Word: Change the Default Save Location
Do you save all of your Word documents to your My Documents folder? You might, and if you do, there is nothing wrong with that. However, you might work in an office environment where you need to save all of your Word docs to a folder on your server.
Perhaps you find yourself frequently saving to a specific file that is buried deep in your Documents folder. Navigating to the correct location from the Save dialog is not that much of a hassle, I know. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, to have one less thing you have to do? If you said, “Heck yeah!” then you have come to the right place, my friend. You can change the default location that appears in your Open, Save and Save As dialog boxes.
If you are using Word 2003, go to the Tools menu and select Options. Go to the File Locations tab and click on Documents under File Types. Click on the Modify button. Find the folder you want to use as your default in the Look In field. Click on it to select it and click OK.
If you are using Word 2007, start by clicking the Office button. Click on Word Options and then click Save. Click Browse next to the Default File Location box under Save Documents, and then navigate to the location you want to set as your default. Click on your new default folder to select it, and then click OK.
In Word 2010, go to the File tab and click on Options. Click Save in the left pane. Click Browse next to the Default File Location box under Save Documents, and then navigate to the location you want to set as your default. Click on your new default folder to select it, and then click OK.
You can change your default file type in which to save files here, as well.
|
11/29/2011
|
PowerPoint: 3-D AutoShapes
There are so many ways to make a PowerPoint more fun and interesting (and be honest, haven’t you sat through at least one reaalllly boring one? This week, I mean). For instance, how about making some of those shapes and drawings 3-D?
Start by inserting a shape onto your slide. In PowerPoint 2003, go to the Drawing toolbar and point to AutoShapes. Click on the one you want. If you do not see the Drawing toolbar, go to the View menu, point to Toolbars and click on Drawing.
In PowerPoint 2007 or 2010, click on a shape in the Drawing group of the Home tab.
Click onto your slide and drag the shape into the place and size you fancy. Fill the shape with a solid color or gradient fill effect to enhance the three dimensional appearance of the shape. You can do this by right-clicking the shape and choosing Format Shape or Format AutoShape (depending on which option you are using). Gradient fills are fun.
Now, time to make it pop. In PowerPoint 2003, select the shape by clicking on it. Click the 3-D Style button on the Drawing toolbar (it looks like a three dimensional cube). Click on 3-D Settings and play around with the options in the 3-D Settings toolbar until you have an effect you love.
In PowerPoint 2007 or 2010, click on the shape to select it. Go to the Format tab under Drawing Tools and find an option in the Shape Styles gallery. Back on the Format tab, click Shape Effects and pick the perfect Rotation.
Bye bye boring!
|
11/28/2011
|
Word or Excel: Create a Hyperlink List of Files
You can create a hyperlinked list of files in a specific folder on your computer or network drive with so much ease, it is almost ridiculous. While you can work with this list in virtually any Office application, it makes the most sense to create the list in either Word or Excel. For instance, you can make a table of contents of sorts that would be so helpful in a virtual employee handbook or other server-based resource list. Since it will be in table format, you can sort it effortlessly as well so that it suits your needs.
To get started, navigate to the folder containing the files that you want to list. Go ahead and open the folder, but don’t open any of the files. Right-click inside of the address bar on the Windows Explorer window and select Copy Address.
Now, open your favorite web browser window, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. Click inside of the address bar on the browser window to select the default address. Press Ctrl+V to paste the folder address into the address bar.
Press Enter or click Go and voila! The list of files in the folder appears in the window. All you have to do now is click inside of the window and press Ctrl+A to select the entire list. Open a blank Word document or Excel worksheet and paste the list there.
In Word, the list appears as a table. In Excel, you may need to resize the cells so that the text fits properly. To do so, click on the Select All button in the upper left corner between A and 1 and then double-click the border between two of the columns. Excel resizes all of the selected columns automatically.
|
11/23/2011
|
Word: Ways With Arrows
Arrows can be helpful in a Word document. You can point to a specific piece of text, a table, an image or pretty much anything in the file.
One way to add arrows is from the Symbols dialog.
In Word 2003, go to the Insert menu and click on Symbol. In Word 2007 or 2010, go to the Insert tab, click on Symbols in the Symbols group and select More Symbols. Find an arrow you like (there are several in the Wingdings font categories) and click Insert.
Another way is to use Shapes.
In Word 2003, go to the Drawing toolbar. If you don’t see it, go to the View menu, point to Toolbars and click on Drawing. Click the Arrow button on the toolbar and draw it onto the page.
In Word 2007 or 2010, go to the Insert tab. Click on Shapes in the Illustrations group and click on the arrow you want to use. Draw it onto the page.
Perhaps you already knew these methods. Did you know, though, that you could use shortcuts to draw arrows in your Word document? There are, thanks to AutoCorrect.
Type two Hyphens followed by a Greater Than sign for a right pointing arrow. Type a Less Than sign followed by two hyphens for a left pointing arrow.
Type two Equal signs and a Greater Than sign or a Less Than sign followed by two Equal signs for a bold right or left pointing arrow, respectively.
If these shortcuts don’t work, make sure that the feature is enabled.
In Word 2003, go to the Tools menu and select Options. Make sure Replace Text as You Type is selected.
In Word 2007, click the Office Button and click on Word Options. Click on Proofing in the left pane and then click the AutoCorrect Options button. Make sure Replace Text as You Type is selected.
In Word 2010, go to the File tab and click on Options. Click on Proofing in the left pane and then click the AutoCorrect Options button. Make sure Replace Text as You Type is selected.
|
11/22/2011
|
Excel: Moving Charts
Kel Granderson writes:
I know that you can opt to move a chart to another worksheet when you first make it, but is there an easy way to do so with an existing chart?
There is, and finding the option depends on which version of Excel you are using.
You can choose the location when creating the chart in Excel 2003 by using the Chart Wizard. Go to the Insert menu and select chart to begin the wizard. At Step 4 of the wizard, you have the following options: As New Sheet or As Object in.
If you are using Excel 2007 or 2010, you will have to move the chart after you create it. You can make it using any steps you want, such as the F11 keyboard shortcut for a default chart, or by going to the Insert tab and selecting the type of chart you want to use.
Click on the chart to select it and activate the Chart Tools tab. Make sure the Chart Area is selected, either by clicking the blank area near the chart border, or by going to the Chart Tools Layout tab and selecting Chart Area in the Current Selection drop down list.
You can now drag the chart to another location on your worksheet.
To move it to another worksheet, go to the Chart Tools Design tab and click on Move Chart in the Location group. This opens the Move Chart dialog, where you can choose either As New Sheet or As Object in.
Perhaps the easiest way to move a chart, though, is to simply select the chart area, right-click and choose Move Chart. This also opens the Move Chart dialog, allowing you to As New Sheet to display your chart as a new sheet or As Object In to display your chart as an object in a sheet.
|
11/21/2011
|
|
