Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Close Forms

Auto Shutdown

Here's how to close a form after it’s used:

  1. Open the first form in Design view.
  2. Double-click the Form Properties button.
  3. Click on the Event tab.
  4. Click in the On Deactivate text box.
  5. Select Event Procedure.
  6. Click the Build button.
  7. At the prompt, enter: Me.TimerInterval =1.
    (Try something like 30000 milliseconds)
  8. Press [Alt][Q].
  9. In the Form Properties window, click in the On Timer property text box.
  10. Select Event Procedure.
  11. Click the Build button.
  12. At the prompt, enter: DoCmd.Close.
  13. Press [Alt][Q].
  14. Save the form.

Microsoft Support



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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Time it Right

No need to wind your PC


Windows will go out to the Internet to verify or correct its time settings.


"If you wish to check your synchronization settings, look for the clock at the bottom right and double click on the time to bring up your time settings.
  • You can adjust your local time and date by hand on the first tab,
  • you can adjust your time zone location on the second,
  • and on the third, labeled Internet Time, you can view your current atomic clock sync settings."


Worldtimeserver.com:
Atomic Clock Sync Settings

National Institute of Standards and Technology:
Time and Frequency Division

Time signals can also be heard on shortwave radio or by phone.
"The audio portions of the WWV and WWVH broadcasts can also be heard by telephone.
The time announcements are normally delayed by less than 30 ms when using land lines from within the continental United States, and the stability (delay variation) is generally 1 ms.
When mobile phones are used, the delays are often more than 100 ms due to the multiple access methods used to share cell channels.
In rare instances when the telephone connection is made by satellite, the time is delayed by 250 to 500 ms.
To hear these broadcasts, dial (303) 499-7111 for WWV (Colorado), and (808) 335-4363 for WWVH (Hawaii). Callers are disconnected after 2 minutes. These are not toll-free numbers; callers outside the local calling area are charged for the call at regular long-distance rates.

The telephone service is very popular. The WWV number receives over 1 million calls per year, and the WWVH number receives more than 50,000."



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Monday, August 29, 2016

Garden Cities of To-Morrow

Lullaby Baxter's Back


The quirky star of Capable Egg returns.




Rattled Little Clam

Montreal, 1997. Lullaby Baxter is waiting tables at Jello Bar. Coaxed on stage for an impromptu number, she sings Billie Holiday's signature song "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)". This, her first public performance since grade school, brings down the house.

She buys a green guitar and learns "Leaving On A Jet Plane". Someone at the Laundromat says, "Anyway, try writing songs."

Little Song
Also see:
Capable Egg



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Sunday, August 28, 2016

Copyright Fair Use

When can you use it?


The copyright law is a little vague when it comes to fair use.


" Fair use is a copyright principle based on the belief that the public is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials for purposes of commentary and criticism. For example, if you wish to criticize a novelist, you should have the freedom to quote a portion of the novelist's work without asking permission. Absent this freedom, copyright owners could stifle any negative comments about their work.
Unfortunately, if the copyright owner disagrees with your fair use interpretation, the dispute will have to be resolved by courts or arbitration. If it's not a fair use, then you are infringing upon the rights of the copyright owner and may be liable for damages."




U S Copyright Office
Ohio State University
CopyrightLaw.com



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Saturday, August 27, 2016

List Field in Access Tables

Bit o' code


When viewing a table that has many fields in Design view, you have to scroll up and down to review the field names.

This can be tiresome when you're referring to them constantly, and particularly when you're working with several tables.

The following code produces a field listing for a given table. This can then be copied to Notepad and printed for easy reference.

Enter the code into a module, substituting your table's name where appropriate.

Open the Debug/Immediate window, type ListFields,

Press Enter to produce the listing.
Sub ListFields()
Dim dbs As DATABASE
Dim dbfield As Field
Dim tdf As TableDef

Set dbs = CurrentDb
Set tdf = dbs.TableDefs!NAMEOFYOURTABLE

Debug.Print ""
Debug.Print "Name of table: "; tdf.Name
Debug.Print ""

For Each dbfield In tdf.Fields
Debug.Print dbfield.Name
Next dbfield
End Sub




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Friday, August 26, 2016

Moving PST

Instructions



It is sometimes necessary to move Outlook .PST files to a different drive on your local computer.

