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Microsoft Word Tips

Preview Your Templates

So often in Microsoft Word you try to preview a template and you get the message "Preview not available". Let's fix that. Open a template (File > New > Select the template of your choice).
Then go to File > Properties, and click on the Summary tab. Tick the box at the bottom, next to Save preview picture. Then, when you go to File > New, and select that template, you'll see a preview of what it looks like.

Animate Your Text

Sometimes there's just one word or phrase in a whole Word document that you want to emphasise, and simply putting it in bold, or increasing the font size, just isn't good enough.
So, with the word or phrase highlighted, go to Format > Font > Text Effects tab. There you'll find a list, including Shimmer, Las Vegas, Blinking Background and Marching Red Ants.

How To "Stamp" Your Documents

This is a useful function in Word. You can "stamp" a document with the file name and directory back to the C: prompt, printed at the bottom of each page.
In Word 97, go to View > Headers and Footers, and select "Filename and Path". In Word 2000 it's on the AutoText list - type the word "Filename" and press Return.
You don't need the Thesaurus to find synonyms in Microsoft Word. Right-click on the word and select Synonyms on the pop-up menu, click on the synonym you want, and it will replace your original word.
And my son reminds me that pressing F7 in Word is the shortcut for a spellcheck. Most of the other Word shortcuts are listed further down on this page.

Starting Afresh With Word

If you're having problems with Word, and reinstallling it doesn't solve them, try this.
Open up the file Normal.dot and copy and save it to another folder (as a precaution). Then go back to the original Normal.dot file that you'll probably find in Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates and delete it.
Then reboot. Word will automatically create a new Normal.dot and return to its default settings.

Updating Your AutoCorrect List

If you have Word 97 or later and you're upgrading to a new PC and updating to Word 2000 or 2003, you'll probably want to transfer across your own AutoCorrect list.
AutoCorrect entries that you make yourself are stored in a file with the extension *.acl, and these are the entries you want to copy across to your new PC.
There are several files with this extension, and the problem is, which one do you copy across? The solution is to create a new AutoCorrect entry and then go to Start > Run, and type *.acl . The correct file will show up as having been modified today. So right click on the file with today's date on it to copy it onto a floppy disk.
Use the same proceedure to find the *.acl file on your new PC and copy the file on your floppy into the same location.

Making Macros in Word

Macros are far more versatile than Auto-Text and are not as formidable as they at first look. To visit our "Word Macros Made Easy" page, click here.
To create a macro in Word, eg to sort a list into alphabetical order, select Tools, Macro, Record New Macro, and type in the desired name of the macro in the Macro Name box. Select where to store the macro from the Store Macro In box and select the template you want to use. Click on All Documents (Normal.dot).
Press tab and type the description of your macro, eg "Put Paragraphs in Alphabetical Order", in the Macro Description box and click OK. Then perform the steps of the proceedure you want to automate. If you make a mistake and have to delete something, the macro will not record that so it will be exactly as you want it.
When you've finished, click the Stop Recording button, and your macro is complete.

Running Macros in Word

When you have some text in your document that you want to format using a macro, highlight it and go to Tools > Macro > Macros and select the desired macro from the list shown. Then click on Run. Your selected text will instantly be formatted in the way your macro was created to format it.

Editing the Name of a Macro

This follows on from the previous tip in this series, "Changing a Macro" (see issue 15 of the MagneticWeb Newsletter). If you've changed what a macro does then you'll probably want to change the name of it. Go to Tools > Macro > Macros and select the macro you want to edit from the macro name list box and then click SortInfo. Select the text you wish to change in the Name Description text box and press Tab twice. Type the desired description in the Description box and press Tab to save the macro description. Then select Close, and you're done.
For our full Guide to using macros just click here.

Adding a Macro Button to your Toolbar

This follows on from the previous tip in this series, "Assigning a Macro Shortcut Key", published in issue 16 of the MagneticWeb Newsletter.
This enables you to perform the selected macro with just one mouse click, instead of several, and can be very convenient if you use a macro regularly.
Open the Customise dialog box and select the Toolbars tab. Click on Standard and then the Commands tab. From the Categories list box select Macros and then from the Commands list box select the macro you want on the toolbar.
Drag it onto the toolbar to the right of the Cut button and release. Click on Modify Selection and select the text in the Name text box. Type in the desired button name and then select the Default Style option. The default macro image appears on the toolbar.
To change the image, select Modify Selection, and then Change Button Image. Select the image you want by double clicking on it. Your selected image then appears on the button and the palette closes. Select Close, and your macro button is added to your toolbar.

Removing a Macro Shortcut Key

If you no longer need a shortcut to a macro, you can remove it. You can then assign the shortcut key combination to another macro if you wish.
Go to Tools > Customise > Options and select Keyboard. In the Categories list box select Macros and then select the macro you wish to remove. Select the shortcut key from the Current keys box and click Remove. Click Close and Close again.

Precise Measurements in Word

The horizontal ruler is useful for setting out tabs and margins, but can normally only be used for setting measurements to one tenth of an inch. However, you can make it more precise by holding down the Alt key when you click on the ruler or margin, and set your measurements to one hundredth of an inch.

Lots of Lines

Break up a long Word document with different kinds of underlining. It's easy. There are certain characters you can type three times and then press return for a different kind of line to be placed right across the page. These are the minus symbol ( - ), the equals ( = ) symbol, the asterisk ( * ), hash ( # ), tilde ( ~ ) and underscore ( _ ). Try them and see what you get. To remove them, place the cursor in the line above and press delete.

By-passing Formatting

Here's a quick Word tip. If you're working on a formatted document, with each new paragraph, eg, indented or treated in some special way, you may want to start a new line as an ordinary line and not as the start of a new paragraph. In this event, hold down the Shift key while pressing the Enter key. This will by-pass the formatting so the text goes straight under the previous line's text.

Controlling Scrolling

If you have a scrolling button on your mouse then here's a shortcut to zooming in and out in Microsoft Word. Simply hold down the Ctrl key and move the scroller. You can also easily control the amount of text you highlight by pressing the left mouse button and using the scroller. If you don't have a scroll button just press Shift and the down button to highlight one line at a time or PgDn to highlight one paragraph at a time.

Some More Handy Word Tips

Want to start a new page in a hurry? Don't keep pressing Return until you get to the bottom of the page. Don't even go to Break on the Insert menu. Just press Ctrl + Return.
Want to see more of your page on-screen? Here's how to hide all screen elements, such as the title, menu and status bars, the toolbars, the horizontal and vertical scroll bars and the ruler.
Go to View > Full Screen. A little Full Screen toolbar appears, for when you want to revert to your normal view, with all toolbars, rulers, etc. You can move this to any part of your screen. Neat, eh?

Managing Columns in Word

If you're writing a newsletter or menu, where you need to use columns, here's how to master them. Control your column width by going to the Columns command on the Format menu. Select Width and enter the desired width. Select Spacing and enter the desired spacing. Click OK.
A vertical line between columns can look great. You have to be in Print Preview View or Page Layout View. Again, it's the Columns command on the Format menu, and tick Line between, select Apply to, click Whole document, and then OK.
What if you finish with the last column shorter than all the others on that page? You can make all the columns the same length by positioning the cursor at the end of the column you want to balance and going to the Break command on the Insert menu. Click on Continuous. All columns on that page are now balanced.

Borders and Shading in Word

Liven up your Word documents by adding borders and shading. Click on the Borders and Shading button on the toolbar, and then the Insert button on the dialog box that appears. Then place the cursor in the text of the heading that you wish to appear above the border and select the line thickness. The border will be added, adjusting automatically to the page width. Shading can be added by choosing Shading from the Shading Color list on the Borders and Shading toolbar. Tables can have their own borders and shading. The tools are in the Tables section of the menu bar.

Biting the Bullet

Do you find that, in Word, using bullet points with large sized fonts brings the bullet too close to the adjoining text? Increase the space by clicking on the Format menu and going to Bullets and Numbering. Select the Bulleted tab and then one of the bullet styles. Click on the Customise button and change the settings in the Bullet Position and Text Position dialog boxes.

Controlling Microsoft Word

You can insert a document's file name and directory route, in Microsoft Word. In Word 97, go to View > Header and Footer and look for "Filename and Path". Click on it to insert the information in the document. In more recent versions of Word, go to Insert > AutoText.

Splitting Screens

Did you ever want to use a split screen in Microsoft Word? Perhaps you want to keep some notes at the beginning of your document in view even when you're working deep down into it. Place your mouse pointer over the triangle at the top of the vertical scroll bar so it turns into a cross with two arrows. Hold down the left button and drag down the screen until you come to where you want the split to be positioned. Release the button, and you have your split screen. To get back to normal, go to Windows on the menu bar and select "Remove Split".

The Wonders of AutoText (1)

AutoText in Microsoft Word is wonderful. I used to run a whole business based largely on what I can do with it. But some of the entries that are already loaded for you when you load Windows are often not needed. Or perhaps you would prefer them in a different form. Maybe you want to change ‘Sincerely Yours’ to ‘Yours Sincerely’ or ‘Dear Sir or Madam’ to ‘Dear Sirs’. Go to the Tools menu and select AutoCorrect, and then the AutoText tab. All you do then is select any you will definitely never use and click on Delete. Or type your AutoText entry and click on Add. My own preference is, when I type a frequently used phrase, to highlight it and press Alt + F3. This brings up a dialog box prompting you to save the phrase as AutoText. You may wish to amend the suggested name (by highlighting it and typing your preferred name over it) before clicking OK which finalises the entry. Then, when you want to insert your AutoText entry in a document, just type the name of it and press F3.

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Capital Letters

AutoText has a default setting whereby if you forget to put a capital letter at the beginning of a line then it does it for you automatically. But many of us don't want this. We may have a good reason not to have a capital letter there, so it can be very annoying unless you know how to switch the feature off. All you do is this. Go to Tools AutoCorrect and on the AutoCorrect tab uncheck Capitalize first letter of sentences.

The Wonders Of AutoText (2)

Much as I love this feature of Microsoft Word, I appreciate that there are some aspects of it that can be annoying and that some PC users will want to turn it off or amend the way it works. For example, its automatic paragraph numbering doesn't suit everyone, so if you want to turn it off, do the following. From the Tools menu select AutoCorrect AutoFormat As You Type. Deselect the Automatic Numbered Lists and Automatic Bulleted Lists buttons.
Another thing that can be really annoying is that when you type paragraphs numbered (a), (b), etc, the third paragraph comes out as © . Or if your postcode ends in 7TH it will come out as 7^TH. If this is your problem then go to Tools AutoCorrect and click on the AutoCorrect tab and highlight and delete the entry Replace (c) with ©. Then on the AutoCorrect As You Type tab, deselect the item ‘Ordinals with Superscript.

Complete Word Shortcuts

This works in Word 97 and 2000 (not sure about XP yet). You won't find a master list of Shortcuts in Word Help, but here is a way of printing out a complete list of Word Shortcuts and Commands for quick reference.
Go to Tools on the menu bar and click on Macro > Macros. You'll get a "Macros In" drop-down menu. Select Word Commands and move your mouse over the Macro Name pane. Highlight ListCommands, click on Run and select Current Menu and Keyboard Settings in the dialog box. Click OK and a new document will open with a table showing all of the available commands and shortcuts. Click on File > Save As, give it a name, and print it out. In 12pt it runs to around 10 pages, but if you scan it first you can delete some of the more remote shortcuts and commands

Yet More Shortcuts

You can make your own keyboard shortcuts in MS Word (and Excel too). Go to Tools > Customise > Commands and then highlight the function you want. Click the "keyboard" button at the bottom, select the keys you want, and click OK.

Word Drawing Toolbar

One often overlooked feature on the Word toolbar is the Drawing button. Next time you're working in Word click on it and count how many things you can do with it that you've never tried.
The basic toolbar lets you draw lines, arrows and shapes of varying designs and thicknesses, and even make them 3-D with shadow effects. The Draw button lets you arrange them one underneath another, auto-shapes and images can be refined, rotated, placed beneath text and given almost any colour you want.
The AutoShapes button gives you any shape you want, a Word Art Gallery provides great text design possibilities, and you have instant control of text colour, infilling, line colour and much else.
One of the most useful functions is the text box. This lets you place text anywhere in the document that you want. In short, the Drawing button makes Word extremely adaptable, and almost as good as most publishing software packages.

Word Work Menu

Now for something else about Microsoft Word. It has a really useful feature called the Work Menu. With this, you can add a toolbar button called Work, and get single-click access to documents you are working on or need frequent access to.
Go to View > Toolbars > Customise. Select the Commands tab and scroll down the Categories list to select Built In Menus. Go to the Command list in the right hand pane and scroll down to Work. Click on it and hold, and drag it onto your toolbar. You can re-position it by drag-and-drop.
To put a document on the Work menu, open it and select "Add to Work Menu" on the Work menu. Now, when you're working on two or more documents at the same time and you have to take a break, just hold down the Shift key and go to the File menu where you will see two new commands, "Save All" and "Close All". One click saves or closes all your open documents.
If you decide you no longer want this button, just drag it onto the desktop.

Easy Access to Documents with the Work Menu

Word 97's work menu provides easy access to documents you work on frequently. To add the work menu to your toolbar, select Customize from the Tools menu and click the Commands tab. In the Categories list, select Built-in Menus. In the Commands list, select Work and drag it into position on the menu bar. Click the Close button. Add a file by opening the file and selecting Add To Work Menu in the Work menu. To remove a file from the work menu, press Ctrl-Alt-- (Ctrl-Alt-hyphen), and the mouse pointer will change to a horizontal bar. Then select Work and click the filename to remove it.
This probably works in Word 2000 and XP as well, though I haven't checked that yet.

Word Calculator

Another amazing thing about Microsoft Word is that it has a built-in calculator.
Go to View > Toolbars > Customise and select "All Commands" in the Categories menu. Find and highlight "ToolsCalculate" in the Command list. Drag and drop it onto a toolbar and you can start using it straight away.
Type out a sum, using the plus, minus, etc symbols, highlight it and click the ToolsCalculate button. The answer appears at the bottom of your screen in the left hand corner of the status bar.

Using Word to Write Your Emails

Many people compose messages or articles in MS Word and then copy and paste into Outlook Express.
Here's how to do it more quickly and easily. When you've finished typing in Word, go to the File menu and select Send To > Mail Recepient. Your Outlook Express window with your document already loaded will appear. All you have to do then is select the address for sending to and click on Send.
If this doesn't work initially it's because you don't have Outlook Express as your default email program. Go to Tools > Options (in Outlook Express) and select the General tab. Check "Make Outlook Express my default email program" and "Make Outlook Express my Default Simple MAPI Client". Then just re-start your PC.

Changing Default Settings In Microsoft Word

The default font for all versions of Word is Times New Roman, size 10. If you don't like this, and get fed up changing it every time you open a new document, you can change it permanently. It applies also to other settings, such as the zoom, or magnification, setting. Simply open a new document and select the font type and size that you prefer, and also the zoom setting, if different to the default. Then go to Font on the Format menu and click on the Default button. You will be asked to confirm the change. Click on Yes. Close Word without saving any changes, and then open it again. Your new, preferred settings should now be the default.

Selecting More Than A Screenful Of Text In Microsoft Word

If you don't have a wheel mouse then you may know the problem. You're selecting a large chunk of text by pressing the left mouse button and draging it across the screen. When you get to the bottom the document suddenly zooms up at the speed of light and you have no chance of stopping the highlighting where you want.
To overcome this, do one of the following. Select Shift + Up/Down Arrow to highlight one line at a time, or Ctrl + Shift + Up/Down Arrow to highlight one paragraph at a time, or Shift + Page Up/Down to highlight a page at a time. This is assuming, of course, that you don't own one of those expensive wheel mice which give very precise control over scrolling speed.

Typing fractions in Word 97 and 2000

Make sure your cursor is on an empty line. Then go to Insert Field Equations and Formulas. Select EQ in the right hand pane and in the text box, after the EQ entry, type ob320/f(x,y) where x and y are the numerator and denominator. The resulting fraction can then be dragged and dropped into place. For some reason this method doesn't work if the cursor is in the middle of a line of text.

Microsoft Word Disabling AutoDate

If you have the AutoDate facility on then any document you prepare that has the current date put in it will have this date changed to the current date when it is accessed later on. You may not always want this, so to change the date field to ordinary text, highlight it and it will turn grey. Then press Ctrl + Shift + F9 and it will change to ordinary text, black highlighted.

Changing Case in a Hurry in Word

Highlight the text and press Shift + F3.

Controlling Ctrl+A in Word

In Microsoft Word I'm always finding new features and shortcuts. We all know (don't we?) that Ctrl + A selects all the text in the document. But what if you want to be more restrictive in your selection? Here's what to do.
Press F8 the first time to turn on this feature:
Press the left mouse button and move your cursor right or left to select a single character.
Now, press F8 a second time to select the entire word.
Press F8 a third time to select the entire sentence.
Press F8 four times to select the entire paragraph.
Press F8 five times to select the entire document...
You can reverse the process by keeping the SHIFT key depressed When you don't want this feature any more press Esc.

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Microsoft Excel Tips

Using AutoFilter

When you're using Excel as a database, you can use AutoFilter to temporarily filter out records not required. Select any cell and then go to Data > Filter > AutoFilter. Your list must contain column labels for this to work, and they will then display drop-down buttons. You can then click the arrow for any AutoFilter label to display the values contained in that field. By selecting the value you want to display, you will temporarily hide the other values, filtering out all unwanted records. The arrow for any AutoFilter label that has been activated will display in blue.
To clear an AutoFilter, simply click on the blue drop-down arrow and select All from the menu.

Managing Data

It can be useful to copy or move data from one worksheet to another in the same file. To do this, simply select the worksheet you want to copy or move data from and then select the data itself. Press Ctrl X to move the data or Ctrl C to copy it. Move to the worksheet you want the data to be pasted into, select the first cell, and press Ctrl V.
All your formulas will also be copied or moved, so you can make fresh calculations without any delay or further work.

Formula Checking

Here's a handy Excel tip. If you're working on a spreadsheet and you need to check the formulae you have used in all or any part of it, just press the key immediately to the left of the no. 1 key on the top row of keys on your standard keyboard. It has three different symbols on it and is not usually used for anything, but it comes into its own when used in this way. You will see displayed in each cell the formula acting on it.

Using Excel as a Database

You can use Excel as a database. IMHO it's easier than using Access, and you can manipulate your data more easily. You just have to remember that the columns are your fields and the rows are your data.
As long as you have the Microsoft Query feature installed, you can import information from database programs such as Access or dBase.
Keep each type of data (eg surnames, first names, etc) in separate columns, or fields, so you can sort them in alpha-numeric order according to a variety of criteria.
You need to plan carefully when preparing a database, to foresee exactly what information you will need to extract from time to time. Each row contains one record. Enter several records and then test to establish that you can retrieve and manipulate the information the way you want, before going further.
Don't forget, if you have named a range of cells for the purposes of a rule, then if you want to insert a record, do so within the range, as otherwise that record will be outside your rule.
When you delete a record, make sure you delete the actual row, and not just the data in it, so as to avoid problems in handling your information.

