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Word: Add Locations to My Places

3/19/2010
We have been talking about changing the default Save As location in Word, so I thought we would round out the week with a quick tip on changing the locations in the My Places list, which appears on the left pane in both the Save and the Open dialog boxes.

In Word 2003, go to the File menu and select Open. Navigate to the folder you want to add to the list, but don't open it. Click on it to select it instead. Go to the Tools menu up in the right corner of the Open dialog box. Click Add to My Places. You can rearrange items in the My Places list by right-clicking the shortcut you want to move and selecting Move Up or Move Down. To remove an item from the list, right-click the shortcut and select Remove.

In Word 2007, click Open (don't forget, you can use the Ctrl+O shortcut, too). Navigate to the folder you want to add to the list, but don't open it. Click on it to select it instead. Right-click a blank spot on the My Places pane and select Add "Folder," which will be the name of the folder you actually want to add. You can rearrange items in the My Places list by right-clicking the shortcut you want to move and selecting Move Up or Move Down. To remove an item from the list, right-click the shortcut and select Remove.

If you are using Word 2010, click Open. Navigate to the folder you want to add to the task pane. Simply grab it and drag it there, it is that easy. You can rearrange the locations by dragging and dropping them as well. Right-click and select Remove if you decide you no longer want a location listed.

Oh, and it is worth mentioning that these steps will work in other Office programs, too!

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Word: Shortcut to Network (or Other Save As Locations)

Reader Stewart Rotherham has another tip regarding changing your default Save As location. Stewart writes:

One trick that I find useful is to put a shortcut to each of your regular target directories in "My Documents," so that whatever software you are using takes you to "My Documents" on Save As and it is then just one click to where you need to be.

I also use mapped drives in Windows, which is very useful for organisations such as the one in which I work, with 140 offices in 104 countries worldwide when I can be collaborating on projects with any of them.

These are Windows tricks rather than Office tricks, but they all make life easier!

They sure do, Stewart! Just in case you are unsure about exactly how to make a shortcut, let's go over the steps. Open the location in which you want to add a shortcut, such as My Documents or Documents. Right-click any blank area in the folder. Point to New and click Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard will open. Click the Browse button, navigate to the file, folder or network location for which you want to create a shortcut and click OK. Click Next and enter a name for the shortcut (such as My Network). Click Finish and voila! You have a shortcut that might just make your life a little easier.

You can make as many shortcuts as you need, and create them just about anywhere on your computer, such as your desktop or inside other folders.

3/18/2010

Word: Preserve Fidelity

Regarding a recent tip we shared on changing your default Save As location in Word, reader Dottie Koinski shares this tip:

While you are changing that location, go down a few lines into the PRESERVE FIDELITY section. Selections there allow you to embed fonts in a particular document or all new documents. That is handy if you regularly share documents with others who may not have your chosen fonts, or if you send to printers who may not have your fonts.

Good point, Dottie! Goes to show that it can pay off to hunt around a bit while you are working in Word or other Office apps. The Preserve Fidelity feature is new in Word 2007 and is also in Word 2010. To find it, click the Office Button and go to Word Options in 2007 or go to the File tab and select Options in Word 2010. Go to the Save tab of the Options dialog. Preserve Fidelity is at the bottom of the options.

You can choose to enable the feature for one of the documents you have opened or for all documents. Once you select the Embed Fonts in the File check box, you have two more options. Embed Only the Characters Used in the Document does not bother to embed all of the characters of the font you used (only the ones you actually included) and keeps your file from becoming super large. Selecting the Do Not Embed Common System Fonts check box will save even more space.

Even though Word 2003 does not have the Preserve Fidelity option, you can still apply these settings. To preserve a document's page breaks and layout, go to the Tools menu, select Options and go to the Compatibility tab. Clear the Use Printer Metrics to Lay out Document check box. To embed TrueType fonts in your document, go to the Tools menu and select Options. Go to the Save tab and select the Embed TrueType Fonts check box. You will need to save the document to apply the changes.

3/17/2010

Excel: Troubleshooting Page Breaks

Reader Jery Walfish is having some trouble with Excel page breaks. Jery writes:

Very often, when I insert a page break in either nothing happens. I go back, delete, and reinsert page breaks or do page break again, nothing. I wind up manually inserting lines. Actually sometimes insert page breaks and it works.

What am I doing wrong?

Most likely, nothing, Jery! Probably a simple setting just needs to be changed. Before we go into that, though, let's go over how to insert a page break in Excel.

Start by selecting the row or column below or to the right of where you want to insert the page break. Go to the Insert menu in Excel 2003 and select Page Break. In Excel 2007 or 2010, go to the Page Layout tab and click Breaks in the Page Setup group. Select Insert Page Break from the drop-down menu.

This should add a page break instantly. If, however, it does not, there is a likely culprit. In Excel 2003, go to the File menu, click Page Setup and go to the Page tab of the dialog box. In Excel 2007 or 2010, go to the Page Layout tab and click the Page Setup dialog launcher in the bottom right corner of the Page Setup group. Go to the Page tab of the dialog box.

What you are likely to see is that the Fit To button is selected in the Scaling section. In order to have the ability to create manual page breaks, you will need to change it to Adjust To and click OK.

3/16/2010

Access: Troubleshooting Table Sorting

Reader Jon Slaton was struggling with sorting an Access database table. Jon found his solution and wanted to share it. Jon writes:

I was just making a database with reports for a volunteer organization, and I could not get it to sort correctly. I looked on the Internet and did not see any pertinent information. I tried several things until it dawned on me that possibly the field was wrong. Sure enough, it was set for text and should have been set for date. Once I changed it, the sort feature worked like it should. (Table in design view; click on row with date and change type from text to date.)

Good investigative work, there, Jon! A quick way to open a table in Design View is to right-click the table name in the navigation pane and select Design View. To change the type for the field as Jon stated, click the Data Type field for the item you want to change. A drop-down arrow will appear in the box. Click the arrow and select the type of data you want instead. You can then make any other changes in the Field Properties section or the Property Sheet, such as the format, an input mask or a default value for the field. Don't see the Property Sheet? You can always use the keyboard shortcut F4, which will toggle the Property Sheet on and off.

As Jon shared, a simple switch of your data type may be all it takes to resolve your sorting dilemma.

3/15/2010

Outlook: Customize Unread Messages

When you go to your Outlook inbox, you can tell pretty quickly which email messages are new by the bold font. However, did you know that you can customize the way new email messages look? You can change the appearance of your new email messages with just a few clicks of the old mouse.

Start by going to your Inbox. In Outlook 2003 and 2007, go to the View menu, point to Arrange By and then point to Current View. Click on Customize Current View and the Customize View: Messages dialog box will open. Click the Automatic Formatting button. In Automatic Formatting, you will see a bunch of check boxes showing Rules for This View. Under Properties of Selected Rule, you will see Unread Messages in the Name box, although it is likely grayed out. Click the Font button below it. In the Font dialog box, you can change the font, the font style, the font size, color and even add an underline.

If you are using Outlook 2010, start at the Inbox and go to the View tab. Click View Settings in the Current View group to open the Advanced View Settings dialog. Click the Conditional Formatting button. Here is where you will see those check boxes for all of the rules. Click the Font button under Unread Messages and choose the font options you want to apply.

In case you wondered, this only affects the message headings as they appear in your Inbox, not the way the messages themselves or any outgoing emails look. If you change your mind and want the standard bold font back, it's as easy as a click. In Outlook 2003 or 2007, go back to the Customize View: Messages dialog and click the Reset Current View button. In Outlook 2010, click View Settings and click the Reset Current View button.

3/12/2010