Easy access to directories

Opening files from multiple directories can become tiresome if you click through the directory hierarchy displayed in the Open dialog’s Look In control. In fact, it can become downright annoying. One solution is to add frequently used documents or folders to the Object bar (My Places). To do so, launch the Open dialog box, select the directory or file and choose the Add To My Places command from the Tools menu.

Another way is to type the path name into the File Name control. Then, the next time you want to choose the same directory, simply select it from the File Name control’s list. Here’s how to do that:

1. Launch the Open dialog box.
2. In the File Name control, type the entire path of one of your most-often used directories or files and press Enter.
   
3. Click Cancel to close the dialog box.
4. Relaunch the Open dialog box and open the File Name control’s list. To select the previously entered path or file, just click.

Easy access to directories

Opening files from multiple directories can become tiresome if you click through the directory hierarchy displayed in the Open dialog’s Look In control. In fact, it can become downright annoying. One solution is to add frequently used documents or folders to the Object bar (My Places). To do so, launch the Open dialog box, select the directory or file and choose the Add To My Places command from the Tools menu.

Another way is to type the path name into the File Name control. Then, the next time you want to choose the same directory, simply select it from the File Name control’s list. Here’s how to do that:

1. Launch the Open dialog box.
2. In the File Name control, type the entire path of one of your most-often used directories or files and press Enter.
   
3. Click Cancel to close the dialog box.
4. Relaunch the Open dialog box and open the File Name control’s list. To select the previously entered path or file, just click.

Update some iCal event info without editing

If you double-click an event in the 10.5 version of iCal, you get a little pop-up window with some details and Edit and Done buttons, as you probably already know. This window might look worthless for editing, but even if you don’t press the Edit button, if you drag and drop some text onto this pop-up window, the text will be added to the notes field of the displayed event.

I did this by accident and was surprised it happened, so I tried a few more things. Drag and drop a file, and it is added as an attachment. Drag and drop a person from Address Book, and they are added as an attendee. You can also drag multiple people, or an existing group, to have them all added as attendees. Drag a URL, and its added as a clickable URL. So despite appearances, you can actually do some basic editing in the event info pop-up window.

[robg adds: If the even has an existing URL, …

10.5: Start iChat without auto-login

I have auto-login enabled for my iChat accounts, and yet sometimes I start iChat wanting only some of the accounts to go online. Instead of quickly logging off those accounts I don’t want logged in, I hold down the Shift key while iChat is starting. This disables auto-login for that session only — the general preference is still intact, and the next time you start iChat (without using the Shift key), your accounts will auto-login as normal.

Excel 2007’s Wrap Text command makes formatting cells a snap

A common formatting task in Excel is setting text to wrap within a cell. As Mary Ann Richardson explains, Excel 2007 now makes this job a one-click operation.

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Before Excel 2007, you would have to go to the Cell Formatting Dialog box to tell Excel to wrap text in a cell. With Excel 2007, you simply click a command on the Home tab. For example, suppose you want to use Wrap Text instead of changing the column width to keep your column labels from overlapping, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

Follow these steps:

1. Select B2:C2 (Figure B).

Figure B

2. On the Home tab in the Alignment group, click Wrap Text.

Now the labels in B2 and C2 no longer overlap on to adjacent cells (Figure C).

Figure C

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Enhance your pictures in Word by applying a simple border

Borders aren’t just for tables and text — they can add polish and prominence to the pictures in your documents as well. Here’s a look at this simple design trick.

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Using Word’s Borders And Shading Dialog box, you can quickly add a border and/or shading to any image in your document. For example, say you want to add a border to the clip art shown in Figure A.

Figure A

Follow these steps:

1. Click to select the picture.
2. Go to Format | Borders And Shading. (In Word 2007, on the Home tab in the Paragraph group, click the down arrow of the Borders And Shading tool and select Borders And Shading.)
3. On the Borders tab, click Shadow under Setting.
4. Select Dark Blue from the Color drop-down list (Figure B).

Figure B

5. Select 4-1/2 pt from the Width drop-down list and click OK.

The specified border and shadow will appear around the clip art as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

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Organize list items with PowerPoint 2007’s new column feature

With just a click or two, you can make your bulleted lists more attractive and easier to read — and save on slide real estate, to boot.