Here are Microsoft's instructions:

How to Move your Personal folders

You may be tempted to move the file to a network drive, but Microsoft advises against it:

Why Outlook .PST files are unsupported over a LAN or WAN link

How to manage .pst files in Outlook

 
Slipstick.com has this to say about how
 To move a Personal Folders .PST file

and

Moving Outlook .PST files to a new machine



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Thursday, August 25, 2016

Link Workbooks

Tie them together


Excel is a flatfile database, but you can do some Access kinds of relationships.


"A link is a formula that gets data from a cell in another workbook. When you open a workbook that contains links (a linking workbook), Microsoft Excel reads in the latest data from the source workbook or workbooks (updates the links).

Use links when you want to maintain information in a single workbook, but also use the information in other workbooks. For example, if your product prices change frequently, you might keep a master price list.
Other workbooks that use the price data in calculations, such as purchase orders, inventory valuations, or sales estimates, can create links to the price list workbook so calculations always use current prices. When prices change, you only have to enter the new prices in one place."


  1. Open both workbooks.

  2. In the source workbook, select the cells you want to link to and click the Copy button.

  3. Switch to the destination workbook and click the upper left cell of the range where you want the links.

  4. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special, and then click Paste Link.
Create and Manage Links



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Wednesday, August 24, 2016

No Home in IE

Blanked out


You can open Internet Explorer to a blank page.

Sometimes your normal home page may be too busy, or slow to load when you just want to pop out to a different location.

This trick will give you a blank slate to paste in a new URL.

  1. Create a new Desktop shortcut
    (Right click an empty spot on the desktop and choose New>Shortcut)

  2. Copy the following, and paste it as the target for the shortcut:


    "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" nohome

  3. Name the shortcut something like Blank IE




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Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Give Yourself a Tip

Take your own advise


If you still have Windows set up so that it shows a tip when you first sign in, you can add your own message, or change the ones the developers created.
  1. Go to start>Run and type in Regedit

  2. Find:
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Tips]
    

  3. Create a new string value named by incrementing the existing value names and set it to the required tip text.

  4. The Data Type is REG_SZ (String Value)

  5. The Value Data: Your tip




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Monday, August 22, 2016

Notes from Word

Import it all


One technique that can be used when preparing a PowerPoint show, is to import material from an existing Word Outline.

If the Word document is formatted with Heading styles, Heading 1 will become a new slide and the subsequent headings, 1 through 6 will become bullet points on the slide.

It may be desirable to prepare notes for each slide while developing the Word outline. Notes don't appear on the slide, they are placed on a separate page that can be printed out for the speaker or handed out to the audience.

Bill Dilworth has written a macro that moves information that has been formatted, say at Heading 6, and places it on the notes page:

"This macro outline allows the user to use Word's "Send To PowerPoint" feature, then run this macro to get notes from MS Word to PowerPoint as notes. The macro allows you to set the text level you want to become the notes."


Word Outline to Notes Page in PowerPoint



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Sunday, August 21, 2016

Burn Wrapping Paper?

Holiday info


If you want to find out the real background story on any number of water cooler questions, try:
StraightDope.com

For instance:

Why is it dangerous to burn wrapping paper?


The fire is the wrong place for other holiday detritus as well - der Tannenbaum, for example.

My assistant Una had an Uncle Bob, a manly man who felt throwing the Christmas tree away was a waste of good firewood. So he tossed it in the fireplace - gave him a nice warm glow.
Unfortunately
what was glowing was the roof, presumably ignited by embers.
Fortunately
the fire was small and anybody with a hose could have put it out.
Unfortunately
the hose was frozen solid and the fire department had trouble getting the nearest hydrant to work.
Fortunately
the firefighters were able to throw a ladder up against the house and put out the fire with a chemical extinguisher. They then hacked off a small hunk of charred roof with axes, peered into the crawl space, and declared the fire out.
Unfortunately,
having by now found an operational hydrant, the firemen declared they needed to hose down the roof "as policy," sending a torrent of water through the hole and collapsing the living room ceiling.
Really unfortunately,
the house that all this happened in belonged not to Uncle Bob but his in-laws. Bob bought them an RV and matters were pronounced square, but it was a lesson he won't soon forget, and neither should you.




