Labelling The Features In Microsoft Word

Do you create letters or labels in Microsoft Word? Do you have trouble using the text box feature to place anchored text where you prefer, so that it shows up in a particular area of the page?

Using text boxes can be a little tricky, since there are quite a few features that it comes with. Microsoft Word has quite a lot of features, even some that I don’t know and are still exploring.

One of my readers asks:

I’ve been making labels in Microsoft Word using text boxes. I’ve sent a couple of the text boxes to the back, but for the life of me can’t get them to ‘bring to front’ again. I’ve searched Google and they say to use the drawing tool. I can’t seem to find that either!

My response to this is:

First off, I would actually use the labels feature, since you can use any “Avery” type label, even if you don’t have Avery labels. With my department, we purchase labels from another source and on the back of the label box shows the Avery type label with a 4 digit number. This corresponds to the type of label, depending on size and how many labels per sheet.

You can use this feature by:

1. Clicking Tools, Letters and Mailings, Envelopes and Labels.

2. Click on the Labels tab. From here, click on the particular label that you want to use and click New Document.

This will allow you to have a blank sheet in front of you and you can add all the information into each label and then print them off.

As for the text box issue, try:

1. Clicking around the border of the text box, then double click the border itself.

2. Click Layout and you will notice the different Wrapping Styles. Click In Front of Text.

This should bring your text back to the foreground.

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Microsoft Word: Convert Tables to Text & Vice Versa

Your manager comes up to you and asks you to do them a small favour. The only trouble is that they need this favour to be completed right away. Of course, you jump at the change to help them, since you want to make a good impression.

They ask you to convert a table that is in Microsoft Word to text for one file and to convert text into a table. Then you wonder to yourself, “How can this be done?”

This happened to me and some of my fellow co-workers in the past. It took a bit of time and research to figure this out, since we’ve never done this before.

Here are the steps to doing this:

1. Highlight the table or text that you would like to convert.
   


2. Click on Table, Convert then choose either Table to Text or Text to Table and follow the instructions.

There you have it! Now you can ask your boss to help them with these types of requests. This really is a simple thing to learn, but it can definitely come in handy when needed.

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Mail Merges and Website Addresses, Oh My!

Do you need to send an e-mail mail merge to prospects or clients, but have to provide each person with their own unique website address?

 

At my workplace, we did have such a task, where we list people's biographies online via our Microsoft Access database. Each person would then have to update their own biography and the updates would be shown within 48 hours on our website. Keep in mind that each biography has its own unique website address.

 

There is a very simple way to perform this task. When you create the e-mail mail merge document in Microsoft Word, for the website address merge field, simply add this:
 

 

http://www.{Merge Field Name}

 

This will now enable you to provide all of your clients with their respective website addresses.

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Productivity With Shared Files

Do you share your files with others in your firm? Do you find that you are being bombarded with updates to the same files time and time again?

 

Imagine that your boss comes to you and asks you to merge several files into one main file (Microsoft Word document). You spend quite a bit of time copying and pasting everything together. Then you think to yourself, "How can I make this more efficient?"

 

One of the most productive ways to update information on files is to either create or move a file into a shared folder on your company's network drive. Instead of each person creating their own files and you having to merge them together, it would be much faster for everyone to add their own information to one main file. This cuts down on you having to do the same job twice and saves you and the company time and money.

 

If your company doesn't have a network, since you might be in a smaller organization, you can e-mail the file around to the various people and ask them to add their information. Then ask them to pass it on to the next person on the list, while removing their name from the list. Then the last person would e-mail the file back to you.

 

Can you think of any other productive and efficient ways to make this happen?  Leave a comment!

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View Microsoft Office Files Without The Software

You're sick at home, can't seem to get access to your computer at work through your computer at home and your boss calls you up and asks if you can review a particular file. You scratch your head and start wondering, "How do I go about doing this?"

 

I'm sure that almost every company has computers and Microsoft Office software installed for all of their staff members. But there are times when you need to access certain Microsoft Office files that you cannot open, due to the fact that you don't have the software installed, for example, on your home computer.

 

You can download the following viewers for Microsoft Office files, where you don't have to purchase the entire piece of software. This enables you to review files, just like Adobe PDF Reader does.

 

• Microsoft Excel Viewer 

• Microsoft Word Viewer 

• Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 

Now you can rest assured that your boss will get the information they need from you.

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Microsoft Office Poll Results

I am sure that all of you use Microsoft Office in your workplace. There really isn't a chance that you don't use it, whether you are on a PC or a Mac.

