Almost All You Need to Know

Collection of Word explanations

Shauna Kelly is a Microsoft Word MVP.

She has compiled a gathering of important Word how to's and whys.

For new users of Microsoft Word

Basic concepts - Introduction

Styles in Microsoft Word

Tips for understanding styles

Formatting

How the Styles and Formatting pane works

Numbering, Bullets, Headings, Outlines

How to control bullets

Templates

What is the relationship between a Word document and its template?

Layout

How to keep a figure on the same page as its caption

Sharing Microsoft Word documents

What happens when I send my document to someone else?

Making the most of Word in your business:
Microsoft Word FAQ



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Calculator Plus

Add, subtract, convert

Another free prize offered by Microsoft to reward users of legitimate Windows, is a neat calculator.

Besides all of the features of the built in calculator, both basic and scientific, this tool converts measurements and currency.


Microsoft Calculator Plus download.




[Edited entry from 11/9/2005]



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PayPal - Phishing

A tutorial

As part of a series on Identity Protection Resources, PayPal has a section on Spoofing or Phishing.

"Many spoof emails look very real. While there are some telltale signs, it can often be difficult to identify fake emails. Whenever you get an email about your PayPal account, the safest and easiest course of action is to open your browser and log in to your PayPal account directly without clicking any links in the email.

Warning signs that an email about your PayPal account are fake include a generic greeting, a false sense of urgency, and links that don't include:

"https://www.paypal.com" immediately before the first "/".

Spoof Tutorial

[Edited entry from 11/7/2005]



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John Titor - 2036

The future came back

Why speculate about the future, when we've already been visited by a representative?

"A tale that disturbed me, concerned me, made me wonder if our world as we know it has less than 15 years left.

It is the tale of John Titor, a self-proclaimed time traveler from the year 2036.

Okay, it sounds crazy. It's not crazy, though . . .it's simply a hoax. It's a compelling hoax, so I decided to write my take on it. After some initial 'what if' excitement about it, the reality set in that this wasn't what it appeared to be. In this piece, I hope to prove relatively clearly that his claims are false both in theory and in fact. He seemed to know enough about physics to pass amongst laymen, but unfortunately he skipped philosophy and economics while he was reading all those physics books.

Since this story just won't seem to die and there is evidence that the same perpetrator is now claiming to be an alien on various boards across the web, I felt it was worth sitting down and analyzing."

Tackling John Titor, Time Traveler



Wikipedia:
John Titor

"John Titor was the name of a purported time traveler from the year 2036. He posted on several time travel-related Internet bulletin boards during 2000/2001, making many vague and seemingly falsifiable predictions about events in the near future and giving an explicit, detailed account of his supposed native time period. Whether or not John Titor was a hoax is a topic of controversy on web-based paranormal discussion boards."

John Ttior's Story

"Someone using the assumed name of John Titor and claiming to be a soldier on a mission from 2036 presented a considerable amount of information on the Web beginning around November 2000 about his mission and time travel machine, his perspective on our society, how our society is going wrong, and how society as we know it will end in a very short but massive global nuclear war in 2015. He's gone now, back to 2036 he said he was going in his last posting on March 24, 2001, and the threads he left across the Web in his five months with us have been slowly evaporating since then."

AboveTopSecret.com:
The John Titor Project

"Although many find it easy to dismiss all this as either science fiction or an elaborate extended hoax, there are those who still read his information and agree that there is something very troubling about John Titor and what he had to say."

Answers.com:
John Titor

" He claimed his time machine — a "C204 time displacement" machine-was created by General Electric. Supposedly, he transported it in a standard motor vehicle (a black, model-year 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible shown in the photographs he provided), and the car also served as his vessel whilst traveling through time (it remained stationary throughout with the engine off). He claimed that the public is fully aware of time travel in his time period, although the extreme skeptics of his day do not believe it exists."

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Graph Data and Shapes

Statistical collection

Betty C Jung has put together a serious collection of tutorials, links, and data sources.

