Office Tips and Hints Blog

↑

Home Page

Host your Web site with PureHost!

Monday, October 31, 2011 – Permalink –

Click to Trigger

Make it so

A trigger is an object on your PowerPoint slide - a picture, a shape, a button, or even a paragraph or text box. When you click on it an action is initiated. The action might be a sound, a movie, an animation, or text becoming visible on the slide.

Microsoft Office Online has a tutorial:
Use triggers to create an interactive slide show in PowerPoint

"Here's a Power User column for teachers. Want to involve your students more in a presentation? Set up "triggers" for them to click as they go through the show. Triggers (related to animations) let you add surprise to your slides while inviting your viewer to take part and have fun."

Indezine.com:
Trigger Animations

All 'Bout Computers:
Trigger Happy Animations in PowerPoint

See all Topics

Labels: PowerPoint

<Doug Klippert@ 3:12 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Sunday, October 30, 2011 – Permalink –

Canada/US Postal Codes

Automatic Input masks

If you have a mix of Canadian and US postal codes, you might play with the following code inserted as a Country control "After Update" Event property.

Private Sub Country_AfterUpdate()
Dim strCountry As String
strCountry = Me.Country

Select Case strCountry
Case "Canada"
Me.[PostalCode].InputMask = ">L0L\ 0L0;;_"
Case "USA"
Me.[PostalCode].InputMask = "00000-9999;;_"
Case Else
'If the country is not Canada or USA no input mask will be used
Me.[PostalCode].InputMask = ""
End Select
End Sub

comp.databases.ms-access forum

Working with postal codes in Access

As a rule, if you won't be performing numeric calculations on the data, entries should be stored as text. Social Security numbers, Phone numbers and postal codes should be stored as text.

You can use alphabetic characters in an input mask. For example, one of the sample input masks is >L0L\ 0L0 used to represent a Canadian postal code.

The ">" character in the input mask converts all the characters that follow to uppercase.

The "L" character requires an alpha entry; the "0" (zero) requires a numeric entry.

A "\"character causes the following character to be displayed as a literal character rather than a mask character.

A space appears between the three character pairs.
For example, V5P 2G1 is one valid postal code that the user could enter. The mask would prevent the user from entering two sequential alphabetic characters or numbers.
See:
Trinity University - San Antonio, Texas:
Input mask

Definition characters used to create an input mask
Some validation rules

You can manipulate postal codes in Access by changing the data type, input mask, or format of a postal code field.

Microsoft KB 207829:
ACC2000: How to Manipulate ZIP Codes in Microsoft Access.

Also see:
Postal Codes

See all Topics

Labels: Access

<Doug Klippert@ 3:55 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, October 29, 2011 – Permalink –

Alphabetize your keyboard

Eat your heart out Dvorak

The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator

Ever wanted to quickly and easily define your own keyboard layout for a language Microsoft doesn't support? Or define your own keyboard layout so you can quickly and easily enter your favorite symbols with a simple keystroke? Well, want no more: the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator is here!

The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC) extends the international functionality of Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or Windows Vista (MSKLC will not run on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME or Windows NT4) by allowing users to:

Create new keyboard layouts from scratch

Base a new layout on an existing one

Modify an existing keyboard layout and build a new layout from it

Multilingual input locales within edit control fields.

Package the resulting keyboard layouts for subsequent delivery and installation.

Global Development and Computing Portal: Windows Keyboard Layouts (many different language keyboards)

Belarusian keyboard

Also see: Dvorak anyone?

See all Topics

Labels: Windows

<Doug Klippert@ 3:25 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Friday, October 28, 2011 – Permalink –

I'll let you see mine

Share it nicely

"Many home users and small businesses don't use Exchange. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to share your e-mail, appointments, contacts, tasks, and notes with other Outlook users."

Here is one of the clearest expositions of multiple users' cooperative use of Outlook, even in a very small environment.

Sharing your Outlook information
By EricLegault

For up to date information on Outlook, SharePoint, and very little about waffles, see
Eric Legault My Eggo blog.

