Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Microsoft Office Tips

Remove All Formatting in Two Easy Steps

Here's a great way to remove all of the formatting from a Word document or just a selected portion of the document:

1. Select the whole document by pressing CTRL+A or just select the portion of the document you wish to change.

2. Press CTRL+SHIFT+N.

Presto! All of your formatting is removed from the document or selection.

Navigate Word Documents by Using the Table of Contents

When writing long documents in Microsoft Word, you'll find the table of contents (TOC) is an indispensable tool—even if you don't include the TOC in your final draft! Why? The TOC creates internal links (similar to the ones you find on a Web page) that you can use to quickly navigate a document as you work. And, if you're already using styles, adding a TOC is easy.

First, be sure that you've applied either built-in (for example, Heading 1 and Heading 2) or custom styles to all headings and subheadings in your document.

Once you have done that, you can insert a TOC at the beginning or end of your document. To do so:

1. Click where you want to insert the TOC.

2. On the Insert menu, point to Reference, and click Index and Tables.

3. Click the Table of Contents tab.

4. Click Options and make sure a TOC level number appears next to every heading you want to include in your TOC.

5. Select any other TOC options you want.

Now, to go to a specific section in your document, click the corresponding page number in the TOC while holding down the CTRL key. To return to the TOC, click the Go to TOC button on the Outlining toolbar.

Editor's Note: To make the Outlining toolbar visible, open the View menu, point to Toolbars, and click Outlining.

Find Shortcuts to Useful Word Features on the Status Bar

Did you know that the status bar, that area at the bottom of Word documents where the page number appears, also provides shortcuts to a number of very useful features? Here are a few you may want to use:

§ To open the Find and Replace dialog box, double-click any location indicator on the status bar, such as the page number or section number.

§ To turn the macro recorder on or off, double-click REC.

§ To turn the Track Changes feature on or off, double-click TRK.

§ To turn extend selection mode on or off, double-click EXT.

§ To turn overtype mode on or off, double-click OVR.

§ To change the language format of selected text, double-click Language.

§ To resolve errors in grammar or spelling, double-click the Spelling and Grammar Status icon. Note: When the previous features are turned off, their labels appear dimmed.

Editor's Note: If your status bar is not visible, go to the Tools menu, click Options, click the View tab, and then select the Status bar check box under Show.

View or Modify Formatting with the Task Pane

You can use the new Reveal Formatting task pane in Word 2002 to view a detailed description of any text in your document. You can also use it to modify or clear the formatting; compare the formatting of different selections, or to find blocks of text with similar formatting. Here's how to use it:

1. Select the text you want to examine or reformat.

2. From the Format menu, select Reveal Formatting.

3. Do any of the following:

§ To change any formatting properties, click one of the underlined commands from within the task pane, and then change any options you want in the dialog box that appears.

§ To determine the formatting source, such as whether the formatting comes from a style, select the Distinguish style source check box.

§ To show formatting marks, such as paragraph marks and tabs, select the Show all formatting marks check box.

§ To format a text selection like the text that surrounds it, select the text. In the Selected text box, click the arrow, and then click Apply Formatting of Surrounding Text.

§ To view a feature-by-feature comparison of your text selection with another block of text, select the Compare to another section check box and then select another block of text.

Editor's Note: You can also open the Reveal Formatting task pane by choosing What's This? on the Help menu or selecting text within your document and pressing SHIFT+F1.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Shortcut Tips Windows 98

Creating a shortcut for MS-DOS in full screen mode.
  • Double-click on your shortcut that opens an MS-DOS window.
  • Press Alt + Spacebar.
  • Click Properties.
  • Click the Screen tab.

Under Usage, select Full Screen. Click OK to save your settings.

Saving search results for re-use.

If you have conducted a search and you are pretty sure that you will use the results of that search again, there is no need to conduct an entirely new search. Once you have complete a search (Click on desktop, press F3, see this tip for more information) you can save the results by clicking Save Search from the File menu. This will place a shortcut on your desktop for future use. (You can place this shortcut anywhere you like) In the future, if you are doing a search on the same topic, just double-click the icon on your desktop (or wherever you place it).


Creating a shortcut.
  • Click on the button.

95clickstartbuttonprograms.gif (4149 bytes) Select Programs.

95programsexplorer.gif (5003 bytes) Click on Windows Explorer.

  • Now, locate the item that you wish to create a shortcut for.
  • If you are using Windows Explorer in full-screen mode, you will need to click the Resize button in the top right corner of the screen (This is the double rectangle button in between the Minimize and Exit buttons).
  • Now, right-click your mouse on that item and hold it while you drag it to the location you wish to have it (preferably to the Desktop).
  • When you let go of the right mouse button, you can select to "Create Shortcut(s) Here" in the new location.
  • Creating a shortcut to a disk drive.

    You may access disk drives frequently other than your C drive, such as a floppy or a second hard drive. It may be a pain when you open Windows Explorer and you have to navigate your way to the drive you want every time. However, you can create shortcuts for different disk drives if you want. To do this:

  • From the desktop, double-click the My Computer icon.
  • Then, right-click your mouse on the drive you want to have a shortcut for and drag it to your desktop.
  • When the menu appears, click Create Shortcut Here.

Now you can quickly access any disk drive you want!

Creating a shortcut to the Device Manager.

  • Right-click on your Desktop.
  • Select New.
  • Click Shortcut.

  • In the Command line field, type:
  • C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL.EXE Sysdm.cpl, System,1
  • Click Next. Name your shortcut and click Finish.
Creating a hot-key combination for a shortcut.

Right-click the Shortcut.

Click Properties.

Click the Shortcut tab.

Click in the Shortcut key field. Now press the keys that you want to use as the hot-key combination. It must start with Ctrl + Alt. Once you press Ctrl + Alt, press whatever key you want to launch the program. Windows will put it in for you. Click OK.

Changing a shortcut’s icon.

Right-click on the shortcut.

Click Properties.

Click the Shortcut tab.

Click the Change Icon button. Choose your icon and click OK twice.

Making a program run minimized or maximized when started.

Right-click on the shortcut.

Click Properties.

Click the Shortcut tab.

From the Run drop-down list, make your selection and click OK to save your settings
Removing the arrow from shortcut icons.
  • Click the button.

95csbrun.gif (4072 bytes) Click Run.

In the Open field, type regedit and click OK.

Creating a shortcut for your screen saver.

  • Click the button.

95clickstartbuttonprograms.gif (4149 bytes) Select Programs.

95programsexplorer.gif (5003 bytes) Click Windows Explorer.

  • Once you are there, double click on the following folders: C:\Windows\System
  • When you get there, locate the .scr file that corresponds to your screen saver.
  • Right-click on it and click Create Shortcut.
  • From here, simply drag the shortcut to the Desktop or your Start menu.
  • Whenever you open the shortcut, your screen saver will automatically launch.
Changing the path of a shortcut.

Right-click the shortcut.

95rightclickmenu.gif (2042 bytes) Click Properties.

Click the Shortcut tab.

95shortcuttab.gif (7914 bytes)

  • Type the new path in the "Target" text box.
  • Click OK to save your settings.

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