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Microsoft Office Tips

View an alphabetical listing of Office Tech Tips

Minimize the Office 2007 Ribbon

The Office 2007 Ribbon can take up a lot of space on the screen.  But it doesn't have to!

To Minimize the Ribbon

	Right click on the Ribbon
	Select Minimize the Ribbon

Office 2007 Ribbon Replaces Pull-down Menus and Toolbars

There’s a lot of controversy about whether the new way of doing things in Office 2007 is an improvement or not. But the fact remains. It’s here to stay. The former pull-down menus and toolbars have been replaced by the Ribbon. Apparently there’s no option to revert to the "classic" Office interface. So we're all just going to have to accept it.

If you’re making the transition to Office 2007 check out Getting to know you...again: The Ribbon posted on office.microsoft.com.  This article is rich with links to training guides, videos, and other learning resources.  Or An introduction to the Microsoft Office 2007 ribbon interface posted on techrepublic.com.

Reasons Not to Upgrade to Office 2007

Many people are wondering whether to upgrade to Office 2007.  In an earlier tech tip we shared an article from PC World Microsoft Office 2007: A Worthy Upgrade This redesigned productivity suite is powerful and full featured, once you get used to the changes.  However, there are good reasons NOT to make the switch to the latest version of Microsoft Office. In an article published on www.itwire.com, the author discusses five of the most compelling reasons NOT to switch, at least not yet. Read Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007 and decide for yourself.
 

Share Information Between Office Programs

It's easy to share information between Word, Excel and PowerPoint. For example, if you want to use information from a PowerPoint slide in a Word document, just insert a copy of the entire slide in your Word document.

	Open your PowerPoint presentation
	Using Slide Sorter view, select the slide you want to copy
	Click the Copy button (or press Ctrl + c) to copy the slide to the clipboard
	Switch to your Word document
	Click where you want the slide to appear
	Click the Paste button (or press Ctrl + v) to paste the slide from the clipboard

OR instead of pasting a copy of the slide, after copying the slide to the clipboard:

	In Word, choose Edit from the pull-down menu and choose Paste Special
	From the Paste Special dialog box select Paste Link and choose As Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Object

Choose Paste Link ONLY if you would like the slide to change in your Word document if you change the slide in your PowerPoint presentation.  If you do NOT, use the first method and just copy the slide into your Word document.
 

Microsoft Office 2007

Many people are wondering whether to upgrade to the new Microsoft Office 2007.  PC World recently tackled the issue in Microsoft Office 2007: A Worthy Upgrade This redesigned productivity suite is powerful and full featured, once you get used to the changes.

For complete details about Microsoft Office Professional 2007, including: product guide, system requirements, frequently asked questions, and a free download so you can test drive before you buy, go to office.microsoft.com.
 

Microsoft Knowledge Base

One of my favorite resources is the Microsoft Knowledge Base.  You can search 100’s of thousands of articles by a specific product by clicking Select a Product.  Or do a more advanced keyword search by clicking Advanced Search.  If you’re having a problem that seems unsolvable, give it a try. Go to support.microsoft.com/search/

Showing Full Menus

Introduced in the release of Office 2000 was the annoying delayed menus feature.  When you choose a pull-down menu the program only displays the most recently used commands.  If you wait three seconds or click on the double arrow at the bottom of the list, it will display the rest of the commands available under that menu item.

To turn this feature off:

	Choose Tools from the pull-down menus.
	Select Customize.
	Click the Options tab.
	Select the Always show full menus check box.

Note: Changing this setting affects all of your Microsoft Office programs.
 

Creating Hyperlinks in Office Documents

Office programs allow you to create hyperlinks to external Web sites. Here's a quick way to insert a Web site address:

	Select the text you want to link and press CTRL+ K
	In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, make sure the insertion point is in the Address box
	Start your browser, and open the Web site you want to link to
	Select the Web site address and press Ctrl + C to copy it to the clipboard
	Switch back to the Office document. Press Ctrl V to copy the Web site address in the Address box of the Insert Hyperlink dialog box
	Click OK

Note: In some browsers the link may appear automatically without the need to copy and paste from the clipboard. This tip works in most Office programs.
 

AutoShapes: Callouts & Drop Shadows 

Microsoft FrontPage, PowerPoint, Word and Excel provide a variety of drawing tools. Use AutoShapes and Shadow Style to create effects for your Web site, presentation or document. With the auto-shape "Callouts", you can put dialog balloons together with photos to add interest to your pages.

To make a text balloon or "callout" like the one in the picture below, select the Drawing icon from the main toolbar to start a new drawing then:

1. In Page view, click on AutoShapes, then Callouts and select a choice. 
2. Place your cursor in the new drawing canvas on your page and click to create your callout shape.
3. Click on the callout shape to select it, then click the Fill Color (paint bucket) icon in the Drawing Toolbar and select the color you want to fill the shape with. 
4. Reselect your callout shape, click the Shadow Style icon on the Drawing Toolbar and select a drop shadow choice.
5. Reselect your callout shape and type or paste text.