The TrainingAuthority.

Capitalizing the first letter of each word in Excel with the Proper function

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:09:05 -0500

Have you ever imported data that was in all caps, or all lower case? There is a quick trick for capitalizing the first letter of each word in Excel.

=Proper(Cell) formula in Excel

In this example, I copy and pasted a list of the 3 most expensive paintings of all time.

The ‘Proper’ function allows me to quickly transform the data so that every word is capitalized. Simply type =proper(The cell you need to change).

Outlook: Quickly Finding Related Messages

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:08:24 -0500

Can’t find that one email in your list of replies that you need? If you find any message in your email chain, you can quickly group and find any others that were related (based on subject), by using this trick.

Right-click on an email from your Inbox that has more than one email in the string
Choose Find Related, then Messages in This Conversation which will display the list of results with the queried info highlighted in yellow
All emails with the same subject will be listed. By double-clicking on any of them, the email can be opened.

PowerPoint: Creating Custom Color Themes

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:07:59 -0500

You can create your own custom color palette to use in PowerPoint that will give you consistency throughout your presentations while allowing you to tie in your specific corporate colors. Once you create your own custom color scheme, it will be available to you every time you open up PowerPoint, so you can apply it to new or existing presentations.

On the Design tab, select Colors and Create New Theme Colors.

Click the drop-down next to each Theme color (for your Text/Background, Accents and Hyperlinks) and select the desired color choice.
Enter a Name for your Custom Theme.
Click Save when finished.
The new color scheme will now be available on the Design tab in the Colors theme list.

Hyperlinks in Word 2010

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:07:41 -0500

Hyperlinks in Word 2010 documents work just like hyperlinks on websites, allowing a reader to quickly jump to places in the document, in the file server, or on the web.

Creating Hyperlinks in Word 2010

Highlight text in your document that you want to be linked
In the Links group of the Insert tab, click on the Insert Hyperlinkbutton
Enter the web address in the pop up window if you are linking to a website or the file server
If you are linking to a place in the same document click on Place in This Document
In the Selection box, scroll down until you see the list of Bookmarks then click on the desired bookmark
Click OK to finish

New Year's Success Giveaway

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:30:00 -0500

New Year’s Success Giveaway — Everybody Wins!

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” - Benjamin Franklin

While I do not gamble and do not support it, I must say that the debate on the topic has been an interesting one. It got me thinking!

While I cannot give away a house, a car or $25,000 cash, I can give away something in my opinion, is even more valuable - knowledge and inspiration that help toward success. Over the years, I have accumulated tons of success-related, personal development and skill-building resources that have helped me in my journey. So, starting this month, I’d be giving copies of them away. Here’s how…

Each year I begin by revisiting my definition of success. I usually ask three questions:

1. What does success mean to me?

2. What few things do I need to accomplish, experience, see, do, become and/or feel in order to feel I have lived a successful year?

3. What will I do to kick start these actions?

I’d share mine in a separate email. This year, I invite you to join me as I aim to make this my best year ever. Send me your answers to these questions and I will choose the best answer to receive a free gift from my success library. It will be my way to support you in your success journey this year.

New Year’s Success Giveaway Rules

1. Can be work, business or personal related.
2. Has to be emailed to me before my email announcement on Jan. 29.
3. My favorite gets a success gift that would guarantee to help you in your journey.
4. Anyone can enter.

I’ll announce my choice on January 29th in an email update.

Change the Default Font in Word 2010

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:46:02 -0500

The new default font “Calibri” is nice, but you may not like it and want to revert back to the familiar Times New Roman or Arial.

With Word open, click the Home tab.
In the Font group, click the Font dialog box launcher in the lower right hand corner.
In the Font section, change the Font Style. If desired, change the Font Size.
At the lower left-hand corner of the Font Dialog box, click Set as Default.
Click Yes when prompted to change the default.

Animate a Chart in PowerPoint

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:45:57 -0500

Animate a chart in PowerPoint to make each column or point appear separately in order with these simple steps.

