We always look for good images. Pictures tell a thousand words, making them ideal additions to blog posts, class projects, presentations, emails, and other social media applications. Fortunately, Microsoft drastically improved their Clip Art galleries in the last several years, adding thousands of high quality photographs. Using Microsoft’s Clip Art galleries while connected to the internet gives you access to this vast online library of free photographs, plus clip art, movies and sounds. You can use, edit and post these photos without having to worry about copyright infringement.
To insert Clip Art:
1. Go to the Insert tab in any Microsoft Office 2007 program and click on the Clip Art button in the Illustrations section. (In Office 2003, go to the Insert menu, select Picture, and select Clip Art.)
3. Enter a search topic in the Search for field.
4. Under Search in leave as All collections.
5. Use the options in the Results should be drop down box to narrow results to certain media file types (Clip Art, Photographs, Movies, Sounds).
6. Click Go.
7. Single-click a thumbnail image to insert it into your document.
If you need to save a Clip Art image, insert it on a PowerPoint slide. Then right-click the image and select Save as Picture…
In my next post I’ll talk about using images from Flickr.com.
So often, appointments are scheduled through email. I find that I often want the text of an email to be in the body of my appointment. That way, when my reminder goes off, and I have no idea what the appointment is about, I can click Open Item, and see the details. But copying and pasting the contents of an email into a calendar appointment is more work than I want to do. Fortunately, there is a faster way to put the contents of an email into an appointment. I use this almost every day.
When you want to make a calendar appointment from an email, you can just click on the email and drag it to your calendar (in the Folder list, or on the blue bar at the bottom). A new appointment opens. The subject line of the email will be the subject of the appointment. The rest of the email, including the sender, date, and body, will be in the body of the appointment. Just enter a date, time, and location, and click Save and Close. Now the appointment is on your calendar.
Those of you using Office 2007 can remove one step. You can drag the email to a specific day on the Date Navigator in the To Do Bar, and the new appointment that opens will be for that date. That’s a great bonus in Office 2007!
The To-Do Bar is possibly my favorite addition to Outlook 2007. It appears on the right side of Outlook, helps me keep track of my day by showing a small monthly calendar called the Date Navigator, my next several calendar appointments, and my Tasks list. Thanks to the To-Do Bar I’m never caught by surprise by a meeting or class, and can always make sure that I’m prepared.
Turn On the To-Do Bar
Go to the View menu and select To-Do Bar.
Select Normal.
Minimize the To-Do Bar
If you want to have easy access to the To-Do Bar, but don’t want it to take up space when you’re not using it, you can minimize it.
Go to the View menu and select To-Do Bar.
Select Minimize.
The To-Do Bar will be minimized on the right edge of Outlook. Just click on it to maximize it, and click again to minimize it.
Turn Off a Portion of the To-Do Bar
If you only want to see one or two elements of the To-Do bar, you can turn the Date Navigator, Appointments, or Tasks on or off.
Go to the View menu and select To-Do Bar.
Select Date Navigator, Appointments, or Tasks. A checkmark beside an option means that it is currently turned on.
Turn Off the To-Do Bar
Go to the View menu and select To-Do Bar.
Select Off.
Customize the To-Do Bar
You can select how many months and how many calendar appointments the To-Do Bar shows.
Several months ago we linked to an article about how to embed a YouTube video in PowerPoint. We still get questions about it pretty regularly, so I though I’d write up some instruction and post them again.
NOTE: When presenting you must have a live internet connection or your embedded YouTube video will not play.
Step by Step Instructions for PowerPoint 2007 scroll down for 2003
1. Display the Developer tab on PowerPoint Ribbon.
a. Go to the Office Button and click on the PowerPoint Options button.
b. In the Popular section, check the Show Developer Tab in the Ribbon box and click OK.
2. From YouTube site:
a. Copy the embed code and paste onto blank Power Point slide as a place holder.
b. From within the embed code copy just the value information from inside the quotation marks.
*Example embed code with value information in red:
Data theft and identity theft often occur because someone left a computer logged on and walked away long enough for someone else to sit down and use their passwords. Here at the University of Texas, students, faculty and staff should lock their computers any time they step away from their computers. Many of us have our browsers save our passwords. You don’t want a stranger reading your emails, messing up your Netflix account, or accessing your bank account!
Computer security is a serious issue on campus and the Windows lock shortcut is a simple command you can use to make sure no one can access your computer while you are away from your desk.
Locking your computer will not shut down any programs or files you are working on. Your user name and password will get you right back where you left off.
To lock your computer: Windows Key + L.
To unlock your computer: Ctrl + Alt + Delete, then enter your user name and password.
September 30th, 2009 · Excel · Posted by Holly Green
When I’m working in Excel, I find that I sometimes want to view information from one worksheet while I’m working on another. Jeff wrote a very useful post about viewing two Excel spreadsheets at once, but this limits how much you can see of each, and may not be ideal. The other day I learned about another option - the Camera tool.
The Camera tool allows you to capture an image of one worksheet and view it in another worksheet. The image of the first worksheet will behave just like any other image inserted into a worksheet. You can move it, resize it, and rotate it (althought I’m not sure that you would want to). You will not be able to change data in the image, but if you go back to the source and change data there, the image in the second worksheet will automatically update. Then, when you’re finished with it, you can just select it and press Backspace or Delete.
The Camera tool can’t be found on the ribbon in 2007, or on the menu or toolbar in 2003, so you’ll have to add it.
Add the Camera Tool in Excel 2007
Click on the Office button.
Click on Excel Options in the bottom right corner of the menu.
In the left column, click on Customize.
Click the drop down arrow in the Choose commands from box and select Commands Not in the Ribbon.
Select Camera from the list below.
Click the Add button to the right.
Click OK.
The Camera button will now appear on your Quick Access Toolbar.
Add the Camera Tool in Excel 2003
Go to the Tools menu and select Customize.
Click on the Commands tab.
In the Categories list, select Tools.
Find Camera in the Commands column on the right (you may need to scroll down).
Click on Camera, drag it to a location on the toolbar, and release it.
Use the Camera tool in Excel 2007 and Excel 2003
Select the cells you want a snapshot of.
Click the Camera button on the toolbar (or Quick Access Toolbar).
Go to the other worksheet where you want to view the snapshot and click to place it there.
September 22nd, 2009 · PowerPoint · Posted by Jeff Hauger
Don’t have Photoshop on your computer? Try using PowerPoint!
This is a great e-learning video tutorial made by David Anderson about giving your photos a Polaroid picture effect using the photo and shape editing features available in PowerPoint 2007. It demonstrates some quick picture editing tricks as well as a useful shape free transform feature.
In Excel 2003 and earlier versions, when I tried to select a large block of data using my mouse, I would often overshoot, and accidentally select more rows than I meant to. Then I would go back, and select too few. I often had the same problem scrolling within a spreadsheet. I would go too fast, right past the end of my data. When I would move the scroll bar more slowly in a large set of data, finding the end of my data could take a frustrating amount of time.
To alleviate this, I started using keyboard shortcuts. I do have to give credit to Excel 2007, which has made it easier to select your data by pausing when you get to the end of a range of data. But I still find the keyboard shortcuts I started using in earlier versions faster and easier.
Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts
Enter - move down one cell
Shift + Enter - move one cell up
Tab - move one cell to the right
Shift + Tab - move one cell to the left
Arrow - move one cell in the direction of the arrow
Ctrl + Down arrow - move to the bottom row of your continuous data
Ctrl + Up arrow - move to the top row of your continuous data
Ctrl + Left arrow - move to the furthest left column of your continuous data
Ctrl + Right arrow - move to the furthest right column of your continuous data
Ctrl + End - move to your last active cell
Ctrl + Home - move to cell A1 (or the first visible cell, if some columns or rows are hidden)
Ctrl + Page Down - move one worksheet to the right
Ctrl + Page Up - move one worksheet to the left
Home - move to the beginning of a row
Selection Keyboard Shortcuts
If you hold down the Shift key, you can use the arrow keys to select cells. For example, if you are in cell A1, and you hold down Shift and press the down arrow, cells A1 and A2 will be selected. If you combine the shift key with the navigation shortcuts at the top, you will be able to select the range of cells you just moved through.
Ctrl + Shift + Arrow - select a range in the direction of the arrow you pressed.
Shift + Space bar - select a row
Ctrl + Space - select a column
Ctrl + A - select an entire worksheet
Ctrl + Shift + * - select an entire data range
These are only navigation and selection keyboard shortcuts in Excel. For even more Excel keyboard shortcuts, go to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HP052037811033.aspx. These shortcuts are for Excel 2003, but almost all of them will work in Excel 2007. Excel 2007 also has a new feature called key tips. To learn about key tips, read our Key Tips and Keyboard Shortcuts post.
September 10th, 2009 · Excel · Office 2007 · Posted by Holly Green
More than once I’ve talked to people who clicked the Print Preview button before printing an Excel worksheet that should fit on one or two pages, only to discover that 100+ pages were slated to print, and all but the first few were going to be blank.
In my experience, this usually happens because you have something (data or sometimes just formatting) in an unused area of the spreadsheet that you are not aware of.
To keep from accidentally printing extra pages, it’s a good idea to set up a Print Area. The Print Area tells Excel exactly what you want to print. Once you set a Print Area, Excel will only print that area, until you clear it.
Set a Print Area
Excel 2007
Select the data you want to print.
Go to the Page Layout tab.
Click on the Print Area button.
Select Set Print Area.
Later, if you need to clear the print area, you can click on the Print Area button and select Clear Print Area.
Excel 2003
Select the data you want to print.
Go to the File menu.
Hover your mouse over Print Area.
Select Set Print Area.
Later, if you need to clear the print area, you can go back and select Clear Print Area from the Print Area section of the File menu.
If you’ve ever looked at Office 2007, then you know that things have changed significantly. Most people I talk to are frustrated when they first switch to Office 2007, because they don’t know where to find the tools they used in earlier versions of Office. Microsoft has put together videos, demos, and interactive guides to help ease the transition, but you may not want to go looking for them each time you have a question about a program.
Good news! You can download a Get Started tab for Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007. This places a tab on the ribbon that gives you helpful information Microsoft has provided for that program. You will need an internet connection to use the tools on the Get Started tab.
Each tab must be downloaded individually.
To download:
Close all instances of the program to which you will add the Get Started tab, and click on the appropriate link below.
The McCombs Technology Training Team helps McCombs students, faculty, and staff with their McCombs technology resources, and with Microsoft Office. The trainers are Holly Green, Ben Bond, and Jeff Hauger.
To insert Clip Art:
