PowerPoint: Set a Default View
Depending on factors such as the view you used when you last saved a presentation or how someone who sent it to you created it, you might find yourself surprised by the view in which a PowerPoint slide show opens. That is, unless, you apply a default view for your presentations. When you choose a default view, PowerPoint will always open using it.
If you are using PowerPoint 2003, go to the Tools menu and select Options. Go to the View tab of the Options dialog box. Select the view you want to use under Default View in the Open All Documents Using This View list. Click OK to save your changes.
The steps for PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 are almost the same. In PowerPoint 2007, click the Office Button and select PowerPoint Options. In PowerPoint 2010, go to the File tab and click Options. In either version, click the Advanced tab on the left side of the pane. In the Display section next to Open All Documents Using This View, select an option.
You may notice that there are several "Normal" options, including Outline, Notes and Slide, Thumbnail, Notes and Slide and a few others, along with Outline Only, Notes or Slide Sorter. This allows you to really select a view that suits your wants and needs. If you do change your default view and decide you would rather view each presentation as it was saved, simply go back and change the setting to The View Saved in the File.
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3/11/2010
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Word: Change the Default Save As Location
Chances are good that when you click the Save button on a newly created Word file, the Save As dialog open to your My Documents or Documents Library folder. This may suit you just fine. If it does not, you probably figure, "What the heck. All I have to do is navigate to the folder I want." Well, my friend, I am here to tell you that life is too short to hunt through the hierarchy that is your computer or network when you can change the default Save As location in just a few simple steps.
Of course, these steps vary slightly between different Word versions. If you are using Word 2003 (or earlier), open Word and go to the Tools menu. Select Options and then go to the File Locations tab of the Options dialog box. Click on Documents if it is not already selected and then click Modify. Head on over to the folder on your computer or server that you want to set as your default Save As location. Click OK, click OK again and you are done.
In Word 2007, click the Office Button. Click on Word Options down at the bottom right. Click the Save tab on the left side of the pane. Click Browse next to Default File Location. Find the folder on your computer or server that you want to set as your default Save As location. Click OK, click OK again and you are all set.
Word 2010 is only a hair different from Word 2007. Go to the File tab and click on Options. Go to the Save tab on the left side of the pane. Click Browse next to Default File Location. Find the folder on your computer or server that you want to set as your default Save As location. Click OK, click OK again and you are good to go.
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3/10/2010
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Excel: Last Cell and End Mode
Last week we talked about finding the last cell in Excel and some of you sent in tips and comments, so, of course, I wanted to share them with you. Chuck Hoffman writes:
I'm using Excel 2002, and the solution is slightly different from Excel 2003. (I don't know how many people still use this old version...) This is the modified version that I had to use to accomplish the task (note that I press the Down Arrow twice):
Press and hold Ctrl+Shift. Press the Right Arrow key to select everything to the right and then press the Down Arrow key twice to select everything beneath that cell. Pressing the Down Arrow once selects everything down to where Excel thinks the end of the data is; pressing it a second time selects down to the very end, row 65,536.
Ctrl+Shift+End worked for the second step.
It works great!
Awesome! Thanks for the info, Chuck! Marianne van Roon shared a quick tip as well. Marianne writes:
I just received your email and have an even quicker way of finding the last cell. You simply select End and then the arrow key (not together). It will take you to the last cell with data. But, as you point out, if there are formulas in the cells below your data then it will take you to the last cell with formulas. I hope this is useful.
Of course it is, Marianne! As far as I am concerned, one can never have too many shortcuts. In fact, what Marianne refers to is called End Mode in Excel. To activate End Mode, simply press the End key. END appears in the status bar when End mode is activated.
There are other shortcuts you can use in End Mode. Pressing End and then pressing Shift+Arrow Key will extend your selection to the last nonblank cell in the same column or row you have currently selected, and pressing End and then pressing Shift+Home will extend your selection to the last cell in your worksheet that contains data.