Also see:

Slipstick.com:
Sharing Microsoft Outlook Calendar and Contacts

Sharing Microsoft Outlook on One PC

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:22 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Thursday, October 27, 2011 – Permalink –

Usable Ultimate Utensils

Great Gear

Kevin Kelly:
Cool Tools

"Cool tools really work. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. I am chiefly interested in stuff that is extraordinary, better than similar products, little-known, and reliably useful for an individual or small group. There are plenty of places to read about stuff that should be cool, or that looks new and cool, and that might be useful. The recommendations here, on the other hand, are based on people who have used this item and have come to see its superiority. I post things I like and I ignore the rest."

Here are a few of the tools mentioned:

Disposable Suture Set
Micro tools: "The next time you or a friend are in the ER getting stitched up, ask your provider if you can have the suture set when he or she is done. Most places will hand them over if they are the disposable type. Hospitals use disposable suture sets since they are fairly inexpensive and decontamination of the reusable ones can be costly. The curved hemostat, the toothless needle driver, small surgical scissors and the pickups (tweezers) come in handy around the house." -- Fritz Araya
Ikea Tote Bag
Cheap huge tote bag: "Ikea sells these near the cash register. They are large -- about 4 feet by 2 by 2, with two clever lengthened (short & long) handles, made of some nearly indestructible nylon-plasticy mesh fabric in Ikea blue. For a buck, they're amazing. We put a mess at home, in the car, garden, garage. Great for dragging stuff from Sam's Club, or dirt in the garden, hauling firewood or just whenever you've a lot of loose stuff to move." -- Vince Crisci
NoTubes
Puncture-proof bike tires: "Stan's NoTubes system. In the NoTubes system you remove your inner tube from your tire. No tubes! You add a rim strip that seals your spoke holes. Since there is no tube you need a filling stem to put air into the tire.....this is built into the NoTubes rim strip. Then you add some white liquid inside the tire that seals it airtight. It's one of those things that seems like it would never work, but it works amazingly well. I will never go back to tubes." -- Alexander Rose

See all Topics

Labels: Addendum

<Doug Klippert@ 3:40 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 – Permalink –

Date and Time Entry

Month Day, Day Month

QDE An Excel Date Entry Add-In
Ron de Bruin

"QDE is a fully-functional Excel Add-in that provides quick input of dates, in all international formats. It handles quick data entry interpretation and reflects the three interacting issues of Date System, Day, Month Year ordering, and number of digits used in the quick date entry. With QDE you enter just as many digits as needed to clearly identify the date, QDE will do the rest."

Also see:

Chip Pearson:
Date and Time Entry

MathTools.net:
Time and Date

And:
Date Arithmetic

See all Topics

Labels: Excel

<Doug Klippert@ 3:59 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Tuesday, October 25, 2011 – Permalink –

Cheerios Stops Itching

And other stuff

Joey Green has written a book about other uses for everyday products like:

"Relieve itching from chicken pox, poison ivy, poison oak, or pain from sunburn. Pour two cups Cheerios in a blender and blend into a fine powder on medium-high speed. Put the powdered Cheerios into a warm bath and soak in the oats for thirty minutes. It's a soothing oatmeal bath.

Make "Cheerios Chicken." Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a jelly-roll pan (15.5 inches by 10.5 inches by 1 inch) with aluminum foil. Mix two cups finely crushed Cheerios (from the yellow box), one-quarter teaspoon pepper, one teaspoon parsley flakes, one-quarter teaspoon garlic powder, one-quarter teaspoon dried oregano leaves, and one-half teaspoon salt. Dip four chicken-breast halves (skinned and boned) into one-quarter cup milk, then roll in cereal mix until well coated. Place chicken in pan and drizzle with two tablespoons melted margarine. Bake until done, about twenty to twenty-five minutes. (Above 3,500 feet elevation, bake about thirty minutes.) Makes four servings."

Wacky Uses

See all Topics

Labels: Books

<Doug Klippert@ 3:29 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Monday, October 24, 2011 – Permalink –

Add a Table

Drag drop trick

While working with a query in Design view, you may find that you need to add a table or query. The "book" way to do it is to click the Show Table toolbar button, drag the appropriate objects from the list, and then close the dialog box.
There is another way to do this.

Drag the table or query object's icon from the Database window/Navigation pane directly to the top half of the query design grid.

You can also use this technique in Access's Relationships window

See all Topics

Labels: Access

<Doug Klippert@ 3:41 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Sunday, October 23, 2011 – Permalink –

'Tis the Template

Free Holiday templates

This can be considered a jumping off point for many holiday themed templates.
Here are some sources for holiday backgrounds and clipart for PowerPoint. These sites also have material for the rest of the year.

All 'Bout Computers:
Holiday AutoShapes in PowerPoint
by Kathy Jacobs
Template Ready:
Christmas FREE PowerPoint Template

Microsoft office:
Holiday templates

Powered Templates

Brainy Betty:
Christmas and Holiday Themed Templates

Sonia Coleman:
Free PowerPoint Templates

See all Topics

Labels: PowerPoint

<Doug Klippert@ 3:02 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, October 22, 2011 – Permalink –

Organizing Favorites

Order in chaos

Basic stuff that bares repeating.
(IE7 is not that much different)

Microsoft:
Use Favorites to Get Around the Web

Add a Web Page to Your Favorites
Go to a Web Page on Your Favorites List
Alphabetize Your Favorites
Remove a Web Page from the Favorites List
Organize Your Favorite Web Pages in a New Folder
Remove a Web Page from a Folder in the Favorites List

Move Favorites from an earlier version

See all Topics

Labels: Windows

<Doug Klippert@ 3:15 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Friday, October 21, 2011 – Permalink –

List Your Addresses

When I find the time

Here's a simple suggestion that sounds silly to begin with, but may come in handy in the future.
Write down your email addresses!
How many do you have?

Created by an ISP when setting up an Internet connection.
Work email accounts
Club or hobby related
From any domain you’ve purchased
Email aliases created on your behalf.
Web based email addresses with Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail or many others.

Remember your old AOL/CompuServe addresses?
Office-Watch.com

See all Topics

Labels: Internet, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:13 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Thursday, October 20, 2011 – Permalink –

Minton Sparks

Could the air be any fresher . . .

"Sparks talks like Lucinda Williams sings; low, bed-headed and husky with sin, either remembered or imagined. In the syncopated monologues on her new spoken-word album, THIS DRESS, your gas-pumping mama, your fellow Baptists and your unmentionable relatives occupy every slot on the Waffle House jukebox, and when musical guests like Keb'Mos' and Maura O'Connell chime in, you can even dance to 'em.

---Jim Ridley Nashville Scene

With a voice born for gospel and a word artistry that makes you laugh and weep by turns, Sparks offers poems sorrowful and hilarious about the land of the double-wides.

---SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT-June 2005

Minton Sparks.com

RARWriter.com

See all Topics

Labels: Music

<Doug Klippert@ 3:58 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Wednesday, October 19, 2011 – Permalink –

How Google Works

Fact and not

The magic that makes Google tick

Over four billion Web pages, each an average of 10KB, all fully indexed
Up to 2,000 PCs in a cluster
Over 30 clusters
104 interface languages including Klingon and Tagalog
One petabyte of data in a cluster - so much that hard disk error rates of 10-15 begin to be a real issue
Sustained transfer rates of 2Gbps in a cluster
An expectation that two machines will fail every day in each of the larger clusters
No complete system failure since February 2000

Stanford University: The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine

Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page Google.com: How Google Works

How Stuff/Google Works

The Economist: Case History

Or

It's all done with pigeons

See all Topics

Labels: Internet

<Doug Klippert@ 3:41 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 – Permalink –

100% is not enough

Slow machine

Here are a couple of areas to look at if your machine slows down for no obvious reason.

Do the three finger Vulcan salute (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) to bring up the Windows Task manager.

If you see a level 100% on the performance tab try these possible solutions.

If you see near 100% CPU activity on the Processes tab by an "Image name" of Cisvc.exe, you might want to turn that service off.

