yet, what if I told you that PivotTables make querying large amounts of data extremely user-friendly? So user-friendly, in fact, that you could set it up once and your boss could query the report on his or her own.
Not sold yet? What if I told you that subtotaling and aggregating numeric data can be done by category and subcategory and you can even create custom calculations and formulas on your PivotTable data?
Okay. So that last one wasn’t terribly exciting. But, how’s this one – you can expand and collapse levels of your data to quickly focus your results, and, when needed, you can easily drill down to details.
And, finally, all you need to create a PivotTable is a well-formed list. You heard me right – just a list with data and numbers.
Now, let me fill you in PivotCharts
A PivotChart is just like a PivotTable but in graphical form. And, it’s just as easy to modify the data a PivotChart displays as it is the PivotTable.
PivotCharts have all the same display options as PivotTables. This means, each has four sections: Report, Row, Column and Data.
The Report filter field is the field you use to filter data by specific items. The Report filter essentially controls the data you can filter in the other areas.
Each Row & Column filter field is considered a series. And, this one is pretty literal. Whatever field you assign to Row will display in rows and whatever field you assign to Column will display in columns.
And, finally – Data. This is field that you want your PivotTable and PivotChart to summarize.
Friday, February 08, 2008
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Word
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve looked at document in Print Preview, right before printing, and found one little thing that I need to correct. Well, instead of closing Print Preview, making your change and then previewing your changes again, you can make quick edits directly in Print Preview.
1. Remove the checkmark from the Magnifier command in the Preview group on the Print Preview tab
I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that you know what a hyperlink is. If you’re not sure…think Internet, web pages and blue text with a blue underline. See? You use hyperlinks all the time – you just may not have known the term.
In PowerPoint 2007, you can create internal hyperlinks that allow you to jump from one slide to another and external hyperlinks that jump to other presentations, documents, or a web site. You can even create a hyperlink that addresses an e-mail.
What’s more, you can create hyperlinks on text and graphics. Which means, you can create a hyperlink, for example, from a company logo that displays the company web page when clicked.
And, you don’t even have to be a web designer to do it!
Creating a Hyperlink to an Internal Slide
1. Select the text or object that you are using as a hyperlink
2. Choose the Hyperlink command in the Links group on the Insert tab
3. Click Place in This Document
4. Choose a slide
5. Click OK
Creating a Hyperlink to an External Slide
1. Select the text or object that you are using as a hyperlink
2. Choose the Hyperlink command in the Links group on the Insert tab
3. Click Existing File or Web Page
4. Choose a file
5. Click Bookmark
6. Select a Slide
7. Click OK
8. Click OK
Creating a Hyperlink to an E-Mail Address
1. Select the text or object that you are using as a hyperlink
2. Choose the Hyperlink command in the Links group on the Insert tab
3. Click E-mail Address
4. Enter the E-mail address
5. Enter a Subject (if desired)
6. Click OK
Creating a Hyperlink to a Web Page
1. Select the text or object that you are using as a hyperlink
2. Choose the Hyperlink command in the Links group on the Insert tab
3. Click Existing File or Web Page
4. Type the web page in the Address box
5. Click OK
