25 USEFUL MICROSOFT OFFICE TIPS
Tips and Tricks
As wonderful as Microsoft Office is, many of its most powerful features are hidden away,
buried several levels deep in a menu (or hidden in sort of plain sight in the ribbon), and it's
impossible to learn about them if you don't know where they are. This Workshop will reveal
many of those helpful features.
GENERAL TIPS
Works with all Microsoft Office software
• Customize quick access tool bar
• Search for a string of text
• Select all text
• Zoom with your mouse’s scroll wheel
• Pin a document or folder to the recent documents list
• Windows 7's Built-in Speech Recognition
Customize quick access tool bar
SEARCH FOR A STRING OF TEXT
•
To start, click press and hold the
'CTRL' key on your
keyboard. Continue holding the
'CTRL' key and press the letter 'F' on
your keyboard. Once you have clicked
'CTRL + F' a search bar will appear.
Now type the word or phrase you want
to find into the search bar.
Doing this will highlight all instances of the
specific word you typed. This useful trick
works in all types of Microsoft Office
documents and web pages!
SELECT ALL
•
To start, click press and hold the 'CTRL' key on your keyboard. Continue holding the
'CTRL' key and press the letter ‘A' on your keyboard. Once you have clicked 'CTRL +
A' all of the content will be highlighted.
•
It’s also accessible on the Home Tab of the ribbon!
ZOOM WITH A MOUSE’S SCROLL WHEEL
1. Hold down the CRTL key
2. Move the scroll wheel up or down to
zoom In or Out.
Pin a document or folder to the recent documents list
- Great for quick access!
WINDOWS 7'S BUILT-IN SPEECH RECOGNITION
1.
Open Speech Recognition by clicking the Start button
2.
Clicking Control Panel, clicking Ease of Access, and then clicking Speech Recognition.
3.
Click Set up microphone.
4.
Follow the instructions on the screen.
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OUTLOOK
• Send/Receive All Folders
• Mailbox Clean up tools
• Add an external email inbox into
Outlook (AOL, Gmail, Hotmail,
Yahoo)
SEND/RECEIVE ALL MESSAGES
In most cases, e-mail messages are sent automatically whenever you
click Send in the new message window, and received at several possible
times, including when starting Microsoft Outlook, at automatic intervals,
and upon manual Send/Receive requests. This is useful if you’re logging
out at the end of the day and you want to be sure a message isn’t stuck in
your inbox.
MAILBOX CLEAN UP TOOLS
ADD AN EXTERNAL EMAIL INBOX INTO OUTLOOK (AOL, GMAIL,
HOTMAIL, YAHOO)
HOW TO USE YOUR EXTERNAL EMAIL VIA OUTLOOK
WORD
• Search for Comments, Pictures, and Tables
• Read Mode
• Change the default line spacing
• Show/hide hidden formatting symbols, paragraph marks, and
section breaks
• Word talks “Speak selected text”
• Review tab: Comments, show final mark up
• View 2 word documents side by side
• Compatibility with Earlier Versions
YOU CAN NOW SEARCH FOR MORE THAN JUST TEXT. YOU
CAN SEARCH FOR PICTURES, COMMENTS, OR EVEN TABLES!
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READ MODE - THE BEST WAY TO READ A DOCUMENT,
INCLUDING SOME TOOLS DESIGNED FOR READING
INSTEAD OF WRITING.
•
Click View > in the Views group > click Read Mode.
•
Goes Full Screen
•
Double-click an image to enlarge
•
Free of distractions as most buttons are hidden
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CHANGE THE DEFAULT LINE SPACING
SHOW/HIDE HIDDEN FORMATTING SYMBOLS,
PARAGRAPH MARKS, AND SECTION BREAKS
WORD TALKS “SPEAK SELECTED TEXT”
REVIEW TAB: COMMENTS, SHOW FINAL MARK
UP
VIEW 2 WORD DOCUMENTS SIDE BY SIDE
COMPATIBILITY WITH EARLIER VERSIONS
•
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You can save the file as a Word 97-2003
document. This changes the file
extension from .DOCX to .DOC. This
means users who have not upgraded to
version 2007 or higher will be able to
open it with downloading a viewer.
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POWERPOINT
• Saving a Slide as an image
• Print screen, paste into a PPT slide, then insert arrows
• Print multiple slides on 1 page - including the notes
• New Default Slide Size
• New Look Presenter View
SAVING A SLIDE
AS AN IMAGE
•
In PowerPoint, you can save the presentation as an image file.
PRINT SCREEN
PRINT MULTIPLE SLIDES ON 1 PAGE - INCLUDING THE
NOTES
NEW DEFAULT SLIDE SIZE
•
Much of the world’s TVs and video have gone to widescreen and HD
formats, and so has PowerPoint. In previous versions, the slide ratio
was 4:3. In PowerPoint 2013, 16:9 is the new default, but you can
change this on the Design tab.
•
If you work with slides in older versions of PowerPoint, or are
presenting on older
•
monitors or projectors, you’ll want to change the slide ratio back to
4:3. To do so, Click Design > Slide Size and then choose 4:3.
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NEW LOOK PRESENTER VIEW
•
Note that Presenter View no longer
requires multiple monitors. Now you can
rehearse and use all the tools in Presenter
View from a single monitor without hooking
up anything else.
•
The Presenter View enables the user to
plan ahead by displaying notes about the
slide and providing a preview of the next,
and offers various other controls, including
a pen tool for drawing the audience’s
attention to a particular slide or detail.
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EXCEL
•
Text to Columns – delineate via special characters or fixed width
•
Removing duplicate values – check for and delete specific cells with duplicate values
•
Instantly reveal formulas and general number format of all cells
•
Comparing 2 or more Excel spreadsheets simultaneously
•
Create a table from a list
•
Freeze a row in your worksheet
•
Printing Tips – Set print area, narrow margins, shrink to fit
TEXT TO COLUMNS
•
Text to Columns – delineate via special characters or fixed width
REMOVING DUPLICATE VALUES
•
Removing duplicate values – check for and delete specific cells with duplicate values
INSTANTLY REVEAL FORMULAS AND GENERAL NUMBER
FORMAT OF ALL CELLS
•
Show all formulas and the general number format of cells
•
Saves you time because you don’t have to move the cell pointer to check
each formula one-by-one.
COMPARING 2 OR MORE EXCEL SPREADSHEETS
SIMULTANEOUSLY
•
You can open two instances of Excel
INSTEAD of multiple files on top of
each other in the same Excel
application.
•
To do this, simply open Excel by
double clicking the icon on your
desktop and open the first Excel file
you want to use. Minimize this
window and move it to the right
screen. Then go back to the desktop,
double click the Excel icon once
more, another separate Excel window
will open.
TABLES
•
To make managing and analyzing a group of related data easier, you can turn a range of
cells into a Microsoft Office Excel table (previously known as an Excel list). A table
typically contains related data in a series of worksheet rows and columns that have been
formatted as a table. By using the table features, you can then manage the data in the
table rows and columns independently from the data in other rows and columns on the
worksheet.
ELEMENTS OF AN EXCEL TABLE
•
Header row By default, a table has a header row. Every table column has filtering
enabled in the header row so that you can filter or sort your table data quickly.
ELEMENTS OF AN EXCEL TABLE
•
Banded rows By default, alternate shading or banding has been applied to the rows in
a table to better distinguish the data.
ELEMENTS OF AN EXCEL TABLE
•
Total row You can add a total row to your table that provides access
to summary functions (such as the AVERAGE, COUNT, or SUM
function). A drop-down list appears in each total row cell so that you
can quickly calculate the totals that you want.
FREEZE HEADERS
•
To freeze a row in your worksheet, highlight the row where you wish all rows before the highlighted row to
be frozen or locked, go to Window>Freeze Panes and you will see a line appear across your
worksheet. Everything above the line is frozen and will remain in view when you scroll down your
worksheet.
SET PRINT AREA
NARROW MARGINS
SHRINK TO FIT
QUESTIONS/ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
One-on-One Training
•
Email EdTech@wilmu.edu to set up a
one-on-one training session with an
instructional technologist.
Lynda.com - Online Training
•
Lynda.com has online training tutorials for over
150 software applications. Once you have an
account, you can access these high-quality
training tutorials that are taught by industry
experts and available 24/7 for convenient, selfpaced learning. Request an account at:
www.wilmu.edu/edtech/training/lynda.asp
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