The Digital Cubicle

Smart Art Choices

2012-09-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

Hexagon Radial is a new take on an old concept. Circular process diagrams are widely used, so we decided to create something familiar but with a different visual twist. The use of hexagons and trapezoids gives you a multi-step process with a central theme or title, but with a visual sharpness provided by the numerous corners and straight lines. We intentionally put a lighter color on the connecting trapezoid so that the focus remains on the text and not on the shapes themselves.

As we've seen the use of images in documents and presentations continue to rise, we wanted to provide a clean way to tie your text to your image without having to use traditional captions. The Picture Frame layout accomplishes this by using an offset frame or border that binds the text to the image. This may present a challenge for you if the frame overlaps important content in the image. If that happens, I recommend using the Crop tool on the Picture Tools tab. With the image selected in your SmartArt graphic, clicking the crop tool allows you to move and resize your image without moving or resizing the shape containing the image.

PowerPoint Pictures and Slides

2012-09-17T13:10:00.001-07:00

Ever have this problem? You have a great picture for your PowerPoint slide, but it fits awkwardly on the page, leaving a big gap of white space. This looks really amateurish.

What do you do? Here are three graphic design tips to make this slide look more professional.

Use a background color from the picture. Using Color Cop, sample a color from the picture and use that color to fill the side box. Now this slide looks like it was "designed" rather than thrown together.
Make the picture smaller. Crop and resize the picture, and then put a wide border around it and tilt it to look like a Polaroid photograph. Add a drop shadow behind it. Use one of the colors from the photograph as your slide background color.
Make the picture bigger. Increase the picture size and crop it so it fills the entire PowerPoint slide. Make sure the text fits the contours of the picture. In this example, the text is ragged on the left so it curves around the eagle's head (left). Justified left creates an invisible border that cuts this picture in half (right).

Amateurish slides dent your credibility. Spend the extra time with your pictures so they look designed into the slide, and not just slapped awkwardly into place.

Middle mouse button

2012-09-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

We usually do not use the middle button of the mouse while browsing other than scrolling down.
But don't ignore it ...because it can be used to close a tab by clicking the middle button on the
tab....

You can also use it to move from one tab to another on the ribbon in Microsoft Office. Hover over the ribbon and scroll with the middle button.

Cool....Isn't???

ZoomIt - A Hidden Secret

2012-09-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

If you're responsible for presentations or training, and you're looking for an easy way to emphasize information, ZoomIt's on your side. You can use it to zoom your screen, make annotations by drawing and typing on the screen, and, with Windows Vista and Windows 7, you can use Live Zoom for adjustable zoom levels.

You can use freehand or controlled shape drawing in several colors and erase your markups by pressing the letter 'e'. ZoomIt also supports tablets, so you don't need an expensive touchscreen system to annotate your presentations on the fly.

Sort a list in Word

2012-09-06T07:37:00.001-07:00

1. Select the list that you want to sort

2. Once the list is selected, click on the Home tab and then select the Sort button.

3. Select what you would like to sort by. Field 1, will do the first column of data whereas field 2 will do the second column of data. Click Ok and you are all set.

4. With only field 1 Sorted.

With Field 2 Sorted

Hidden Fields in InfoPath

2012-09-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

I want to be able to control if a textbox is displayed or not based on the value that's chosen from a drop down menu. Let’s say, my dropdown has 3 values Success, Partial Success & Failed

I want to hide the textbox – Comments, if the value is Success and display it if any of the other two values are selected.

1. Open the form in InfoPath Designer. Select the control you want to hide under certain conditions (in this case, your Comments field).

2. With the control selected, click the Manage Rules button in the Control Tools / Properties ribbon.

3. When you click that button, the Rules pane will open on the right side of your screen. (Depending on your monitor and resolution, you may have to scroll to the right to see it).

4. In the Rules pane, click the New button and select Formatting.

5. This will activate the lower portion of the pane. InfoPath will give it the name of “Rule 1” by default, but you should give it a descriptive name, such as “Hide Comments” or “Hide Comments based on Result.”

