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: 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

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.

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.