Description: Microsoft Index Service Helper, a service that monitors the memory usage of Microsoft Indexing Service (cidaemon.exe) and automatically re-starts cidaemon.exe if it uses more than 40 MB of memory.

It's needed if you've set up any of your drives or directories to be indexed. Without it running, you could potentially invite a memory "hole", as the indexing service would not clear its RAM usage, as it goes.

If you are not indexing anything, there's no need for it to run

1. Go to Control Panel Administrative Tools > Services
2. Click on the "Standard" tab at the bottom of the box
3. Click on the Name label to sort by Name. Locate "Indexing Service". Double click.
4. Change the "Startup type" to 'Disabled'
5. Click on "Apply"
6. click on "Stop"

Another suggestion:

100 Percent CPU Usage Occurs When You Print on an LPT Printer Port

SYMPTOMS

When you print on an LPT printer port, 100 percent CPU usage occurs until the print job is completed. This slows down other programs until the print job is completed. In some case, other programs may slow down enough that they seem completely unresponsive. This behavior affects all power users who have many programs running at one time.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because Windows 2000/XP does not have interrupt support for LPT printers.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, print to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) printer port. If the printer does not have this capability, use a parallel-USB cable.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

Also see What Slows Windows Down

See all Topics

Labels: Windows

<Doug Klippert@ 3:53 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Monday, October 17, 2011 – Permalink –

Week Numbers

Who's counting?

For most purposes, weeks are numbered with Sunday considered the first day of the week. This works most of the time, but it can be a little confusing certain years.

2004 has 53 weeks. January 1 is the only day in the first week of 2005. Week 2 starts on Sunday 1/2/2005.

Chip Pearson is the Date and Time guy:
Week Numbers In Excel

"Under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 8601, a week always begins on a Monday, and ends on a Sunday. The first week of a year is that week which contains the first Thursday of the year, or, equivalently, contains Jan-4.

While this provides some standardization, it can lead to unexpected results - namely that the first few days of a year may not be in week 1 at all. Instead, they will be in week 52 of the preceding year! For example, the year 2000 began on Saturday. Under the ISO standard, weeks always begin on a Monday. In 2000, the first Thursday was Jan-6, so week 1 begins the preceding Monday, or Jan-3. Therefore, the first two days of 2000, Jan-1 and Jan-2, fall into week 52 of 1999.

An ISO week number may be between 1 and 53. Under the ISO standard, week 1 will always have at least 4 days. If 1-Jan falls on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, the first few days of the year are defined as being in the last (52nd or 53rd) week of the previous year.

Unlike absolute week numbers, not every year will have a week 53. For example, the year 2000 does not have a week 53. Week 52 begins on Monday, 25-Dec, and ends on Sunday, 31-Dec. But the year 2004 does have a week 53, from Monday, 27-Dec , through Friday, 31-Dec."

The first week of 2005 should start on January 3. The first and second would be part of week 53 of 2004.

Wikipedia:
Week Dates

If your week starts on a different day, you can use the Analysis ToolPac function:
=WEEKNUM(A1, 2) for a week that starts on Monday, =WEEKNUM(A1) if it starts on Sunday.

Also this from ExcelTip.com:
Weeknumbers using VBA in Microsoft Excel

"The function WEEKNUM() in the Analysis Toolpack addin calculates the correct week number for a given date, if you are in the U.S. The user defined function shown here will calculate the correct week number depending on the national language settings on your computer."

In Access:
DatePart Function

If your work week is always Saturday through Friday then
datepart("ww",[DateField],7,1)

will return 1 for 1/1/2005 through 1/7/2005, 2 for January 8-14/2005, etc.
Otherwise use 1 for Sunday through 7 for Saturday.

The last number sets these parameters:

1, Start with week in which January 1 occurs (default).
2, Start with the first week that has at least four days in the new year.
3, Start with first full week of the year.

See all Topics

Labels: Access, Excel

<Doug Klippert@ 3:50 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Sunday, October 16, 2011 – Permalink –

Useless, but not worthless information

A little is dangerous, a lot is too much

A site with information deemed off of center.

