Office 2013 Tip

by Linda Pearson, President of Summit Training

Tip for Excel, Word and PowerPoint 2013

MY ISSUE:

Every time I open Excel, Word, or PowerPoint the Start Window displays. From the Start Window I must choose a template to open. There are multiple templates to choose from including an empty worksheet for Excel, a blank document for Word, an empty presentation for PowerPoint.

MY PROBLEM:

I want to bypass the Start Window and go directly into the application.

THE FIX:

1. Open Excel, Word, or PowerPoint and get to a blank document. 
2. Click on the File tab.
3. From the menu on the left, choose Options.
4. By default the General option is selected.
5. At the bottom of the General window, within Start up options, remove the check from Show the Start screen when this application Starts.
6. Click on OK

Microsoft Office 2013 Tips

Are new 2013 features driving you Crazy?

By Linda Pearson, President of Summit Training

I’ve been working with Windows 8 and Office 2013 for the last couple of months. First let me say, that the more I work with it the more things I discover that I like. For example, when you open a long document in Word, you are given the option “to pick up where you left off.” I find this really handy. However, both Windows 8 and Office 2013 have been causing me some grief. So, I will try to provide some tips that have helped me. I hope they will make “Office” life a little easier for you, too.

Since Outlook is probably one of the most used applications, I will start there. Please let me know if any of these hints help you or if you have a particular problem you’d like to have solved. Email me at LPearson@summit-train.com.

Outlook 2013

Issue 1 – Replying to a Message

• MY ISSUE: When replying to a message, Outlook 2013 now opens it in the Preview pane. The word “[Draft]” appears in red in front of the message you are replying to in the message list.
• MY PROBLEM. I am frequently interrupted while replying to a message and during that interruption that message gets pushed out of view by incoming messages. Sometimes hours pass before I discover the uncompleted message.
• THE FIX: Click on the Pop Out option at the top of the message you are replying to place the message it in its own Window making it easier to detect uncompleted replies.

Issue 2 – The Task List and Calendar

• MY ISSUE: The Task List and the Calendar are no longer displayed at the right edge of the Mail pane.
• MY PROBLEM: Not having a calendar open when in the Mail pane.
• THE FIX: Click on the View tab and then, within the Layout group click on the To Do Bar button to display a menu. From the menu, select Calendar and then Tasks. This will open a pane at the left of the Mail Window with the Calendar at the top and the Task list at the bottom.

Issue 3 – How Contacts are Displayed

• MY ISSUE: The way contacts are displayed in the People Pane.
• MY PROBLEM: Although I understand the Contact List is now the People Pane which allow us to include social media contacts in our list, I frequently prefer to view the list in the Business Card format.
• THE FIX: With My Contacts displayed, click on the Home tab and within the Current View group, click on the Business Card button. To return to the People view, within the Current View group, click on the People button.

Professional Excel Support and Consulting

Just about anybody who has a column of numbers to add up, uses Excel. In fact, Excel is probably the most used software application program ever distributed.

Although Excel is pretty user-friendly, many of the worksheets created aren’t. After all, the creation of a worksheet isn’t restricted to people who understand how to use it.

I was once called in to help figure out what was wrong with a worksheet. Although a little more complicated than this description, the worksheet consisted of columns of numbers with totals below them. The problem was that when any of the numbers in the worksheet were changed, the affected totals didn’t update. It didn’t take too long to figure out that the totals weren’t formulas. The creator of the worksheet had used an adding machine to add up the columns and then manually entered the totals.

For most of us, Excel is a great tool. I have seen many instances where people saved hours of work each month with well-designed worksheets.

But when you have an Excel worksheet that doesn’t work or you have a problem you can’t figure out, give Summit Training a call. Let us work directly with you to help identify and solve your Excel problems.

We can come to you directly, or we can work remotely and save you the cost of travel. Our introductory, hourly rate for Excel help is $95.

ASK AMY: Zoom with Mouse

This is a mouse tip that appears to work in most Microsoft Office Applications and now that I know about it, I don’t know how I’d get along without it.

I stumbled upon this a few weeks ago and it was so simple that I thought maybe everyone knew it but me. But when I asked a few people, they were surprised too.

If you want to zoom in on a particular item (a word, a picture, or other object.) using the mouse, hold down the CTRL key and roll the mouse wheel forward. To zoom out, hold down the CTRL key and roll the mouse wheel backwards. Easy! 