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3/9/2010
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OneNote: Create Outlook Items
If you use OneNote to take and keep track of notes, you can save yourself some time and use OneNote to create items in Outlook.
For example, if you jotted down the name and email address of a new friend or colleague in OneNote, you can send that info to Outlook and make a new contact. To do so, select the text and go to the Tools menu in OneNote 2003 or 2007. Point to Create Outlook Item and select Create Outlook Contact. An Outlook Contact window will open. Enter any information you want and click Save and Close.
Create an appointment using text in OneNote. Select the text you want to use and go to the Tools menu in OneNote 2003 or 2007. Point to Create Outlook Item and select Create Outlook Appointment. Enter details in the Appointment window and click Save and Close.
You can also create a meeting request. In OneNote 2003 or 2007, go to the Tools menu, point to Create Outlook Item and select Create Outlook Appointment. Type a subject in the Subject box, the meeting location in the Location box and add start and end times. Click Invite Attendees, type names in the To box, select any other options and click Send.
Unfortunately, there is no way to create a contact or appointment from OneNote 2010. However, there are other Outlook items you can make from OneNote 2010, as well as 2007 or 2003.
For example, you can create a task. Select the text you want to use in the task. In OneNote 2003 go to Tools, point to Create Outlook Item and select Create Outlook Task. Enter details in the Task window and click Save and Close. In OneNote 2007, go to the Insert menu, point to Outlook Task, and then click the due date for the new task. In OneNote 2010, click Outlook Tasks in the Outlook group of the Home tab and select a due date for the new task. The item will automatically be added in Outlook.
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3/8/2010
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Word: More on Fill-in-the-Blank Lines
As I knew we would (because you are all so awesome), we got lots of tips from readers on using lines in a Word document. While, sadly, we don't have room for all of them, here are two ideas that I thought you all might appreciate. Sandra Scrivens writes:
I use tab leaders on forms that need to be completed on-line
Insert a Right Tab at the point you want a line to end and add a leader to it
Format menu – Tabs – Insert tab – Choose Right aligned – Choose a leader option
1 – no leader
2 – dotted leader
3 – dashed leader
4 – solid leader
On the printed form, the lines appear and when text is inserted, the line is reduced to the end of the text to tab stop.
True, Sandra! Although the typed text removes the line, typing over them does not push the line down on the page. To set tab stops in Word 2007 or 2010, click the Paragraph dialog launcher in the bottom right corner of the Paragraph group on the Home tab. Click the Tabs button at the bottom of the dialog and then follow Sandra's steps.
Here is reader Mary Shipman's advice:
I have done many online forms in Word and find that tables are definitely the way to go. One thing, though, that can cause a lot of frustration is when you need more cells in one row than another, or you want to resize just one cell, so that you have a nice long cell for the address, but a shorter cell for the zip. You can have a table with different numbers of cells in a row, and you can resize just one cell without affecting the cells above or below. The instructions below are based on Word 2003, but I'm sure there's a similar technique in 2007.
To change a four-column row to a six or eight-column row, use Table / Split Cells and indicate the number of cells you need. To resize just one cell in a row without resizing the whole column, first select just that one cell, then place your mouse on the line that divides the columns next to that selected cell. When you get the resize tool, click and drag as needed. The cell is resized for that row only.
The result of all this is a form that doesn't look like a table, but like a form, especially if you select the Hide Gridlines option from the Table menu when you are done.
Great idea. You can split the cells in any version of Word by clicking inside of the cell you want to split, right-clicking and selecting Split Cells. Select the table, right-click it and go to Borders and Shading to remove the borders. Or go to the Layout tab under Table Tools in Word 2007 or 2010 and clear Show Gridlines if you don't want the gridlines visible.
Thanks again to all of you who took the time to email your ideas. Keep your suggestions and questions coming!
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3/5/2010
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