6. Under the Condition heading it will say “None.” Click the word None.

7. This will open a dialog box called Condition which is where you set your rules. You want to use the fields to build the statement: “When Result is equal to Success”
– Field 1: Result
– Field 2: is equal to
– Field 3: Type text … ; then type in Success
Click OK

8. The dialog box will close. In the Rules pane, check the box next to “Hide this control.”

9. Save the form, then use Preview to check that the formatting works the way you want it to before Publishing.

Here’s a bonus tip: Rules and conditional formatting do not work with field labels. In this case, I might delete the text label for Comments, and add some default text in the control properties, such as “Comments” or “Type your comments here” or something similar as a prompt to label the field within the field itself.

Why InfoPath with SharePoint?

2012-09-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was able to fill in for a sick instructor and teach a two day InfoPath course that integrated with SharePoint. I was excited, but nervous at the same time, since this would be one of the first times teaching a class like that!

It started out last Thursday and ended on Friday. It went off without any major issues and I was able to teach the class about the benefits of InfoPath. Below are some examples;

- Cascading Dropdowns - https://www.nothingbutsharepoint.com/sites/eusp/Pages/infopath-cascading-drop-down-screencast.aspx

- Customizing the look

- Form Libraries

- Submit Buttons

Yes, there are some things that users would say, just create a custom list and I would argue that you should create a custom list, but customize the form too! InfoPath is way too powerful to be sitting in your start menu untouched.

Let me know if you have any questions about InfoPath and I will be glad to assist!

Make Your Job Feel Less Like Work with “20% Time”

2012-08-14T09:39:00.002-07:00

Recently, I was able to find an excellent article on why there should be time to play in your professional life!

http://www.benchmarklearning.com/resources/blogs/business/12-08-09/Make_Your_Job_Feel_Less_Like_Work_with_%e2%80%9c20_Time%e2%80%9d.aspx

OneNote on SharePoint

2012-07-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

We often will find blog postings that do a great job of explaining a topic and a solution.

OneNote on SharePoint: A quick guide for site admins

http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-onenote/archive/2012/07/26/working-with-onenote-on-sharepoint.aspx

Microsoft Preview OFFICE 2013

2012-07-18T02:00:00.000-07:00

Recently Microsoft released a preview of Office 2013. It is important to know that it is also considered Office 15 because of the version number. There are some neat add-ins that will be available with the new office set up. Check out the link below.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/16/microsoft-office-15-preview/

How to Embed YouTube Videos in a PowerPoint

2012-07-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

YouTube is ubiquitous for sharing video content. In fact, YouTube are so popular that YouTube.com is currently the #2 search engine behind Google. This makes looking for YouTube videos a piece of moist, delicious cake. One of the easiest ways to share YouTube videos with an audience is to embed YouTube videos in a PowerPoint.

Here’s how to embed a YouTube video in a PowerPoint 2007 presentation:

First, you need to make sure the Developer tab is visible. If not, click the Microsoft Office button and click PowerPoint Options.

Select the Popular tab and select the Show Developer tab in Ribbon options.

Click OK. The Developer tab now appears in the Ribbon. Now, you’re ready to embed the YouTube video.

Navigate to the slide where you want to add the video.

Select the Developer tab and click More Controls.

The More Controls dialog box appears, displaying a long list of controls that you can add to your presentation. Scroll through the list and select Shockwave Flash Object. Click OK.

Draw a rectangular object on the slide that will eventually hold the YouTube video.

Select the rectangular object. Click Properties from within the Developer tab.

From the Properties list, locate the Movies field. Here is where you need to add the URL to the YouTube video. Before adding the URL, delete the watch? text and replace the = that follows the v with /. For example, if you’re using the URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjk85MQNRHo, it will look like this:

Close the Properties window by clicking the X in the top corner.

The YouTube video is now in your presentation. Press F5 to preview the video. See? Not too bad. Take these steps a few times and you’ll be able to do it in your sleep — just don’t let your boss know you’re napping on his or her dime!

Fill in a Range with 0's

2012-07-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to fill in the blank cells with the same number? You can by following these little steps.

Select range > F5 > Special > Blanks > OK > 0 then Ctrl+Enter

Best Microsoft Office tips and tricks of 2011

2012-07-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

Came across a great site about what some of the best tips and tricks are for working with MS Office Products. Must say, it is nice to know some of the items that I use on a regular basis made the cut!

Check it out for yourself. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505143_162-57344707/best-microsoft-office-tips-and-tricks-of-2011/

Adding a Second Axis

2012-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

Often it is useful to create charts that compare different types of data. For example, you might want to compare a stock's share price with its trading volume, or overall corporate revenue with the number of units sold.

To quickly and clearly display data of different types, it can be helpful to plot varying data sets either with different chart types or on different axes.

Getting Started

Suppose I work at a manufacturing company, and I'd like to analyze the number of units we've sold over the last few months and the total revenue generated. I'm hoping to identify trouble spots, such as high unit sales that result in low revenue, which may in turn indicate that the units are being sold too cheaply.

I could make two different charts - one plotting units sold per month, and another plotting total transaction revenue by month. However, it will be challenging to analyze and compare the two charts separately. I'd much rather create a single chart that incorporates both data sets such as the one shown below.

Chart Showing Both Units Sold and Total Transactions

Daunting though it may seem, it turns out that making this kind of chart isn't very difficult at all. We'll walk you through the two major steps -- combining different chart types and adding a secondary axis. Then we'll show you how to add some finishing touches to make your chart look polished and professional.

Combining Different Chart Types

Create a Data Set

To ensure you can follow along, we've created a simple data set, as well as a sample workbook that you can use to walk through the steps yourself:

Sample Data Showing Units Sold and Total Transactions

Select Your Data Set

The first step in building a chart with more than one chart type is to actually set up a chart with just a single chart type. For this scenario, I want a chart with columns and lines, but I'll start with a regular column chart. (Note: It actually doesn't matter which chart type you start with, but if you're working with a multiple data sets, I'd pick the chart type which applies to the majority of your data - it'll mean less work for you later).

Select the data that you would like to use for your chart.
Go to the Insert tab, and then choose a type of column to insert (as shown below). For the sake of this scenario, select one of the 2-D column types.

Selecting A Chart Type

Now we have a column chart with two data sets (Units Sold and Total Transactions), both charted using the same chart type.

Chart Tracking Two Different Data Sets

Changing One of the Data Sets to a Line Chart
The next big step is to change the chart type for the Total Transactions data set into a line chart.

1. Click on the Total Transactions data column in the chart. Don't click on the legend text "Total Transactions." Rather, click on one of the red bars in the chart. You should now see the data set highlighted as follows:

Selecting a Data Set on a Chart

2. Once you have selected the Total Transactions column in the chart, you will see the following button in the Type Group section: Change Chart Type

3. Click on the Change Chart Type button

4. This will bring up the Change Chart Type dialog box. Select the new chart type you'd like to use. In this case, select the Line chart and hit OK.

Change Chart Type Dialog

Voila, you've created a chart with two chart types (column and line)!
In fact, you can combine far more than two chart types by repeating the above process with additional data sets, and selecting a different type from the Change Chart Type dialog box.

Chart Plotting Two Data Sets with Bar and Line Chart

Add a Secondary Axis to Make Charts Easier to Read

While quite cool, our chart is still difficult to analyze because the scale of the Total Transactions is much larger than the scale of the Units Sold, and so we can't gain much insight from the virtually indistinguishable columns. To make the chart easier to read, the Total Transactions should be converted to a secondary axis, thus allowing for the data sets to be scaled differently. Here's how you convert a data set to a secondary axis.

1. Click the Total Transactions line chart (do this exactly as described in the "Changing One of the Data Sets to a Line Chart" step above).

