Instructor Tom - Useful Tips

These are a couple of tips that I have found handy.

Microsoft Office

The AutoCorrect feature in Microsoft Office can be used to do more than correct spelling errors. I use it to create a shorthand for terms I used frequently that are not easy to type. For example, I am an ASTD (American Society for Training and Development ) member. Typing the full name is a hassle, and typing the four caps is inconvenient (I have disabled the Caps Lock key).

I have added two entries to the right-hand side of the AutoCorrect table; "American Society for Training and Development", and "ASTD". The first one will get replaced by the expanded "American Society for Training and Development". The second one is replaced by the all caps version, "ASTD". (See below for how to find the AutoCorrect dialog box for Office 2007.) AutoCorrect entries apply to all members of the Office suite.

If for some reason you need to leave the shorthand text unreplaced, such as I did to write this article, Word allows you to keep the shorthand by placing the cursor at the first character of the shorthand, and clicking MB1 on the blue underline that appears. Blue underline for autocorrect

A small popup menu will appear that allows you to undo the correction.

Drop down MB1 menu for autocorrect.jpg

Warning: If you save, and close the document, then open it again, Word will, in its infinite wisdom, apply the AutoCorrect corrections. The little blue line will no longer appear. You will have to go back and undo the AutoCorrect "by hand". If you choose the "Stop Automatically Correcting" option in the menu, your entry in the AutoCorrect table is removed.

Accessing the AutoCorrect dialog box in Office 2007

Click on the office button (a.k.a. the pearl) in the upper left-hand side of the program window.

At the bottom of the menu, toward the left, is a button labeled, "Word Options" (or "Excel" or "PowerPoint" or whatever Office suite app you happen to be using). Click on the "Options" button. Word Options button

This will bring up the appropriate "Options" dialog box. In the left-hand pane, click on "Proofing". The AutoCorrect button will be near the top. Click that, and use the table that is at the bottom of the AutoCorrect dialog box.

Proofing AutoCorrect button

This comes in handy in any industry that has lots of long complicated terms, e.g., mesothelioma in the medical (and legal) field. Just be careful that your shortcut does not duplicate a real word.

PowerPoint

Have a great idea for that upcoming presentation? Want to capture it while you have a couple minutes, and before the idea fades?

You can start your PowerPoint presentation even if you are not near a PC with Microsoft Office. All you need is a text editor.

Start your text file with your first slide's title flush left. Put a tab in front of the first bullet, and likewise with following bullets. To create a sub bullet, preceed it with two tabs. For the second slide, it's back to the left margin, and so on for the rest of your presentation. Of course, there is no way to include graphics, or any advanced features like animation, but this does allow you to start putting together your content, which is the important part. Right?

Now start PowerPoint, and then in lower left side of the Open dialog box, select Any Outline from the dropdown near the Open button.

For example-

Slide Title A
    Bullet A1
     Bullet A2
         Sub bullet A2a
     Bullet A3
Slide Title B
     Bullet B1

This will produce a two slide presentation with a total of four bullets on the first slide, and a single bullet on the second.

This also works with WordPad (or any app that produces Rich Text Format (.rtf)), and Word.

Instructor Tom * Seymour * CT * US * 06483