 

The results actually surprised me quite a bit, since some of you consider yourselves gurus. If you have any suggestions on how to make things run more smoothly in Microsoft Office, please let the rest of us know.

 

I was not surprised that anyone would be a novice, since in order for you to get a job these days anywhere in an office setting, you should at least have an intermediate understanding of these applications. Otherwise, you would be working somewhere else.

 

If you have any tips and tricks that you would like to offer, please click the comment link below (if you are reading this via feed or e-mail, click on the title of this post first) and inspire us.

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Resizing Pictures in Microsoft Word

Your boss comes up to you and asks you to take a look at an e-mail that he/she just sent you. You open the e-mail and open the Microsoft Word attachment. You notice that there is a picture within the file and your boss asks you to resize it. What do you do next?

 

Some people have asked me this recently and I thought that I'd share my knowledge of this task with all of you. This is actually quite a very simple thing to do.

 

Here are the steps to do this:

 

1. Click anywhere on the picture that you want to resize. 

2. You will notice that the picture now has 8 different sections you can use to resize it with, shown with the red circles along the edges.

 

3. Left click and hold any one of these little boxes and you will notice that your picture is being resized. 

4. Once you are done resizing, let go of the mouse button and voila! You have your new picture.

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Copying Pictures To and From Microsoft Word

Have you ever wondered how to copy pictures from and to Microsoft Word? Do you have a big project coming up and want to show your boss that you can handle this type of task?

 

Recently, someone asked me how this is done. It’s actually quite simple.

 

To copy pictures from Microsoft Word, simply click on the picture that you want to copy and either right-click your mouse and click copy or hit CTRL-C:
 

You’ll notice that there is a light border around the picture, which means that it’s been selected and can be pasted to another program by right-clicking your mouse, then click paste or hit CTRL-V.

 

If you would like to copy pictures into Microsoft Word, copy the picture from another program (copying will depend on what program you are using). Click Insert, Picture, From File. Then select the picture you want to import and voila!
 

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Sorting Tables in Microsoft Word

Have you ever wondered or tried to sort a table within Microsoft Word? Do you already have a table set up in Microsoft Word, but don't want to copy to Microsoft Excel and back again, just to sort it?

One of my colleagues came to me and asked about this very question. I wasn't sure if this was possible, but fiddled around on Google a bit and found that it is possible.

Here are the four simple steps to do this:

1. Highlight the table that you want to sort.
   
   
2. Click on "Table" on the menu bar, then select "Sort". You can also right-click your mouse and select "Sort".
   
   
3. Select your options (the column to sort by; sort according to text, number, or date) and the sequence of the sort (ascending or descending).
   
   
4. Click OK to finish the sort.

Now your table should be sorted properly.

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Copying Tables, Pictures or Text in PDF Files to Other Sources

Did your boss just ask you to copy a table, picture or text to another source of software, such as Microsoft Excel or Word? Are you struggling with trying to figure out how to do this in time?

This is actually quite a simple task to accomplish. There are two different ways to work within PDF files:

1. To copy a picture, simply click on the following icon shown below and the software will automatically copy it onto the clipboard:

2. All you need to do now is to paste it into the piece of software by either right-clicking your mouse and select paste or high CTRL-V.
   
   
   

1. If you want to copy text from a PDF file into another source, click on the following icon shown below. Then make sure to either right-click your mouse, then select copy or hit CTRL-C.

2. Paste the text into the software by either right-clicking your mouse and select paste or high CTRL-V.

Just don't forget to save your files. You'd be surprised as to how many people forget to do this.

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Opening Microsoft Office 2007 Files in Microsoft Office XP

I recently had a vendor send us an Excel spreadsheet that he created in Microsoft Word 2007 format. Unfortunately, our firm still only has Microsoft Office XP and was curious as to how this would work.

I remember in the past that you can always downgrade files. For example, if I have Microsoft Excel XP and would like to send a file to a client that only has Microsoft Excel 97 (which was a horrible disaster for Microsoft, since there were quite a few bugs in this version), you could save the file as a Microsoft Excel 97 version. The only downfall was that if you accidentally sent the client a Microsoft Excel XP version, they wouldn't be able to open it.

The good news is that Microsoft has come out with a patch for this. If you receive a file that was written in the Microsoft Office 2007 format, you can download the patch called Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats.

You can now go ahead and open any file in this format. It will take a short period of time to convert the file each time you open it, but it saves you time and money in the long run.

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Online Operating Systems?

Are you having trouble trying to connect to your office's or home's computer? Do you want reliable speed and control (provided that you are using a faster Internet connection)?

Here's a new solution that a few firms have come up with - Online Operating Systems!

