Move the Show

Portable hints

A speaker can be called upon to present programs almost anywhere. Every site is unique and has its own problems. Your show may, also, have to be sent out on its own.

Here are some suggestions that may help on the road:

Distributing PPTs - Pitfalls, Panics & Pleasures
By Steve Rindsberg

There are several potential problem areas:

• Recipients who don't have PowerPoint
• PowerPoint version compatibility
• Links - to images, sounds, movies and OLE content (graphs, charts, spreadsheets, Word pages etc.)
• Sound and movie compatibility
• Fonts
• Timing/Synchronization
• VBA code and Controls
• Recipients using assistive technology

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High Res Wallpaper

Details apparent

Choose from a broad selection of free pictures to use for wallpaper.

Download sizes from 1920x1200 to 320x240.



Free High-Resolution Widescreen Wallpaper



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Word to PP

Send outline to PowerPoint

That old 2003 version allowed you to send a Word file to PowerPoint and have it create a slide show.

After styling with Heading 1, 2, etc, go toFile > Send To > Microsoft Office PowerPoint.

2007+ is a little different (duh!)

For Microsoft Office 2007+

Word 2007+ doesn't allow you to publish to PowerPoint 2007 by default.

Here's the solution:

After you are done in Word 2007+, save it as a Word document.

Now open PowerPoint 2007+.

Click on the Office Button at the top left hand corner.

Click Open.

Under Files of type, select All Outlines.

Now select the Word document and click Open.

Alternately,

In Word 2007+, right click on the ribbon.

Select Customize Quick Access Toolbar.

Under "Choose commands from:", select Commands not in the ribbon.

Look for "Send to Microsoft Office PowerPoint".

Click OK.

The command will then be added onto the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT).

Word to PowerPoint

Word 2010 to PP 2010



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Last Name First

Phonebook style

Sort the Contacts list by the File as field.

To do this, use one of the following methods depending on the version of Outlook that you are using.

In Outlook 2007+, follow these steps:

1. Start Outlook 2007+.

a. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.

b. Click the Address Books tab, and click Change.

c. Under Microsoft Office Outlook Address Books, click the address book that you want to change the contact display format for.



For example, Contacts: Mailbox - Personal Folders, and then click File As (Smith, John).

In Outlook 2003, follow these steps:

1 Start Outlook 2003.

a. On the Tools menu, click E-mail accounts.

b. Click View or change directories or address books, and then click Next.

c. Click Outlook Address Book, and then click Change.

d. Under Outlook Address Books, click the address book that you want to change the contact display format for. For example, Contacts: Personal Folders, and then click File As (Smith, John).

e Click Close, and then click Finish.

2. Quit and restart Outlook.

3. Verify that the newly created contacts are sorted in the LastName, FirstName format. To do this:

a. On the Tools menu, click Options.

b. Click the Preferences tab, and then click Contact Options.

c. In the Contacts Options box, click Last, First in the Default File As order list.

d. Click OK two times.

4. Edit the properties of any contacts that have the File as option configured individually. This setting overrides the setting that you made in step 1.

a. Double-click any contact that does not appear in the LastName, FirstName format in your Contacts list.

b. Click the General tab, click the down arrow next to File as, and then click Lastname, Firstname, where Lastname, Firstname is the name of the contact.

Lastname first

Outlook 2010



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All the Basics

All(most) all you need to know

Office.Microsoft.com has a short demo that shows you the main things anyone needs to know about Excel.

There are many thousands of users who find that this is all they ever need.

• Add numbers
  
• Subtract numbers
  
• Multiply numbers
  
• Divide numbers

Use simple formulas to do the math



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New Window

Pick your target

Expression Web/FrontPage/HTML provides the opportunity to choose how a page opens when you click on a hyperlink.

Create a hyperlink as you usually would by selecting the text (or graphic) you want to use for the link.