Excel Fractions and Days

If you ever have to enter fractions in Excel, you'll know that it will take them for a date, because that's how it interprets the "/". To avoid this, insert a space between the number and the fraction. If you have just the fraction without an integer (whole number) then enter a zero, a space, and then the fraction. Excel will then act on the fraction, adding, multiplying, etc, as required.
If you enter a day of the week in Excel and then drag down the fill handle, the cells below will display each subsequent day of the week. This includes Saturdays and Sundays. So what if you only want weekdays? Right-click before you drag. Then, when you've reached the bottom of your chosen range of cells you'll be offered various options, one of which will be to Fill Weekdays, ie exclude weekends.

A couple of handy Excel shortcuts

Copy a formula quickly by clicking in its cell and pressing Ctrl while you drag the fill handle across the cells to be copied to.
Get a chart super-fast by highlighting the relevant cells and pressing F11. And fast-copy a worksheet by holding down Ctrl while you drag its tab to one side.

Using Formula Palette

You can make work in Excel easier by using Formula Palette. Select the cell you want the result put into, click on the Edit Formula button (the "=" sign on the toolbar) and then select the function from the drop-down list. Click the number 1 text box range selector button. The Formula Palette dialog box collapses to enable you to see the spreadsheet better. Drag across the range of cells you want to include in the calculation and press Enter. The result of the formula appears in the cell you originally selected.

Excel Commands

We all know you can add a row or column of figures in Excel by clicking on the toolbar icon that resembles an "M" on its side. But you can also execute other commands on a series of figures by simply typing "=" followed by the function name, eg Average, Min, Max, Count, and the range of cells in parentheses. If you have AutoCorrect enabled, then if you mis-type a function there's a good chance Excel will spot it and suggest the correct syntax.

Playing with Numbers

We know that to add up a row of numbers in Excel you highlight the row and click on the SUM of the numbers in the Status Bar at the foot of the screen. But try right- clicking on the Status Bar result to display a set of extra options, including Average, Count, Count Numbers, Min and Max.

Sorting Your Spreadsheet

Here are a couple of handy Excel tips. If you want to sort the fields of a spreadsheet, just add a row above or below the list and enter the new order, e.g. 1,4,5,8,3,9,6,7,2. Highlight the row containing these numbers and the row containing your field headings and choose Sort from the Data menu. In the Sort dialog box choose the row number containing the new order, then Options. Select 'Normal' under 'First key sort order' and tick 'Sort left to right'. Click OK and you have your new order!
Excel has a standard default depth of column, but you can make it deeper if you wish. Place your cursor in the left hand column where the row numbers are, and drag the lower border of the row you wish to make deeper to the depth you want.

Mastering Excel Formulae

Cell references in Excel are letter/number combinations, such as A1, which names a specific cell on a worksheet. To master Excel formulas you have to know the difference between relative and absolute references.
A relative reference will change if a formula is copied to a different place on a worksheet. If you copy the formula "=SUM(A1:A4)" from cell A5 to cell B5, the resulting formula will read "=SUM(B1:B4)". Excel automatically changes the references to point to the four cells above the formula.
Absolute references point to the same cells, no matter where the formula is copied to. If you used absolute references in the above example, the formula would not change, ie it would remain "=SUM(A1:A4)".
To create an absolute reference, just enter a dollar sign in front of each part of the cell reference, eg $A$1.

Excel Notes

If you use Microsoft Excel you can add hidden notes to a cell entry. Click in the cell that you want to add a note to and then choose Insert > Note. In the Cell Note dialog box type the text of your note in the Text Note box and click OK. The cell will then have a small red rectangle in the upper right corner. The note can be viewed by moving the cursor over the cell. And if you're really familiar with Excel you can record a voice message to explain what's in the cell. Just double-click on the cell to play it back.