Copy a column chart from Excel.
Paste it onto a blank PowerPoint slide.
Select the Chart.
Click the Animation Tab.
Select the Fade In effect or any other desired entrance.
Click on the Effects Options drop-down menu and choose By Series, By Category, By Element in Series, or By Element in Category.

Outlook Voting Buttons

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:45:52 -0500

Everyone has an opinion, and wants to share it. Start your own democratic system in the office, with Outlook Voting Buttons

From a new mail message, click the Optionstab.
In the Tracking group, click Use Voting Buttons.
Select one of the default voting choices, or click Custom to create your own (separate choices by a semicolon).
Edit and send the message as you normally would.
To view the results, click any response or view your original message. You can also open your original email and click on the tracking tab to view all responses together.

Excel Formula for Today's Date

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:45:46 -0500

Here is a quick formula that calculates the current date each time you open your spreadsheet.

Select a cell
Type the following formula: <Today()
Press Enter

Now that cell will always display the current date and can be referenced in other formulas

NOTE: you can also use the Now command if you would like to include the time as well: <Now()

Baha Mar and Junior Achievement Bahamas ”JA Mingle”...

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 11:46:47 -0500

Baha Mar and Junior Achievement Bahamas ”JA Mingle” panalists and executives. (L-R) LaQuinta Tynes - Deputy Programme Manager, JA New Providence: Royann Dean - Marketing Consultant, Baha Mar; Jenny Pinder - Tribune Media Group; Lashanta Smith - Programme Manager, JA New Providence; Kristin Wells - Director, Baha Mar Academy; Philip Simon II - Vice Chairman, JA Bahamas; Shonalee King Johnson - Manager Communications, Nassau Airport Development and Keshelle Kerr - President/Founder, CreativeWealth Bahamas. (Photo: Antonio Saunders for II&D) — with LaQuinta Tynes, Lashanta Smith, Raymond Winder, Derek W Smith, Philip Simon II, Shonalee King Johnson andKeshelle Kerr.

10 things you should know about Word 2010's mail merge tools

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 19:50:44 -0500

Takeaway: Word’s mail merge process has traditionally been viewed as intimidating and complex. But once you master a few basics, you’ll discover that Word’s mail merge tools are straightforward and easy to use.

So you need to send 100 letters to the biggest donors in the Midwest region. You don’t want to create 100 Word documents and type in each name and address separately, do you? Of course not. Word 2010’s mail merge process makes the task fairly simple — provided you know how to follow the right steps. Mail merge is one of those procedures most people use infrequently, so even if you’re an old hand a Word, a refresher might be helpful.

1: Know your data

The best place to start for any mail merge process is with a clean data list. If you’re new to the data game, or you aren’t the one responsible for keeping track of your donor or customer list, that may be an unfamiliar task. The list of data you use — which could include names, addresses, products, donations, and more — may be stored in an Excel worksheet, an Access table, a text file, or even an Outlook contacts list. Word can use data from a wide variety of sources, so don’t worry — you’ll get to import the data in the next step. But before you begin the merge process, look at the data to see what the fields are (First Name, Last Name, Product, for example) and get an idea of the fields you’re likely to use in the merge process. This will help you later when you create your letter.

2: Start your merge document

When you’re ready to create the document you want to merge the data into, you have a couple of options. You can use one of Word’s merge templates (click the New tab in Backstage view and type merge in the Search Office.com Templates box; then press [Enter]) or create a new blank document where you can add the desired text and fields. If you start with a template, you can use the fields that are already in place when you merge your data. If you start from scratch, you’ll need to add your own fields to the document (which you will do in step 6).

Figure A

Some templates already have merge fields entered for you.

3: Think output

Word gives you a range of choices for the type of merge document you want to create. Click theMailings tab and then click Start Mail Merge to see your choices. The first choice, Letters, is the most common, but you can also create labels, envelopes, email messages, and even a directory you can use for an employee roster, a product listing, a course catalog, or something else that fits your needs (Figure B).

Figure B

Begin the process by choosing the type of document you want to create.

A few versions of Word ago, the developers-that-be introduced the Mail Merge Wizard — to the relief of many users. The wizard walks you through the whole merge process step by step. If you’d like to use the wizard, click Start Mail Merge and click Step By Step Mail Merge Wizard. The wizard appears in the task pane on the right side of your document and leads you through choosing the document type, selecting recipients, customizing your list, adding fields, and producing the output. If you choose not to use the wizard, read on.

4: Import your list

Once you select the type of output you want to create, you’re ready to add your data. You can add the information you want to merge with your document by typing it directly into Word, importing a list of existing data, or adding data from your Outlook contacts. Click Select Recipients in the Mailings tab and then choose the option that fits what you want to do. If you choose Type New List, a dialog box appears so that you can add new addresses and contact info. If you select Use Existing List, the Select Data Source dialog box appears, so that you can select the file containing the information you want to add. If you choose Select From Outlook Contacts, a dialog box appears so that you can choose the address list you want to use.

If you’re adding data from an existing file, click the Data Sources arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Select Data Source dialog box and select the file type you want to use (Figure C). Click the file and then click Open to add the file to the Word merge process.

Figure C

Choose the type of data file you want to import by clicking the Data Sources arrow in the Select Data Source dialog box.

If the data file you add to Word includes more than one data table, Word will prompt you to choose the table containing the data you want to add. Click OK to import the data for Word to use in the merge.

5: Include only the info you want

Now you can choose the data you want to include in the document. That’s one of the great things about the Word merge process — you can import your data list as it is and then use only the elements you need. Choose the data you want to include by clicking the Mailings tab and clicking Edit Recipient List. In the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, you can sort, filter, and select the data you want to be included in the merge (Figure D).

Figure D

Use the options in the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box to choose the data you want to include.

6: Use ready-made fields

Another way Word can help you customize your merge document is by adding ready-made fields to your document. You’ll find a collection of fields in the Write & Insert Fields group in the Mailings tab. Click Address Block to add a set of address fields to the document or click Greeting Line to add a salutation. Click Insert Merge Field to insert one of the fields from the data file you’ve imported in the document.

7: Match fields to get the right data in the right place

You can tell Word which fields to map to specific merge fields in your document by using the Match Fields tool in the Write & Insert Fields group in the Mailings tab. To match a field, click Match Fields. Then, in the Match Fields dialog box, click the arrow of the field you want to match and select the field in your data file that you want to match to the Word field name. You can do this as many times as you need to in order to match all the fields you want to include. If you plan to use this data file regularly in different merges, click the Remember This Matching For This Data Source On This Computer check box to save the settings. Click OK to save your changes.

8: Inserting data conditionally

If you have a conditional nature to the merge you’re performing — for example, if you want to include one phrase if a customer purchased Product A, but a different phrase if the customer purchased Product B, you can use the If…Then…Else rule to set that up. Click Rules in the Write & Insert Fields group on the Mailings tab and click If…Then…Else. Choose the field name and the comparison setting (for instance, Equal To or Not Equal To) and then choose the data you want the field value to be compared with. For this example, you might choose the Product field, select Equal To as the comparison setting, and enter Product A as the Compare To value. In the text boxes, enter the text you want to be displayed if the Product field does show Product A, as well as the text to be displayed if the value is not Product A.

9: Preview the merge

After you finalize the data settings and rules you want to use, you’re ready to take a look at the merge in real time. To preview the merge, simply click Preview Results in the Mailings tab. Click Next Record and Previous Record to page through the different documents. Look for a specific recipient by clicking Find Recipient and entering the recipient’s name in the Find box and click Find Next. Click Auto Check for Errors to ensure that nothing will hang you up in the real merge. You can simulate the merge and check for errors at the same time, merge the files but elect to be prompted at each error so you can fix the problem, or finish the merge and receive a report of all errors at the end so you can go back through and deal with any problems that occurred. The first time or two you do this, you may want to choose the simulation option so you know how to correct the errors in the merge before you need to do it live. This can save time and trouble — and headaches — when you’re working with a huge merge project.

10: Wrap it up

Finally, you’re ready to accomplish the goal you’ve been heading for all along: printing those documents, sending those email messages, or creating a set of documents you can save and file or edit and send. Use the Finish & Merge tool in the Finish group on the Mailings tab to accomplish this last step. When you choose Edit Individual Documents, the Merge Documents dialog box asks you to choose which records you want to merge. The merged documents are placed in a new Word file, ready for you to save. The Print Documents selection displays the Merge To Printer dialog box so that you can choose the records you want to print. Just enter your settings and click OK to send the files to the printer. The last option, Send E-mail Messages, displays the Merge To E-mail dialog box, which enables you to choose the recipients, select the format for the message, and then choose your records and click OK to send.

Learn it in a Minute: Become a Shortcut Superstar in Microsoft Office

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:04:59 -0500

Learn it in a Minute: Become a Shortcut Superstar in Microsoft Office

Repeat your last action in Excel

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:57:54 -0500

Have you ever wanted to hit a single key to repeat the last thing you did again and again as many times as you want? Then this tip is for you!

Perform an action, like Bold, Delete, Insert, etc.
Position the cursor for the repeated action
Hit the F4 function key at the top of the standard keyboard

This will continue to repeat until you perform a different action.

(p.s. This works in all the Microsoft programs too.)

‘Tis the Season: How to Stay Productive This Time of Year

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:42:28 -0500

With the holiday season in high gear and most everyone taking time off, sometimes it seems like the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is a barren wasteland when it comes to productivity at work. People whom you need to reach are unavailable. Everyone is distracted by personal and family activities. It’s hard to focus and not much seems to get done. Make the most of the lull and get ready for the year ahead by focusing on a few non-routine tasks and projects, some of them creative, some “mindless”, and some to help you move your career ahead.

Stick to a schedule. Adhering to your daily schedule will enable you to be more productive and less likely to slip into a holiday slump.
Put together a general task and to-do list of projects that you want to hit the ground running with as 2013 begins. By keeping a prioritized list, your mind will be more at ease.
Clean up 2012. Clean out and organize your workspace, messages, and computer files. Then get a jumpstart by setting up files for 2013.
Give your office a makeover. Go beyond cleaning out files–make your office visually appealing and also functional.
Focus on solo work. Just because many colleagues are out of the office for the holidays, you may still be able to get work done. See if you can work on some parts of a project. Or focus on a project where you do not need anyone else’s assistance.
Catch up on networking and keep building relationships. Send out cards and appreciation letters. Attend a networking event, accept invitations, or simply catch up on all your LinkedIn friend requests.
Use the time to educate yourself on things that are relevant to your business or role, or perhaps explore a new but relevant skill. Stock up on books and professional publications to read and webinars to take.
Start planning what training and development activities you’d like to complete next year. Go over your technology toolkit. What applications would you like to learn or brush up on?

Posted from Administrative Professional Conference newsletter

12 iPad & iPhone Tips & Tricks

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:31:00 -0500

12 iPad & iPhone Tips & Tricks

Everyone has either an iPad or iPhone these days. If you don’t put it on your Christmas wish list. Become more productive with your iPad or iPhone with these quick and easy tips and tricks:

To change the impersonal default iPad signature which reads “Sent from my iPad” to a more personal signature, pick Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Signature. These same steps will change your iPhone signature too.
To quickly scroll to the top of an iPad or iPhone page, tap the status bar (the thin black bar at the top of the screen with the current time).
Double tap the Home button on your iPad or iPhone to display the multitasking bar at the bottom to show the most recently opened apps.
Want to add more personality to your messages? Just add emoticons (such as smileys). From youriPad or iPhone, pick Settings > General > Keyboard > International Keyboards (Keyboard on the iPhone) > Add New Keyboard… > choose Emoji. Once you have installed the emoticon keyboard, just access it from your keyboard with the globe icon.
To open the iPad or iPhone Notification Center with updates (such as e-mail and social media) slide your finger down from the status bar (the thin black bar at the top of the screen).
To quickly change brightness on your iPad, double tap the Home button and then swipe to the right for the brightness control.
Tapping & holding the .com button on your iPad or iPhone keyboard brings up other search options including .org and .net.
In the Safari browser on iPad, you can save images-just tap & hold the image to see launch a pop-up for Save Image.
When browsing in Safari on an iPad or iPhone, double tap on a page to zoom in; repeat to zoom out.
For easy numeric and punctuation on an iPad or iPhone, tap & hold the .?123 button (123 button on iPhone) and then drag over to the character you want. No need to manually switch back to the alphabetical characters with this trick.
To quickly type a period on iPad or iPhone, just tap the space bar twice.
To add an apostrophe from the iPad keyboard tap & hold the ! key and then slide up; hold and slide up the ? key for a single quote mark.

Written by Dawn Bjork Buzbee, MCT, The Software Pro^®

Photo

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 13:09:06 -0500

Stop Reinventing the Wheel in Microsoft Word

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:43:00 -0500

You open an old proposal document, save it under a new name, and change the names. It’s a great plan, right up until you miss one small name change and send it out. Ouch! Next time, take your time. Be sure to delete all changeable references. Then save as (F12) a template by changing the Save as type field to Word Template. To use it, choose File (Office Button in 2007), New, and My Templates, to locate it. When you do it this way, Word saves a copy and leaves you in a document, not the template. This way you avoid mistakes and keep your old documents safe.

Another option for doing the hard work once is Quick Parts. It is available in both Outlook and Word, 2007 and 2010. Let’s say that you created a paragraph that has a specific use, like a contract clause. Since you only use it occasionally, you search for a document that uses it, copy and paste it into the new one. Next time, instead of just copying it, on the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Quick Parts and select Add to Quick Parts gallery. Enter a name and description, then OK to save. Now, when you click on Quick Parts, you’ll see this selection in the drop down menu.

Microsoft Excel: Understanding AutoComplete

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:39:00 -0500

Excel includes a handy time-saving feature called AutoComplete. This feature can save you time when you are entering lots of similar information in a column. You may already have noticed this feature before—when you start to type something in a cell, Excel tries to guess what you are typing and shows a “match” that you can accept simply by pressing Enter.

The “matches” that Excel uses in its “guess” is nothing but the contents of the cells in the column, above where you are making your entry. For instance, if you have information in cells A1 through A6 and you are entering a value in cell A7, Excel looks at what you are typing. If the first few characters uniquely match something in any of the six cells previously entered in the column, then Excel offers to AutoComplete A7 with the contents of the cell that matched.

Excel only tries to match your new entry with immediately adjacent cells above the one in which you are entering the information. It stops trying to match entries when a blank cell is reached. For instance, suppose you have information in cells A1 through A14 and A16 through A23. When you start typing an entry in cell A24, Excel only tries to match it with values in A16 through A23; the blank cell at A15 halts the comparisons.

In addition, Excel does not try to match with cells that contain only numbers, dates, or times. The cells must contain either text or a combination of text and numbers.

For some people, AutoComplete can be annoying rather than time-saving. If you want to turn off the AutoComplete feature, follow these steps:

Display the Excel Options dialog box. (In Excel 2007 click the Office button and then click Excel Options. In Excel 2010 display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
At the left side of the dialog box click Advanced. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The advanced options of the Excel Options dialog box.

Clear the check box named Enable AutoComplete for Cell Values.
Click on OK.

