Technology Tamers

Four Generation Chart in Word SmartArt...Using Chart and Resizing Boxes

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Thu, 09 May 2013 01:44:00 +0000

Click here to see post 1 in this series--The Introduction.
Click here to see post 2 in this series--Layout Page and Insert SmartArt
Click here to see post 3 in this series--Altering the Chart
Click here to see post 4 in this series--Word 2003

Using the Chart
The point of having created the form is that you're going to want to use it repeatedly rather than having to create the chart every time you want to fill out one for a family. So you will want to save a copy of the chart you created under a new name prior to completing the chart.

Note: If you've created a form that only you will be using, you might want to complete the contact information in your master copy so that information is there when you open the chart.

To use the chart:

Save a copy of the chart under a new name.
In boxes, double click placeholder text and type in the real information. As you fill the boxes with text, you'll notice that the text flows outside of the box. Don't worry. We'll fix this later.
Save your chart and resize boxes.

Resizing the Boxes
When you resize, you need to resize all of the boxes in a column at the same time. Resizing based on columns gives you a consistent display.

To select the boxes in a column:

Click in the first box. The handles (circles and squares) appear.
Hold down the Shift key, and click in the border of the second box. The handles for the second box appear. You'll know you're clicking in the right spot because your cursor will change to a four-headed arrow.
Repeat step 2 until you have all of the boxes selected. Your screen will look similar to this one.

Handles are the circles and squares inside the orange squares and circles.

To resize boxes in a column:

When you selected the first text box, the SmartArt Tools tab opened on the ribbon.
Select the Format tab, and locate the Size group.
In the Height field, click the up and down arrow beside the field to increase and decrease the height of the selected boxes.
In the Width field, click the up and down arrow beside the field to increase and decrease the width of the selected boxes.
When you have the arrangement you like, save (Ctrl + S).

If you find that you can't adjust the height or width, it's most likely because the layout is getting cramped and Word isn't letting you make the adjustment. You might want to consider using abbreviations or otherwise altering the presentation of the information in boxes.

So good luck with resizing. I'm sure you'll do fine. It's easy...you just have to know the trick of how to select multiple boxes to apply the change to all of the boxes in a column.

I'll continue hacking around and seeing what additional functionality you might need.

Four Generation Chart in Word SmartArt...Word 2003 options

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:37:00 +0000

Click here to see post 1 in this series--The Introduction.
Click here to see post 2 in this series--Layout Page and Insert SmartArt
Click here to see post 3 in this series--Altering the Chart

I had a few minutes today on the computer where I have Word 2003 installed. So I went poking around. While you don't have as many choices as you do in more recent versions of Word, it's not as limited as I originally thought.

Here are the menu selections you make to get to the charts in Word 2003. Word automatically inserts the default organization chart.

In addition, Word displays the Organization Chart toolbar. If you click outside of the chart area, the toolbar closes. To open it again, click inside of the chart area.

This chart works like all of the others I've been talking about. Click in a box and start typing text.

Adding boxes in Word 2003 is different. You use options (Assistant, Coworker, Subordinate) from the Insert Shape drop-down list to add boxes in different locations.

If you want additional options for formatting, click the Auto Format button to display the chart style gallery. Pick a style from the gallery to see how it changes your chart.

Use options on the Layout drop-down to change the arrangements of the boxes.

So there you have some of what you can do in Word 2003. I'll pick up writing about the Word 2007/2010 versions in my next post.

Four Generation Chart in Word SmartArt...Altering the Chart

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:12:00 +0000

Click here to see post 1 in this series--The Introduction.
Click here to see post 2 in this series--Layout Page and Insert SmartArt

As noted in my last post, you can use two different methods to alter the graph.

Replace [TEXT] with the text you want.
Add text using a text dialog.

In addition, you can use the text dialog to add new text boxes to the chart and rearrange text boxes to alter the display.

Default Hierarchy Chart

Template You Want to Create

The double arrows that you click to open the text dialog are circled in this graphic.

To replace [TEXT]:

In the chart, click [TEXT] in the first text box.
Type the following text:
--Name, and then press the Enter key.
--b. DatePlace, and then press the Enter key.
--d. DatePlace, and then press the Enter key.

This method is fine as long as you don't want to add boxes or adjust the display. To do that you need to display and use the text dialog.

To use the text dialog:

Click anywhere inside the chart but not in a [TEXT] box.
--The chart frame appears, with double arrows on the left side of the frame.
--The SmartArt Tools tab opens on the ribbon with two tabs: Design and Format.
Click the double arrows and the text dialog opens. The double arrows are circled in the graphic above.
In the text dialog, click the first [Text] entry and type the following text:
--Name, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--b. DatePlace, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--d. DatePlace.
You may have already completed this step above when you replaced [TEXT] directly in the graphic.
Click the second [Text] entry and type the following text:
--FatherName, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--b. DatePlace, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--d. DatePlace.
Click the third [Text] entry and type the following text:
--Grandfather, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--b. DatePlace, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--d. DatePlace.
Click the fourth[Text] entry and type the following text:
--Grandmother, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--b. DatePlace, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--d. DatePlace.
Add a new [Text] entry to create a parent entry for the paternal grandmother.
--Press the Enter key. Word adds a [Text] entry below the Grandmother text entry.
--On the SmartArt Tools tab, click the Design tab.
--In the Create Graphic group, click Demote to move the [Text] to the fourth column position.
Type the following text:
--GreatGrandfather, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--b. DatePlace, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--d. DatePlace.
Press Enter to add a new [Text] entry, and then type the following text:
--GreatGrandmother, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--b. DatePlace, and then press the Shift + Enter combination.
--d. DatePlace.
Add the great grandparents for the grandfather.
--In the chart, click once in the Grandfather text box. In the text dialog, Word moves your cursor to the Grandfather text entry.
--Be sure to click your cursor at the end of d. DatePlace.
--Press the Enter key. Word adds a [Text] entry below the Grandfather text entry.
--On the SmartArt Tools tab, click the Design tab.
--In the Create Graphic group, click Demote to move the [Text] to the fourth column position.
--Complete the GreatGrandfather entry.
--Press the Enter key. Word adds a [Text] entry below the GreatGrandfather text entry.
--Complete the GreatGrandmother entry.
Repeat steps 7 to 10 to add more [Text] entries and text boxes and use the Demote (or Promote) buttons to arrange and rearrange text boxes in columns one, two, three, and four.

You might need to fuss with the Demote and Promote buttons to move text boxes around in the graphic to get the four column display that you see in the samples above.

As long as you have the text dialog open, each time you press Enter, Word adds a new text entry and a text box to the graphic. If you close the text entry dialog (click the X in the upper right corner of the dialog), you can click in a text box and press Enter as you add text to the box. However, you should notice that you affect the spacing in the text boxes.

In these instructions, I've had you add text using the text box as we went along. Another option you have is to use the text dialog to add and arrange all of the text boxes you need in the graphic, and then close the text box and click in each text box to create your template...clicking Enter after each entry or Shift + Enter, depending on the spacing you want.

The other thing you should notice is that each entry has one word placeholder text; for example, DatePlace. When using the form, you just double-click the one word and start typing. The text dialog opens automatically. You can use it or ignore it and type only in the text boxes.

Any of the hierarchy charts that you pick will work the same way as the one you've completed for this post. In subsequent posts, we can look at additional things you can do. For example, you might need to resize text boxes to accommodate your text.

Four Generation Chart in Word SmartArt...Layout Page and Insert SmartArt

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:59:00 +0000

Click here to see post 1 in this series--the introduction.

I'm going to walk through the steps for creating the four generation chart template. After you have the template, you can complete it to create four generation charts for families.

Layout Your Page

Open Word. The default Normal template displays automatically. Remember that this template is the lowest level template with just a few styles...the starting point for lots of documents.
Select File, Save As, and name the document Four Generation Chart.
Display the Page Setup dialog.
--Word 2003: Select File, and then Page Setup.
--Word 2007/2010: Select the Page Layout tab and locate the Page Setup group. Click the small arrow in the lower right of the group (group launch button).
The dialog appears with the Margins tab displaying by default.
In the Margins group, enter .5 for the top, bottom, left, and right margins. Since this document is a chart, you are going to want to use as much of the surface area of the page as possible.
In the Orientation group, select Landscaped.
Click OK, and then save your document.

Inserting SmartArt

From in Insert menu, click SmartArt to open the SmartArt dialog.
Select Hierarchy, and then select Horizontal Hierarchy.
Click OK. The graphic opens in your Word document.
Save the document.

Doesn't look like much at the moment does it? In my next post, we're going to replace [Text] with entries that create a template and we're going to rearrange and add boxes. Depending on what you are doing, you'll use two different methods to affect what appears in the graphic.

So stay tuned for upcoming posts.

Update
I included Word 2003 in the page layout instructions above. However, Word 2003 options for this process are very limited. You have only one hierarchy chart that you can use. I'm going to have to work with it to see what you can do with it to make a template.

Four Generation Chart in Word SmartArt

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 01:56:00 +0000

Click here to download a copy of this four generation chart (Word 2010). SkyDrive opens.
Select File, Save As. A Download button appears.
Click the Download button and complete the download to your system.
If the SkyDrive Enable Editing button appears, click it to begin using the form.
To complete the form, double-click placeholder text and replace it with your personal text.

Over the past few weeks, I've been trying to create a generational chart as a fillable form and bombing. When you find that you can't do a task one way, it's worth stepping away from the keyboard for a break. Sometimes, you get struck with inspiration.

I don't have occasion to use SmartArt very often. I just don't use that sort of thing in my professional or personal life. However, there are hierarchy charts that bear a striking resemblance to the charts that genealogists use. So I started playing around and I've discovered you can use SmartArt to produce a number of different types of charts, including the one above, which you can download if you're using Word 2010.

Here are a few more charts that I created using SmartArt on the fly.

So now I'm on a learning curve, trying all of the buttons that turn up on the Design and Format tabs of the SmartArt Tools context sensitive tab. I'll try to share what I'm hacking my way thru in an orderly fashion. I'm also going to have to look at how clipart can be used in conjunction with SmartArt.

To display these charts, open an MS Word document and make the following selections: Insert, SmartArt, Hierarchy. A preview of the pre-formatted charts opens. Select one to begin using it.

Completing one of these charts is kind of a fun mindless task that I'm doing while watching TV.

Date Calculator...in Windows 7...Way Cool...

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 01:24:00 +0000

In the Facebook group, Technology for Genealogy, Michelle de la Chevrotiere-Eber pointed out that the calculator that's built into Windows 7 is genealogy friendly. I got curious and started clicking and Michelle has unearthed an interesting little item. So here are the instructions.

To display and use the date calculator:

Click the Start button, and select All Programs, Accessories, and then Calculator. The Standard calculator displays.
Other option...Click Start. In the Run field, enter calculator, and press the Enter key.
Click the View tab.
Select Statistics in the first group, and Date calculation in the third group. The calculator updates with a date calculation pane to the right.
In the From field, enter the date mm/dd/yyyy or click the drop-down arrow and pick the date from the electronic calendar (button to the right of the field).
In the To field, enter the date mm/dd/yyyy or click the drop-down arrow and pick the date from the electronic calendar (button to the right of the field).
Click the Calculate button. The system returns:
--the difference in years, months, and weeks
--the difference in total number of days

Today is my birthday and I've been alive 22,646 days...62 years. Since it's a computer, I'm assuming leap year days are included.

To return to the Standard calculator, select Standard and Basic from the View tab.

Alas, now I'm going to be clicking all night to see what else is there...

Pin4Ever...Pinterest Backup

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:04:00 +0000

Success always brings spinoff businesses. Thus we have the launch of Pin4Ever, which is a backup service for Pinterest. You create an account, run a backup, and you're done. Click here if you're interested in trying this free trial. If you like the free trail, the service is moderately priced ($19.99 per year).

If you're in business and want to have a backup of your pins, $19.99 is a drop in the bucket. If you're a casual pinner, I can't see where you'd be all that interested. You can always create a PDF of your boards but that requires more than the one-click Pin4Ever solution.

Click here to see the post on creating PDFs of Pinterest boards.

Fillable Ancestor's Chart

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:02:00 +0000

I'm still messing around with fillable forms. The latest one I've been messing with is an ancestor's chart.

You can set it up easily enough but filling it out is a bit weird because your cursor moves from field to field in row sequence. I'm not sure that I like that sequence.

The form works like the previous form you may have downloaded from this blog.

Click Tab to move your cursor to the next field.
Click Shift + Tab to move your cursor to a previous field.

The Form
If you download this form, you'll download a fully functioning MS Word 2010 document that is protected, which prevents editing of the form layout but lets the person who is using the form complete the name, place, and date fields.

Here's what a person trying to use this form would do:

Download the form; for example, the person might download an email attachment--the form--from an email you sent to the person.
Open the form and add names, dates, and places to the form. Because the form is protected, the person completing the form won't be able to change anything else in the form other than the names, dates, and places.
Save the form under a new name.
Return the form by attaching it to an email.

The entire exchange of information is electronic.

If you, as the owner of the form, want to make changes to the form, you need to stop protection. Click here to see the post on this blog that talks about enabling and disabling protection.

The password to stop protection is form.

If you happen to mess up the form while editing, download another copy and try working with the form again.

Getting the Form
Click here to download a protected copy of the form. I've loaded the form on my SkyDrive to make it easy to deploy. However, that still means I have to make the right choices when creating the link. Email me (info@technology-tamers.com) if the link doesn't work well.

After the form opens in your browser, select File, Save As, and then click the Download button. Save the form to a location on your PC or laptop.

I'm liking my SkyDrive for deploying documents but I'm still in a bit of a learning curve. So please bear with me.

I hope you find this form useful. If you have a suggestion for a form, please send it along. I'll be happy to take a stab at creating it for you. You just need to give me a bit of time to play around with it.

Update...A Variation...

Hmmm...If I make the font smaller and put the fields in columns rather than a table, anyone filling in the form has their cursor move thru columns rather than rows.

Click here if you want to download a copy of this version of the ancestor chart.

Update to the Update...A Variation...

This version uses five columns, which should mean that you fill it out in order; that is, person, father, mother, and so forth.

Click here if you want to download a copy of this version of the ancestor chart.

Fillable Family Group Sheet

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 04:28:00 +0000

When I check the statistics on this blog, there seem to be lots of queries for these types of forms. As a convenience, I have set up a download from my SkyDrive account for the form I created for an earlier set of posts--a fillable family group sheet.

To download the form:

Click here to open a copy of a fillable family group sheet. The SkyDrive navigation page displays.
Select File, and then Save As. A big Download button displays on the right.
Select Download, and save the form to a location on your system.
When you open the file, click the Enable Editing button at the top of the page.

The Form
The form you downloaded to your system is a fully functioning MS Word 2010 document that is protected, which prevents editing. Most forms you find online are PDFs that you can't edit.

If you would like to edit the document, you need to stop enforcing protection. If you need help, click here to see the post that talks about starting and stopping protection.

The password to stop protection is form.

Suggested Use
Confirm that the form is protect from editing. Fill in the fields at the top of the form with your project name and contact info. Save the form and attach it to an email you are sending to a person who you want to have fill out the form. In your email, you might want to include instructions. For example:

The attached form is an electronic fillable form. Save a copy of the form to your system, triple click in the first field to start using the form, complete all of the fields you can, and email the completed form back to me. Thank you for your time and attention to this request.

Post a comment if you have a problem and I'll try to help.

P.S. If you happen to mess up the form while editing, download another copy and try working with the form again.

This sample shows the multi-page form that you can download.

Genealogy Research Log in Excel

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 23:08:00 +0000

Here are the links to the handouts from the Excel Research Log class yesterday.

Excel 2003
Handout
Sample Spreadsheet

Excel 2007/2010
Handout
Sample Spreadsheet

Hope you find this info helpful.

Posting Status

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:37:00 +0000

You may have noticed that I've been rather erratic with my posts. I've been buried in any number of other things...not the least being work. Of late, work has become more pressing and I've had to devote more than my usual energy to it. That circumstance seems to be ramping up rather than letting up. So I'm afraid that my posts will continue to be erratic until at least the beginning of May...when I'll either be a hero or unemployed!

That being said, I will post as I am able. For example, I have to put together the instructions for using Excel to create and use a research log for the March computer SIG meeting of my local society. When that doc is complete, I'll write about it here and post links to the instructions.

I also promised to create ebooks based on some of the series posts. I haven't forgotten. I just haven't gotten to it yet. So it remains an unfulfilled goal that I will pursue as I am able.

One of the things that took up my time in January was the February issue Florida Lines, the Florida State Genealogical Society newsletter. If you'd like to see what I do with a newsletter, click here. It's created using MS Word so that if something happens and I am no longer editor that it can be easily picked up by the next editor. So you can see that I use all of the skills I talk about in MS Word posts.

In the meantime, if you have a question, please email me at info@technology-tamers.com and I'll be happy to try to answer your questions.

The In Depth Genealogist on Pinterest

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:04:00 +0000

If you're a fan of The In Depth Genealogist, you'll be happy to know they are on Pinterest. Click here to go to their Pinterest page and see what this group of genealogists like, comment on, and pin.

If Pinterest is a mystery to you, you might want to check out the new Make Use Of book. Click here to go to the website. Join Make Use Of. It's free and easy and you can download this free publication along with lots of other helpful eBooks. The Pinterest eBook is a 27-page easy read that will get you up and going with Pinerest quickly.

New Tool on Pinterest

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:02:00 +0000

In its continuing effort to take over social networking, Pinterest added a News tool to its line up. Click here to read all about it.

I'm not sure how this will exactly apply for genealogy. But then in the beginning I couldn't see how Pinterest might be used for genealogy either. It's all fun...so go have fun...and hopefully we'll all figure out the genealogy applications in between the fun.

Facebook News

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:59:00 +0000

Love it or hate it, Facebook is a tool that most genealogists use. Well, Facebook made an announcement that is hitting the tech world in a heavy way.

They have put together a new type of search. And, they've combo'ed with Microsoft's Bing to make for what looks to be one interesting set of capabilities.

I've always used my Facebook page as a personal item. I've used Bing sporadically However, with this development, I can see having a Facebook page that is devoted to my genealogy quests.

Click here to read all the details.

Pinning a Criminal

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 17:50:00 +0000

Here's a dimension of genealogical research that I've never considered. Seems that several police departments have started pinning criminal wanted posters to Pinterest. One police department reports a 57% increase in arrests!

Click here to read the article. We live in some interesting wondrous times.

Archive Fillable Forms

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 16:43:00 +0000

Click here to go to the ePub on 4shared.
Click here to see post with download instructions.

New Post: Fillable Family Group Sheet...you can download it from my SkyDrive.

Archive Using Paint for Graphics

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 01:57:00 +0000

Archive Setting Up Tables

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:34:00 +0000

See Creating an Archive of Past Posts for an explanation of archive postings.

Use these links to read the series of posts that explains how to set up tables and use them for genealogy.

Table It!...Part 1 Introduction with tip for adding a row mid-table on the fly
Table It!...Part 2 Inserting a table
Table It!...Part 3 Resizing columns
Table It!...Part 4 Using Pop-Up Menu
Table It!...Part 5 Turing Word Tables in Graphics
Table It!...Part 6 Turing Word Tables in Graphics
Table It!...Part 7 Turing Word Tables in Graphics
Table It!...Part 8 Using Table Properties
Table It!...Part 9 Understanding Borders and Shading Options
Table It!...Part 10 Using the Borders Tab
Table It!...Part 11 Affecting Cells
Table It!...Part 12 Adding Cell Padding
Table It!...Part 13 Formatting Rows
Table It!...Part 14 Formatting Cells
Table It!...Part 15 Using Menus and Pop-Ups
Table It!...Part 16 Aligning Cells
Table It!...Part 17 Changing Text Direction
Table It!...Part 18 Using AutoFit Options
Table It!...Part 19 Using Options on Pop-Up Menu Word 2003
Table It!...Part 20 Using Options on Pop-Up Menu Word 2003
Table It!...Part 21 Finding Properties on the Ribbon Word 2007/2010
Table It!...Part 22 Using the Design Tab on Ribbon Word 2007/2010
Table It!...Part 23 Using the Layout Tab on Ribbon Word 2007/2010
Tip for Selecting a Table
Tip for Using a Table to Control Page Layout with Graphic
Tip for Using a Table to Create Certificates

As soon as I am able, I'll add a link for an eBook.

Archive Setting Up a Book Template

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:52:00 +0000

Setting Up a Book Template Part 14
Setting Up a Book Template Part 15
Setting Up a Book Template Part 16
Setting Up a Book Template Part 17
When Headers and Footers Go Awry
Adding Slip Sheeting...Blank Pages at the End of Chapters
Adding Page Breaks...the many ways to do it

As soon as I am able, I'll add a link for an eBook.

Creating an Archive of Past Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:01:00 +0000

I'm going to start a Christmas break...well sort of. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to create an archive of postings that put some of the series posts in order; that is, posts with links that should make it easier for anyone new to the blog to read some of the series postings. I'm also going to try to use the archive posts to create eBooks too. I'm planning on using different tools and different combinations to see what I like best.

So if you're a veteran reader of this blog, you can ignore these posts because you'll have already read the information. If you're relatively new to this blog, you might want to pay attention in case I put together a page of links you need.

For each of you, I wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Fun Kawanzaa, or a Happy Holiday, whichever works in your corner of the world. I'll be back sometime after January 1st.

Collaborating with PDFs

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:40:00 +0000

I've already written about:

Working with the Popups

This popup appears when you have the Annotations

pane open and you right-click a note or highlight in the PDF.

This popup appears when you have the Annotations

pane closed and you right-click a note or highlight in the PDF.

The difference in the two popups is based on whether you have the Annotations pane open.

In a long document, you're most likely to have the Annotations pane open (first popup above) because it's easy to click notes or highlights to move to a new location in the document.
In a short document, you're most likely to have the Annotations pane closed (second popup above) because you don't need to navigate.

If you right-click on a note or highlight in the Annotations pane, a similar popup appears.

Most of the commands are easy enough to understand. The Reply and Delete commands are worth a bit of a look.

Collaborating (Replying)

If you send an annotated PDF to another person, they are able to respond to questions. This post of course assumes that the person to whom you send the annotated PDF has a version of the Adobe Reader in which Comments are enabled (most likely Adobe Reader X). If the recipient doesn't have this version of Adobe Reader (or a recent version of Adobe Acrobat), they will be able to see comments and highlights; however, they will not be able to reply.

To reply:

Open the PDF.
Right-click a note icon in the body of the PDF or a note in the Annotations pane, if you have the pane displaying. A pop-up menu appears.
Click the Reply option. An entry field appears below the note.
Type your response, and then click anywhere outside of the note.
Save the PDF.
After you are finished replying, send the PDF back to the person who sent it to you. You can continue sending the PDF back and forth with replies to each other as needed...collaboration.

Deleting Notes or Highlights

To delete one note or highlight

Right-click a note or highlight in the body of the PDF or in the Annotations pane, and the popup menu that appears includes a Delete option.
Click Delete to delete the note or highlight.

To delete several notes and highlights:

Click the Comments button to display the Annotations pane.
Select the notes and highlights you want to delete.
Contiguous: Click the first note or highlight you want to delete, hold down the Shift key, and select last note or highlight you want to delete. All notes and highlights between the first and last notes and highlights are selected.
Non-contiguous: Click the first note or highlight you want to delete, hold down the Ctrl key, and select another note or highlight you want to delete. Only the notes and highlights you click are selected.
Right-click any selected note or highlight. A popup menu with a Delete option appears.
Click Delete to delete the note or highlight.

Help File

As you would expect, Adobe provides an extensive Help file, which includes video. Click here to visit the site and update your PDF skills.

Popup Menus on PDF

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 03:17:00 +0000

I've already explained:

Click the document to see a larger version.

Click the Esc key to return to this post.

Popup Menus

When you right-click a highlight or a note in the body of the PDF, this popup menu appears.

When you right-click any note or highlight in the Annotations pane, this popup menu appears.

As you can see, the popup lists each contain similar items and a few different items. In addition, you have some buttons on the Annotations pane together with a search field.

In the next post, I'll start talking about what you can do with each of these options.

Adding Text to a Photograph

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 01:18:00 +0000

I'm constantly amazed at the stuff I never identify as a problem. I've been sitting on a Facebook page reading all about several photographs that were lifted on Ancestry. Apparently, person one posted photos on Ancestry and person two took photos, cropped head shots, and added the photos to their tree...but misidentified the people in the photos. I've never had this problem but it's generating lots of traffic as people debate what you can do about the problem, whether it's a copyright violation, and how you go about adding a watermark to a photo.

I googled Watermark Photos and received lots of hits. In a light read, I can see that much of it is swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. If you have a need to do this task, you can do it directly in Paint.

Adding text to a photograph:

Find a photo to which you want to add text or a watermark.
Open Paint. Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, and then Paint.
Open the photo. Select File, Open, navigate to the photo, and select it.
Note that whatever format the photo is currently in (most likely .jpg) is the format in which it opens in Paint. After you add text, you will save the photo and it will be saved in the same format.
Save the photo under a new name (for example, Lillie with notes). Completing this important step preserves the original photo file.
Use the Text tool to add text to the photograph.
--Click the Text Tool button, move your cursor over the photograph. The arrow cursor turns into an I-beam cursor.
--Click somewhere in the photo and drag your cursor to draw a box. Paint adds an outline and the Text tab appears.

--Type the text you want to add to the photo.
Use options on the Text tab to format the text. As long as you do not click outside of the text box outline, you can select text in the text box and apply formatting.
After you have the text you want in place, click anywhere outside of the text box outline to make the text a part of the picture.
Save the annotated photo.

I'm assuming that most of the Font buttons you see will make sense to you. The Background buttons may be a bit of a mystery.

Opaque: Click it to make the background of the text box solid.
Transparent: Click it to make the background of the text box transparent (default).

If you need help with picking colors for the text (like gray if you want a more subtle watermark), see the post Much Ado About Graphic Software...Part 6.

To move the text--for example, to render the photo unusable--use the handles of the text box to re-size the text box so that the text is positioned in an inconvenient location for copying.

And finally, if you make a mistake, use the undo key combo (Ctrl + Z) to make it all go away and start over.

So there you have my suggestion for making lifting your photos a little harder for those who have sticky fingers.

Highlighting Text in a PDF

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:41:00 +0000

In addition to Adding a Note to a PDF, you can add highlights to call attention to text in a PDF. The process is similar to adding a note.

To add highlights to text:

Open a PDF, and find a line you want to highlight.
Click the Comment button to open the Annotations pane.
Click the Highlight Text option in the Annotation pane. Your cursor changes from an arrow to an I beam.
Hold down your left mouse button and run your cursor over the text you want to highlight.
Let go of your mouse button at the end of the text you want to highlight.
Look for notation for the highlight in the Annotations pane.

If you make a mistake while highlighting, use the undo (Ctrl + Z) to remove it and try again. You can also use the undo key combo if you add a note by mistake and want to remove it.

You can use the highlight in combination with notes, or you can use them separately. All notes and highlights appear in the Comments List of the Annotations pane. Each entry in the pane is a link. In a long PDF, you can click a note or highlight to scroll to that place in the PDF.

When adding notes or highlights, I've had you click the Comment button to open the Annotations pane. However, you should also notice that there are buttons for Notes and Highlight on the toolbar.

When you click the Sticky Note or Highlight Text option in the Annotations pane, the Notes and Highlight buttons in the toolbar are also selected. If you just want to add notes and highlights without displaying the Annotations pane, you can use the buttons. The main reason for knowing about the Annotation pane is that you can use it for quick navigation and to do several other tasks, including replying to notes or highlights...as in collaboration.

I hadn't even had my coffee yet!

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:01:00 +0000

I opened my email this a.m. to a surprise. RootsTech 2013 was confirming me as a speaker. Now this piece of info was really interesting. I had indeed submitted the Paint preso (my thinking was no guts, no glory) but I had heard a while back that it wasn't accepted. They turned down about half of the submissions this year because they didn't have room in the schedule. I assumed I was in good company with others who had been disappointed. So this second email immediately raised my suspicions that something was up.

Since I'm in Florida and up early for work, I sent off emails to David and Devin--the two people to whom questions were to be directed--asking that they confirm that this email was correct. Like I said my sensors were on overload. Out of curiosity, I started clicking links to the speaker's website and they worked! I thought I can be honest or I can have lots of fun. Alas, I was honest. Besides I had to get to work.

Well neither David nor Devin answered me directly and a subsequent attempt to use the links (I had to try!) lead me to a page that said: If you're having trouble logging in, please email blah, blah, blah.

Then, at 2:19 EST, a most apologetic email arrived with the explanation that a piece of third-party software had messed up. The email included a promotional code that I can use to register for RootsTech 2013 at a reduced rate until 30 December.

Since I knew I wasn't presenting, I had checked out the RootsTech 2013 schedule and I didn't see anything that would tempt me to go. Truth be known, I'm still working on stuff I got from attending RootsTech 2012. Piling more on top with 2013 didn't seem like a reasonable plan. Also, I've been looking at other national conferences to see if they had anything that would cause me to part with dollars.

Anyway--the upshot of all of this is that for just a few brief foggy pre-coffee moments this a.m. I had the rush, I had the panic, I had the validation that one must get from the acceptance of a proposal made for a national/international conference. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.