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When you need to present a long list of items on a slide, make a more attractive presentation by taking advantage of PowerPoint 2007’s new column feature to arrange the list into two or more columns. For example, say you have a slide that lists 10 items, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

Follow these steps:

1. Click to select the text box containing the item list.

2. On the Home tab, click the Columns button and then click Two columns (Figure B).

Figure B

3. Select the text and then select 40 in the Font size box on the Home tab.

The items are now arranged in two columns as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

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Create a simple invoice template in Word

Here are the basics steps involved in setting up an invoice using a Word template — along with a sample template you can download and customize.

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When it comes to performing calculations in a Word document, we tend to think of embedding or linking an Excel worksheet — but this can be overkill. Sometimes, a better approach is simply to insert a table in a document and perform the calculations in it. Word tables have a number of applications: staffing rotas, timetables, pricing charts, quotations, and the one I use most, invoices.

It’s easy to create an invoice that includes your business details, contact information, and logo, along with a table that itemizes the costs, parts, and labor; automatically calculates the totals and taxes; and presents a total amount payable. You can even include Fill-in fields to automatically prompt for customer information. Once you set up this invoice framework, save the blank form as a template, and you’re in business.

To generate an invoice, you just create a new document using the template, fill in the customer information, and enter the invoice amounts in the table. You can then update the fields that calculate tax and totals and print the invoice. To help you get started, I’ve created a sample invoice template that you can customize to fit your needs. Let’s look first at some template-building basics; then, I’ll explain how to modify and use my sample template.

Laying out the heading

The first step in building an invoice template is to design the heading you want to use for it. Once you’ve created a heading, save it so you can use it for other marketing material, such as flyers, price lists, and announcements.

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AutoText tip

One convenient way to preserve an element such as a heading is to save it as AutoText. Just select the items that make up your heading and press [Alt][F3]. When Word presents the Create AutoText dialog box, enter a name and click OK. Then, whenever you need to insert the heading in a document, just position the insertion point marker where you want the heading to appear and type the AutoText name. By default, Word will offer to auto-complete the name, and you can press [Enter] to insert the heading. If this feature is turned off, just type the AutoText name and press [F3].

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Creating the body of the document

Think about the wording you’re going to use in your invoice. Be careful not to fall into grammatical errors that can make you and your business look unprofessional. In my template, I used an automatic Date field so that each invoice I create from the template will be correctly dated.

Planning and inserting the table

When you’re ready to add the table to your template, display the Tables And Borders toolbar. As with the other toolbars available in Word, you can switch on this one from View | Toolbars. Most of the table options can be reached from this toolbar.

Decide how many rows and columns you need in your table. You can always insert extra rows, but it is nice to start out with something you don’t need to alter too much. Once you have planned the layout, click on the Insert Table button. You will see a dialog box where you can select the number of columns and rows in your new table.

Entering the calculations

Look at the Tables And Borders toolbar. There’s a funny symbol at the bottom-right. This is the AutoSum button. By clicking in an empty cell below a column that will contain values, you can use this button to perform simple addition. When you click AutoSum, Word will insert the function { =SUM(ABOVE) }.

Should you wish to add a calculation for sales tax or VAT (UK), insert a formula field. First, click in the next cell down and choose Field from the Insert menu. Then, click the Formula button and enter a multiplication expression. For instance, to apply a 4 percent sales tax, enter the formula =B6*1.04 , as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

The formula multiplies the total, which, in this example, is in cell B6, by 1.04. You can alter this formula for use in your locality by changing the figure after the * symbol. For example, to apply the UK rate of sales tax (VAT, or Value Added Tax) of 15 percent, your formula would be =B6*1.15.

The cells in a Word table work in the same way as those of an Excel worksheet. The drawback is that the table does not display column and row labels. Remember that the columns are represented by letters, from left to right: A,B,C, etc. The rows are numbered from the top down. Figure B shows a table with those labels superimposed, to help you visualize this layout.

Figure B

Saving the template

When you save your invoice document, remember to save it as a Word template, with a .dot file extension. (Go to File | Save As and choose Document Template (*.dot) from the Save As Type drop-down list.) This will make it available from the File | New command.

Modifying the sample template

To put my sample invoice template to work, first open it and replace the heading and company information with your own. (To open the template for editing instead of creating a new document, you’ll need to right-click on it and choose Open.)

You might find it useful to work with field codes displayed so that you don’t accidentally delete any fields. You can toggle the display on and off for the entire document by pressing [Alt][F9]. Figure C shows the sample template with field codes displayed. Notice the Fill-in fields that prompt for an invoice number and customer information. Nice to have, but not essential when you create your own template.

Figure C

You may need to alter the calculation to reflect your own rate of tax, as discussed earlier. You may also want to modify the Fill-in field prompts to ask for different customer data. For instance, you might prompt for town, county, and post code rather than city, state, and zip code. With field codes displayed, simply edit the text that appears in quote marks within the Fill-in fields.

After you’ve modified the template, save it in the desired folder. If you want it to be listed with other templates when you create a new document, be sure to place it in your default location for templates.

Putting the sample template to work

When you want to raise an invoice for your personal services, open a new document using this template, fill in the customer information at the prompts, and enter the appropriate invoice charges. Select the table and press [F9] to update your calculations. Then, save and print the document and send it to your client. You can also copy the data into reminder letters, should your client fail to settle an account promptly.

Add a looping introduction to a PowerPoint presentation

You can set up your slide shows to include a little preview presentation that will help prime your audience for the main event. Susan Harkins shows this simple but highly effective technique.

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Displaying an introductory or welcome slide while your audience arrives for a presentation is common. You might display general information or a friendly hello. Usually, you display just one slide and the presentation doesn’t progress until you begin the presentation manually. This setup is okay, but to generate a bit more interest, you might want to display more than one introductory slide — call it a mini presentation if you like. That way, you’ll have the attention and interest of your audience before you even begin.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download, along with a sample presentation that demonstrates the technique.

Two presentations in one

While the audience enters the room and finds a seat, they may chat with one another, help themselves to refreshments, or sit quietly and wait for the show. Regardless, most will be thinking about other things, and not your presentation. The one-slide introduction that says welcome and displays pretty flowers is quaint, but it won’t grab anyone’s attention as they enter the room, and it certainly won’t keep anyone’s interest while they wait.

You can get their attention from the moment they walk through the door with an introductory presentation that introduces you and/or your presentation’s purpose. Now, you might think that you need two separate presentations, but you don’t. You can save the introductory presentation as a part of the main presentation. The key is to hide the slides in the main presentation. That way, your audience sees only the introductory slides. Later, when you’re ready to begin the presentation, you click a button that links to the first slide in the main presentation. Even though you hid the slide, PowerPoint will still display it, and then continue to display the remaining hidden slides in the main presentation.

Setting it up

It doesn’t matter where you place the introductory slides within the main presentation. At the beginning makes sense, but it isn’t necessary. Use as many introductory slides as needed, but keep it to a minimum. Two to five slides is usually adequate. The point is to present material that will interest the audience and enhance your program. (The example presentation is simple on purpose so as not to distract from the technique.)

Add the introductory slides to your presentation file and then save it. In Slide Sorter view, complete the following steps to distinguish between the two sets of slides:

1. Select all the slides in the introductory presentation. To do so, click the first slide in the introduction, hold down the [Shift] key and then click the last.
2. Choose Slide Transition from the Slide Show menu. PowerPoint 2007 users should click the Animations tab.
3. In the Advance Slide section of the Slide Transition task pane, check the Automatically After option and then enter the number of seconds you want PowerPoint to pause between slides, as shown in Figure A. Three to five seconds is generally sufficient.

Figure A

PowerPoint will automatically advance slides during the introduction.

4. Deselect the On Mouse Click option.
5. Choose Set Up Show from the Slide Show menu. In PowerPoint 2007, click the Slide Show tab and click Set Up Slide Show.
6. Select the Loop Continuously Until Esc option (Figure B). Make sure the Using Timings, If Present option is also selected, then click OK.

Figure B

Tell PowerPoint to loop continuously.

Now you’re ready to add the button that links the introductory presentation to the main presentation. You’ll click this button to stop the introductory message and begin the main show. To add a linking button to the introductory presentation, do the following:

1. With the last slide in the introductory presentation current in Normal view, choose AutoShapes from the Drawing toolbar. Then, choose Action Buttons. In PowerPoint 2007, you’ll find the Shapes group on the Insert tab.
2. Choose Action Button from the Shapes drop-down list.
3. Add an AutoShape to the slide.
4. With the button selected, choose Action Settings from the Slide Show menu. In PowerPoint 2007, choose Action on the Insert tab.
5. In the Action Settings dialog box, display the Hyperlink To option’s drop-down list and select Slide. (Thumb down to find the right option and do not accidentally choose Next Slide; doing so will take you to the next slide in the mini presentation.)
6. In the Hyperlink To Slide dialog box, select the first slide in the main presentation, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

Select the first slide in the main presentation.

7. Click OK twice.

Most likely, you’ll want to make the linking button invisible, although doing so isn’t necessary. It’s up to you. To make the button invisible, do the following:

1. Double-click the button. In PowerPoint 2007, click the Format tab and then click the dialog box button in the Shape Styles group.
2. In the Format AutoShape dialog box, drag the Transparency Slider on the Color and Lines tab to 100% (Figure D). In PowerPoint 2007, use the Color pane.

Figure D

By changing the button’s Transparency property, you render it invisible.

If you want the flexibility of starting the main presentation from any slide in the introductory presentation, copy the button to the Clipboard and then paste it onto each slide in the intro presentation. The button will retain the same hyperlink and formats. Just be sure to paste the button to the same general area of each slide so you can remember where it is (if it’s invisible).

The presentation still isn’t ready for the split slideshow. To get the desired effect, you must hide the slides in the main presentation. Just select all the slides in the main presentation in Slide Sorter view and choose Hide Slide from the Slide Show menu. In PowerPoint 2007, click Hide Slide on the Slide Show tab.

Running the presentation

Run the presentation as you would any other. Press [F5] and PowerPoint will display the first slide in the introductory presentation, and then the next. When PowerPoint reaches the last slide in the introductory presentation, it will encounter the first hidden slide in the main presentation. It will then display the first slide in the introductory presentation again.

When you’re ready to begin the main presentation, click the Action button and PowerPoint will immediately display the first slide in the main presentation. At the end of the main presentation, PowerPoint will display the first slide in the introductory presentation. You’ll probably want to add a final slide that let’s you know you’re at the end. That way, you won’t inadvertently click that last slide and start the intro all over again.

Show’s on!

You can keep your audience mildly entertained or grab their interest early on with a short introductory presentation. Just let the slides automatically loop until you’re ready to begin the main presentation.

 

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Susan Sales Harkins is an independent consultant and the author of several articles and books on database technologies. Her most recent book is Mastering Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express, with Mike Gunderloy, published by Sybex. Other collaborations with Gunderloy are Automating Microsoft Access 2003 with VBA, Upgrader’s Guide to Microsoft Office System 2003, ICDL Exam Cram 2, and Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Microsoft Access 2003, all published by Que. Currently, Susan volunteers as the Publications Director for Database Advisors. You can reach her at ssharkins@gmail.com.

Limit reviewers in a Word document

Multiple editors may review the same Word document and most likely, they’ll all have a few unique comments or edits. With all that additional text, you can get a bit lost. Limiting comments to a specific editor or group of editors can help. First, make sure Word is display comments by choosing Comments from the Show command’s dropdown list on the Reviewing toolbar. In Word 2007, use Show Markup in the Tracking group on the Review tab. The same menu (Show and Show Markup) lets you filter reviewers. Simply select Reviewers (or uncheck reviewers), accordingly.Keep in mind that Word will limit not only comments but also any review task checked in the Show or Show Menu list. In addition, this feature won’t always work the way you expect. That’s because Word tracks reviewers by initials (usually established when you install or use Word for the first time). If two reviewers happen to share the same initials, Word won’t distinguish between the two. Reviewers using an administrative account can also skew the results.

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