Book

Suggestions


Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


Home Page

Bloglines

1906
CelebrateStadium
2006


OfficeZealot

Scobleizer

TechRepublic

AskWoody

SpyJournal












Subscribe here
Add to 

My Yahoo!
This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Host your Web site with PureHost!


eXTReMe Tracker
  Web http://www.klippert.com



  Tuesday, May 13, 2008 – Permalink –

Embed a Show

Stick it in Word



You might like to distribute a short PowerPoint slide show, and include some extra material.

Open Word and PowerPoint.

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)



See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 6:21 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Wednesday, April 23, 2008 – Permalink –

Identify Formatting Inconsistencies

A suggestion I don't suggest



Microsoft Word can detect formatting inconsistencies as you type and then mark them with a blue, wavy underline.You may want to have all the headings in a document formatted the exact same way, but you inadvertently formatted some of them differently. Word can detect these inconsistencies as you are typing and underline them with a blue wavy line to alert you.

Lockergnome:
Check your formatting inconsistencies in Word

Microsoft Word Help:

  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



See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 6:32 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Wednesday, April 16, 2008 – Permalink –

Word Ranges

Pre-defined locations



When entries are made in a document, Word creates a Story Range to identify what part of the document is being used. These ranges can be used in macros to search for items , change text, or other actions.


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



See all Topics

Labels: , , ,


<Doug Klippert@ 7:14 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Saturday, March 15, 2008 – Permalink –

Plain Language

Twaddle free




THE WHITE HOUSE
June 1, 1998

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Plain Language in Government Writing
"The Federal Government's writing must be in plain language. By using plain language, we send a clear message about what the Government is doing, what it requires, and what services it offers. Plain language saves the Government and the private sector time, effort, and money."

The Plain English Network
Plain language can be understood by YOUR reader at first reading. It doesn't mean writing for a certain grade level - it means organizing and writing for your reader. Writing in plain language saves time and money for writers and readers.


The Plain Language Center
Building Plain Language from the Ground Up


Introducing Plain Language

Plain language matches the needs of the reader with your needs as a writer, resulting in effective and efficient communication. It is effective because the reader can understand the message. It is efficient because the reader can read and understand the message the first time.


Also:
LegalWriting.net
Plain language produces clear, concise, and readable documents



And then for no reason ,other than most writing is twaddle, here's a review of:

How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World:
A Short History of Modern Delusions
by Francis Wheen.


It's entitled: "Twaddle unswaddled".
Appropriate or not, it is fun to say.

[Edited entry from 12/27/2004]




See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 8:35 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Sunday, March 02, 2008 – Permalink –

Index Concordance

Order!


Creating a Table of Contents can be easy if you use Styles. Word will automatically insert a TOC when you place the insertion point and then use Insert>Reference Index and Tables and choose Table of Contents.
(2007 – Reference Tab>Table of Contents group)

An Index or Concordance can be more difficult.

In a larger document, you may want the reader to be able to locate key words. You could go through the whole document and mark each word you want included, but there is an easier way.


  1. Make a list of the important words.
  2. Create a two-column table in a new document.
  3. In the first column, enter the word or phrase.
  4. In the second column, enter the index entry
    (If you need a sub-category, type the main entry followed by a colon (:) and then the sub category.)
  5. Save the file.



When it comes time to create the Index, place the insertion point, go to Insert>Reference Index and Tables. Choose Index and then AutoMark.
(2007 – Reference Tab>Index group)

Browse to the location of your Index file.

Word will now automatically use your list to mark the main document and insert an Index.

Also:

Word for Word:
An Index or a Concordance for Your Book?


Word MVPS.org:
How can I automatically generate an index in Word?


Microsoft KB:
How to create a table of contents and index with field codes in Word



See all Topics

Labels: , , , , ,


<Doug Klippert@ 7:38 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Saturday, February 23, 2008 – Permalink –

Troubleshoot

Problem solvers



If you have trouble opening a Word document, or it is not working well, try these suggestions:

FIRST
Delete all of Word's temp files.