Outlook 2007: 5 Sizzling Time Savers

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:34:40 -0500

Outlook 2007: 5 Sizzling Time Savers

How much time do you spend in Outlook managing Email, Calendars, Contacts and other information? More than 10 minutes per day? Then you need tricks to help you blast through the overload and get other things done. Here are 5 sizzlers for using Outlook 2007 more effectively.

Ever remember a word in an email but can’t find the email? Outlook 2007 whips it up with Instant Search. It’s the drop down list just above your list of email (or you can click Tools, point to Instant Search and select an option). To use it, click inside the text box, type the key word you remember from the email, press Enter and see the list of email displaying only what is relevant and the key word is highlighted in every email in which the key word appears! Try it! Then try it in Calendars and Contacts too!
Do you prefer color coding for organizing your information? Try the new Categories feature. Categories are displayed in the small box to the right of email subject displayed in your Inbox. When you want to set a visual cue, right-click the box and select a category. Assign multiple categories if you wish. Use the All Categories option to control category names, color options and create more categories. From the email list, you can Arrange By categories as well! By the way, categories can be assigned to appointments, to-do items and contacts too!
Do you manage multiple calendars? One for you, your boss, your team, a conference room? Do you view them at once or flip between them? Use Calendar Overlays to easily see and compare availability! If you need to open another calendar, do so with the File, Open, Calendar menu option. The calendars you have open are shown in a list just below the calendar navigator. Click the check box to display at least 2 calendars side by side. You can see them as one calendar by selecting View in Overlay Mode from the View menu. This is a smokin’ tip!
Need to share some basic details of your calendar with others? Send a Calendar Snapshot to them in email. From inside a new mail message, click the Insert Ribbon and click Calendar from the Include section. In the dialog box, select options to indicate the date range, level of detail to reveal and any advanced options that meet your need. Click OK and observe the image that Outlook drops into your email. Stop struggling to find a date and time for a meeting with someone outside your domain!
Tired of waiting for an attachment to save or open so you can see what’s inside? Attachment Preview allows you to see attachments without opening them. Just click the attachment you want to view. It displays in the Reading Pane without opening. Don’t worry, dangerous files like programs do not display in the Reading Pane.

Try these new features of Outlook 2007 today to slash your effort and help you sizzle through the day! Watch for the February article, which will include 5 tips to make any version of Excel your friend!

SmartArt: One of My Favorite Features in Microsoft Office 2007/2010

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:29:52 -0500

Feature Article

SmartArt: One of My Favorite Features in Microsoft Office 2007

Switching to Microsoft Office 2007 is a big change for most people. Fortunately, the struggle of learning a dramatically different interface and tracking down the new look and location of important commands is often offset by improved or added features. Among the many useful and long overdue upgrades to Office 2007, one of my favorites is SmartArt, a significant improvement to the Diagram feature in Office 2003. You will appreciate this great tool if you have ever wasted hours of your valuable time trying to manually create a good looking diagram with drawing shapes, lines and arrows.

Easy to use, a SmartArt graphic is an excellent choice to illustrate a concept such as a process, organizational or other relationship chart, or cycle diagram. Available in Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007, a SmartArt graphic is a much better choice than, for instance, one more PowerPoint slide with bullets.

To add a SmartArt graphic to an Office 2007 document:

From the Insert tab, choose SmartArt from the Illustrations group.
This example is from PowerPoint 2007.
Select a category of SmartArt for the concept you want to visually describe. Navigate through your choices to see examples and explanations of the available graphics. Keep in mind you can add or remove graphics, change colors, and re-size and move the SmartArt object.
Once you create a graphic, you can add text to the shapes using the optional SmartArt Text pane or by clicking directly into the placeholders on the shapes. Some layouts even support adding pictures. Shapes can be added or removed from the graphic and the layout will adjust accordingly. Do you need six shapes but your graphic has only five? Just press [Enter]. Use[Delete] to remove extra shapes.
Click into your document to finish the SmartArt. Click back into the graphic as needed to modify your work.

Start adding SmartArt graphics to clarify and improve your communications.