McCombs Office Solutions and Tips
A sheepish look comes across the faces of a lot of people I talk to when I ask if they’re backing up their files. A lot of people know that they should be backing up their files, they’re just not sure what that means. So here are answers to the most common questions about backing up files.
Backing a file up means saving a copy of a file to another physical location. That way if something happens to your computer–a hard drive crash, a fire, a puppy with a small bladder–you have another copy of your file somewhere else. Saving a copy to another folder on your computer does not count as another physical location.
Anything you don’t want to lose. The report you’ve been slaving over for weeks. Yes. Pictures of your daughter’s second birthday? Absolutely. Your entire music collection? You bet. Writing the great American novel? Back that puppy up!
This question is a bit trickier. You can back up to a physical location you keep in your home or office. A few examples are:
The problem with backing your files up to physical location in your home or office is that if a flood, fire, tornado, or thief, wipes out/runs off with your computer, it’s likely that they’ll also destroy/steal your backup location.
You can also back your files up to online resources. If you’re backing up work files, check with your IT department to make sure that the location is acceptable.
Services that will sync selected files with an online location:
Services that will back up your entire computer:
* If you work at The University of Texas, these are not acceptable places to back up your work documents. Read the UT section at the bottom for a great, secure location.
Keep in mind that if you back up online, you won’t be able to get to your files without an internet connection. Also, your important files could be compromised if the company’s servers are compromised. How would you feel if someone else got hold of your files? You should research how your files are protected and backed up if you choose an online file syncing or back up service.
This depends on how far behind you can afford to get. If you lost all the data on your computer today, would you be okay with your backed up files being versions from two weeks ago? Some people choose to back up daily or weekly. Other people choose to back up each time they finish working on a file. For example, each time you save and close an important spreadsheet, you can quickly save it to your backup location. If you have already backed up a file, and you haven’t touched it in months or years, there is no need to back it up regularly. Just back it up if you change it again.
Maybe. Some organizations have automatic back up systems in place. Others rely on their employees to back up their own files. If you don’t know what your organization does, ask someone in your IT department. If you work at The University of Texas at Austin, read the section at the bottom.
Yes, there are programs you can use that will sync your files for you, and there are companies that will automatically back up your computer for you through an internet connection (mentioned above). Do your research before choosing to use one of these. Make sure they are a reputable company (or piece of software) and check how your files are protected and backed up.
UT has a great service called UTBackup that will back up your files for you. To learn more about it, go to www.mccombs.utexas.edu/tech/help and use the search term UTbackup.
Which Windows programs do you use day in and day out? Most of us use the same three to five programs every single day. If you are in the same situation, you can save time by creating keyboard shortcuts to open them. I use shortcuts to quickly open Outlook and Firefox. It saves me a couple of minutes every day, and those minutes add up to several hours of saved time over the course of a year. Plus, pressing a few keys to make Excel open instantly makes me look awesome in front of co-workers. And isn’t that really the point of technology?
To create your own shortcuts in Windows:
Occasionally, I find an application that does not let me add a keyboard shortcut. In those cases, once you right-click in Step 2, choose either Pin to Taskbar or Pin to Start Menu to create a shortcut on either the Taskbar across the bottom of Windows, or the Start Menu, respectively.
If you pin a shortcut to the Taskbar, you can use a built-in keyboard shortcut to open that application instantly. The shortcut is the Windows key and a number, where the number you press is the application’s position in the Taskbar. The Windows key is the key with the Windows logo on it, usually found on the bottom row of your keyboard. For example, in the screenshot below, I would press the Windows key, and then 2 to open Internet Explorer.
A word of caution: when choosing a letter in Step 3, do not create a shortcut already using the Ctrl and Alt keys. For example, Ctrl + Alt + Delete brings up different Windows options. Similarly, Ctrl + Alt + Arrow keys can change the orientation of your monitors.
Now go out there and show off your super speedy Excel-opening skills!
Love the Microsoft Office tips you find on the MOST? Then check us out on YouTube, where we’ve posted all of our video tutorials.
http://www.youtube.com/mccombstrainers
And if you like learning through video tutorial, there are thousands more technology tutorials on YouTube. One of our favorites is Excel is Fun.
You’ve probably noticed that Microsoft Office automatically saves your files to your Documents folder/library (unless you’ve already changed this). But many people prefer to save their files somewhere else. A word of caution: if you save files to your desktop, Windows will run more slowly.
Changing the file location every time you save a file can get annoying. Here’s how you can change the default file location for files saved in each program. This needs to be set for each program.
Word 2010
Word 2007
The process to the change the default file location for programs like PowerPoint and Excel is exactly the same, except for some reason, these programs are missing the Browse button in step 4 (at least they are in 2010).
Here’s how to get around it:
