Microsoft Office Tips, Tricks, and How-to's to help you use MS Office like a pro!

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Category Archives: Subscribers

In-depth Microsoft Office articles with extra content. Restricted to paid members only.

Subscribers: Oh What Your iPhone Can Do!

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I know, I know, it’s a phone and a pretty snazzy one at that! But there are lots and lots of other things that your iPhone can do other than allow you to make and receive phone calls.  It really is amazing. Well, at least it is to ME!

I have always been know in my family for getting lost no matter how good the directions given to me. One I was out to dinner and I asked where the rest room was and they kind gentleman told me to you go straight until you couldn’t go any further. So I literally did exactly what the gentleman told me and I ended up outside in the alley.  I swear that is true and I doubt that I will ever live it down. So imagine my surprise and happiness when I discovered that I could use my iPhone to keep me from getting lost!

This phone really can keep you from getting lost!  Crazy but true! And in more than one way!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

There are built in apps that come with your phone that will give you step-by-step instructions! And believe it or not, it doesn’t matter whether your are walking, driving,  taking the bus, or even riding your bike!!

  1. First, pen your Maps app.
  2. Then tap your picture or initials.
  3. Next select Offline Maps.
  4. Now, tap Download New Map or select an app that has been used in the past.
  5.  Key in the location of your choice or choose Current Location.
  6.  You can then adjust your size of your map area and tap Download.

That is literally all you have to do to utilize maps in this manner.

Yes, of course, there are other methods to employ as well but I didn’t want overload you with information.  I find it a lot easier when I do these things one at a time! But I can tell you that I have used this method and it most definitely works! The only problem I have now is, I have no good excuse for being late because I got lost!

 

Subscribers: How To Use Your iPhone For Laundry Care

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Yes, you read that correctly! I know, I know! It sounds crazy but yes, that is yet another cool thing that you can use your iPhone for! Who knew?  Certainly not I! But when I found out I had to try it.  It works!  And since it does work and it actually comes in handy, I thought I would share it with you. I have always hated those icons they put on a nice sweater, dress, etc.  I can never remember what they stand for and I find them very confusing.  Hopefully this will help you out like it did for me!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1.     Find an article of clothing with laundry care symbols you don’t understand.
  2.      Take a clear picture of the tag, focusing on the symbols.
  3.     Open in Photos.
  4.      Navigate to the photo you just took in your Photo Library.
  5.       Tap the information icon (a lowercase “i” with sparkles).
  6.        Select the Look Up Laundry Care option.
  7.         The app will analyze the symbols and display their meanings.

Caveat: This feature requires iOS 17 or later.

Also, if you are not one of those folks who has an iPhone, or doesn’t care to use it in this manner, you can always just print a sheet of laundry care symbols and keep it near your washing machine for reference.

 

 

Subscribers: How To Identify Plants With Your Iphone

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This is for folks who have an iPhone and don’t have a clue as to what it can do for you! Yes, I confess, when I got my first iPhone I was in the same boat. Luckily I have a daughter and son-in-law who just love to teach me how to do as many things as possible with my phone. I kinda think that way I will not keep pestering them!  Anyway, I will now share some of my knowledge with you!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. You must be using  iOS 15 or later to use Visual Look Up.
  2. Take a photo of the plant you would like information on.
  3. Be certain you have  as much of the plant in your photo as possible.
  4. Make sure there are no other plants in the background of your  picture, if you can.
  5.   The good news  is you can do this using  any photo, even  photos that someone has sent to you.
  6. Tap on the photo you just took.
  7. In the lower left-hand corner of your Camera app, you can access your Camera Roll.
  8. Tap this image to view your recently snapped image.
  9. If you would like to identify a plant from a photo someone has sent you, open the photo by tapping on it and then tap the download button in the bottom right-hand corner. It will look like an arrow going into a square. You will then be able to find the photo in your Camera Roll.
  10. Look for the button on the bottom of your  screen and tap it.
  11. It is  the middle button, between the favorite/heart button and the Edit button. If the button has sparkles on it, that means Visual Look Up has identified something in your photo.
  12.   Visual Look Up is only available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.
  13. Tap the Look Up button after tapping the “i” button.
  14. If Visual Look Up identifies a plant in your photo, there will be a leaf icon that will say Look Up Plant.
  15. You can now tap on one of the Siri Knowledge results to learn more.
  16. You can view more information about your plant right in your photos app, and Siri Knowledge will provide web links for more information about your  identified plant.

