Archive for May, 2010

Have you ever change the font size or the font type or the font colour one too many times and realised that it would be far easier just to start again?

Well instead of deleting your text and having to retype it, you can use a feature of Word 2007 called “Clear Formatting”.

As the name suggests, “Clear Formatting” will remove all the formatting you have applied to your text, and set it back to the default paragraph style.

You can find the “Clear Formatting” button on the “Home” tab of the ribbon, in the “Font” group.  Just select the text you want to clear up, and then click on the button.

‘till next time!
TNP

Usually PowerPoint presentations are built to be delivered on-screen.  Using the print options you can create handouts and notes pages that you can then print out and hand to your audience. 

But did you know that you can use PowerPoint to design presentations built specifically to be delivered in the print format.  One slide per A4 or Letter page (and not a cropped or zoomed version of an onscreen slide)

To do so, all you need to do is change the page size of the PowerPoint slides in your deck.

1) Click on the “Design” tab

2) Click on “Page Setup” in the “Page Setup” group on the left hand side of the ribbon

3) In the “Page Setup” window, in the drop down box “Slides sized for:” select your preferred paper size

This is a great way to design slides specifically for transparencies or over-head projectors as well.

‘till next time!
TNP

Do you want your page to stretch right across your monitor?  By using “Zoom to Page Width” you can do just that.

To Zoom to Page Width in Word 2007:

1) Click on the “View” tab in the ribbon

2) Look for the “Zoom” group

3) Click on “Page Width”

‘till next time!
TNP

Are you really annoyed by the sound that Outlook makes when an email arrives in your (or more likely your colleagues) inbox.  Or do you need to know instantly when there is a new message addressed to you?

Whichever side of the fence you sit on, the chime or sound email notification is a configurable feature of Outlook 2007.

To turn on or turn of audible email notifications in Outlook 2007:

1) Click on “Tools” in the menu”

2) Click on “Options”

3) Make sure you are on the “Preferences” tab

4) Click on “E-mail Options…”

5) Click on “Advanced E-Mail Options…”

6) About 1/3 of the way down the “Advanced E-mail Options” windows, there is a section called “When new items arrive in my Inbox”.  Check (or uncheck) “Play a sound”

7) Click “OK” three times to close all the windows

‘till next time!
TNP

Do you want to be able to always see the headings of your columns whilst you scroll through your Excel 2007 spreadsheet?

To do that, you need to “Freeze” the top row of your sheet.

To Freeze the top row in Excel 2007:

1) Click on the “View” tab of the ribbon

2) Look for the “Window” group

3) Click on “Freeze Panes”

4) Click on “Freeze Top Row”

To unfreeze the top row, just repeat the process above, but instead of clicking “Freeze Top Row” in step 4), just click on “Unfreeze Panes”

‘till next time!
TNP

Do you want a great looking presentation, but without all the design elements you find in the themes that come out of the box in PowerPoint 2007?

Well the simple, and great looking option is to use a Slide Background.  A slide background is a simple gradient that will turn any standard barebones deck into one that looks very professional.

To add a simple background to your PowerPoint 2007 presentation:

1) Click on the “Design” tab of the ribbon

2) Look for the “Background” group – on the right hand side of the ribbon

3) Click on “Background Styles”

4) Select your preferred background

You will notice that not all the colours of the rainbow are available.  Background styles are linked to the current colour palette that you have selected in the document.  If you play around with the colors by clicking on the “Colors” button whilst you are still on the “Design” tab of the ribbon, you will notice the background colour change to match the new palette.

‘till next time!
TNP

Gridlines are a great tool to use if you have a number of objects in your Word document, and want to ensure proper alignment between them all.

To turn on gridlines (which appear in the background of your document, and do not get printed):

1) Make sure you are on the “Page Layout” tab of the ribbon

2) Look for the “Arrange” group – on the right hand side of the ribbon

3) Click on “Align”

4) Click on “View Gridlines”

To turn gridlines off again, just repeat the process above.  You will notice that this is another option when you click on “Align”, called “Grid Settings”  Using this feature you can customise how the grid appears and impacts in your document.  For example, you can ensure that objects snap to each other, the spacing of the grid, and whether the grid uses your margins or not.  Very good if you want fine control over the placement of objects in your document.

‘till next time!
TNP

Did you know that Outlook 2007 saves drafts of your emails as you type them?  This is great if you accidentally close the email window before sending, or start an email and then the power goes out.

By default Outlook will save a draft every three minutes.  But if you are paranoid about losing your work… or don’t care that much… you can change the timeframes in which the auto-save occurs.

To increase or decrease the auto-save time for draft emails in Outlook 2007:

1) Click “Options” from the menu

2) Make sure you are on the “Preferences” tab”

3) Click the “E-mail Options…” button

4) Click the “Advanced E-Mail Options…” button (about half way down the window)

5) Beside the first checkbox (“AutoSave items every:”) change the number to the number of minutes you would like the interval to be

6) Click OK 3 times to close all the windows

To find the drafts that Outlook saves, just take a look in your drafts folder

‘till next time!
TNP

Do you have a column full of numbers in Excel 2007 that you would like to sort from lowest to highest, or smallest to biggest?

To sort from low to high in Excel 2007:

1) Select the cells you want to sort

2) Click on the “Data” tab of the Ribbon

3) Look for the “Sort & Filter” group

4) Click on the “Sort A to Z” button – it is the one that has an A on top of a Z with an arrow pointing down.

‘till next time!
TNP

So if you are a bit of an Office freak like me, you will know that Office 2010 was RTM’d last week (Released to Manufacturing – a fancy way of saying “yep, its ready”).  It will be available in the shops in the next few months, but if you are a corporate customer with a volume licensing agreement – or you have a subscription to MSDN or TechNet – you will find you can get the Office 2010 bits, and product keys already.

With RTM comes a shift in content here at The New Paperclip.  Whilst I will still produce Office 2007 content, there is a whole new world of Office 2010 that is to be explored, documented, and published in easy to understand language just for you kind folks!

Before we get into the nitty gritty of Office 2010 – there is one thing I would love to share with you.

One thing that most of you will like (and people that work on IT Helpdesks will LOVE) about Office 2010 is that the File Menu is back!  Well, technically it never left, but in Office 2007 it wasn’t called the File Menu, it was simply this weird looking “Office Orb”. 

So IT Managers – if you are looking for a quick win to cut your helpdesk calls dramatically (you know… all the ones that were like “Where has Print gone”, Where has Save gone” etc) – just upgrade to Office 2010.  Because everyone knows, you find them in the File Menu.  And you will not get as many calls about

“What is that funny looking circle thing… what do you mean you want me to click on it?  It doesn’t look like a button!”

If you are upgrading to Office 2010 – make sure you subscribe or check back regularly for more tips, tricks and tutorials.

‘till next time!
TNP