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

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: 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:

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.

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.

My Top 10 Acrobat Keyboard Shortcuts

By David Mankin

Here are my top 10 favorite keyboard shortcuts that I have grown to rely on in Acrobat 9 Professional.  You may know all of them, some of them, or maybe none at all.  Everyone uses their applications differently.  I used to be a mega-mouse-clicker.  Over the years, I have grown to use, appreciate and ultimately rely on keyboard shortcuts to help streamline my workflow.  So, here they are… My Top Ten Acrobat 9 Professional Keyboard Shortcuts:

Drum roll, please…

10.   Ctrl-6 Insert Sticky Note

9.      Shift-Ctrl-D Delete Pages

8.      Ctrl-R Show/Hide Rulers (yes, Acrobat DOES have rulers!)

7.      Ctrl-U Show/Hide Grid (yep – Acrobat has a design grid too!)

6.      Alt-Left Arrow Previous View

5.      Ctrl-0 (zero) Fit Page

4.      Shift-Ctrl-1 Open Organizer

3.      Shift-Ctrl-F Search

2.      Ctrl-D Document Properties

 …and the number 1 keyboard shortcut is…

1.      Ctrl-K Preferences

There are many, many more waiting to be discovered and learned. Learn what PDF technology is all about… and how to use Acrobat to create, edit and enhance your PDF files by taking one of Summit Training’s Acrobat classes. Introduction to Acrobat X is offered online November 2-3. All our online classes are instructor-led. Not sure if you would like an online class? Ask to see one in action. The fee for the 2-day course is $595.

David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. And if that isn’t enough, David is an Adobe-certified expert in Adobe Acrobat.

Adobe FrameMaker 10: Drag and Drop

By Barb Binder

I was walking to my gate recently, and overheard an elderly woman complaining to a younger woman as they passed me in the airport. All I heard her say was, “Why do they give us so many ways of doing the same thing?” Who knows what she was talking about, but it made me smile because I hear the same sentence all the time in my various Adobe training classes. One of the (many) benefits to having spent so many years delivering software training is that I’ve had the opportunity to observe all of the various learning styles and workflow techniques. I try to let each of my classes know early on that even though some of us might be dedicated right mouse button clickers, others (like me) prefer keyboard commands, and still others like to rely exclusively on the menus, we can still be friends. That usually makes my students smile, and with luck, diffuses the otherwise inevitable frustration that can accompany learning more than one way to do the same thing.

So back to drag and drop. It’s just another way to move (or copy) text and elements. To move something, just select it, press down on your left mouse button, and drag the text or element to its new location. And if you’d prefer to copy, just hold down the Control key and do the same thing. (If you see a ?, FrameMaker is telling you that you are trying to move/copy your object to an invalid location.

But that’s not all. This works with column rows and tables within FrameMaker, as long as you add the Alt key to move and Control + Alt to copy.

But there’s more! And as long as you purchase FrameMaker 10 within the next fifteen minutes (kidding!), you can also drag and drop across other applications that support the drag and drop feature.

That said, I’m a happy keyboard shortcut gal, and it’s not likely that the new drag and drop support will be life changing for me. But we can still be friends.

Barb Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide. Connect Learning is pleased to have Barb as the instructor for many of their instructor-led, online Adobe courses.

Adding a Command to the Quick Access Toolbar (Q.A.T.)

The Quick Access Toolbar (Q.A.T.) is found at the top left of the Microsoft Office application window and will look similar to one of these:

Q.A.T. Office 2007

Q.A.T. Office 2010

Adding a Command to the Q.A.T.:

1. Click on the drop-down arrow at the end of the Q.A.T.
2. From the menu that appears, select the command to add to the Q.A.T or click on More Commands to open the … Options dialog box that lists all the commands that can be placed on the Q.A.T.
3. If the dialog box has been opened: