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.

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: 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: