Posts Tagged ‘MS Word’

Spell Check the Subject Line in your MS Outlook e-Mail

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

If you are using MS Word as your editor in Outlook and have enabled the spell check as you type option, I am sure that must have noticed that the subject is not spell checked as you type. To have that happen automatically, you must enable the option to Check spelling before sending.

Follow these steps to make that happen:

  • Click on Tools | Options | Spelling.
  • Select Always Check Spelling before Sending.

This setting is, by default, turned off, so you will have to turn it on if you want your subject spell checked automatically.

Clicking F7 to start a spell check will also check the subject line.

Headers & Footers in MS Word and OpenOffice Writer

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

A header is text that appears at the top of each page, or the pages that you select, in your document. A footer appears at the bottom of your pages. You may want to add pages numbers to the top or bottom of a document, and you can do so from the header or footer area. You do not have to add headers and footers to each page. Word enables you to type them just one time and it automatically adds them to each page.

Follow the steps below to add a header or footer to your document:

  1. Select View | Header and Footer, to display the Header and Footer toolbar and display an entry area in which you can type the header and footer text

  1. Type your header text. If you want to type footer text, click the toolbar’s Switch Between Header and Footer button to display the footer entry area and type your footer text.
  2. If you want to add page numbers, the date or the time to your header or footer text, click the appropriate buttons on the Header and Footer toolbar.
  3. Click the Close button to anchor the header or footer in your document.

Word normally dims header and footer text so that you can easily distinguish between the header and footer and the rest of your document. You can see these items when editing your document within the Print Layout view, but they remain dimmed while in Normal view. If you want to specify that the header or footer are to appear only on certain pages such as odd or even numbered pages, select File | Page Setup | Layout and check the Different Odd and Even or Different First Page check box. You must be in Print Layout view to see headers and footers in their proper places on the page.

If you want to edit a header or footer, display your document in Print Layout view and then double-click the dimmed header or footer text. Word opens the Header and Footer toolbar and enables you to edit the header or footer text.

Now let’s do the same thing in OpenOffice Writer:

You can create headers and footers for your pages. The most common use for headers and footers is to insert page numbers, but you can use them for anything your little heart desires.

To create a header or footer in OpenOffice Writer, follow the steps below:

  1. Choose Format | Page to open the Page Style dialog box.

  1. Click the Header tab or the Footer tab.
  2. Select the Header on check box or the Footer on Check box.
  3. To turn either off, deselect the check boxes.

Specify the rest of the settings for the header or footer as follows:

  • Same content left/right inserts the same header or footer content on both even and odd pages.
  • Left margin sets the left margin between the page and the header or footer.
  • Right margin sets the right margin between the page and the header or footer.
  • Spacing sets the space between the top or bottom of the page text and the header or footer.
  • Use dynamic spacing allows the header or footer to expand toward the text, overriding the spacing setting.
  • Height sets the height of the header or footer.
  • AutoFit Height adjusts the height of the header or footer according to the amount of text that the header or footer contains.
  1. Click OK to return to your document.

You can now see the header or footer in your document.

Click inside the header or footer, and enter the text and enter the text that you want to appear there.

If you haven’t subscribed to Carol’s Word Bytes Newsletter, perhaps you should!  http://www.carolscorneroffice.com.

Create a Drop-Down List in MS Word Forms

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Lots of times there is a need to create a form within MS Word wherein the form is e-mailed to a colleague or a client and they fill out the form and send it back to you.

It can be very tedious to sort through the information when users insert data that you are not specifically looking for and that is where drop-down lists come in very handy, because you can create a drop-down list with specific items for selection.

To create your drop-down list, follow the steps below:

If your form template has already been created, open it and remove protection from the form.

If you are just creating your form, right-click on an empty spot on your toolbar which will open the list of Toolsbar.  From there, click on the Forms Toolbar, which will open a floating toolbar.

Click the Drop-down Form Field button.

Double-click the field to open the dialog box.

Type each choice for the drop-down list and click Add.

Make sure you arrange them in the order you prefer.

Click OK.

The form will display the typical arrow next to the field. When you click it the choices are displayed for you.

Don’t forget that you will not be able to use the form until you protect it!

You can use these same techniques to create an online form for the Web. In this case, however4, use the tools on the Web Tools toolbar to creatre the form fields, which has many of the same controls as the Forms toolbar.

Go ahead and experiment with it. I think you will find that it is fun to create forms and not difficult at all!