Here are some of the topics:

• Charting Data
  
• Data Presentation
  
• Cumulative Frequencies
  
• Fishbone Diagram
  
• Flowcharts
  
• Frequency Distributions
  
• Gantt; PERT Charts
  
• Graphing With Excel
  
• Analyzing and Plotting Data with Excel
  
• Organizational Charts/Mapping
  
• Social Network Analysis

Graphing & Presenting Data



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Send the Viewer on Their Way

Move on

If you have an old site that people still address, or a web page that has been moved, see this code and the explanations.


<html>

<head>
<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="3; URL=http://WWW.MiniByteTech.com">
</head>

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">


The operative line is:

<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="3; URL=http://WWW.MiniByteTech.com">

The value of content is in seconds.
The new location for this web site is WWW.MiniByteTech.com! You will automatically be redirected in 3 seconds. If your browser doesn't automatically load, click <a href="http://WWW.MiniByteTech.com">HERE</a>.

</body>
</html

PCMag.com:
Routing Your Web Site Visitors

Help2Go.com:
Redirecting a Web page

ISiteBuild.com:
How to Redirect a Web Page Using a 301 Redirect

This tools help you determine if the redirect you have created is Search Engine Friendly:

WebConfs.com:
Redirect Checker



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An Obsession with Butterflies

Quote

"Architecture is a plant's first defense. Once a caterpillar begins to eat, compounds in its saliva can be recognized by the leaf as a form of attack. Whang, whang, whang. The entire plant goes on alert. A hormonal burst starts a second defense system, a counter attack that may include rushing newly produced toxins to the damaged leaf, as well as compounds that slow a caterpillar's ability to digest the plant as food."

About the Author

Sharman Apt Russell teaches writing at Western New Mexico University. She is also the author of Anatomy of a Rose, Kill the Cowboy and Songs of the Fluteplayer.
She has a unique voice. Inherently complex topics are made enjoyable.

Book Description

From the beastly horned caterpillar, whose blood helps it count time, to the peacock butterfly, with wings that hiss like a snake, Russell traces the butterflies through their life cycles, exploring the creatures' own obsessions with eating, mating, and migrating. In this way, she reveals the logic behind our endless fascination with butterflies as well as the driving passion of such legendary collectors as the tragic Eleanor Glanville, whose children declared her mad because of her compulsive butterfly collecting, and the brilliant Henry Walter Bates, whose collections from the Amazon in 1858 helped develop his theory of mimicry in nature. Russell also takes us inside some of the world's most prestigious natural history museums, where scientists painstakingly catalogue and categorize new species of Lepidoptera, hoping to shed light on insect genetics and evolution.

>

By Sharman Apt Russell
ISBN 0-7382-0699-7
Perseus Publishing 2003

Also see:
The North American Butterfly Association (NABA)

and,
AmazingButterflies.com:
A Talk with Sharman Apt Russell



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Clip Art Gallery

Sprinkle carefully

Judicious use of Clip art can spice up a document. Here's an article about how to customize existing pictures including:

• Display clip-related toolbars
  
• Customizing your clip art
  
• Cropping
  
• Sizing
  
• Adding text wrapping
  
• Blurring
  
• Rotating and flipping
  
• Adding a drop shadow

Edit clip art in Word


 

Halloween clips



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Excel 2007+ Limits

New Boundaries

Here are a few of the major changes in Excel 2010+.

The total number of available columns in Excel

Old Limit: 256 (2^8)

New Limit: 16k (2^14)

The total number of available rows in Excel

Old Limit: 64k (2^16)

New Limit: 1M (2^20)

Number of unique colors allowed a single workbook

Old Limit: 56 (indexed color)

New Limit: 4.3 billion (32-bit color)

Number of conditional format conditions on a cell

Old Limit: 3 conditions

New Limit: Limited by available memory

Number of levels of sorting on a range or table

Old Limit: 3

New Limit: 64

Number of items shown in the Auto-Filter dropdown

Old Limit: 1,000

New Limit: 10,000

The total number of characters that can display in a cell

Old Limit: 1k (when the text is formatted)

New Limit: 32k or as many as will fit in the cell (regardless of formatting)

The maximum length of formulas (in characters)

Old Limit: 1k characters

New Limit: 8k characters

The number of levels of nesting that Excel allows in formulas

Old Limit: 7

New Limit: 64

Maximum number of arguments to a function

Old Limit: 30

New Limit: 255

The number of characters that can be stored and displayed in a cell formatted as Text

Old Limit: 255

New Limit: 32k

These were reported by David Gainer.

Some other numbers



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Split View

Top and bottom

If you need to look at more than one part of a document at once, consider splitting the window.

To split the current window, just go to Window>Split from the main menu.
(View>Split in 2007)

Another way is to use the splitter control between the file tab channel and the scroll bar for the doc.



To create new windows for the same document, just go to Window>New Window and create as many views on the same document as you would like. (View>New Window in 2007)


Split Screen Feature - Word 2013



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One Slide Only

Get to the point

Too many PowerPoint shows consist of a massive deck of slides. The audience leaves either overwhelmed or wheeled out unconscious from the overload.

Elliot Masie is the head of the MASIE Center is an international e-lab and ThinkTank located in Saratoga Springs, NY.

He is hosted a seminar called Learning 2005

One feature of the sessions was a presenter's limit of only 1 page.

Think about this limitation the next time you are asked to lead a meeting.

"Every session at Learning 2005 will be limited to ONE PAGE (a slide, a poster, a mind-map, a single question or even just one word!)

Each facilitator of a case study, discussion, conversation or Radar Screen session will be asked to create a GREAT "1 Pager". It might be a single question such as,

"What is the impact of increased Compliance on Quality and Budget for Training?"

Or, it might be a mindmap of several concepts. Or, a graphic. Or, a simple list of Do's or Don'ts. But, it will just be a "1 Pager"!

Masie.com



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Test Your Typing

Practice, Practice

"With the TypingMaster Online Test you can assess your personal typing skills in minutes for free - within your web browser.

Based on the short text typing sample, this Java™ applet will estimate your typing skills including typing speed, accuracy and net speed. You can also receive test results directly to your email address."

TypingTest.com

MrKent.com
Typing and Ten-key Tests


Also:
CalculatorCat.com
Typing test



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Spam-A How to Guide

Why let the sleaze balls have all the fun?

We've traded garbage cans full of unsolicited mail for full blocked or deleted bins.

Here is a site that has information on stopping the bad guys, including information from their perspective.

• Spam Archives
  
  

  "A number of far-sighted people have been saving all their spam and have put it online. This is a valuable resource for anyone writing Bayesian filters."

  
  
• How to Spam
  
  

  "The links on this page are to companies that provide the infrastructure of spam. It's fairly disgusting reading, but a quick scan will give you some ideas about filtering."

  
  
• Spammers' Stories
  
  

  "These articles about spammers are very helpful in understanding how to stop spam. For example, complaining to the ISPs that spammers use does seem to inconvenience them.
  
  And best of all, so does filtering. In one article below, a spammer complains that filters have increased his costs 1,000-fold. That's exactly what we want to hear. New laws and policies may stop spam. Making it unprofitable certainly will."

  
  
• Better Bayesian Filtering
  
• Filters that Fight Back
  
• Will Filters Kill Spam?
  
• Filters vs. Blacklists
  
• Filtering Research
  
• Spam Resources
  
• Spam Links

PaulGraham.com: Anti Spam
(Paul Graham is an essayist, programmer, and programming language designer)



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Drag Data

Simple exchange

To transfer data from an Access query or table in another Office program, such as Word, there's no need to manually export the data.

1. Open the target Office document
   
   
2. Arrange both applications on the screen
   (Right-click an empty part of the Task bar and choose Tile Windows Vertically)
   
   
3. Switch to Access and select the fields or records that you want copied
   
   
4. When you've finished selecting the data, move the mouse pointer near the border of the selection until it turns into an arrow
   
   
5. Finally, drag and drop the data to your target document

You can also select a whole table, go to Edit>Copy. Switch to Word or Excel and Paste.
It works in the other direction too. Select some Excel data. Switch to Access. While viewing the Tables Objects, Paste the Excel data. It will form a new table.



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Slides on a Web Page

Make it an Internet show

A little bit ago we talked about putting a live web page directly on a slide:
Web Page on a Slide.

This hint is about converting your PowerPoint show into a web presentation.

Here's a slide show on the web showing how it's done:

EllenFinkelstein.com:
Publishing a Presentation to the Web

Also:

Indezine.com:
PowerPoint 2002-2003 Web Options

RDPSlides.com has this article:
PowerPoint on the Web

Web and PPT 2007:
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Office.Microsoft.com:
Show slide animations during a Web presentation



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Mac vs PC - Dates

Spreadsheet vagaries

The 1904 date system and the 1900 date system

"The default date system in Excel 2004 for Mac is the 1904 date system. The default date system in Excel 2003 is the 1900 date system. Typically, the use of different date systems does not cause a problem.

However, if you transfer a workbook from Excel to Excel for Mac, or vice versa, and then copy a date from one workbook to the other, the date may increase or decrease by four years and one day. This issue occurs if the two workbooks use different date systems.

For example, if you copy the date 1/1/1998 from a workbook that uses the 1900 date system and then paste the date into a workbook that uses the 1904 date system, the date appears as 1/2/2002. Alternatively, if you copy the date 1/1/1998 from a workbook that uses the 1904 date system and then paste the date into a workbook that uses the 1900 date system, the date appears as 12/31/1993.

As long as you know about the date systems that your workbooks use, the different date systems should not cause a problem.

KB 214330



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Icons - Itsy Bitsy Indicators

What those little graphics mean

There's not much room in an Outlook icon to communicate information.

Robert Sparnaaij, MVP-Outlook, has put together a legend of these tiny pictures with their meanings.

Such as:

What Do The Icons Mean?

For more information see his web site:
How to Outlook



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Best of Clementine, The

Not lost and gone

Why write new words and lyrics? They're interchangeable.

" You've heard it sung around the campfires! You've lifted your voice to its haunting melody countless times! Now K-Smel records introduces an all-new collection... The Best Of Clementine! "

1. The words to Clementine can be sung easily to the tune of certain songs
   
2. By extension, the words to these songs can be sung to the tune of Clementine
   
3. By further extension, the words and tunes of any of these songs are interchangeable
   

There is an MP3 file on the site that can be downloaded to illustrate the principal. The Best Of Clementine By Carl Franklin

Original lyrics from: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

How I missed her, how I missed her, How I missed my Clementine, Til I kissed her little sister, And forgot my Clementine.

1885 version: Ingeb.org



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Privacy and the Net

What happens on your computer, stays . . .

Here are some protection suggestions:

"Links to numerous pages on the Web where home users can find software and information relevant to Windows PC privacy and security.

It also contains a rudimentary "checklist" of basic steps that home PC users can take to enhance their privacy and security while using the Internet.
Finally, you'll find a set of resources developed by the author of this site to help you protect your privacy and security on the Internet, including information about Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and the Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG)."

Protecting Your Privacy & Security

by Eric Howes
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Also:
Microsoft:
Security at home

Also see:
Security and the Net



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Pictures Toolbar

Control your graphics

You may have used this toolbar in other applications; you may want to get to know it even better.

These tutorials looks at the toolbar which includes several easy-to-use features to tweak, enhance and position graphic images after they are inserted into a Expression Web/FrontPage web page.


Pictures Toolbar

• Insert an Image from File also insert images from the Clip Organizer or obtain free clipart online at Microsoft's Design Gallery Live
  
• Text can be placed directly on a GIF image.
  
• Automatically create a thumbnail of a larger image.
  
• Position Absolutely
  
• Bring Forward/Send Backward
  
• Rotate Left/Right
  
• Flip Horizontal/Vertical
  
• More/Less Contrast
  
• More/Less Brightness
  
• Crop
  
• Line Style
  
• Format Picture
  
• Set Transparent Image
  
• Color
  
• Bevel
  
• Resample

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Startup Woes

When kickstart is inappropriate

It happens to me less often than in the past, but when Excel does not want to open correctly, here are some resources to solve the problem.

"There are several reasons why you may experience problems when you start Microsoft Excel. This article discusses how to troubleshoot the cause of the startup problem, and possible remedies to correct the problem. The article also contains links to other Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that discuss known startup problems in greater detail."

Support.Microsoft:
How to troubleshoot startup problems in Excel
Also:

Chip Pearson:
Startup Errors In Excel

Contextures:
Starting Excel and Opening Files

JKP Application Development Services:
Fixing Startup problems

John Walkenbach
Solving Common Setup Problems



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Defeat Personalized Menus

A fast way in

Personalized menus display just your recently used menu items for a few seconds before the entire menu is displayed.

If you like this feature and have left it enabled, you can display a full menu by double-clicking the menu name when you open it.

To turn this off, go to Tools>Customize Options and put a check by Always show full menus.



For 2007+, see:

Indiana University



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Source of Tables

Identify a linked Access table's source

When a database contains linked tables, you may need to find the location of the source file.
One way is to:

1. Open the table in Design view
2. Clicking Yes when Access informs you that some properties can not be modified.
3. Right-click on the window's title bar
4. Select Properties from the shortcut menu.
5. The location will appear in the Description text box in the Table Properties dialog box.

(Use Shift+F2 to open the Zoom box, if necessary)





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It's the Story, Stupid

Start at the end

Here's a lively paper on the ins and outs of giving a presentation and communicating ideas.

"In the newspaper business they teach you to put the least important stuff at the end, so if your story was cut for length the reader wouldn't miss much. But in a presentation, it helps to start with the end, because that's when the results should start coming in.

There are two ways to start from the end.

The first is asking yourself what results you want from the presentation. Is it sales? Understanding? Recruits? Strokes? Whatever you're looking for, that's where you need to start, because without a clear outcome in mind, there's no way your presentation will come out clear.

The second is to state your conclusion. Larry Gottlieb calls this the 'conclusion first' approach. First impressions last longest. If you don't say the one thing you need to say right up front, it may never get heard.

Starting with your conclusion also tells the audience you won't waste their time with preliminaries."

It's The Story, Stupid
By Doc Searls

Also see:
Beyond Bullet Points
By Cliff Atkinson



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Il Circo Dei Rocchetti Rotolanti

The Rolling Reels Circus

Giuseppe (Pino) Civitarese was an oceanographer from Trieste.

He has a small but fascinating collection of paper automata.

"Automata, from the Greek automatos, "acting of one's own will, self-moving" is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines, however, especially those that have been made to resemble human or animal actions, such as the jacks on old public striking clocks, or the cuckoo and any other animated figures on a cuckoo clock. See more from Wikipedia.

Thanks to the web, paper automata represent a fascinating evolution of the mechanized toys developed during the XVIII and XIX century. The possibility to export the complete design throughout the world with a simple click of the mouse gives paper automata (and in general paper modeling) a great impact.

Despite the relative simplicity of the material, paper automata intrinsically are objects with a high degree of technology, where the principles of mechanics meet the artistic creativity. "

Most of the templates used to create the models are free.



PaperPino.net:
Rolling Reels Circus



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Who Needs a Mouse

Finger tricks

Rather not use a mouse?

MouseKeys is designed for people who have difficulty using a mouse. MouseKeys allows you to use the numeric keypad to control the mouse pointer.

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Accessibility Options.
2. On the Mouse tab, under MouseKeys, select the Use MouseKeys check box.
3. To turn off MouseKeys, clear the Use MouseKeys check box.

To turn on MouseKeys using keystrokes

1. Press left ALT + left SHIFT + NUM LOCK.
2. In the MouseKeys message dialog box, press SPACEBAR to clear the Turn off keyboard shortcut for this accessibility feature check box.
3. Press TAB, and then press ENTER.

If you want to use the numeric keypad for data entry as well as for navigation, you can set the MouseKeys to be activated by pressing NUM LOCK.