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Saturday, August 20, 2016

Combo Box Queries

How to



Parameter queries add flexibility to filtering records in a database. To make it easy, take a look at this approach from Martin Green's Office Tips site:

Drop down box in a Parameter Query

  1. Build a dialog box with as many combo boxes as you need.
  2. Design a query to read its criteria from the information on the dialog box.
  3. Create a macro or visual basic procedure to tell them both what to do.
Also:
Base Combo Box on Parameter Query to Filter Values



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Friday, August 19, 2016

It's Policy

Set your own


It's best to make your email rules available and well known:


" Email is a quick, cheap and easy means of communication. This makes email a great business tool, but at the same time a potential threat for employers. Email threats such as confidentiality breaches, legal liability, lost productivity and damage to reputation cost companies millions of dollars each year.
How can a company protect itself from these threats? The first step in securing your company is to create an email usage policy. After you have created your email policy you must make sure it is actually implemented. This can be done by giving regular trainings and by monitoring employees' email using email security software. "

You may find it useful when trying to develop your own E-mail policy.

Nolo.com: Create an Email Policy



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Thursday, August 18, 2016

Change Insert Picture Target

File location


If you would like to specify the folder Word will default to when you go to Inset>Picture:
  1. From the Tools menu, click Options.

  2. Select the File Locations tab.

  3. Select ClipArt Pictures from the File Types list.

  4. Click the Modify button.

  5. Navigate to the folder you want Word to default to.

  6. Click OK. OK.


In 2007-10, you'll find the entry by
  1. Click on the Office logo

  2. Go to Word Options>Advanced

  3. Scroll down to General

  4. Click the File Locations button




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Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Have a Geeky Gift

And a Functional New Year


It is rather late in the season, but this is a gift that gives all year long:
This hilarious clock is the perfect accessory for any Excel power user. Each numeral has been replaced with a suitable Excel function that will evaluate to that numeral.

We've used one function from as many function categories as possible to really provide a broad range of functions.


For instance:
=FACT(3) - The FACT() function returns the Factorial of a number. The Factorial of 10 is 10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1. This function is great for statisticians calculating combinations and permutations. In our case, the Factorial of 3 is 3x2x1 or 6

MrExcel.com:

Excel Function Clock



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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Files DO have Extensions

Smarten your machine


For some reason, the powers that be thought that the general public was going to be confused by those suffixes at the end of file names.

To help us all out, they hid extensions by default.

I like to see .Doc (or .Docx). Here's how to get that information back
  1. Open Windows Explorer

  2. Go to Tools>Folder Options.

  3. In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab

  4. Clear the checkbox to the left of the Hide extensions for known file types option

  5. Click OK to close the dialog box and return to Windows Explorer


Also see EdBott.com:
 Show or hide file name extensions

and
Configure Windows



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Monday, August 15, 2016

Display Row, Column Headings

User Function



Here's an odd little use of functions.

If you want to display the Row number on a spreadsheet, the formula
=Row()
works just fine.
You could then hide the Row and Column headings and format the Row numbers any way you want. If a Row is deleted the numbers will automatically update.

Column headings are a little harder. The formula =Column() will show the number of the Column, not the letter, i.e. "2" instead of "B".

The following formula extracts the Column letter:

=SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(1,COLUMN(),4),"1","")


To break it down:

=ADDRESS(row_num,column_num,abs_num)

This finds the address at Row number "1" and current Column number. The abs_num of "4 " says make the result a relative address.

The formula will produce a result such as "AA1".

SUBSTITUTE(text,old_text,new_text)

This function looks at the address, i.e. "AA1".
It replaces the Row number character ("1") with a null or empty value ("").
The formula will produce a result such as "AA".

Also see Daily Dose of Excel by Dick Kusleika.

Dick mused:'

"Sometime before the year 3,000, Microsoft will hopefully increase the number of columns in Excel (Hey, I can dream can't I). The challenge before you is to write a function that converts a column number to its letter equivalent assuming columns go to ZZZZ. That’s about 450,000 columns - maybe more than I need."


Of course Office 2007+ has taken it up to 16,284 columns.



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Sunday, August 14, 2016

Hungarian Notation

Belépés



This tip is useful in a number of applications.