Aspirin

The inventor of this modern miracle drug saw no use for it. Luckily, aspirin's formula was rediscovered nearly fifty years later and the rest is history. But, did you know that aspirin was included as part of the Treaty of Versailles?

Band-Aids

I'm stuck on Band-Aid 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me. Millions of these little adhesive strip have been sold over the years. Yet, their existence may never have been if it weren't for Listerine.

The Brassiere

Mary Phelps Jacob is widely credited with inventing this article of clothing way back in 1913. Did she really invent this garment? Better yet, did you know that it could possibly kill you? Check out the real answers.

Useless Information

See all Topics

Labels: Addendum

<Doug Klippert@ 3:00 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, October 15, 2011 – Permalink –

Entry Checker

A second chance

Unlike Word or Excel, Access does not warn you when data is changed.
Unless you make a structural or code change, Access thinks you know what you want to know and allows you to enter or change data and the close the application without a squeak.

There is a way around this:

"In Microsoft Office Access 2007, by default, users are not prompted to confirm changes after modifying and saving records on a form. But often you might want to prompt users to confirm their changes before the record is saved.

You can use a BeforeUpdate event procedure to display a confirmation prompt and handle a user's response to either cancel or continue with the save.

This visual how-to topic illustrates how to display a custom dialog box to prompt users to cancel or continue with saving changes to a record.

User Prompts
(with a video)

See all Topics

Labels: Access

<Doug Klippert@ 3:55 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Friday, October 14, 2011 – Permalink –

Do You Like Like Type?

Or do you love it?

Fonts have traits, character, even spirit. Witchita University ran a psychological study on how people "feel" about typefaces.

" This study sought to determine if certain personalities and uses are associated with various fonts. Using an online survey, participants rated the personality of 20 fonts using 15 adjective pairs. In addition, participants viewed the same 20 fonts and selected which uses were most appropriate.

Results suggested that personality traits are indeed attributed to fonts based on their design family (Serif, Sans-Serif, Modern, Monospace, Script/Funny) and are associated with appropriate uses.

Implications of these results to the design of online materials and websites are discussed."

Personality of Fonts

For instance when it came to business documents, 78.2% chose Times New Roman, 75.6 thought Cambria was appropriate, while only 5.3% wanted their attorney to use Gigi.

See all Topics

Labels: Word

<Doug Klippert@ 3:23 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Thursday, October 13, 2011 – Permalink –

Repair Internet/Network Connections

Before the service call

Loss of connectivity is usually solved by the big three:

Restarting the computer
Unplugging the router
Unplugging the modem

Vista has a built in feature that you'll usually find on the Task bar.
It indicates current connections, but if you right click you can find Diagnose and repair.

Repair your connection

Network Diagnostics Framework

See all Topics

Labels: Internet, Windows

<Doug Klippert@ 3:53 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 – Permalink –

Educational Slide Shows

Suggestions

Purdue University has a collection of PowerPoint shows on a number of topics.

Writing Skills
Research and Documentation St yles
Grammar and Mechanics
Business/ Professional Writing
Agricultural Economics/Cooperative Extension

If you have eve had to prepare a paper with MLA/APA standards these shows may come in handy:

Cross-referencing: Using MLA Format

This presentation teaches your students the purposes of MLA documentation, as well as methods for using parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page. This presentation is an important addition for the beginning of a research unit in a humanities course or any assignment that requires MLA documentation. (Writer and Designer: Jennifer Liethen Kunka)

Documenting Sources: Using APA Format

This presentation reviews the purposes of APA documentation, as well as methods for effectively using parenthetical citations and a reference page. This presentation is ideal for the begin ning of a research unit in a science course or any assignment that requires APA documentation. (Writer and Designer: Jennifer Liethen Kunka).

Purdue University

See all Topics

Labels: PowerPoint

<Doug Klippert@ 3:25 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 – Permalink –

Reminder - Task - Outlook

Sent from Access

"If you have a table that contains a date field, and you want to make sure that something happens on that date, one way is to create an Outlook task with a reminder that will pop up on the specified date; you can even use the Outlook reminder to create an email message that will be sent on the specified date.