  1. Go to Edit>Replace
  2. Make sure to include all of your local drives in the search and that "include subfolders" is checked.
  3. Search for:
    *.tmp
  4. Then delete all these temp files.

Word leaves shards of temp files wherever the document file was stored. Word's temp files start with a tilde (~), so in most cases you can delete:
~*.*

SECOND

  1. Use Edit>Find to locate Normal.DOT.
  2. Rename it (Normal.OLD) or delete it. Word will create a new copy when it restarts.


The only caveat here is be careful that you don't have important macros stored in Normal.DOT. If you rename, you can recover them.

THIRD


If that does not correct the problem, try this next step:


  1. Go to Start>Run and type:
    winword.exe /a
    (Note that there is a space before the /a)
  2. Then press ENTER. This starts Word without any add-ins, global templates, or Normal.DOT.
    Look in Tools>Templates and Add-ins to see if there are any files that can be un-checked.

If you need even more help, go to:

The Word MVP site



Knowledge base:
How to troubleshoot problems that occur when you start Word or when you work in Word

How to troubleshoot problems that occur when you start or use Word 2007, Word 2003, or Word 2002

[Edited entry from 12/11/2004]




See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 7:19 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Tuesday, February 05, 2008 – Permalink –

Curly Quotes be Gone

Stop them up front


Word, by default, uses curly (“ ”) rather than straight quotes(" ").

Here's a video that shows how to go into Word options and turn this Auto feature off.

Next we need to turn off Moe and Larry




Curly quotes



See all Topics

Labels: , , , ,


<Doug Klippert@ 7:27 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Wednesday, December 26, 2007 – Permalink –

Page Breaks

Demo tutorial


You can control when Word decides to break for a new page.

Ctrl+Enter is the keyboard shortcut, but there are a number of variations.


This MS link has both Demos and text tutorials.
Page breaks

BTW; a merged document is made up of Section breaks, not Page breaks.

For ease of printing, Replace ^b with ^m



See all Topics

Labels: , , ,


<Doug Klippert@ 6:35 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Monday, December 24, 2007 – Permalink –

Word News (still)

Here's another good newsletter



Editorium

Jack M. Lyon, a book editor who got tired of working the hard way and started creating programs to automate editing tasks in Microsoft Word. He's been editing more than twenty years and started working on the computer in 1985.



(Unfortunately has not published recently, but still full of good information)

A few back issues of Editorium Update arranged chronologically:

  • Deleting Unused Styles
  • Pasting Tracked Revisions
  • Indexing with a Two-Column Concordance
  • Fancy Sorting
  • Editing by Concordance
  • Making a Concordance
  • Numbers by Chicago
  • Fixing Typos Automatically

And more.



See all Topics

Labels:


<Doug Klippert@ 7:44 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Saturday, December 08, 2007 – Permalink –

Drawing Canvas

More than I want


The Draw layer has been around since about Word 97, but it has not been as intrusive as it is in Word 2002+.


Try to place an AutoShape on a page and the Drawing Canvas pops up by default.


To turn off this feature, go to:
Tools>Options.
On the General tab, remove the check mark from
"Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes"


To just dismiss it each time, choose your AutoShape and then touch the Delete or Esc key before drawing the object.

Here's some more information.


Wordsite.com:
The draw layer: a metaphysical space


Knowledge Base
General Information About Floating Objects
(a discussion of Word's floating objects and layers)


As I understand it, the Drawing canvas is not really a new layer. The following illustration shows the classic layers. It is from the Knowledge base article:

How to Place Text over a Graphic



___________________
/ /
/ <SURFACE OF /
/ PAPER> /
/ / /
Front drawing layer ------------------- /
MAIN TEXT LAYER =================== / /
Back drawing layer -------------------/ / /
/ /
Front drawing layer -------------------/ /
(Header/footer) BOTTOM TEXT LAYER =================== /
Back drawing layer -------------------/



You can dump the layer in 2007 in the Office button Word Option equivalent of Tools>Options:





See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 6:37 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Monday, October 15, 2007 – Permalink –

Work with Office

It can make life easier


Here's a collection of tips and tutorials from Microsoft about how to use '07 at work.
If no one's looking, you could use these hints at home too.