I find this really helpful when working in Microsoft Publisher.

ASK AMY: Using Excel's Large and Small Functions

Recently I was asked if there was a way to find the second largest number in a range of cells. Off the top of my head I didn’t know the answer; however, after a little research I discovered the LARGE and SMALL functions.

For example, if you want to find the second largest number in a range of cells in column C the formula would look like:

=LARGE(C5:C305, 2)

Where:

• =LARGE  is the name of the function
• (C5:C305, is the range of cells (data set) of the numbers to be examined
• 2) is the k-th largest number within that data set

The SMALL function works the same way.

ASK AMY: Filling a Shape with a Picture

After last month’s tip appeared (Cropping a picture to a Shape), I was asked if I could fill a shape with a picture. Here are the steps to accomplish that. This tips works in PowerPoint, Word, and Publisher:

1. Select the shape you want to fill with a picture and add it to your document. Select the shape so that it has selection handles displayed on each corner and each edge.

2. The Drawing Tools tab has been added to the tab line.

a. Click on it and from within the Shape Styles group.
b. Click on the Shape Fill button.  A gallery displays:

3. From the gallery,

a. Select Picture. The Insert Picture dialog box displays.
b. Navigate to where the picture you want to insert into the shape is saved.
c. Select it and click on the Insert button. The picture fills the shape.

Before:

 

After:

 

Ask Amy: Cropping a Picture to a Shape

Cropping a Picture to a Shape

These steps will work in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint version 2010

1. Select the picture to be cropped to shape. It will have round selection handles on each corner and square selection handles ion the middle of each side.
2. Click on the Picture Tools Format tab.
   
   
3. Perform the following steps:
1. Click on the bottom of the Crop button
2. From the drop-down menu, select Crop to Shape.
3. Make a Selection from the Shapes Gallery. In our example, we chose Trapezoid.

The picture will be cropped to the shape:

 

Ask Amy: PowerPoint SmartArt Tip

When I’m working in PowerPoint is there any way to turn a bulleted list into a piece of SmartArt without retyping it?

1. Yes, select the bulleted list to be converted to SmartArt.
2. Right click on it.
3. From the shortcut menu, select Convert to SmartArt.
4. Make a selection from the gallery of SmartArt shapes.

Your bullets are converted into SmartArt and quickly go from this ….

To this:

New Web Development Course Offerings!

Summit Training recently started meeting the needs of web designers and developers by offering a series of web development and technical training classes.

Like all of our Microsoft and Adobe courses, these web development courses are hands-on and Instructor-led training classes. They are currently offered online, or the training can be conducted onsite in your company’s classroom by special request.

Below is a list of these new Technical and Web Development classes:

(Click class name in list to download course outline)

CSS3

HTML5

jQuery

jQuery UI

PHP

Progressive Enhancement Web Development

XML

XSLT

WordPress

Search Engine Optimization – S.E.O

View Schedule

Ask Amy: Want to make the background to a picture transparent?

How to make the background to a picture transparent using MS Office

 

In Office 2010, you can do it in PowerPoint, Word, Publisher, and Excel.

• In Word:

Select the picture, click on the Picture Tools Format tab and then within the Adjust group, click on the Color button. From the menu at the bottom, select Set Transparent Color.  The mouse changes shape to something resembling a pencil. Click the mouse on the pictures background to make it transparent.

• In PowerPoint:

Select the picture, click on the Picture Tools Format tab and then within the Adjust group, click on the Color button. From the menu at the bottom, select Set Transparent Color. The mouse changes shape to something resembling a pencil. Click the mouse on the pictures background to make it transparent.

• In Publisher:

Select the picture, click on the Picture Tools Format tab and then within the Adjust group, click on the Recolor button. From the menu at the bottom, select Set Transparent Color.  The mouse changes shape to something resembling a pencil. Click the mouse on the pictures background to make it transparent.

• In Excel:

Select the picture, click on the Picture Tools Format tab and then within the Adjust group, click on the Color button. From the menu at the bottom, select Set Transparent Color. The mouse changes shape to something resembling a pencil. Click the mouse on the pictures background to make it transparent.

Ask Amy: Useful Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use keyboard shortcuts in every office program. Here are four Excel Shortcut Keys that we find extremely useful:

Keys	Action
CTRL + ; (semicolon)	Enters the current date into the selected cell
CTRL + : (colon)	Copies the current time into the selected cell
CTRL + ' (apostrophe)	Copies the data from the cell directly above into the selected cell
ALT + + (plus sign)	Is the same as clicking on the AutoSum tool

Which Adobe class do I need to take?

“I want to create a website – what Adobe program do I learn?”

“I need to create flyers – which Adobe class do I take?”

If  you're uncertain as to which Adobe Creative Suite program will help you accomplish your task, or you are unsure which class you need to take, check out our Specialized Paths page on our sister company website: http://connectlearning.com/outlines/paths/

This will also help you if you are considering becoming Adobe Certified.

Ask Amy: How to delay sending an e-mail message

Recently I was asked if is possible to create an email and have it sent at a later time and/or date. The answer is “Yes.”

This handy feature allows you to create an email and delay its delivery for hours or even days.

1. Create an email message.
2. Click on the Options tab.
3. Within the More Options group, click on the Delay Delivery button. The Properties dialog box displays.
4. Within the Delivery options area, the “Do not deliver before” options should be checked. If not check it.
5. Select the date and time for the message to be delivered.
6. Click on the [Close] button.

Ask Amy: How do I remove all formatting in Microsoft Word?

I was recently asked how to remove the formatting from a paragraph

I gave the answer I have given for years which is, “Select the paragraph and press the CTRL+SPACEBAR keys.” Only to be told that didn’t work.

Well it works for some things. For instance, it removes the attributes of bolding, underlining, or italicizing. But what if you want to get rid of all the formatting? Follow these steps:

1. Select the text to be stripped of all formatting. If it is the entire document, press CTRL+A to select it.
2. Click on the Home tab.
3. Within the Styles group, click on the Launch button to display the list of Styles.
4. From the top of this list, click on Clear All. All the formatting is removed.
5. Close the Styles list.

Ask Amy: PowerPoint 2010 Animation Painter

New to PowerPoint 2010 is the Animation Painter.

The Animation Painter is used to copy animation from one object to another and works very much like the Format Painter found in Word and even in PowerPoint (Home tab, Clipboard group).

Using the Animation Painter

1. Select an object that has the animation you want to copy to another object.
2. Click on the Animations tab.
3. Within the Advanced Animation group, click on the Animation Painter. The mouse becomes a white arrow with a paint brush next to you.
4. Click on the object you want to transfer the animation to.

Note: You can copy the animation between objects on the same slide as well as between objects on different slides. This tool can really save you a lot of time and mouse clicks.

Amy Pearson is a Senior Instructor for Summit Training, the author of the Ask Amy column that appears on Summit Training's monthly newsletter, and editor of the both the Summit Training and Connect Learning newsletters. Amy is a Microsoft Office MOS and has been providing Microsoft Office training both in the classroom and online for more than 15 years.

Ask Amy: How to Update Your Browser's Cache

This month’s tip is a result of working with Adobe Certified Dreamweaver instructor Melissa Piconne. Melissa is an Adobe Certified Instructor teaching a broad range of Adobe classes including Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, and InDesign. She is an accomplished information technology professional with extensive experience in user interface design, usability, navigation and look and feel. She has designed created both physical and digital media websites, animations, video games and print media.

Update your Browser’s Cache

When you surf the web, your browser stores pages in the form of Temporary Internet Files – or cache – so that when you re-visit websites they load faster, and may even be available off-line.

It became apparent that our website urgently needed some repair and updating, so we turned to one of our Instructors, Melissa Piccone, for help. Melissa did a great job repairing and updating the website, but when we visited the site, we didn’t immediately see the changes that she had made – so Melissa gave us this tip, which you can try:

1. Visit a website that you have visited before, for example, ours: www.summit-train.com
2. Prior to updating our site, our homepage listed Office 2003 and 2007 courses & courseware (both at the bottom and in the right sidebar of the homepage). After updating, we now also list Office 2010. Do you see it? If not, you will need to refresh your browser’s cache by using Melissa’s tip: Hold down the ALT key while clicking on your browser’s Refresh button.
3. Now do you see it? Your browser’s cache has been refreshed for our website.

We will be keeping Melissa on her toes with more changes to come, so when visiting our site, remember ALT+REFRESH!

Amy Pearson is a Senior Instructor for Summit Training, the author of the Ask Amy column that appears on Summit Training's monthly newsletter, and editor of the both the Summit Training and Connect Learning newsletters. Amy is a Microsoft Office MOS and has been providing Microsoft Office training both in the classroom and online for more than 15 years.

Ask Amy: Windows 7 Minimize Tip

Ever want to Minimize all Open Windows at Once? Here’s how…

By Amy Pearson

In Windows 7 it is very easy to minimize all open Windows at once. Simply click once on the Show Desktop button at the far right end of the taskbar. All open Windows are minimized and the Desktop is displayed. At this point you can click on the Taskbar to display any window you want to work with or if you want to return all the windows to their open position, click on the Show Desktop button a second time. 

Amy Pearson is a Senior Instructor for Summit Training, the author of the Ask Amy column that appears on Summit Training’s monthly newsletter, and editor of the both the Summit Training and Connect Learning newsletters. Amy is a Microsoft Office MOS and has been providing Microsoft Office training both in the classroom and online for more than 15 years.

Different Ways to Display the Hidden Formatting Marks in Word

By Amy Pearson

There are two ways to display the hidden formatting marks placed into Word when keys such as the SPACE BAR, TAB, or ENTER keys are pressed.

Generally the hidden formatting marks are displayed by clicking on the Home tab and within the Paragraph group clicking on the Show/Hide button.  This method displays all the hidden formatting marks which include the ones listed above plus several others. The table explains the hidden formatting marks.

The first figure below shows how a portion of a document appears when the Show/Hide tool has been used to display the hidden formatting marks. Frequently, Word users want to see only the paragraph marks.  The second figure below side shows only the Paragraph marks displayed.

To display only Paragraph marks, take the following steps:

1. Click on the File tab (in Word 2007 click on the Office button).
2. From the Navigation bar, select Options (in Word 2007, click on Word Options). The Word Options dialog box displays.
3. From the Navigation bar, select Display.
4. From the Always show these formatting marks on the screen area, select Paragraph marks (Figure 2).
5. Click on the OK button. In the document only the hidden paragraph symbols are displayed.

Creating Customized Shapes in PowerPoint 2010

Ask Amy November 7, 2011
by Amy Pearson

One of the new features of PowerPoint 2010 is the ability to create custom shapes. You can do this by taking one or more separate shapes and combining them in one of four ways – union, subtract, combine, or intersect. Our Figure shows how an overlapped circle and star behave when each of the four different options is applied.

Although using the union, subtract, combine, or intersect commands is quite simple, finding them is a little more difficult. They are not automatically available when you install PowerPoint. They must be added to either the Quick Access Toolbar or one of the Ribbons.

To customize either the Quick Access Toolbar or a Ribbon, right click on the Ribbon and from the short cut menu, select either Customize the Quick Access Toolbar or Customize the Ribbon. Once the PowerPoint Options dialog box displays, from the Choose commands from drop-down list, select All Commands and then find Shape Combine, Shape Intersect, Shape Union, and/or Shape Subtract and add them to the Quick Access Toolbar or group on the desired Ribbon.

For specific details on working with the Quick Access Toolbar or Ribbon visit our blog and on from the bar on the right hand side, select March and then choose “Adding a Command to the Quick Access Toolbar.”

Amy Pearson is a Senior Instructor for Summit Training, the author of the Ask Amy column that appears on Summit Training’s monthly newsletter, and editor of the both the Summit Training and Connect Learning newsletters. Amy is a Microsoft Office MOS and has been providing Microsoft Office training both in the classroom and online for more than 15 years.

Microsoft Excel 2007 Charts and Pivot Tables

Large worksheets filled with numbers do not do a good job of allowing the user to see trends or spot inconsistencies. This is best done with a Chart. Students learn to create a wide range of charts from the basic Column, Pie, and Stock charts through combination (Bar and Line) charts to the more exotic waterfall and floating charts. They polish charts by learning how to refine the chart’s format and then learn how to create and use custom formats to make future charts easier and more consistent.

A Pivot Table is an interactive, customizable way of displaying data that provides flexibility in the way you view and present the data in your worksheet. More than a simple data table, a Pivot Table allows you to group information—by date, value, or by category—and display varying levels of detail. In this class students learn how to take already-existing Excel worksheets and pull useful information from them by creating and manipulating pivot tables.

Microsoft® Excel 2007, Charts & Pivot Tables: October 31, $225 – Beaumont Classroom. Send 3 or more students to the same class, the same day and pay only $200 each.