If the Use shortcut check box in the Settings for MouseKeys dialog box is selected, you can turn MouseKeys on or off by pressing left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK

In Vista, Mouse Keys is located with the "Ease of use" icon. Then:




Mouse keys

Mouse Keys +



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Format Numbers

It's your choice

OzGrid:
Custom Formats

If you need to format numbers that will be displayed connected to text, here is one way to do it:

1. In cell A1, enter the text "You still owe the sum of".
2. In cell A2, enter the number "5434".
3. In cell A3, enter the text "for invoice # 2232 from 6/15/2001".
4. In cell A4, enter the formula =A1&" "&TEXT(A2,"#,##0")&" "&A3.

You still owe the sum of 5,434 for invoice # 2232 from 6/15/2001

Excel Tips
Formatting concatenated numbers and text


Or:



Also:
Excel Format Tips

Also:
A very well produced examination of the subject by Jon Peltier:
Number Formats in Microsoft Excel



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Crossword Puzzles

May I have a word with you?

Even if you're used to doing crosswords with a pen or a typewriter, you're sure to find something new at this site.
Your Dictionary.com

It has, of course, a selection of word sources.

Language dictionaries from Abenaki to Zulu with Mapudungun in between.

"So you like word games, do you? Well, you have come to the right place. We have the richest assortment of crossword puzzles on the planet: anagram puzzles, cryptic puzzles, Roman and Arabic numeral puzzles, study puzzles for geography, physics, astronomy, Spanish and the Bible, puzzles with holiday messages, with graphics and web links. Now we have crossword puzzles for kids. We also have encrypted word puzzles and a new invention: fill-in crossword puzzles!"

• 20 Different Kinds of Crosswords
• Word of the Day Crossword Puzzles
• Word of the Day Semantic Scramble
• Word Jungles
• Encrypted Enigma Machine Puzzles
• Fill-in Puzzles
• Crossword Puzzles in Other Languages

The Game Room





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Alphabetize by One Field or the Other

If one is missing, use the other

Let's say you have a database that has the company name and a contacts name.

In some cases the CompanyName field is empty. If that happens, you want to continue the alpha sort using the contact's LastName.

To do this, you need to create an extra query field to provide the sort, using the NZ() function to replace the contents of one field for null values in another.

(Nz(variant, [valueifnull])

1. Select the Queries, and then click "Create query in Design view".
2. Choose the table you want to sort, click Add.
3. Click Close.
4. Drag down all the fields you want to display in your form, including the two separate fields you want to alphabetize.
5. Insert a new column on the left side of the QBE grid.
6. In the Field cell, enter the expression
   NZ([CompanyName],[LastName])
7. Select Ascending for the Sort option.

When you run the query, if CompanyName is null (empty — no entry), the NZ() function uses the contents in LastName instead.

Here's another way to do it:






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Background Printing

Yes, you can!

Remember back in the old days of Word before 2003?

We would demonstrate how a background color or theme could be applied to a document. Then say something like, "But you can only see it on the screen."

That changed with 2003 and '07.

Go to Tools>Options.
(Word 2007+
Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.On the Display menu, click to select the Print background colors and images check box under Printing Options, and then click OK.)

Go to the Print tab and on the Include with document section,
put a check next to "Background colors and images" and click OK.



Now when you apply Theme formatting it will be printed as well as the text.
(A caveat might be that on a black and white printer, the result can appear muddy)

To apply a theme to a document go to Format>Theme. These are the same themes (colors, graphics and fonts) used in FrontPage.

This Knowledgebase article also offers suggestions on how to get around the problem in Word 2002.
Word 2003 or Word 2002 document that includes a background



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Where on the World

Stats on a map

Various statistical findings superimposed on a world globe.

"This project started some eight years ago.

An attempt to do justice to the term 'political' and 'geo-political' globe.
Trying to tell the lie (of abstraction and visualization) that tells the truth.

By now there are more than 200 different globes."

3 Hour US Air Force Range

WorldProcessor.com



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