Daily Tips and Tricks Special Delivery - Microsoft

Create Custom ScreenTips for Shapes Shape ScreenTips in Microsoft Office Visio are the boxed text that appears when you point to a shape. Some Visio shapes have built-in ScreenTips—usually the name of the shape (such as the name of a workflow step). However, you can edit existing ScreenTip text or create new ScreenTip text for shapes that don’t have a built-in ScreenTip. To create or edit a ScreenTip: 1. Select the shape. 2. On the Insert menu, click either Shape ScreenTip or Edit Shape ScreenTip, as applicable. 3. In the Shape ScreenTip dialog box, type or edit the ScreenTip text. 4. Click OK.

Save and Reuse Tables Do you frequently create the same type of complex table, such as a financial table or tables to use for custom page layouts? If so, you can save that table for easy insertion into any document by storing it in the Quick Tables gallery. Here’s how: Select the table, and then press ALT+F3 to open the Create New Building Block dialog box. Type a name for your table, click the Gallery drop-down arrow, and then choose Tables from the list. You can set other options as well, such as choosing or creating a category for your table, which affects where in the Quick Tables gallery it is stored. By clicking the Save in drop-down arrow, you can indicate the template in which you want to store the table. However, if you leave the default Building Blocks.dotx as the Save in location, your table will be available to you for use in any document. To access your saved table, on the Insert tab, click Table, and then point to Quick Tables. Format Chart Elements Just Like Shapes In Microsoft Office Excel 2007, charts have as much data-crunching power as ever. They’re also part of the new Microsoft Office graphics engine, so you can format charts with the same flexibility as other Microsoft Office drawing objects, such as shapes. To apply a style of formatting to the entire chart, on the Chart Tools Design tab, select an entry from the Chart Styles gallery. Or to apply custom formatting, select a chart element (such as a data series), and then click the Chart Tools Format tab for the option to apply shape styles, fill, outline, or effect formatting. From the Chart Tools Format tab, you can also apply WordArt formatting to the text of selected chart elements, such as the legend, axis labels, and data labels.

Use Outlook to View the Web You can view the Web from Microsoft Office Outlook. Here’s how: 1. On the View menu, click Toolbars, and then click Web to display the Web address bar. 2. Enter a URL, and the view pane will become a browser while still retaining the Outlook Navigation Bar. 3. Click any navigation item or the Back button to return to your Outlook view.

Share Custom Chart Types To save your active Microsoft Office Excel chart as a template that you can reuse or share, on the Chart Tools Design tab, in the Type section, click Save as Template. In the Save Chart Template dialog box, type a name for your new chart type, and then click Save. To create a chart based on a chart template, on the Insert tab, in the lower-right corner of the Charts section, click the dialog box launch icon to open the Insert Chart dialog box. Then click Templates to access your saved custom chart types. Each chart template is saved as an individual file that you can copy and share. Saved chart templates are located in your Microsoft Office user templates folder, inside a subfolder named Charts. To locate your user templates folder, click the Office button, and then click Excel Options. Click the Trust Center tab, and then click Trust Center Settings. In the Trust Center dialog box, on the Trusted Locations tab, double-click the entry Excel 2007 default location: User Templates to view the full file path.

Modifying the Report Here’s how you can modify a report in Microsoft Office Access 2007. 1. Ensure you are in Layout view, which is the default view if you have just created a new report. 2. Select the fields (columns) that you want to delete (press SHIFT to select multiple fields), and then press DELETE. 3. Resize columns by dragging the column edge to the width you want. 4. To reorder columns, select the column that you want to move, and then drag it to another location. 5. Double-click the report title to modify it. 6. To add banded rows, select a row. Then on the Formatting contextual tab, in the Font section, choose a color from Alternate Fill/Back Color. 7. To add a group, in the Grouping pane, click Add a group. If the pane is not open, on the Ribbon, on the Formatting tab, click Grouping. Select the fields that you want to group. 8. To change to Landscape mode or adjust margins, go to the contextual Page Setup tab.

Turn Any 2-D Shape into a 3-D Object Want to convert a flat shape in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 into a 3-D object? Here’s how: 1. With a slide open, click the Insert tab, and then select any shape from the Shapes ribbon. Alternately, select a shape you have created yourself. 2. Click the slide's surface to add the shape to the slide. 3. Right-click the shape, and then click Format Shape. 4. Select a solid or gradient fill. This step is not required but will enhance the 3-D look of your object. 5. Transform your shape into a 3-D object. You can add depth, bevel, contour, and surface type via the 3-D Format tab. 6. Give perspective to your 3-D shape. Rotate the object via the 3-D Rotation tab. Upgrade Old Documents to 2007 Versions If you receive a document from a colleague who is not yet running the 2007 Microsoft Office system, the 2007 Office system will automatically open it in Compatibility Mode. However, not all the new features will be available to you. When you close the document, it will be saved in its original format, not in the format of the 2007 release. If you want to upgrade the file to the 2007 Office system: 1. Click the Office button, and then click Convert. 2. In the Microsoft Office Word dialog box, click OK, and then click Save. Note: You may want to make a backup copy of the file before you upgrade it. Also, to see when you are working in Compatibility Mode, look at the top of the screen. The phrase Compatibility Mode will appear in brackets to the right of the file name.

Allocate Time for Tasks in Your Outlook Calendar Outlook 2007 now provides a view of your current tasks in the bottom pane of your Calendar view. To allocate time in your calendar to perform these tasks, drag each task to a specific time slot on the calendar. These time slots will then appear as "busy" in your Outlook calendar.