M-N-Hyphen

There are three kinds of dashes, each a bit longer than the other.
You don't need to put spaces before or after dashes (in the US).

Use the hyphen (-) for hyphenating words.

Use the en dash (–) where you would use "to," as in "business hours are 10 A.M. – 5 P.M.," in a range of numbers (pages 17–25), or to link certain compound adjectives like "the Tokyo–Hong Kong flight" or "anti–blood clotting serum."

Use the em dash (—) instead of parentheses—as is done here—to set off a parenthetical phrase. On the typewriter, two hyphens stood in for this dash.

Labels: Word

Change display

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
   
   
2. Locate and then click the following subkey in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
   
   
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
   
   
4. Type ShowDriveLettersFirst, and then press ENTER.
   
   
5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
   
   
6. Type 4, and then click OK.

Key: ShowDriveLettersFirst
Type: DWORD
Value: 1, 2, or 4
If the value is 1, the drive letter is displayed first for remote drives.
If the value is 2, drive letters are not displayed.
If the value is 4, the drive letter is displayed first for all drives.

Microsoft KB:

The computer description appears before the computer name in Windows XP

"In Windows Vista, you can also use the ShowDriveLettersFirst and the ToggleCommentPosition registry entries to set the display order. However, if you set the ShowDriveLettersFirst entry only under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry key, the setting will not take effect after you change folder options. You must set the ShowDriveLettersFirst entry under both the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry key and the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry key."

Labels: Vista, Windows

Stick it in Word

Arrange the windows so that both applications can be seen.
(Right-click an empty area of the Task bar and choose "Tile Windows Vertically."

Type your introductory text in the Word document.

Switch to PowerPoint and open the PowerPoint file.

In Slide Sorter View, hold down the Ctrl key and select the slides you want to include.

Drag the selected group of slides onto the Word document.

You will only see the first slide in the document, but if you double-click on the image, the PowerPoint show will run.

It will also work in Excel.

(This, of course assumes that the target machine has PowerPoint or PowerPoint Viewer installed)

[Edited entry from 1/8/2005]




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Labels: Excel, PowerPoint, Word

Investigative techniques

"The High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA) is designed to encourage, promote, aid and effect the voluntary interchange of data, information, experience, ideas and knowledge about methods, processes, and techniques relating to investigations and security in advanced technologies among its membership."

Labels: Outlook

PowerPoint in Access

"Create a PowerPoint slide presentation from scratch using Access data. In addition, display and control a slide show from within an Access form. Walk through the solution and explore ways to extend the sample for your own applications.

This article looks at two ways of interaction between Access and PowerPoint.

The first sample illustrates how to create a PowerPoint presentation from the data in an Access table using Automation.

The second sample shows how to display and manipulate an existing PowerPoint presentation inside of an Access form, also using Automation."

Here is an MSDN article:
Working with PowerPoint Presentations from Access Using Automation

If you have some knowledge of VBA, you can probably figure it out from the code on the Access Form.



Office 2003 Sample:
Working with PowerPoint 2003 Presentations from Access 2003 Using Automation


[Edited entry from 1/13/2005]




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Labels: Access, PowerPoint

Without reservations

[Edited entry from 1/16/2005]




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Labels: Word

Great clips

Paul Blanchard has produced a series of video clips, mostly based on his kid's elementary school.

Explore Paul's web site

You can also subscribe to his YouTube collection.

Labels: Addendum

By Michael Perry

"... The village board sent someone around to recite nuisance ordinances chapter and verse, but beyond rearranging the bikes and aligning the camper with the speedboat - feng shui primitif - nothing has changed. You take what you can get in this life. Someone calls you white trash, you go with it, and fight like hell to keep your trash. You understand it is a matter of distinctions: yuppies with their shiny trash, church ladies with their hand-stitched trash, solid citizens with their secret trash. In a yard just outside town, a spray-painted piece of frayed plywood leans against a tree. It reads Trans Ams: 2 for $2000. It has been there for two years."

Labels: Addendum, Books

CAPS - No - caps

You can make changes to selected text by going to
Format>Change Case
and choosing the correct style. (Including tOGGLE cASE)

You could also use a keyboard shortcut.
Select the text and then hold down the SHIFT key and tap the F3 key to toggle through three of the main cases – All Cap, Lowercase, and Title.

SAP Design Guild:
Quick Guide to Capitalization in English

Technical Communicators' Forum:
Capitalization of Headings and Titles

From The Editorium.com:
Here's a macro to change Heading styles to true Title case:
TITLE CASE MACRO, VERSION 2
By Jack M. Lyon

Word Tips:
Capital after colon

Automatically correct capitalization in most any MS 2007 App.

[Edited entry from 1/22/2005]




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Labels: Word

Source site

"How you can print the comments contained in your Outlook Calendar.

Outlook Calendar has various printing options to choose from that provide some editing capabilities.

With the Calendar Details printing style, the notes area would be printed along, with all of the other Calendar details. Plus, this style will allow you to choose a range of dates to print, and gives you the option of printing each day on separate pages or continuously.

To change the printing style, select Print under the File menu. Next, select the print style you would like to use e.g. Calendar Details style. If you would like to edit this print style, select Define Style then Edit."

The headlines can also be added to your web site:
Outlook

[Edited entry from 1/4/2005]




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Labels: Outlook

Clean up tools

"When you save Web pages format with Microsoft Word, additional tags are added so that you can continue to use the full functionality of Word to edit your content.

To reduce the size of Web pages, you can save them in filtered HTML. Filtered format removes Microsoft Office-specific tags. If you save in filtered HTML and then reopen the file in Office programs, text and general appearance will be preserved, but some features may work differently.

If you reopen a Web page in Word that you saved in filtered HTML, your text and general appearance are preserved, but you may not be able to use certain Word features in the usual way to edit your files. For example, the appearance of bulleted or numbered lists is preserved; however, some of the Word functionality associated with lists will not be preserved.

If you will need to edit the file later, you can maintain two files: one in Word format and one in filtered HTML format. You can edit the content in the Word document, save it in Word format for future editing, and then save a copy in filtered HTML format."

Labels: Word

If it's Tuesday, it must be mauve

Conditional formatting is one of Excel's better features. It allows you to preset certain font styles, colors, and cell-background colors based on cell values.

This can be very useful for highlighting important information and values outside an accepted range or providing a visual cue to associate value ranges with color codes.

The best part is that conditional formatting is very easy to set up.

Just click the cells you'd like to format and select Format >Conditional Formatting. The Conditional Formatting dialog box lets you set up the conditions by which the formatting of the cell will occur.

You pick the operator (between, equal to, less than, etc.) and the value or range of values. Click Format to open the Format Cells dialog box, where you can select the colors and styles to be used.

Each cell can have several conditional formats. For example, you might say that if a certain cell's value is between 20 and 50, the text should be blue on a yellow background.

However, you can format that same cell to exhibit red, bolded text on a green background if it contains a value between 51 and 100.




Before 2007, you could use up to three conditions, but earlier versions of Excel can be tricked to use more if it should become necessary.

Oz Grid:
Excel VBA Macro Code to Get Around Excel's 3 Criteria Limit in Conditional Formatting

GR Business Process Solutions:
Graham Barrow and Ray Blake
Highlight the current or past month in Excel with conditional formatting

Chip Pearson:
Conditional Formatting

Also

Compatibility in Excel 2007

Conditional Format Functions in Excel 2007

Adding Customized Rules to Excel 2007

Demo:
Data takes shape with conditional formatting



[Edited entry from 1/2/2005]




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Labels: Excel

Examples to part out

Database of Access 2000 sample forms

The sample forms in this database demonstrate a variety of form types and techniques, including how to manipulate data, use controls, and create undo and redo operations.

• Bring a subtotal from a subform to a main form
  
• Create a running sum
  
• Create a stopwatch form
  
• Display line numbers on subform records
  
• Fill current record with data from previous record automatically
  
• Hide the combo box drop-down arrow
  
• Simulate drag-and-drop capabilities

Database of Access 2000 sample reports

The sample reports in this database demonstrate a number of techniques, including how to shade every other row or every nth row in a report, how to create a table of contents or an index for a report, and how to create a top 10 report.

Labels: Access

Thoughts and Tick Tocks

Brad McCormick has the kind of web site that is built to be thumbed through. There are some serious linkage pages:

What Time Does Your Computer Think It Is?

And also a collection of his thoughts and others. I found it worthwhile to just surf from spot to spot.

There is good stuff at almost every click.

"Happy the person who can find genuine interest and satisfaction in something nobody else wants -- for then (s)he has a better chance of being allowed to have it. "

"Big problem: How to avoid wasting one's life to earn one's living. "

"When will we advance to a level where not just owning persons (slavery) but also renting them (wage labor) is outlawed and abolished? "

"Some persons can judge [many] books by their covers. Other persons can't judge a book even by its contents. "

"Why not speak, conciliatorily, of the complementary sex (gender), rather than, oppositionally: 'the opposite sex'?"

Labels: Addendum

Formating tools

Colorcode Generator

Color Scheme

Color Schemer

Colorcombo

Iconico

Irfanview

Kira's Web Toolbox

Mediagods.Com

Pagetutor.Com

Visbone



Also:

Unsafe ColorMatch to see web color combinations.

More Color Matching Tools

[Edited entry from 1/1/2005]




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Labels: Expression Web, FrontPage

Error warning

Here are other ways to do it:

In the following selections, you should know that The URL:Mailto Protocol is located at the top of the list proceeded by (None), not at the bottom with the other U's.

Microsoft KB;
The Locate Link Browser dialog box
appears when you open a Web link in an e-mail message in Outlook 2003

To resolve this problem, follow these steps to clear the Use DDE check box:

1. Double-click My Computer.
   
2. On the View menu, click Folder Options (or Tools>Folder Options).
   
3. On the File Types tab, click URL:MailTo Protocol in the Registered File Types list, and then click Edit.
   
4. In the Actions box, click Open, and then click Edit.
   
5. Click to remove the Use DDE check box, and then click OK.
   
6. Click Close two times.

1. OpenExplorer
   
2. Select Tools and then Folder Options
   
3. Select the File Types tab
   
4. Select Extension: (NONE), File Type: URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol
   
5. Click Advanced toward the bottom of the window
   
6. In the Edit File Type window, select open and click Edit
   
7. Clear the check for DDE above the DDE message box (which should contain "%1" or similar)
   
8. Click OK, Click OK

Labels: Outlook

Troubleshoot

Inside Outlook Express
Help, tips and technical information for Microsoft Outlook Express

Outlook Express
E-mail and Newsgroup Reader

Learn how to use Outlook Express to stay in touch with friends and family, and share information in newsgroups with other users like you.

Latest News

Knowledge base articles
Collected by
Jim Pickering MS-MVP

Repair Outlook Express

Outlook Mail Recovery

Mail-Repair.com

[Edited entry from 12/28/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

Plus or minus 32

Regedit.exe is the registration editor for 16-bit Windows. It is used to modify the Windows registration database.

Microsoft recommends that you use Regedit.exe only for its search capabilities on a Windows NT 4.0-based or Windows 2000-based computer.

Regedt32.exe is the configuration editor for Windows NT. It is used to modify the Windows NT configuration database, or the Windows NT registry. This editor allows you to view or modify the Windows NT registry.

The editor provides views of windows that represent sections of the registry, named hives. You must use extreme caution when you use it to change registry values.

Missing or incorrect values in the registry can make the Windows NT installation unusable.

Meryl.net:
An explanation with follow-up links.
A Tale of Two Regeds
By Meryl K. Evans

Also:
Editing the Vista Registry

[Edited entry from 11/8/2004]




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Labels: Vista, Windows

Find it

1. Use Regedit to go to the appropriate location.
   
2. Right click and choose to add a new Key.
   
3. Name it QueryBuilder.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\QueryBuilder

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\QueryBuilder

Now you can create an AND/OR query using the Filter dialog in Search Folders, Define Views, Automatic Formatting, or Advanced Find.

With Outlook 2007:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\QueryBuilder

Hands on control

"You can use Command-line reference to familiarize yourself with new and enhanced command-line tools, to configure your command prompt, to learn about the command shell, and to automate command-line tasks by using batch files or scripting tools."

"The command shell is a separate software program that provides direct communication between the user and the operating system. The non-graphical command shell user interface provides the environment in which you run character-based applications and utilities.

The command shell executes programs and displays their output on the screen by using individual characters similar to the MS-DOS command interpreter Command.com.

The Windows XP command shell uses the command interpreter Cmd.exe, which loads applications and directs the flow of information between applications, to translate user input into a form that the operating system understands."

Labels: Windows

and other cool stuff

Also:
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre

Timber Kits


And:
the Paper Airplane Museum

[Edited entry from 12/30/2004]




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Labels: Addendum

Source list

"A virus is a type of program that can replicate itself by making (possibly modified) copies of itself. The main criterium for classifying a piece of executable code as a virus is that it spreads itself by means of 'hosts'.

A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a network or carrying it on a removable disk. Additionally, viruses can spread to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.

Viruses are sometimes confused with worms. A worm, however, can spread itself to other computers without needing to be transferred as part of a host. Many personal computers are now connected to the Internet and to local-area networks, facilitating their spread.

Today's viruses may also take advantage of network services such as the World Wide Web, e-mail, and file sharing systems to spread, blurring the line between viruses and worms."

(Wikipedia)

Virus Information

Google Directory

Panda Software:

Virus Course

This is a two-hour basic course, through which you will acquire a basic knowledge on viruses and on how to be protected against them.
The course consists of twelve chapters:

1. The beginning.
   
2. Basics.
   
3. Viruses and their effects.
   
4. Types of virus.
   
5. Example of virus.
   
6. Example of hoaxes.
   
7. Virus entry-points.
   
8. What is an antivirus program?
   
9. How to combat viruses?
   
10. Is my computer protected?
    
11. Suspected virus infection?
    
12. Some tips.

Labels: Vista, Windows

A suggestion I don't suggest

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Edit tab.
   
2. Under Editing options, select the Keep track of formatting check box, if it is not already selected.
   
3. Under Editing options, select the Mark formatting inconsistencies check box.
   Formatting inconsistencies will be marked with blue, wavy underlines.
   
4. Click OK.
   
5. In your document, right-click the blue, wavy underline where a formatting inconsistency has occurred.
   
6. Do one of the following:
   To correct the inconsistency, click the command that describes the inconsistency.
   To have Word remove the blue, wavy underline and not correct this inconsistency, click Ignore Once.
   To skip all occurrences of the inconsistency in the document, click Ignore Rule.

PC World:
Word 2002 adds fast formatting for stylin' documents.

ShaunaKelly.com:
How the Styles and Formatting pane works in Microsoft Word 2002 and 2003

I would suggest that you don't use this feature. See:
Runaway Styles in 2003

If you are going to use it, just to track formatting, remember to turn it off for the majority of uses.

Also see Wopr lounge

[Edited entry from 11/17/2004]




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Labels: Word

Tied Up?

The KnotPlot Site
By Rob Scharein

"Knot theory is a branch of algebraic topology where one studies what is known as the placement problem, or the embedding of one topological space into another."

The site includes a collection of knots.



You can, also, download a program called KnotPlot to develop your own knots


Click to see more moiré knots.

Animated Knots

Other nots:

Ripley's Believe it or not!

Hot or Not

[Edited entry from 11/4/2004]




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Labels: Addendum

Everything's connected

"Cascading combo boxes are used to help aid the user in determining a choice when entering data into a form.

They help to breakdown the options available into selectable sub-groups such a State & City, Product Type & Product, Department & Employees.

The user can select, for example, Customer Services in a combo box and the second combo box's list will reflect this selection and only list those employees within Customer Services.

Switch to Finance and all the Finance employees become selectable, etc."

[Edited entry from 12/29/2004]




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Labels: Access

Excel the way you've wanted it

You can download a 30 day trial at PUP V6 Home

Here are some features just in the area of Chart & Graphics Tools:

Chart Data Labeler: IMPROVED

Lets you apply labels (contained in a range) to a chart data series -- a feature that is surprisingly missing from Excel. Enhancement: Now ignores data that is hidden as a result of autofiltering.

Resize Charts: NEW

Makes it easy to make a chart an exact size, or make all charts the same size.

Convert Chart To Picture: NEW

Makes a copy of a chart as a static picture. This is useful for saving charts that depict various what-if scenarios.

Chart Report: NEW

Produces a detailed report that documents a chart, or produces a report that documents all charts.

Object Align, Size & Space: NEW

Back by popular demand. This utility was removed from PUP v5, but now it's back. It provides an easy way to precisely align, size, and space a group of objects or embedded charts.

Object Hide / Unhide: NEW

An interactive way to hide or unhide charts and other objects on a worksheet.

There is, of course, PUP v7 Power Utility Pak v7

You can also see his blog at J-WalkBlog.com.

The blog has little or anything to do with Excel.
It covers everything else in all the other worlds.

[Edited entry from 12/17/2004]




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Labels: Excel

Choose your Folder

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e, c:\folder

where c:\folder is the path to the folder that you want Explorer to open.

If you leave off the /e switch, Windows Explorer opens in a single pane view.

Another switch is /n. It opens a new single-pane window for the default selection. This is usually the root of the drive that Windows is installed on. If the window is already open, a duplicate opens.

Explorer.exe Command-Line Options

Click OK. Now when you launch Windows Explorer from the Start Menu, it will open in the folder that you specified.

If Explorer is not one of the shortcuts, Right click the contents pane and choose New>Shortcut.
Enter the same instructions.

You could also Right click the desktop and create a new shortcut.

[Edited entry from 11/30/2004]




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Labels: Vista, Windows

Formatting slip

The formula is filled down the column as long as there is data in an adjacent column.

But wait! I don't see the value. I see the formulas!
In addition, the formulas are still in lower case and the relative references have not been updated.

Easy to fix, I hear you say. Just reformat the column as General.

Nothing happens.

To fix the problem, make sure the column is formatted as General.

Select the first cell. Click in the formula bar and hit the Enter key.

Now double click the Fill handle.

(You could also use Edit>Replace to replace = with =. However, Relative references will be incorrect and unless you have reformatted the whole column as General, any new formulas will still display as text.)

The reverse also causes a problem. In a column formatted as General, enter some formulas.

Now reformat the column as Text. The formulas still work, but if you edit one of them, it reverts to a text display.

Microsoft KB:
Cell Linked to Text-Formatted Cell Shows Formula Not Value

Formulas can, of course, be toggled using CTRL+~ (Tilde)
(Though it really should be called CTRL+` (Grave Accent), since the Shift key is not used.)

[Edited entry from 11/9/2004]



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Labels: Excel

How a computer tells time

"Karen is the author of the popular Power Tools, free programs that make life with Windows a lot easier.

Karen also writes a free e-mail newsletter. In it, she discusses her new programs, answers reader questions, and explains technical details in a way that anyone can understand."

"Computers running Windows 95 or later can take advantage of a third circuit to measure time even more accurately. The frequency of this high- speed oscillator varies from one computer to another. But it usually produces a few million pulses each second.

Because this timer ticks so furiously, Windows allocates more space to store its current value. This counter can continue to increase until it's recorded a total of 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 ticks! This should take at least 21,350,398 seconds (assuming a fast 10 MHz oscillator), or a little over 58,454 years, before the counter reaches its limit. They tell me at that point the count is reset to zero and begins again."

BTW:
If you're a real geek, you may want this:
Excel Function Wall Clock

Some of the functions used to indicate the time are:
=INT(PI)

=FACT(3)

=GCD(77,49)

and

=ROMAN(2)

[Edited entry from 12/7/2004]




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Labels: Addendum

Pre-defined locations

This macro, for instance, changes the text in just the header of the first section:

Sub HeaderFooterObject()
  Dim MyText As String
  MyHeaderText = "This would be your text"
  With ActiveDocument.Sections(1)
   .Headers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range.Text = MyHeaderText
  End With
End Sub

When you use Edit>Replace in Word, it does a fine job of locating all occurrences of the target in the body of the document or in the header or footer.

Something fails, however, when you record the action and try to run it as a macro. To make it work, you must loop through the built in ranges of a Word document.

The exercise is interesting if only for the exposure to the built in ranges such as:

• wdCommentsStory
  
• wdEndnotesStory
  
• wdEvenPagesFooterStory
  
• wdEvenPagesHeaderStory
  
• wdFirstPageFooterStory
  
• wdFirstPageHeaderStory
  
• wdFootnotesStory
  
• wdMainTextStory
  
• wdPrimaryFooterStory
  
• wdPrimaryHeaderStory
  
  and
  
• wdTextFrameStory.

See this article for more information:

Word.MVPS.org:
Find and replace with VBA

Also:

Microsoft KB
VBA macro examples to insert text into a document

[Edited entry from 12/3/2004]




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Labels: Word

Multiple selections

"How to open a report based on a multiple selection in a list box. For example, you may have a list of makes of car and a report that shows various details for each make of car. You want to allow the users to select a range of cars and pull up the report according to that selection."

Microsoft KB:
How to Use a Multi-Select List Box to Filter a Form

Customize a list box, combo box, or drop-down list box

[Edited entry from 12/6/2004]




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Labels: Access