I know 16 steps looks like a lot, but trust me, it will take you no time at all to do this and you will get braver as you learn more and more!

Subscribers: More Keyboard Shortcuts

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As promised, below find more very cool time saving shortcuts that you can use in Gmail, that you most likely never knew about!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

J – Go to older conversation

Backtick – Go to next Inbox section

Tilde – Go to previous box section

Right Slash – Go to search box

Enter – Open conversation

Period – Open More menu

Reading Messages

x – Select conversation

R – Reply

A – Reply all

E – Archive

F – Forward

M – Mute conversation

N = Next message in open conversation

P – Previous message i n open conversation

S – Toggle star

Z – Undo last action

Upside down letter i -Report as spam

# – Delete

B – snooze

V – Open Move to menu

L = Open Label As menu

Comma = Move focus to toolbar

Minus – Mark as not important

= – Mark as important

Semicolon – Expand entire conversation

Colon – Collapse entire conversation

Underscore – Mark currently open messages as unread

Shift + R – Reply in a new window

Shift + F – Reply all in a new window

Believe it or not, there are still more that I will share with you in a coming post.

 

Subscribers: Keyboard Shortcuts for Gmail

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I know I have sent you lots and lots of keyboard shortcuts lately, but I find them to be a great help and a great time saver and so naturally, I knew I had to share them with you.  Today’s post is not that dissimilar. The only difference here is these shortcuts are for Gmail! Yep, I thought this was very cool and I hope that you do as well.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

G + A – Go to All Mail

G + C – Go to Contacts

G + D – Go to Drafts

G + i – Go to Inbox

G + K – Go to Tasks

G + S – Go to Starred conversations

G + T – Go to Sent messages

G + B – Go to Snoozed messages

G + L – Initiate label search

G + N – Go to next page

G + P – Go to Previous page

U – Go back to threadlist

K – Go to newer conversation

Trust me, there are more and you shall have them in my next post!

Subscribers: How To Take Panoramic Photos With Your Smart Phone

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Thank goodness I have a daughter and son in law who are very tech savy! They have taught me a lot about my phone and how to use it to the best advantage.  Luckily they have also taught me how to figure things out on my own.  I am no longer afraid of my phone!

So have you ever wanted to take panoramic photos but just didn’t know how to go about doing it? Been there, done that.  Trust me, it really is not that difficult at all.  If I could learn how to do it, just about anyone can do it!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Open the camera on your phone.
  2. Select  Pano mode.
  3. Tap the Shutter button or click the Camera Control (on models that support this).
  4. Pan slowly in the direction of the arrow, keeping it on the center line.
  5. When you are ready to  finish, tap the Shutter button again or click the Camera Control (on models that support this).
  6. Tap the arrow to pan in the opposite direction. To pan vertically, rotate iPhone to landscape orientation. You can reverse the direction of a vertical pan, too.

See? Like I always say, easy peasy!

 

Subscribers: How to Set Camera On Your Smart Phone

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I don’t know about you, but I learn something about my phone almost every day and that is generally a good thing! I sure know that my daughter and her husband are glad I am not asking them how to do everything all the time.  Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty that I still need to learn, but I am getting there slowly but surly. Now I can help you!

Before  you take a photo you can use your phone camera tools to improve your picture and customize things.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Open the camera on your smart phone.
  2. Tab the screen show to show the automatic focus area and exposure setting
  3. Tap where you would like to move your focus area.
  4. Now, next to the focus area, drag up or down to adjust your exposure.
  5. To lock your manual focus and exposure settings just touch and hold the focus area until you see AE/AF Lock then tap the screen to unlock settings.

I hope this will give you the skills to take perfect photos!

Subscribers: Ribbon Keyboard Shortcuts in Excel

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You may or may not have been aware of it but, you can combine your Key Tips letters with your Alt key to create shortcuts called Access Keys for your ribbon options, (i.e. go ahead and

press Alt+H to open the Home tab, and Alt+Q to move to the Tell me or Search field. Press Alt once more to see KeyTips for the options for the selected tab.

Depending on the version of Microsoft 365 you are using, the Search text field at the top of the app window might be called Tell Me instead. Both offer a largely similar thin , but some options and search results may vary.

In newer versions of Office, most of the old Alt key menu shortcuts still work, too. However, you will need to know the full shortcut. For example, press Alt, and then press one of the old menu keys, i.e., E (Edit), V (View), I (Insert),etc. A notification will appear saying you’re using an access key from an earlier version of Microsoft 365. If you know the entire key sequence, feel free to  use it. If not, press Esc and use Key Tips instead.

To go directly to a tab on your ribbon, press one of the access key below. Additional tabs may appear depending on your selection.

Move to Tell me or Search field on your ribbon and key in a search term for assistance or Help content:   Alt+Q, then enter the search term.

Open File menu: Alt+F

Open Home tab and format text and numbers and use the Find tool: Alt+H

Open Insert tab and insert PivotTables, charts, add-ins, Sparklines, pictures, shapes, headers, or text boxes:  Alt+N

Open Page Layout tab and work with themes, page setup, scale, and alignment:  Alt+P

Open Formulas tab and insert, trace, and customize functions and calculations: Alt+M

Open Data tab and connect to, sort, filter, analyze, and work with data:  Alt+A

Open Review tab and check spelling, add notes and threaded comments, and protect sheets and workbooks:   Alt+R

Open View tab and preview page breaks and layouts, show and hide gridlines and headings, set zoom magnification, manage windows and panes, and view macros.    Alt+W

There will be more to come! Keep an eye out!

 

How To Move Excel Worksheet To Word

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I will start by saying that I am absolutely no kind of expert when it comes to Excel. I simply am not good at anything that resembles math; even when it is automatically done for me! Having said that, I do try to avail myself of the great things that Excel is capable of. And now I will try to impart some of my lowly wisdom to you as well.

Say you are one of those people who are way better at math and Excel than I! And say you have just created a nifty worksheet in Excel. Now, let’s suppose that your boss thinks your worksheet is the cat’s pajamas. Only problem is, they either do not have Excel or do not know how to use it at all and they have asked you to send it to them via Word. Hmm, what to do. Turns out there a a couple of ways to attack this dilemma.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

The simplest method would be Copy and Paste.

In Excel:

Select the cells containing the data you would like to move and  right-click, and select Copy (or use shortcut Ctrl+C).

In Word:

Open your Word document, go to where you would like to insert your data and  right-click, and choose Paste (or use shortcut Ctrl+V).

Paste Options:

Once you have pasted, Word will offer different paste options.

Select the one that suits your needs (e.g., Keep Source Formatting, Use Destination Styles, Copy as Picture, Keep Text Only).

Insert as a Linked Object (Dynamic Updates):

In Excel:

Select the cells containing your data, right-click, and select Copy (or use shortcut Ctrl+C).

In Word:

Open your Word document, navigate to where you would like to insert your data, right-click, and choose Paste Special.

Paste Special:

In the Paste Special dialog box, select Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object, and check the Link to File box.

Click OK:

This will insert the Excel data as a linked object, meaning any changes in the Excel file will automatically be reflected in Word.

Inserting an Excel Chart:

In Excel: Select your chart, and then press shortcut Ctrl+C or go to Home | Copy.

In Word: Click or tap where you would like your chart to appear, and press shortcut  Ctrl+V or go to Home | Paste.

I hope this clears things up for you.  It really is not difficult at all once you know how right?

Subscribers: How To Create Work Book in Excel 365

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A lot of folks do not realize just how easy it i s to ti create work books in Excel.  With Excel, you can streamline your data entry with AutoFill. Once you do that you can  get chart recommendations based on the data, and create them with just one click!. You can also easily spot trends and patterns with data bars, color coding, and icons! BUT, the very first thing you must do to get started is create your work book!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Open Excel
  2. Select Blank Work book
  3. Or use the shortcut CTRL + N ( I always use the shortcuts)!

Next, you need to enter your data:

Follow the steps below:

  1. Select an empty cell, (most folks start with A1), and then key in text or a number.
  2. Press Enter or Tab and move to the next cell.

To fill data in a series:

  1. Enter the beginning of the series in two cells: such as Feb and Mar; or 2023 and 2025.
  2. Select the two cells containing the series, and then drag the fill handle across or down the cells.

Go ahead and give it a show and see how easy it is!