When you name an object, include a prefix that identifies the type of object.

When naming a table for Customers, use "tblCustomers" .
You could also have a form for customers. It would be "frmCustomers" .


It's called Hungarian notation because with the prefix, it does not look like an English word.

Dr. Charles Simonyi developed the convention at Microsoft, and he is from Hungary.

He wrote an article on Hungarian notation for MSDN, the Microsoft Developer's Network.

Hungarian notation


Here are some prefixes:
  • tbl- Table
  • qry- Query
  • frm- Form
  • rpt- Report




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Saturday, August 13, 2016

Templates are Digital Stencils

Make your own


If you have a document; such as a report or reoccurring newsletter, one way to reduce the production time is to create a template.

These preformatted, boiler plated documents can then be fleshed out without having to reinvent the sardine.

Here are some tutorials to help you along:

AddBalance.com
Template Basics

About.com
Word Templates



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Friday, August 12, 2016

Sparklines

Quick graphic reinforcement


A graph or chart can give the reader a visual representation of a great deal of data. Concepts or results can be more easily grasped by a well formatted graphic.

Charts, usually, take up more space in a document than is absolutely required.

Edward Tufte has come up with the concept of Sparklines (Sparklines:Intense, Word-sized Graphics)
.
These are small graphs about the same height and width as common words. They are not out of place in the text of a document.

Sparklines give the reader a snapshot of the data that quickly supports the material being discussed.



See:
Sparklines Tutorial

Bisantz Sparklines




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Thursday, August 11, 2016

What's the Expression

FrontPage, we knew you well


Microsoft has retired FrontPage in favor of an application called Expression Web Designer.

It is part of four programs that will make up the Expression suite.

Channel9.MSDN.com has a series of videos on the quartet.

Here's the one on FrontPage/ Expression
Expression - Part Four: Web

Also:
Expression - Part One: The Overview

Expression - Part Two: Design

Expression - Part Three: Blend



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Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Hidden Macros Names and Shortcuts

Revealed


Word has built in macros to perform routine actions such as using the Format Painter to copy formatting.

Rather than trying to guess the name or look up the shortcut keys, use this seldom mentioned trick to find toolbar macro names.

Press the three key combination of Ctrl, Alt, and + (the plus sign on the Numbers keypad).

The mouse pointer changes to a 4-leaf clover.

Click on a toolbar icon. Word will display a form revealing the macro name and the assigned shortcuts.



(It works the same way in 2007+)



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Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Curves

and More


Gabriels Horn from the Curve Bank
Famous curves from Cal State at LA. All your favorites from Astroid to Witch of Agnesi.

Here is a collection of Functions relating to astronomy from Stargazing.net.

Can't tell who might be interested in the obliquity of the equator given date in days after J2000.0.
See: Astro VBA

Other Curve stuff:

DelphiForFun.org: converting polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates.
"Students of analytic geometry, (the kind that combines algebra and geometry), often work in one of two coordinate systems: Cartesian or Polar - and frequently must convert from one to the other.

The Cartesian system locates points on a plane by measuring the horizontal and vertical distances from an arbitrary origin to a point. These are usually denoted as a pair of values (X, Y).

The Polar system locates the point by measuring the straight line distance, usually denoted by R, from the origin to the point and the angle of an imaginary line from the origin to the point, θ, (Greek letter Theta), measured counterclockwise from the positive X axis."




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Monday, August 08, 2016

Answer Before the Show

As helpful as No-Doz (almost)


Here are some question to answer before that presentation.
Your audience, probably, does want to be informed not put to sleep.
  • Is this slide for me or for my audience?

  • Will it really help them better understand my message or just serve as a distraction?

  • How can I remember what I'm going to say without putting the entire text on the slide?

  • What can I do to simplify the slide so that only essential information is displayed?

  • What do I really need to do at this point in the presentation to engage the audience and enhance my message?

  • Is a visual the best way to convey the information or could a story do a better job?

  • Using ideas like this, your talk will be much stronger and your audience will be engaged and awake.
From The Boston Herald




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Sunday, August 07, 2016

Password Background

Unencrypted

Alan Myrvold has written a background article on how Office handles passwords and what password strength means.

"Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have been able to password protect documents for several versions by setting the 'password to open'. What we felt could be improved was the ability to enforce password strength rules, similar to what may be required when logging into your computer at work."