Ways to work smarter



See all Topics

Labels: , ,


<Doug Klippert@ 6:50 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Monday, September 24, 2007 – Permalink –

Foxy or Ipsum

=rand(p,s)


In Word 2007 =rand() produces a selection from the Help file.


=lorem() displays:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci.


If you want some history, try Lipsum.com



Pre 2007:

To insert practice text in the document, type:
=rand()
and hit the ENTER key.

The whole equation would be:
=rand(p,s)
"p"is for p>aragraphs. "s" is for s>entences.

=rand(2,3)
would produce 2 paragraphs containing 3 sentences each.


It is said that:

The Italian edition of Microsoft Word 2000 produces:
"Cantami o Diva del pelide Achille l'ira funesta."

This is the first line of the Italian translation of Homer's Iliad

In Spanish it's:
"El veloz murciélago hindú comía feliz cardillo y kiwi."

"The quick Hindu bat ate happy golden thistle and kiwi."

In French it's:
"Servez à ce monsieur une bière et des kiwis."

"Serve this gentleman a beer and some kiwis."

Other Panagrams



See all Topics

Labels: , ,


<Doug Klippert@ 7:19 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Wednesday, September 12, 2007 – Permalink –

Top 25 Issues in Word

A collection of hows


Here are a few:



The rest of the Top 25



See all Topics

Labels:


<Doug Klippert@ 7:26 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Monday, August 06, 2007 – Permalink –

Use the Ruler

Measure by Measure


Here is an article that explores the use of Word's Rulers.


About the only thing I don't see is that you can bring up the Page Setup dialog box by double clicking in the dark area of the ruler that indicates the margin.


Once again this tip comes from the Microsoft Word MVP site:

Ruler of all you survey:
How to make the best use of Word's rulers


Here's the spot to click to show rulers in Word 2007:





See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 7:28 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Friday, July 06, 2007 – Permalink –

MS RSS Feeds

Eavesdrop on the experts


RSS feeds can give you a flow of new information.

Microsoft knows the value of these web casts and provides a list of links from Access to SharePoint Server:

RSS Feeds on Microsoft Office




See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 7:23 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Tuesday, July 03, 2007 – Permalink –

Five Tips

A few useful ideas


"If you use Word in your daily work, a few simple tips will help you save an hour of your time per week, maybe more. Best of all, these tips are so easy to use that you can put them to work immediately upon finishing this article. Yes, they are that easy to use!"

  • Let Word type names and other words and phrases for you

  • Let Word insert your favorite text or graphics

  • Let Word type information about your documents

  • Let Word alphabetize lists for you

  • Change the way Word works


5 time-saving tips



See all Topics

Labels:


<Doug Klippert@ 6:00 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Thursday, June 28, 2007 – Permalink –

Scanner, No Insertions

2007 is lacking




You can still scan images into Microsoft Publisher and a few other programs, but not the big three.

"Yes, unfortunately, the Insert from Scanner and Camera feature was removed in Office 2007.
This was a difficult call, but I think for the best of the product overall. The feature supported a limited number of scanners and the camera support had not been updated for some time.
We came to the conclusion that most users would be better off using the software that came with their camera, scanner or even built into Windows, to get their images from their device, to the file system, and then use the Insert Picture command to get them into Office.
The downside, is that for some users, this feature did work and so will be missed."

Mark Jaremko, Senior Program Manager

"The From Scanner or Camera option for adding pictures to a presentation, photo album, or workbook is not available in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 or Microsoft Office Excel 2007.

Instead, you can add pictures from your camera or scanner by downloading the pictures to your computer first, and then copying them from your computer into PowerPoint or Excel."


Support.Microsoft.com
How to insert scanned images in Office 2007


You could also use the Microsoft Document Imaging/Scanning application.
About Microsoft Office Document Imaging

BTW, when the article calls for clicking on the Scan button, it's actually the picture of a scanner.