Pointing the Way in Excel

Do you ever prepare a spreadsheet in Excel, and have a particular figure or calculation that you want to make painfully obvious to anyone who looks at it?
You can make the figures bold, but often that just doesn't seem to be adequate. Here's a possible solution.
Click on the Drawing icon on the toolbar to display the Drawing toolbar at the foot of the screen. Click on the Arrow button and draw an arrow pointing at the figure or set of figures you wish to make obvious.
Then click on the Line Style button and select a thickness of, say, 6 point, and see just what that does to highlight your figures! Drawing it at an angle makes it even better.

There's a bug in Excel 2000

This info comes from Jezisek, who writes:
"I was visiting your website and I decided to write you about my observation in Excel 2000.
I fill the data in column B and column C, then I hide the whole column B, lock the sheet of the document with the password, and save it. Now there are columns A, C, D etc.
Next, when I select columns A and C, press CTRL-C, open a brand new file and press CTRL-V, the data included in column B is displayed !!!
But the original data was covered and protected by a password.
I think that this is a great bug in Excel 2000 and in many conferences I haven't found how to solve it."
Thanks, Jezisek, for this observation. Does anyone know how to get around this problem, or of any patches available from Microsoft or elsewhere? Let me know and I'll include your solution in the next issue of Tips'N'Tricks, plus a link to your website if you wish.

Move fast in Excel

This is how to move quickly to the next or previous worksheet in your workbook. To move to the next worksheet in a workbook, press CTRL + PgDn. To move to the previous worksheet in a workbook, press CTRL + PgUp.

Excel Currency

You can format a cell to display a Currency format by pressing Ctrl-Shift-$

Microsoft Access Tips

Using Access Filters

If you're working in Access and want to deal only with certain records, and not all those covered by your table, use Filter by Selection. If in a table of your customers' data you have different towns in your "towns" column and you want to view only those details relating to customers in a particular town, simply click on the name of that town in the "towns" column and then click on the Filter by Selection button on your toolbar. Only the data relating to customers in that particular town will be displayed. Cancel it by clicking on the Apply Filter button. Then, to re-apply your most recently used filter, click on it again. Conversely, if you want to exclude customers from that town, click on the Filter Excluding Selection button on the toolbar.

Microsoft Outlook Tips

Backup Your Personal Data in Outlook

If you prefer to use Microsoft Outlook as your email application instead of Outlook Express then here's an easy way to find all your personal data. Right-click on the Outlook Today icon in the Shortcuts menu and select Properties > General Tab > Advanced button. The location of the file, with an extension of *.pst, will be shown in the path window. Backup this file to your chosen location.

Microsoft General Tips

That Office Assistant

You either love it or hate it. And most of us seem to hate it. That's the Microsoft Office Assistant. How to get rid of it then? Permanently. Well, if you must take this drastic course of action without smashing your PC to pieces then this is probably the simplist way to do it. Open Windows Explorer > Program Files > Microsoft Office > Office. Right click on the folder named Actors and re-name it something else, say Old_Actors (the underscore is important). That should get rid of the Office Assistant for good, paper-clip and all. To get it back just repeat the process but return it to its original name.

Insert Date

To insert the date in any document, press Alt + Shift + D. Control the format from the Insert menu.

Office 2000 - Send Documents by E-mail

With Office 2000 you can now choose to save that Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint slide show or Word document as an HTML file which anyone can view with their Internet Browser. Here are the steps:
Create your file as you normally would in Excel or Word or PowerPoint. Then, once it's done, go to the File Menu in any of these programs and click on "Save as Web Page". This will save this file in HTML format (which is the format used to create Web Pages). Then just send this file as an attachment in your email. When the person on the other end receives it, all they have to do is double click on it and their web browser (ie: Internet Explorer, Netscape, even AOL) will open with the file displayed clearly inside for them to view. And, they don't have to be connected to the Internet to do this. Their browser will launch whether they are connected or not.

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