Enabling password rules for Office 2010+



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Saturday, August 06, 2016

Remote Access

Distance Computing


"There are lots of reasons why you'd want to access your PC remotely, and luckily there are also plenty of ways to do so. Crossloop is one of the simplest (it’s also free), but for those willing to venture further, you've got lots of options.

Excuse us while we get technical for a second. This list is divided into four main sections: VNC (Virtual Network Computing), NX, remote desktop and cross-protocol. If those terms mean nothing to you, you might want to skip to the 'other' section for the most straightforward applications."

Mashable.com



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Friday, August 05, 2016

PP Diet

Reduce the size of your presentation files



Ellen Finkelstein has some suggestions to make your PowerPoint files more manageable.

Save the file under a new name
PowerPoint remembers all your actions in a session so that you can undo them. Saving under another name discards this information. For some reason, this works better than closing and opening the same file.
Convert the image file type
The image file type makes a huge difference. In my tests of a photo, JPEG files were the smallest by far. (GIF files are also small, but are not suitable for most photographs because they don't support enough colors.) I took an image and Microsoft Office Picture Manager to convert it.

Read more:

EllenFinkelstein.com



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Thursday, August 04, 2016

REDUCE MISSPELLINGS

You might be missing typos in tables

If you've ever found typos in a table or list that you're positive you remember spell checking, chances are that the typos are in words that are purposely skipped during the spell check.

By default, SpellChecker ignores words that are all upper-case or that have numbers in them. In most cases, this is probably fine. However, especially with purchased data, you'll occasionally come across tables where everything is capitalized.

Fortunately, you can change the way SpellChecker works so that all words are included.

To do so, run the SpellChecker on a data selection that will cause the Spelling dialog box to be displayed.

Then, click the Options button and clear the Words In UPPERCASE and Words With Numbers check boxes.

Finally, click OK and then Cancel.



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Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Find the Word

And Replace


Word has one of the most complete and malleable Find/Replace systems of any application.
Here is a 26 page report on how to use it from Editorium.com.
While your there, sign up for the free newsletter.

Advanced Find and Replace for Microsoft Word

"One of Word's most powerful features, especially for editing, is Find and Replace using wildcards and character codes. This free tutorial (a Word document) will take you step by step through what you need to know. If you don't download anything else here, be sure to get this--and work your way through it. It's well worth the effort."


Editorium.com/Freebies



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Tuesday, August 02, 2016

Conditional Formatting

Much more capabilities


Pre-2007 Excel was limited to only 3 conditions. The new Office is more generous and versatile.
Here are some of the features:
Format all cells based on their values
Use this to create a data bar, 2-color or 3-color color scale, or icon set rule.
Format only cells that contain:
Use this to create style rules and more (format cells greater than, less than, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, equal to, not equal to, between, not between). This is also the entry point to create rules of type: specific text, date occurring, blanks, non-blanks, errors, non-errors.
Format only top or bottom ranked values:
Use this to create top n, top n%, bottom n, bottom n% rule types.
Format only values that are above or below average:
Use this to create above average, below average, 1 or 2 or 3 standard deviation above, or 1 or 2 or 3 standard deviation below rule types.
Format only unique or duplicate values:
Use this to create rules that format unique or duplicate values.
Use a formula to determine which cells to format:
Use this to create style rules where you can enter a formula to determine whether a format should be applied.


2007+ Conditional Formatting



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Monday, August 01, 2016

3-D Breakout

No special glasses required



You are not limited to a flat PowerPoint slide.
You can add a 3-D look to your shows.

Bart Jones at OnPPT.com provides some basic suggestions.

Also see this series by Glen Millar.

"Many options in PowerPoint are often unseen, until a particular need arises.

The first tutorial shows how to use some of the 3d options in PowerPoint to roll images over into layers.
Roll Images

In the second tutorial, I show how a shape that is drawn as a Bezier curve can be turned into a 3d object.
3d Bezier curves

This effectively means you can draw any sort of shape you like and turn it into a 3d object right within PowerPoint.

The first tutorial will make you clever. The second tutorial may make you famous!"
More 3-D and other effects at Awesome PresentationPictures.com

Also:
PPTMagic.com
3D Transitions



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