See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 6:43 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Friday, June 22, 2007 – Permalink –

Convert Files

No add-ins needed


Here and there you pick up a lot of odd files. Some of them maybe for programs that have long since been sent to the great Recycle Bin.

There is a web site that will convert a great many file formats up to 150mb.

  • Raw text, HTML, XHTML, Microsoft Word, RTF, PDF, PS, Open Office, Star Writer, Pocket Word, Word Perfect

  • CSV, dBase, Microsoft Excel, Pocket Excel, Lotus 123, Quattro Pro, Star Calc, Open Office spreadsheet

  • MathML, Star Math, Open Office math

  • Microsoft Powerpoint, Star Impress, Open Office presentation


Convert files into universal formats like Adobe PDF, PS (PostScript) or CSV to print, fax or simply read them on any computer, without special software.

Learn morse code with the text to morse converter ;-)


Media-convert.com



See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 6:25 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Thursday, May 31, 2007 – Permalink –

Link to Word

Excel to Word connection


The Insert Hyperlink dialog will allow you to link to any file.

To link to a particular bookmark in a Word document, you can specify the bookmark by adding it yourself, adding a # (pound sign) plus the bookmark name to the path and file name.

C:\My Documents\MyDocument.doc#MyBookmark

To link to a page in a Word document, add a pound sign and the page number after the document path and file name:

C:\My Documents\MyDocument.doc#4

See Jon Peltier's hyperlink collection:
Hyperlinks




See all Topics

Labels: ,


<Doug Klippert@ 7:20 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Saturday, April 14, 2007 – Permalink –

Select Text

Pick a word



  • If you double click on a word, it will be selected.
    Triple click and you will select the paragraph.

  • If you hold down the CTRL key and click, you will select a sentence.
    (Word is looking for a period, so it will also stop after the period in "Mr. Smith")


  • Move the mouse pointer to the left side of the document. It will change to a NE (upper left) pointing arrow.


    • Click once and a line is selected; a line, not just a sentence.

    • Click twice to select the paragraph.

    • Click three times and the entire document will be selected.

  • Place the insertion point where you want the selection to begin, press F8, and use the arrow keys on the keyboard to highlight the selection. Press Esc to end the extended selection.

  • Click to the left of the first word you want selected. Hold down the Shift key and click to the right of the end of the selection.

  • Hold down the ALT key and drag down to select a "column"; perhaps the first two characters that precede a list of items.


Also:
See this link for a way to enter text for testing:

Selecting Text from Word Tips.



See all Topics

Labels: , , ,


<Doug Klippert@ 6:20 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Friday, April 06, 2007 – Permalink –

Getting '07 Reference Guides

Where'd they hide that thing?


Wondering where your favorite Word 2003 commands are located in the new Word 2007 interface? Or just want to explore the rich, new design with a little guidance?

... rest the mouse pointer over a Word 2003 menu or button to learn its new location in Word 2007. To see an animation of the location of the command or button in Word 2007, just click it.



Command reference guides for:

Word
Excel
PowerPoint





The versions above require an internet connection.
Below are the links to download the guides to your machine.

PowerPoint
Excel
Word



See all Topics

Labels: , , ,


<Doug Klippert@ 7:42 AM

Comments: Post a Comment


  Thursday, April 05, 2007 – Permalink –

Getting Started with '07

Ribbon add-in tutorial portal


Download the Get Started Tab for Word/Excel/PowerPoint 2007 .

(You'll have to do this separately for each application)




" This add-in adds a Get Started tab to the Word 2007 Ribbon. Commands on this tab give you easy access to free content on Office Online, such as training courses, video demos, and other Office Online content designed to help you learn Word 2007 quickly.

An Office Online interactive command mapping tool, also available on the Get Started tab, shows you where to find Word 2003 buttons and commands in Word 2007. Office Online Community discussions are also available directly from Word with this add-in."


Also:
07 Reference Guides



See all Topics

Labels: , , ,


<Doug Klippert@ 6:52 AM

Comments: Post a Comment