Choose Insert > Hyperlink...
(or use Ctrl-K or the toolbar icon as a shortcut),
and locate the page in the current web or enter an address in the URL field.

On the right side of the Create Hyperlink window you'll see a button named "Target frame"; click the button.

You'll get the Target Frame dialog box.

In the "Common targets" field, select New Window.

Click OK, then click OK to close the Create Hyperlink dialog box.

Your hyperlink will now open a new browser window when clicked.



The code would appear like this:

<a target="_blank" href="TCC/Blog/blogger.html">Blog</a>

To make it the page default, place the following code in the "head" section:

<base target="_blank">

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Night Skies

The real stars

JPL NASA

Also:
Arachnoid.com

In 1826, the astronomer Heinrich Olbers asked, "Why is the sky dark at night?" By his time, physicists had learned enough to realize that, in a stable, infinite universe with an even distribution of stars, the entire universe should gradually heat up.

You will also discover the connection between a rubber band, your refrigerator, and the universe.

Photographs:
Events in the night sky

StarDate Online
StarDate is the public education and outreach arm of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory.

English and Spanish radio programs air daily on more than 500 stations.

Fourmilab Switzerland
To make a sky map, enter the latitude and longitude of your observing site and press the "Make Sky Map" button

This site is developed and maintained by John Walker, founder of Autodesk, Inc. and co-author of AutoCAD:

Space Watch
by Imaginova Spaceware



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Null Parameter

Show something

If a user doesn't specify a parameter value, you can use a wildcard with the parameter in the format

Like [Enter Name] & "*"

The problem with this is that the query will return records that partially match the criteria.

For instance, if users searching for records based on last name enter a parameter value of "Smith" they'll also get the records for Smithers, Smithfield and Smithson.

Another problem is that the parameter query will ignore any records where the field being searched contains a Null value when you try to return the entire recordset with a blank parameter.

To fix this, set up a query to limit responses to explicit parameter entries, but still allow users to return all records by leaving the parameter blank.

If you're searching for LastName, open the query design grid and add LastName to it.

In the Criteria row for the field, enter the parameter prompt

[Enter Name]

Then, in the next blank column of the design grid, enter the same parameter (everything between and including the square brackets) in the Field text box.

Finally, in the Or row, enter the criteria Is Null .

If you're using any additional criteria for other fields, make sure to copy that criteria to the Or line as well.



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Custom Shortcuts

Hands on keys

Ed Bott reminds us how to set up custom keyboard shortcuts to start applications.



Create custom keyboard shortcuts



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Google Shows

Presentation alternative

Google Docs now has a presentation element.

You can create documents, spreadsheets and presentations online.

They're a bit restricted and simplex at this point, but you can also import files and convert them for sharing or publication.

Google Docs

Review of Google presentation



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Chart Art

Apple π

Look at how different media organizations have used graphics/graphs to illustrate the news.

Lee LeFever:
The Art of Explanation


While Edward Tufte has concerns about representing data accurately in charts, he does, use pictures to demonstrate relationships.
(See Edward Tufte)

If you would like to try your hand, here are some links that will help to spice up your condiment report.

PC Magazine:
Add Images to Excel Projects

MacWorld:
Excel Chart Art

Andy Pope:
Dividing a graphic into sections

Excel 2007-13 has a great graphic look for charts, but these links still work



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Who's Smarter

My barista can take your electrician

I.Q. is not really a guarantee of vocational/financial success.

There are about as many college professors with scores below 100 as there are Kindergarten teachers who register above 120.

Here's a link to how the testing breaks down:


IQ Distribution of Various Jobs



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Loan Payment

Basic tutorial

Microsoft provides a number of learning activities related to fundamental tasks.

Here's one that walks the student through a worksheet designed to calculate interest and total payment for a purchase, based on different loan terms.

"This practical spreadsheet lesson offers easy answers to life's perplexing math problems like How much will my dream car really cost after financing?

Students will calculate the cost of purchasing their very own Lamborghini sports car and determine if the ultimate price tag is really worth the investment. "

Dream Car
Also:
Basic Financial Calculations



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Single Space +

2007+ gives you more than you ask for

This quote from The Microsoft Office Word Team's Blog explains their thinking behind making line spacing "looser" in 2007 than it was earlier.

"(A) lesson here for me is that lots of people seem to think of Word as a typewriter (remember typewriters?). There are many examples of this, in the way people construct a table of contents for their Word documents, use the TAB key to align columns, and the way they always hit ENTER twice after typing each paragraph (for those who are fans of extra space between paragraphs).

Many, many of the feedback comments on the line-spacing issue had to do with wanting "single spacing." But, of course the line spacing in the new template is single spacing. It's just that it's a little bit "more" than single spacing used to be: 1.15, instead of 1.0.

But what is 1.0? You might think that if you're using an 11-point font that line spacing of 1.0 would be 11 points. But if you lay out paragraphs that way - depending on the font you're using - the parts that stick below one line will crash into the parts that stick up from the line below. You need to allow some extra space between lines.

In a former life when I set type on a Compugraphic phototypesetting machine, the convention we used was about 20% extra space, so we'd set 10-point type on a 12-point line. Larger fonts demanded more breathing room. This was at a newspaper, so we spaced things a bit tighter than you'd expect to see in, say, a report or a brochure (or, dare I say a professional looking document).

What does single spacing really mean anyway?



How to fix it:
Default line spacing in Word 2007 differ from earlier versions of Word



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Save the Warning

Easy record

It happens. Your machine balks and spits out an obscure warning message.

You grab a pen and scribble out the error code, which typically is 90 characters long.

Too much hassle!

When the warning box appears, just hit Ctrl+C. The contents of the box are now on the Clipboard and can be pasted into Notepad.






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Handy Master View

It's mouse and keyboard quick!

With PowerPoint 2007-13, View>Presentation Views>Slide Master will take you to the Slide Master View. The same location shows Handout and Notes Masters.

A shortcut involves using the Shift key.

"At the bottom left hand corner of PowerPoint (bottom right for PowerPoint 2007), you will see 3 mini buttons. They are: Normal View, Slide Sorter View, and Slide Show. Now here's a quick trick:

When you hover over these 3 mini buttons, hold down the Shift key. The mini buttons will now become Slide Master view, Handout Master view, and Set Up Show respectively."

The Setup Show is on the Slide Show tab in the Setup group. The Shift key is a cooler way to bring it up quickly.



The Art of PowerPoint-ing



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Edit Subject Line

Organization trick

By editing the subject lines of messages you receive, you can organize your mail. If you get faxes or voicemail sent to you automatically via email, you can change the subject to something that makes sense to you.

Open the message, edit the subject line, close the message and, when prompted, save the changes. The trick with this is the subject line does not look editable because it is on a grey background, but it works nevertheless.

Turn on in-cell editing and you can change the subject line without having to open the email and re-save it at all. This works best if you have the Preview Pane turned on:

Outlook 2000/2002:

From the View Menu select
Current View > Customize Current View
View Summary > Other Settings
Rows, enable the Allow In-cell Editing option.

Outlook 2003-13:

From the View Menu select
Current View
Customize Current View > Other Settings
and enable Allow In-cell Editing.



Slipstick.com:
To change the subject of an incoming message or fax



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Learn HTML

More tutorials

I like to read more than one author on a subject. It helps to clarify the sticky parts and each writer has a little bit different perspective on the subject.

WebReference.com has a good collection of material related to the Web and the Internet in general.

Stephanos Piperoglou has written a number of tutorials on Web design and construction.
From HTML 101 to I Shot the Serif and The Seven Habits of Effective Web Sites .

About HTML with Style


W3 Schools

Also:
HTML Tutorials



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2003-07-10-13 Compatibility

Exchange the future and the past

"Microsoft has added new file formats to Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007+. To help ensure that you can exchange documents between Microsoft Office releases, Microsoft has developed a Compatibility Pack for the Office Word, Office Excel, and Office PowerPoint 2007+ File Formats"

Use earlier versions of Excel, PowerPoint, and Word to open and save files from 2007-13 Office programs

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint



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Tab Leaders

You can lead a tab to ...........

Setting Tab Leaders in Word

Fred Smith.........................$44.59

This makes your list easier to read

1. Select the line on which you want to create a tab
   
   
2. Click on the Format menu and click on the Tabs menu item
   (you will see the Tabs dialog box)
   
   
3. In the Tab Stop Position field enter the distance to the last column: 5", 6" or what ever is appropriate
   
   
4. Then select the tab alignment; Decimal, Right, Center or Left
   
   
5. Select the type of leader to use
   
   
6. Click Set and then OK
   

Enter the name, or first entry, and then touch the Tab key. Word will automatically enter as many leading characters as required. When you can type the amount, it will be aligned on the decimal or any other alignment you might have chosen.
Here's what it looks like in Word 2007+:



Also:

About.com:
Creating Tab Leader Lines



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Change Access Ribon

Oh, Fooey (F U I)

"One of the most exciting new developer features that Microsoft Office Access 2007 provides is the ability to customize the Office Fluent User Interface (UI) in your application.
The Office Fluent UI provides a new user model for exposing commands, and application navigation that is more discoverable and easier for users of the application.

You create XML to change the Ribbon, a component of the new Microsoft Office Fluent user interface (UI). You can create customization files in any text editor.

All applications that include the Office Fluent Ribbon use the same extensibility model, so you can reuse the same Office Fluent UI extensibility XML with a minimum of adjustments.
For example, you can reuse the custom XML you create for Access 2007+ in Microsoft Office Excel 2007+, Microsoft Office Word 2007+, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007+, or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007+."

Customizing Ribbon in Access 2007



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Type, What it Looks Like

Screen fonts preview

This is a tool that lets you see how different typefaces will look on the screen. It also allows you to compare three fonts at once.

"The Typetester is an online application for comparison of the fonts for the screen. Its' primary role is to make web designer's life easier. As the new fonts are bundled into operating systems, the list of the common fonts will be updated."

TypeTester




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Excel Links

Spokes of the web

There's a lot of information out there. The problem is how to find it.
Here is a site that contains links to Excel information arranged in topics:

• Excel Add-ins
  
  
• Excel Help
  
  
• Excel Password Recovery
  
  
• Excel Templates
  
  
• Excel Tips & Tricks
  
  
• Excel Tutorials
  
  
• Excel VBA
  
  
• Free Excel Add Ins
  
  
• Spreadsheet Research

Excel Links



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How Many Die

Hospital scorecard

All right, you need that old appendix ripped out; or maybe a hip replacement.

Where do you go if you have a choice?

Here is a collection of hospital performance nationwide that you may find useful.

It will tell you how many patient deaths there are in any one hospital, as well as how well patients are reimbursed.

DartmouthAtlas



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Access Developer Extensions

No cost tool

"The Access Developer Extensions include the following components:

• Save As Template
  Enables you to create database templates (ACCDTs) that can be featured in the Access 2007 Getting Started screen.
  
  
• Package Solution Wizard
  A wizard that creates a Windows Installer Package (MSI) to install your database and any supporting files and optionally includes the Access 2007 Runtime, or prompts the user to download the Access 2007 Runtime.
  
  
  
• Source Code Control
  Integration with Microsoft Visual SourceSafe or other source code control systems to allow check-in/check-out of queries, forms, reports, macros, modules, and data. You can also see the differences that have been made to your checked out objects."

 Developer Extensions



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Find Found Things

Where'd it go?