All of your information is kept online, just like Google Docs, except you can actually either replicate your own desktop or create a new one with all of the same software and features. You can receive 1GB of space for free from most providers. If you want more, it will cost you and that depends on which service provider you choose.

Here are some of the links to these providers:

• www.goowy.com
• www.desktoptwo.com
• www.eyeos.org
• www.glidedigital.com
• www.youos.com

If you decide to use any of these services, let me know how it works out for you (advantages and/or disadvantages).

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please feel free to click on the "comments" link below and leave some feedback. If you are reading this via feed or e-mail, please click on the title link and post your comment via web.

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No Spell Checker?

Don't have any access to a spell checker? Why not use Microsoft Word!

This is the simplest way to make sure that you don't have any spelling mistakes. Just copy your text directly into Word and run the spell check - simple as that.

You can also take a look at my post on "How to Not Write E-mails", which has a section on using the spell check function. Remember, you can't always rely on it.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please feel free to click on the "comments" link below and leave some feedback.

Until next time, Take care - of your clutter!

Update:

A reader has pointed out that proofreading your document is the last step, which is the most important step.

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Networking Office Documents

Do you have trouble getting onto your company's network while out of the office? Do you need to access that spreadsheet or presentation right away? Here's a quick solution for you - Google Docs.

If you need to change or create any new Word, Excel or Powerpoint document, this is the place to do it - anywhere you are, as long as you have an internet connection. You can share the files with anyone that you want in a very secure manner.

If your boss is asking you to change some information on a spreadsheet, you can simply log into the website, make the changes and your boss would be able to see them (in real-time). Just make sure that you provide access to the person that needs to see these documents. You can open a chat window to discuss with your boss of the changes that you've made or are going to make. You can even present information from these documents to everyone that's signed on at that time.

Click here to see a video of how Google Docs works. The video is not of high standards, but it explains the simplicity of its functions.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please feel free to click on the "comments" link below and leave some feedback.

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Creating Table of Contents for Manuals, Lists, Etc.

Table of contents are actually quite easy to create, once you have completed the basics. After that point, all you need to do is type all of the information into the document and you are set to go.

Here are the steps on creating a simple table of contents for manuals, lists, etc.:

• Type in the title and position it where you want.
• Type in the headings, but make sure you press the "Tab" button once between each heading.
• Double click on the ruler at the top (if it's not showing, click "View" then "Ruler") and you will see this screen show up:

• Make sure to click on the particular alignment that you want, left, right, etc. and make sure to click the particular Leader that you want to use (as in ...). Do this for all sections that you have created.
• Click on the particular section heading, such as "Name", "City", etc. and move the tab sections to where you want everthing for each section to be aligned (as shown below):
  
  

• Next, type in the name of the person on the list (as an example).
• Next, press the "Tab" button and you will see that a "..." will show up between the end of the person's name and the next section.
• Continue this until you have completed your list.

Now you can impress your boss with a professional looking manual/list.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please feel free to click on the "comments" link below and leave some feedback.

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How Not to Write E-mails

When writing an e-mail, it's always best to check and double check your work for any mistakes that you might have written. You don't want your recipient to get the wrong message, especially if that person is your boss.

Here are 4 things to look out for before you hit the "Send" button:

1. Spelling errors - be sure to read your document, since the spell check function doesn't catch differences such as their and there or your and you're.
2. Poor grammar - you can always use the grammar checker that comes with, for example, Word, but it would still be a good idea if you re-read your message.
3. Don't use humour - if you are writing a professional e-mail to someone, make sure not to include this, since the person will think that you are not being serious about your message.
4. Don't complain - make sure not to complain in your business e-mails, since this is not considered professional.

Follow these rules and you will be seen in a more professional light, especially to your boss.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please feel free to click on the "comments" link below and leave some feedback.

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How to Copy Tables from Word to Powerpoint

People often ask me, "How do you copy a table from Word into Powerpoint?"

This actually is quite easy to do. Here are the simple steps on how to copy tables:

• Open your Word document that contains the table.
• Open Powerpoint and click on File, then select New, then Blank Presentation.
• You will see this screen at the bottom. Click on the picture in the right-hand side frame (make sure to scroll all the way down):

• Select your table by going to the top left corner of it and you will see a little + type sign, except it will show arrows pointing in 4 directions (in Word).
• Click copy.
• Click the middle section of the page (single click) and click on paste.
• You might need to do some formatting on Powerpoint, since it only allows for so many rows.

Now you can show your boss the new presentation that they were asking for, without getting your stress level up.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please feel free to click on the "comments" link below and leave some feedback.

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