April on Thu, 18 Jul 2002 10:06:04 +0200 (CEST)


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[Nettime-bold] MS Office Tips 07-18-2002 [ AutoFit Trick + Comment Capers ]


Title: MS Office Tips & Tricks

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Announcements

Type By Talking!

Note: We featured this in our Computer Tips newsletter and sold out. We were able to find a few more and wanted to give you a chance at them too.

We have a sweet deal on Dragon Naturally Speaking 5.0. Its retail price is $199.95, we have the CD only version for only $39.95! (Don't worry, all the instructions are built into the program). We checked around, and most software stores are getting over $100.00 for this!

Dragon Naturally Speaking is voice recognition software. You talk into the headset and it types the words you're speaking onto the page (up to 160 words a minute). It works with most word processors (MS Word, WordPerfect, others) and includes its own built-in word processor. And yes, you can use it with most e-mail software. If it takes you forever to type an e-mail or letter, you can imagine how handy this software could be!

In addition, you can use it to control some aspects of your computing. It can format text in MS Word & WordPerfect, it can start applications (like "Start Internet Explorer"), control MS Office menus, and more.

Here's a few more features:

- Multiple user support, so more than just one family member can use it
- Text to speech can read documents back to you
- Large 250,000 word vocabulary (and you can add your own words)
- Web browser integration (surf the web by voice)
- Winner of over 90 awards and the #1 voice software We have a limited supply of this one (less than 100) but we are trying to get more.

Again, this is only $39.95 with FREE US SHIPPING! If you've ever wanted to try voice recognition software, now's your chance. Here's the link with more info:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/dragon5.htm

PS - Again, supplies are VERY limited and available on a first come, first served basis. We had a special last year on version 4 and had people begging for them for weeks afterward. If you're interested, you should head to the site before finishing this newsletter!

MS Office 101

MS Excel: A Quicker AutoFit Solution.

In the June 9, 2002, issue, we covered the idea of AutoFit in MS Excel. We learned that it was a way to automatically increase row height or column width to fit the longest piece of data in a selection.

As I was writing that tip I knew there had to be a faster way then the menus - I just knew it - but, of course, like a name you can't quite remember, I couldn't come up with it.

Fortunately, a few of my readers knew. Thanks guys,I knew I could count on you!

Now, you can know, too.

To AutoFit an entire column go to the column labels (A, B, C, etc…) and double-click on the divider line to the right hand side. (For example, to AutoFit column B double-click on the divider line between B and C, as opposed to the divider line between A and B.)

Poof! Column B has been resized to fit the largest piece of data in the column. Yeah :-)

(Please note that if for some reason you don't want to AutoFit the entire column, you'll need to use the process from the previous tip selecting only certain cells. You can access the July 9th issue through our archives at http://www.worldstart.com/archives/index.htm )

--April

Office Tip of the Day

MS Word: Comment Capers

Now, where did I get those numbers?

What does that mean?

Why did I enter this data?

Do these questions sound familiar to you? They do to me. They're the questions I end up asking myself when I try to edit an MS Excel or Word file that I haven't worked on in a long time.

Wouldn't it be nice to have some way to leave yourself little notes in the file? You know - something like a sticky note. Notes that explain or remind but aren't a part of the actual document.

Or, what about the file you're putting together for someone else? You know there's bound to be a million little questions. How can you possibly remember them all? You could highlight the trouble spots, but what if you forget your question?

If this is you, then I have some great news. MS Excel and Word come with a neat little thing known as "Comments." Basically they're an electronic sticky note. They can be displayed on the screen and/or printed with the document. "Comments" will let you attach the question to the troublesome spot. They can be very handy little gadgets.

How do you get to these minor miracles?

Believe it or not, it's a pretty easy thing to get started with.

Since Word and Excel files inherently have different types of information, the comments, while having essentially the same function, are slightly different in each program. So we are just going to cover Word comments today and we'll cover Excel on Tuesday.

Well, lets get started...

The first thing you should do is to decide if you really need a comment and where exactly it should be. Once that decision is made, you need to put the cursor in the word to which a comment should be attached. (You can also highlight a string of words and attach a comment to the entire string.)

Next you will go to the Insert menu and select Comment.

You will find that the word or words are highlighted and that a bottom pane will open where you will see square brackets containing your initials (if you were put in as the user when the program was installed) and a number. The number is the comment number within that document.

(If you need to change the user information for the comment initials you can find it under Tools menu, Options choice, and the User Information tab.)

In the bottom pane, type whatever comment you wanted linked to the highlighted word(s).

By now you may have noticed a comment marker in with the highlighted word(s) of your document. Don't worry! This does not print on the hardcopy unless you specifically choose to have it printed. (I'll get to those options in a minute.)

If you would like to record a sound comment then hit the Insert Sound Object button (It looks like a cassette tape). This will bring up a window to control the recorded comment. This will require a microphone for your soundcard.

If there are a lot of notes by many authors, then you may want to use the drop-down list Comments from: to view comments made by a particular author.

Once you've entered your comment, you could hit the close button to return to a full document screen or you could continue to edit the document with the comment pane still open. It's your choice - I know, decisions, decisions…

When you want to insert another comment got to the Insert menu, Comment choice. You are then put back into the Comment pane. Notice that there is a new set of square brackets and that the number has been increased. Type your comment just as you did with the first.

Leaving your comment pane open will make editing comments a breeze. All you have to do is to click into the comment pane, on the appropriate comment line and edit the text.

If you've closed the comment pane, you have two choices to open it. The first choice is to go to the View menu, Comment. The Comment pane will open so you can click in it and edit. (You'll also notice that an extra toolbar opens up at the top with some buttons you can use for adding, editing, deleting, navigating through comments and other items. Hover over each button for a name of its function.)

Your second choice is to put your mouse pointer over a comment and right-click. The pop-up menu will have a choice for editing or deleting the comment. Choosing Edit Comment will open the Comment pane. Should you need to delete the comment (not the text in the document, just the comment) then choose Delete Comment.

OK - so we've covered inserting, editing and deleting comments. Now let's move on to viewing comments within the document.

Simply hover the mouse cursor over the highlighted text to see the comment. A comment symbol will appear at first and then a comment box will open. The top line will contain the author of the comment and below that the actual text of the comment.

And finally, let's move on to the printing.

The printing of comments is controlled through the Print window that opens when you go to the File menu and select Print (or Ctrl + P for my readers who prefer keyboard shortcuts).

In the bottom left-hand corner of the window, you will find an area that allows you to tell the program exactly what to print. If you check the Print what: drop-down menu, you should see Comments on the list.

Choosing this option will print only the comments as they are in the Comments pane.

To get the comments printed with a document, you should click on the Options button in the bottom left corner.

This will bring up another screen with many document printing choices. In the middle section, the Include with document section, there is a check box for Comments. Checking this box and clicking OK will set the program to always print the square brackets with their contents in the document as well as a comment page at the end of the document.

Whew! That was a lot! It should definitely do for an introduction.

Give these a try. I'm telling you, the more I play with these things, the more uses I see for them…if for nothing else then to aid my own faulty memory.

--April

Copyright & Disclaimer

ISSN: 1529-336X
Copyright 2001, WorldStart. All unauthorized reproduction strictly prohibited.

You are welcome to reproduce this newsletter (i.e. print it, store it) for your own personal use. You are also welcome to forward it, in its entirety, to friends and family.

If you would like to reproduce this publication, or any part of it, in any other publication, be it web based or otherwise, you must contact us for permission. Any unauthorized re-distribution will be considered a copyright infringement and grounds
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