A Research Project of the Information School
at the University of Washington

Keeping Found Things Found™

"What is KFTF?

The classic problem of information retrieval, simply put, is to help people find the relatively small number of things they are looking for (books, articles, web pages, CDs, etc.) from a very large set of possibilities. This classic problem has been studied in many variations and has been addressed through a rich diversity of information retrieval tools and techniques.

A follow-on problem also exists which has received relatively less study: Once found, how are things organized for re-access and re-use later on? What can be done to avoid the need to repeat the process by which the information was found in the first place? (If, indeed, it is possible to repeat this process.) We refer to this as the problem of Keeping Found Things Found™ or KFTF."

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Send Access to Word

Reformat reports

Not everyone has Access installed on his or her machine.
Access is not the most versatile instrument for complex formatting.

If you wish to share your findings, Access does have the ability to re-format Reports into Word documents.

Open the Report in Access and go to Tools>Office Links.
One of the choices is to "Publish It with Microsoft Word."
Here's the command in 2007+:



When the data is sent to Word, you will be asked to confirm that you wish to convert the file to "Rich Text Format (RTF)" Click OK.

(RTF is a "universal" format. The Report can be re-saved as a Word "DOC" or "DOCX" file.)

Microsoft KB:
How to send the current record to Word with automation


Use a table or query as a mail-merge data source (2007+)



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Make Your Calendar Your Own

Match your own schedule

". . . did you know that the views in your calendar are fully customizable? For example, you can view your days and weeks in increments of 5 minutes, 60 minutes, and a variety of periods in between.

You can adjust the view of your calendar according to your work week and work day; for instance, you can display Sunday through Thursday and show a normal day as being 11 in the morning to 7 in the evening if you like.

Use different color schemes, and show more or less detail in your calendar. Watch the demo to see how to do all this and more."

Customize your O'07-10 calendar



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First Look at Word 2010-2013

We all have to start somewhere

Here is a 30 minute course:

After completing this course you will be able to:

• Create and save a document.
  
• Accept or reject suggested revisions for spelling and grammar as you type.
  
• Change page margins.
  
• Adjust spacing by deleting any extra spaces between words or extra lines between paragraphs.

Create your first document in Word

First look at Word 2010

First Look at Word 2013



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Nickname List

Call me Ishmael

How to Reset the Nickname and Automatic Completion Cache

Microsoft Outlook maintains a nickname list that is used by both the automatic name checking and the automatic completion features. The nickname list is automatically generated as you use Outlook.
If the nickname cache is corrupted, Outlook may not be able to identify recipients, may offer incorrect recipients when automatically completing the e-mail address, or may send the message to the wrong person. You may also, just want to reset the whole list.

1. Quit Outlook.
   
2. Start Windows Explorer.
   
3. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
   
4. Under Advanced Settings, click to select the Show hidden files and folders check box.
   
5. Click OK.
   
6. Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.
   
7. In the Search for Files or Folders box, type *.NK2 in the File Name box.
   
8. In the Look In box, click to select your local hard disk.
   
9. Click Search Now.
   
10. Right-click the .NK2 file with the name of the profile that you want to reset, and then click Rename.
    
11. Rename the file to yourname.bak, and then press ENTER.
    
12. Quit Windows Explorer.
    
13. Restart Outlook.
    

Outlook will generate a new nickname cache:
Knowlegebase Article 287623

Slipstick.com:
Name Resolution



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Update Data to Default

Just a keystroke away

You probably know that you can set up a default value for Access to enter into a field when a new record is created. This can be done in the Design view for a table or form by setting the Default Value property.

Unfortunately, you sometimes may set a default value after you've already entered records into the database. When you do so, the existing records aren't automatically updated to equal the new default.

However, if you're editing a record and you want to update the field to the current default, you can do so with a keystroke shortcut. To do so, simply select the appropriate field and press

[Ctrl][Alt][Spacebar]

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