This article will show how to create an Outlook task from Access VBA code, and send an email message when the task's reminder fires."

The file is located on Helen Feddema's site.
Access Archon
Scroll down to #126

The zip file contains the WAW article, in Word format, plus the supporting file.

Helen Feddema has been working with Word since v. 1.1, Access since the beta of v. 1.0, and Outlook since the beta of v. 8.0 (that's where Outlook started its version numbering).

See all Topics

Labels: Access, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:10 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Monday, October 10, 2011 – Permalink –

Default Save

Choose your own location

When you choose to save most Office files, the Save dialog box defaults to the Documents or My Documents folder.

(The following directions work in 2007-10, but you need to click on the Office button in the upper left corner of the Window)

Word: you can change the default location by going to Tools>Options. On the "File Locations" tab you can modify the storage location.
Excel: Tools>Options. On the "General" tab change the default location.
PowerPoint: uses Tools>Options and the "Save" tab.
Access: Tools>Options and the "General" tab for Databases and Projects
Publisher: Tools>Options "General".
Outlook: will make you take an underground tour into the Registry to change the location to save e-mail attachments.
FrontPage/Expression Web: appears to require the same sort of spelunking.

Change the folder where e-mail messages and attachments are saved

Also:
D.C. Everest school district Weston, WI:
Office Default Paths

If you don't want to change the default, but would like to be able to quickly go to an alternate site, open the Save or Save Attachment dialog box. On the left side of the box is the Places Navigation bar. If you click the Desktop icon, that location will be used to save the file.

You can add spots to the bar. Browse to the specific folder. Highlight the folder and click the down arrow beside the Tools option. Select "Add to My Places."

The file or e-mail attachment can then be saved where you want.

See all Topics

Labels: Access, Excel, Expression Web, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word

<Doug Klippert@ 3:24 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Sunday, October 09, 2011 – Permalink –

Free HTML Tools

Collection of helpful utilities

AXCEL216's MAX Speeed WinDOwS Tricks + Secrets:

HTML Authoring
Webmaster Resources

GIF + JPEG Shrinkers: Do you have large GIFs/JPEGs cluttering your internet/server space? Are your web pages loading too slow?
HTML Validators: These HTML/CSS/DHTML/XHTML validators check the accuracy of your code, reporting all aspects of design and eventual errors, flaws, invalid links etc
HTML Editors: Offline HTML + text editors
[D]HTML, XML, CSS + Java[Script] Resources: Java No Java... JavaScript dedicated web sites
FTP Transfer Tools: FTP transfer clients + FTP server tools

See all Topics

Labels: Expression Web, HTML

<Doug Klippert@ 3:35 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, October 08, 2011 – Permalink –

Budget Spreadsheet

Free money (tracker)

One of the first things people do with Excel is make lists. Next they attempt to set up a budgeting worksheet.

Michael Ham has a free downloadable budget spreadsheet. The formulas are protected, but you might consider it an exercise to figure out how they work.

Your income: Just your take-home pay, which is what you control and spend.
Cash reserve: A reserve equal to 3-6 months of take-home pay.
Savings: A portion of your income set aside to fund your retirement.
Fixed expenses: Expenses that you must pay over the course of a year.
Replacements: You also must pay to replace things that eventually wear out.
Weekly allowance: Partly discretionary, partly not; paid by cash from your pocket.
Periodic purchases: Discretionary purchases paid by check periodically.
Future purchases: Big-ticket discretionary purchases that you must save for.
Summary: A summary of your income and where it goes—and where you are.
QuickForm: You can switch to this format once you're familiar with the method.
Tips: Ideas to help pare your expenses.

Lulu.com

See all Topics

Labels: Excel

<Doug Klippert@ 3:00 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Friday, October 07, 2011 – Permalink –

Beyond Bullet Points

By Cliff Atkinson

ISBN 0-7356-2052-0
Microsoft Press 2005

About the Author
Cliff Atkinson is a leading authority on how to improve communications across organizations using Microsoft PowerPoint. He is a popular keynote speaker, a writer, and an independent management consultant whose clients include companies ranking in the top five of the Fortune 500. He is president of Sociable Media in Los Angeles.

Cliff teaches at UCLA Extension, is a senior contributor for the MarketingProfs newsletter, and writes the Beyond Bullets weblog, at BeyondBullets.com.
Also see SociableMedia.com

Book Description
PowerPoint owns the presentation world. We've been cocooned by a blue gradient screen with six or more bullet points feeding information.
Or so we've been lulled to believe.
(see Edward Tufte's dissection of the Columbia PowerPoint disaster)

Cliff Atkinson takes a well researched, but almost heretical stand that a presentation is a story and that too much data plastered on the screen, dulls the audience's soul and actually reduces comprehension and retention.

Beyond Bullets walks the reader through the story process and provides tools to structure presentations to have the maximum impact.

The "PowerPoint" part of the process is easy to follow, even for a novice. The story telling sections will help improve the most experienced speaker's show.

Quote

"But what might not be evident in the simplicity of this slide is what happens when the audience experiences it along with your verbal explanation. Because the slide design is simple, the audience can quickly scan the headline and visual and understand the idea. Then their attention turns to the place you want it. — to you, the words you're saying, and the way the information relates to them. Instead of making everything explicit and obvious on the slides, you can leave the slides open to interpretation so the audience is dependent on you, and you on them.

What (the experts are) saying, basically, is that slides filled with bullet points create obstacles between presenters and audiences. You might want to be natural and relaxed when you present, but people say that bullet points make the atmosphere formal and stiff. You might aim to be clear and concise, but people often walk away from these presentations feeling confused and unclear. And you might intend to display the best of your critical thinking on a screen, but people say that bullet points "dumb down" the important discourse that needs to happen for our society to function well.

Somewhere in our collective presentation experience, we're not connecting the dots between presenters and audiences by using the conventional bullet points approach. This issue is of rising concern not only to individuals and audiences - even the major players of large organizations are taking notice of the problem. It seems that in every location where people meet, from small meeting rooms to board rooms to conference halls, people want a change."

Here's the latest edition:

See all Topics

Labels: Addendum, Books, PowerPoint

<Doug Klippert@ 3:58 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Thursday, October 06, 2011 – Permalink –

Cohabitation Agreements

And more

Here is a shared community with a collection of important papers. Kind of a Flickr for documents.

"docstoc is a user generated community where you can find and share professional documents. Find free legal documents and free business documents. Upload your documents for all the world to share."

Differences between a Will and a Trust
Employment Agreement
Cohabitation Agreement
Real Estate Purchase Contract
On Target Marketing Plan Book
Interactive W-9 from EchoSign
Promissory Note
Excel Formulas Help
Venture Capital Firms in California (full contact info)
How to Write a Mission Statement
LLC Company Agreement
Rental Agreement
Last Will And Testament

DocStoc.com

See all Topics

Labels: Addendum

<Doug Klippert@ 3:59 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Wednesday, October 05, 2011 – Permalink –

Form and Data

Good combo

In Access, tables can be a bother to use for data entry.

Constructing a Form can make it easier.

Here is an MS demo about combining the two:

"While working with forms, a split form can be a very useful view because you simultaneously get two views of the form that are connected to the same data source.
This demo shows you how to create a split form view where you can use the datasheet part of the form to quickly locate a record and the form portion to view or modify the record.

You will also learn how to enhance and customize a split form view to suit your needs."

Form and data

See all Topics

Labels: Access

<Doug Klippert@ 3:31 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Tuesday, October 04, 2011 – Permalink –

Postal Codes

International

Don't assume that the ZIP code (or postal code, as it is referred to in many countries outside the United States) has any particular format or length, or that it comprises only digits. For instance, Canadian postal codes consist of two groups of three characters, such as "M5R 3H5"; a French postal code is a five-digit number, as in 92300. In some places, people might add a country or region code in front of the postal code (for example, F-92300)

Universal Postal Union:
Postcodes

Graham Rhind:
Links to Postal Code pages
Graham Rhind has specialized for over 14 years in international address and postal code methodologies.

Escape Artist:
Zip Codes & Postal Codes of the World
A website that shows you how to restart your life abroad.

Columbia University
Frank's Compulsive Guide to Postal Addresses

Word will not create a bar code for a Canadian postal code. Under the Canadian postal system, the post office applies bar coding to mail.

More Postal/Zip Stuff:

Melissa data

Campaign Contributions: Individuals that have contributed $200 or more to federal campaigns by ZIP Code.
Canadian Addresses: Lookup any Canadian address and get the Postal Code, time zone and area code.
Income Tax Statistics: Income tax information by ZIP Code. Includes average AGI, number of returns, average refund, filing status, age and more.
Nearest Post Office: Locate the 10 closest post offices to a ZIP Code that accept bulk mail.
Occupants by ZIP: Generate a count of occupant delivery addresses by ZIP Code. Order your Occupant list online.
U.S. Addresses: Lookup any U.S. address and get the ZIP+4 code, area code, time zone, county, address type, street detail and more.
ZIP Codes by County: Obtain a list of the ZIP Codes in any county in the United States.
ZIP Distance: Displays the distance between any two 5-digit ZIP Codes in the United States.
ZIP-City-Phone: Lookup ZIP Codes, city names, the location of phone numbers or the cities covered by an area code.
ZIPs in a Radius: Displays a listing of the ZIP Codes that fall within a radius.

Here are some great links:

Zip code demonstrator

How to Read Postal Bar Codes

Barcode Yourself

Barcode clock

See all Topics

Labels: Addendum

<Doug Klippert@ 3:56 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Monday, October 03, 2011 – Permalink –

Plain Language

Twaddle free

THE WHITE HOUSE
June 1, 1998

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Plain Language in Government Writing

"The Federal Government's writing must be in plain language. By using plain language, we send a clear message about what the Government is doing, what it requires, and what services it offers. Plain language saves the Government and the private sector time, effort, and money."

The Plain English Network

Plain language can be understood by YOUR reader at first reading. It doesn't mean writing for a certain grade level - it means organizing and writing for your reader. Writing in plain language saves time and money for writers and readers.

Introducing Plain Language

Plain language matches the needs of the reader with your needs as a writer, resulting in effective and efficient communication. It is effective because the reader can understand the message. It is efficient because the reader can read and understand the message the first time.

Also:
LegalWriting.net
Plain language produces clear, concise, and readable documents

And then for no reason ,other than most writing is twaddle, here's a review of:

How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World:
A Short History of Modern Delusions
by Francis Wheen.

It's entitled: "Twaddle unswaddled".
Appropriate or not, it is fun to say.

See all Topics

Labels: Word

<Doug Klippert@ 7:27 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Sunday, October 02, 2011 – Permalink –

No Bullets?

Heresy!

Cliff Atkinson's book, "Beyond Bullets", came out in 2005. A new version has just been released.

Shellie Tucker, of Office.Microsoft.com, tried out the suggestions in a real world situation:

"It was a gamble. And it gave us pause. Could we give a PowerPoint presentation and use NO BULLET POINTS? Could we divorce ourselves from the tried and true - and deadly boring? We decided to try."

No bullets

See all Topics

Labels: PowerPoint

<Doug Klippert@ 3:20 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, October 01, 2011 – Permalink –

Acustom Yourself to Excel

Shake hands with a worksheet

Anneliese Wirth has written an article for Office.Microsoft.com about how to get used to the new user interface in Excel 2007-10.

Add a Get Started tab to the Ribbon
Take advantage of the Quick Access Toolbar
Minimize the Ribbon, maximize your workspace
Choose your own default font
Restore missing worksheet tabs
Freeze panes here, there, and everywhere

Surviving the switch to Excel 2007-10

See all Topics

Labels: Excel

<Doug Klippert@ 3:31 AM

Comments: Post a Comment