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Category Archives: Subscribers Office 2007

Embed An Excel Chart in your Word Document

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Word 2007

As a rule the applications within Microsoft Office work very well together.  One example of this is what this article is all about – embedding an Excel chart in your Word document!  There are many,  many reasons why one would want or need to embed an Excel chart into one’s Word document and I am certain you can all come up with at least one so let me tell you how to accomplish this.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Open Word and the document in which you would like to embed your chart.
  2. Open Excel and choose the Excel chart you would like to embed into your document.
  3. Select the entire chart.
  4. Click CTRL + C to copy your chart to your Clipboard.
  5. Now, switch to your open Word document.
  6. Place your cursor where you would like to embed your Excel chart.
  7. Display the Home tab of your Ribbon.
  8. Click the down arrow under the Paste tool and select Paste Special to display the dialog box.
  9. Select Microsoft Office Excel Chart Object as the method of pasting.
  10. Be certain the Paste Link button is selected.

Paste Special

  1. Click on OK and Word will insert the linked chart into your document.

Your chart has now been embedded in your Word document

Subscribers: Formatting Ranges as Tables in Excel 2007

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Excel 2007

When you format a range as a table in Excel, you receive the benefit of table styles, which allows you to apply several formatting attributes at one time.

Follow the steps below to format a range as a table:

  1. Click in or select the range you would like to use as your table (it does not need to contain data prior to creating your table).

Notice, when you start with an existing contiguous range of data, you do not have to select the range first – simply click somewhere in the range and Excel will recognize it automatically.

  1. On the Home tab of your Ribbon, click, Format As Table and then click the table style that you would like to apply. Or, on the Insert tab, click Table.
  2. In the Format As Table dialog box that appears, Excel will confirm what it believes to be the correct range for your table. If it is not correct, you can simply drag to select the correct range without closing the dialog box.
  3. With the Format As Table dialog box still open, if your selected range includes table headers, check the box labeled My Table Has Headers. If not, then obviously leave that box blank and a header row will be added.
  4. Click OK to format your table.

If you started with the Table option on the Insert tab, the default table style for the active workbook will be applied to the new table.

Once your table style has been applied, simply click anyplace inside your table to apply a new table style from either the Format As Table gallery on your Home tab or from the Table Styles gallery on the Table Tools Design tab.

But there is so much more that you can do with tables in MS Excel:

Your table will automatically expand when you add adjacent data in rows or columns, so your newly added data is formatted to match your table without any extra work on your behalf!

  • You can drag the icon below, which appears at the bottom-right corner of all tables, to resize the table range. You can use it to drag left, right, up, or down.Drag Icon
  • Simply drag selected table rows or columns to recorder them. As you drag, a gray bar will appear. This bar indicates where the selected column or row will fall when you release the cursor.
  • You can only reorder complete rows or columns in a table. If you drag a few cells from a row or column, Excel will assume that you want to replace the destination cells, as it does when you drag cells on a worksheet outside of a table and will prompt you in that regard.
  • As always, a right-click will give you choices: insert, delete or select table rows and columns.

You cannot modify built-in table styles, but you can duplicate them to create your own table styles based on built-in styles.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. On the Home tab of your Ribbon, click Format As Table or, on the Table Tools Design tab, click Table Styles. From either of these galleries, either click New Table Style or Right-click an existing style and then click Duplicate.
  2. In the New Table Quick Style dialog box, select the table element to customize and then click Format.
  3. The Format Cells dialog box will display with Font, Border and Fill options available to you.
  4. Set the options you would like to format for the selected table elements and then click OK.
  5. Repeat for every part of your table that you would like to customize.
  6. If you would like to use the new table style as the default for all tables in the active workbook, check, the option Set As Default Table Quick Style For This document.
  7. Click OK to create your new style.

The style will now appear under the Custom heading at the top of the Table Style and format As Table galleries.

This was written for version 2007 but with some navigational changes will apply to version 2010 as well.

Subscribers: The Table Feature in Excel 2007

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Excel 2007

The Table feature was a great addition to Excel 2007. A lot of folks aren’t even aware of it, much less impressed by it. A lot of you might even opine that a worksheet is just a table anyway. The answer is no. When you format an Excel worksheet as a table, it extends the functionality! Things that took several clicks are now completely effortless!

The easiest part is creating your table. Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Select any cell in your worksheet (with or without data).
  2. Click CTRL + T.
  3. When the Create Table dialog is displayed, click OK.
  4. If your worksheet contains header cells, select the My Table Has Headers option.

Create Table

  1. Excel will add a green bar format to your table and will enable an AutoFilter for each column. If you dislike the default format, you can always select a different one. There are sixty to choose from and you can simply select a new one from the Table Styles Gallery on your Design tab in the Table Tools Group of your Ribbon.

Design Choices

Note that the Design tab will not be visible unless you are in a cell of your table.

You can hover over each selection to see how your table would look with each design.

It is very easy to now add data.

  • Select the cell in any row below the last row of data and enter a value – MS Excel will extend your table format to include the new row. Also, any formulas that refer to the table will include the new row.
  • Click the Total Row option in the Table Style options group on your Design tab on your Tables Ribbon. This is a toggle option that will display and hide a row or formulas at the bottom of your table.
  • As you scroll down, take note that the heading labels are always visible without your having to do a thing!
  • Your total row will sum values in the last column only, but you can easily add more formulas. Each Column in the total row has a drop-down. All you have to do is select a function and Excel will do the rest for you!
  • If you add a formula to the first empty column to the right, your table extends to include this formula and copies the new formula to the remaining rows.

I am sure you will find many uses for this feature now that you know about it!

Subscribers: Limit Number of Characters in a Word 2007 Form

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Word 2007

A reader wrote to me recently with a form problem:

In Word 2007 I am creating a fillable form and I cannot figure out how to limit the number of characters in a field. I used to do this all the time in earlier versions but version 2007 is new to me. The directions I found said to do it under Properties but there isn’t an option for that. Can you help me?

My reply:

You can still use the old-style Formfields with Word 2007. Follow the steps below to learn how:

  • On the Developer tab, Controls Panel, click Legacy Tools to access the FormFields.

Legacy Tools

Please note that if you mix Formfields and Content Controls on a document protected for forms, you will be able to tab between Formfields and between Content Controls, but if you tab from a Formfield to a Content Control, you cannot then tab from the Content Control to another Formfield. You will have to select it via your mouse.

Subscribers: How to Hide Text in Word 2007

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There is a feature in the two latest versions of Word that will allow you to hide sensitive information, such as client names, Social Security Numbers, phone numbers, or any text that you do not want seen. This feature comes in very handy when you need to send documents to a colleague who works for another company. One example would be a law office. Lawyers frequently call each other and ask for a particular type of pleading. The lawyer will typically copy the pleading from one file and then use a marker to block the client names, etc. and send it along to his/her fellow lawyer.

The feature I am referring to is named Redaction Tool. It is a free add-in for Word 2007 and it will hide any text in your document. The add-in is available HERE.

Redact means to censor and this add-in adds a black bar over all text that is made hidden. Once redacted. the text cannot be converted back to its original form.

When the government, state and federal courts, etc. release important public documents, few parts which contain confidential information are censored and the remainder is released to the public. If this sounds like something familiar to you and you have the occasion to withhold some names or information from your documents, you can redact it very simply using this add-in instead of removing it.

Once you install this add-in, you will find it residing on the Review tab in the Redact group.

wordredact

Follow the steps below to learn how to redact your documents:

  1. You will need to first select the text you would like redacted and click on Mark. You may mark as many words or lines as you like.

Marktextinword

  1. Once you have marked all your text you want redacted, simply click the Redact Document button.

redactworddocument

  1. This will open up a new Word document will all marked text now replaced by black bars.

CensoredDocument

Now, you can feel safe distributing your newly created redacted document without worrying about security issues.

Once your redaction is complete, it will ask you to inspect the hidden metadata within your document before distributing it to the public.

  1. Click on Inspect and in the dialog box that displays, be sure that all options are checked and click Inspect again.

That’s it! You are finished.

Subscribers: Circle Objects in PowerPoint 2007 for Emphasis

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers PowerPoint 2007

Most folks are always looking for methods to make a point stand out in their PowerPoint presentation. One good method of making your text or object stand out is by drawing a circle around it. You can do this right while your audience is watching!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. You will need an object or text; whatever you would like emphasized.
  2. Next, draw a circular AutoShape over your object by clicking Oval on the Drawing toolbar and dragging inside your slide. In PowerPoint 2007 AutoShape is on the Home Tab in the Drawing group.
  3. Be sure to hold down your Shift key when you insert the AutoShape to force PowerPoint to draw a circle rather than an oval.
  4. The default AutoShape will require some formatting, so right-click your circle and select Format AutoShape (or Format Shape) from the context menu.

Format AutoShape

  1. On the Colors and Lines tab, set your settings as set forth below. In version 2007  select Fill, LIne Color and Line Style from the list on the left.
  2. Click OK.

Fill Color: No Fill

Line Color: Red or another bold color.

Line Weight: 2 pt or higher.

After formatting your circle, you will need to move it around some. Center your text in your Circle.

Ok, now you are ready to add the animation that will actually draw the circle! There are several methods you can use, but the steps below will draw your circle in a single stroke automatically, with no clicking required.

  1. Right-click your circle and select Custom Animation.
  2. From the Add Effect drop-down, select Entrance.

Custom Animation

  1. Select Wheel and click More Effects if Wheel is not available from the short list. In version 2007 click the Animation tab and select Wheel from the Animation group.
  2. From the Start drop-down, select With Previous.
  3. From the Spokes drop-down, select 1. In PowerPoint 2007, click the Effect Options drop-down in the Animation group.

Effect

  1. To see the results, click F5. There will be no red circle at first, but as soon as PowerPoint plays the slide, it starts to draw the circle from the top Center.

You can experiment with the settings. It is the Spokes setting that determines the number of line segments drawn simultaneously. You can speed up the animation to Very Fast for this specific example.

I think you will enjoy working with this!

Subscribers: Convert Text to Table and Vice Versa in Word 2007

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Most savvy Word users know how to convert text to a table and vice versa, but I have received more than one request to show you how to accomplish this task in Word 2007. So for those of you who are in the dark I am writing this article for you!

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Select the text that you would like to convert.

Bear in mind that your text should have a common delimeter (separating character) that will convert to columns and rows. Most folks use tabs for this purpose.

  1. On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click Table and click Convert Text to Table.

Convert Text to Table

  1. In the Convert Text to Table dialog box, under Separate text at, click the option for the separator character that is in your text.

Number of Columns

  1. In the Number of columns box, check the number of columns. If you do not see the number of columns that you expect, you may be missing a separator character in one or more lines of text.

To convert a table to text, follow these rules:

  1. Select the rows or table that you would like to convert to paragraphs.
  2. Under Table Tools on the Layout tab, in the Data group, click Convert to Text.
  3. Under Separate text at, click the option for the separator character that you want to use in place of the column boundaries.Rows are separated with Pilcrows (paragraph marks).

Tabs

  1. Click OK.

Like magic your conversion is finished!

Subscribers: Create an Oversize Message Rule in Outlook 2007

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Outlook 2007

Sometimes it seems that our Inbox in Outlook grows overnight! One way to keep your Inbox slim and trim is avoiding large files and attachments. You could tell all your friends and family not to send you pictures but that really isn’t a great solution is it?

A much better way to keep a handle on your Inbox size is to use a Rule in MS Outlook that will move your e-mail to a personal folder created just for that problem.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Open your Inbox.
  2. Click on Tools | Rules and Alerts.
  3. If you have multiple accounts you will have to select the Inbox to which you would like to apply your Rule.
  4. Click on New Rule.

You could choose a template but for our purposes we will start with a blank Rule.

Rules Wizard

  1. Click Next.
  2. Select the conditions that you would like to set the Rule into action, such as Which has an attachment.

Has an Attachment

  1. Select With a size in a specific range.
  2. In the bottom of the pane, click the words highlighted in a specified range.
  3. Where it says At least, key in the size you would like
  4. Where it says At most, key in the size you would like.

Message Size

  1. Click Next.
  2. Under What do you want to do with the message, select Move to the specified folder.
  3. In the bottom of the pane click on the highlighted word specified to select a folder you have previously created and click Next.
  4. If there are any exceptions select them and click next .
  5. Select Turn on this Rule.
  6. Click Finish.

The Rule Wizard will close and you are well on your way to a slim and trim Inbox!

Subscribers: Where Do I find the Number of Pages Option in Word 2007

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Word 2007

It is very easy to insert page numbers in earlier versions of Word. You simply open the header or footer and click the appropriate options on the Header and Footer toolbar. The Page Numbers option is also available from the Insert menu.

It is still easy to perform this task in Word 2007, but you have to know where to find the options!

Follow the steps to learn how:

  • On the Insert tab, in the Header & Footer group, click Page Number.

Even though this option is in the Header & Footer group, you can also select Current Position to insert a literal page number almost anyplace in your document. You are not limited to the header and footer sections.

  • Another option is on the Insert tab, click Header or Footer from the Header & Footer group. The resulting gallery will offer a number of pre-defined page numbering options, although none of them offer the Page x of y format.

Page Number Header Footer

If you want to insert page numbers using fields, you would use Quick Parts. You will find this option in the Text group, which is also on the Insert tab. From the Quick Parts drop-down list, select Field.

  • After you select Field, specify one of the page numbering fields:

Quick Parts Field

  • Page and NumPages. You can combine these to create the form Page x of y. This method most likely looks familiar to you but finding it via the Quick Parts is new to Word 2007. Although it is an appropriate area, it may not be the first place you would look.

Subscribers: Hidden Math Features in Word 2007

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I won’t say the math features are actually hidden in MS Word, but they are not easily found either. You will not find a lot of information regarding the Math features in books you purchase covering MS Word; at least I haven’t and I have several.

You can do so much with the Math features in version 2007 and 2010, such as writing mathematical equations, physics derivation or chemical formulas. So how do you insert a formula or equation in MS Word?

Follow the steps below to learn how:

On the Insert tab, click on Equation, or you could use the shortcut (ALT + =).

This will enable the Design tab which will help in inserting various mathematical equations and physics formulas.

Insert Equation

You can use the Structures in the Design tab to insert different parameters in your mathematical equation or physics or chemstry formulas.

You can also select the symbols and characters for Basic Math, Greek Letters, Letter-like symbols, Operators, Arrows, Negated Relations, Scripts, and Geometry related symbols.

Structures

You can save the equations that you create so that you can use them at another time too:

  • Simply click the arrow symbol when you insert your equation and select the option Save as New Equation.

Mathematical variables represented by Latin and lower-case Greek letters are usually displayed in italic. Vectors are often displayed in upright boldface. Word 2007 allows you to control and change these choices with the italic and bold formatting buttons on the Home tab of the ribbon or with the shortcut keys of CTRL + I and CTRL +B. One basic principle is that in a math zone letters are the only characters that are affected by these attributes. Operators such as + and – and delimeters like [ ] are not changed by the states of the italic and bold buttons. Such characters are always rendered as upright, normal-weight characters in a math zone.

You can see the code for a character by typing ALT + X immediately after the character. This quick key replaces the character by its code. CTRL + Z, of course, undoes this transformation or you can simply use the quick key combination again to undo it.

When mathematics is input as text, keywords are replaced by appropriate Unicode characters and the expression is formatted as standard mathematical notation as soon as its structure is unambiguous. This often occurs after typing a space (which is usually deleted by Word 2007 after automatic formatting. The text input codes for simple expressions are pretty intuitive. Below are some examples:

Text Input Codes

The text input codes can be combined. For example, typing \pi\approx 3.142 gives:Pi Formula Result
Formula2 Result

Note that the spaces (indicated by _) are used by Word 2007 to decide when a mathematical expression is terminated. The spaces are removed and replaced by Word 2007’s own spacing. Such characters are known as delimiters. Although it is possible to input extra spaces, this is discouraged as it is generally better to allow Word 2007 to handle the typography.

ALERT: in most cases a mathematical expression may be interpreted from its linear mode, at least by a professional mathematician. However, in some cases (such as for matrices) the glyph (i.e. the symbol) representing the Unicode character (for example, π is the glyph for the Unicode \pi) is not at all obvious. In such cases it may be easier to use the palettes to create the expression.

As you can see, there is much that this feature can do for you. You just need to know how and where to find it! I may cover Matrices in another newsletter at a future date.