Level 200 - Regular User

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

Do you want to create a slide that is Portrait, instead of the default Landscape slide orientation?

To change to Portrait in PowerPoint 2007:

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

2) Look for the “Page Setup” group – on the left hand side of the ribbon

3) Click on “Slide Orientation”

4) Click on “Portrait”

To reverse back to Landscape, just repeat the process above, but instead of clicking “Portrait” at step 4, click on “Landscape”.

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TNP

Have you noticed when you spell check an email where you are replying to or forwarding another email, that sometimes spell check decides it needs to highlight the poor spelling of your friend or colleague?

Well if you get annoyed by that as much as I do, you will be glad to know there is a setting in Outlook 2007 to ensure that the spelling and grammar checker only checks the content you wrote.

To ignore the original message text in reply or forward:

1) Click “Tools”

2) Click “Options”

3) Click on the “Spelling” tab

4) Check the box “Ignore original message text in reply or forward”

‘till next time!
TNP

Do you want to do some hard core data manipulation in your PowerPoint presentation?

Well instead of adding a simple table layout to your slide, you can actually add an Excel spreadsheet.  You have all the features of Excel – like formulas, but in a nice looking PowerPoint table.

To insert an Excel table in PowerPoint 2007:

1) Make sure you are on the slide you want to include the table in

2) Click on the “Insert” tab of the ribbon

3) Click on the little arrow below the “Table” button

4) Click on “Excel Spreadsheet”

5) Enter your data, manipulate it, and format the table as you desire

‘till next time!
TNP

The To-Do bar in Outlook 2007 is a great time saver – a quick way to understand your current workload, and upcoming appointments.

By default there should be three upcoming appointments shown in the to-do bar – but did you know that you can customise it so you can show more, or less appointments?

To increase or decrease the number of upcoming appointments shown in the Outlook 2007 to-do bar:

1) Right click on the To-Do Bar

2) Click “Options…” from the menu that appears

3) In the “To-Do Bar Options” box that appears, change the number of appointments to your preferred number.

Whilst you can have more appointments visible than that can fit on your screen, don’t go to overboard… 5 or 7 would be the upper limit for it to be useful.

‘till next time!
TNP