2. Navigate to the Layout tab on the main menu.

3. In the Current Selection section on the far left, make sure the dropdown selection reads "Series Total Transactions."

4. Click Format Selection (see the image below) to display the Format Data Series dialog box.

Formatting options on the Layout tab

5. Click the Secondary Axis button in the Series Options section, and then click Close.

Format Data Series Dialog

You've now successfully added a secondary axis to your chart! Your chart should look like this:

Finishing Touches

You have now created a chart that displays your data in way that allows for easy analysis. Now you can do fit-and-finish work to make your combined chart look more professional.
Make Your Chart Legend More Visible
If you move the chart legend to the bottom of your combined chart, it will separate it from the Total Transactions axis and so better highlight it.

1. Click the Chart Layout tab, and then click Legend.

2. Choose Show Legend at Bottom.

Formatting Options for Chart Legend

Legend Appearing at the Bottom of the Chart

Change the Secondary Axis Label
We want the Total Transactions axis to display dollar signs since this is the value we are tracking.

1. Right-click the Total Transactions axis label and select Format Axis.

2. Click the Number tab at the left-hand side of the of the Format Axis dialog box.

3. Click Currency from the Category list. If you don't like a decimal place and subsequent zeros, remove the two right-most zeros and the decimal place from the Format Code box.

4. Click Add, and then click Close.

Format Axis Menu

Add Axes Titles
To know precisely what you're tracking, you can add axes titles (labels) to the chart.

1. Go to the Layout tab, and choose Axis Titles.

2. On the list that appears, choose Primary Vertical Axis Title.

3. Then choose whichever option you'd like- in this case, I'll choose Rotated Title

4. Type in the title you'd like. For this scenario, use the title "Units Sold."

5. Do the same for the Secondary Vertical Axis Title

Adding an Axis Title

Add a Chart Title
Finally, we want to add a descriptive title so it's clear to everyone what the chart is depicting.

1. Go to the Layout tab, and click the Chart Title button.

2. Select a location for the chart title.

Chart Title Creation

And that's all there is to it! Now you have professional looking chart that clearly displays data for both chart types

A Completed Chart with Consisting of Two Chart Types

By repeating the steps outlined in this post with additional data sets, you can create even more complex (yet readable) charts.

Top 10 Outlook Shortcuts

2012-06-01T13:46:00.004-07:00

Switch between Mail, Calendar, and Contacts
- Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, Ctrl+3: (Mail is Ctrl+1, Calendar is Ctrl+2, and Contacts is Ctrl+3)
Create a meeting request
- Ctrl+Shift+ Q
Move a message from one folder to another
- Ctrl+Shift+V
Go to the Inbox folder
- Ctrl+Shift+I
Toggle between ALL CAPS, all lowercase, and Sentence Caps
- Shift+F3 (This works in Word and when Word is your email editor.)
Create a bulleted list
- Ctrl+Shift+L (This works in Word and when Word is your email editor.)
In Calendar, go to the same day the previous/following week
- Alt+Arrow Up (previous) Alt+Arrow Down (following)
Open the Address Book
- Ctrl+Shift+B
Responding to messages
- Ctrl+R (Reply); Ctrl+Shift+R (Reply All); Forward (Ctrl+F)
Send a message
- Alt+S (Note: Be careful with this one; your fingers learn it VERY quickly and if you have any hot-headedness inside you, you may find that you're blasting out messages faster than you're really thinking about them...)

Resizing column widths in pivot tables

2012-06-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Issue: Excel automatically makes column widths too wide

I often work with pivot tables that have URLs as rows of data, and the URLs can be quite long. In the past, whenever I changed the data and refreshed the pivot table, Excel would automatically resize the column width, making the column as wide as the longest URL. This pushed all my other data to the right and out of view. To see it, I had to scroll--an extra eye-wearying, time-consuming step.

Trick: How to change the default column width when refreshing a pivot table

Right-click in the pivot table
Select Pivot Table Options
In the Pivot Table Options dialogue box, click the Layout and Format tab, and then uncheck the box Autofit column widths on update.

Now the column width doesn't change each time the pivot is refreshed, but now you need to define how wide the column with the URLs should be.

Go back to your pivot and select the column with the long URLs. Right-click, and enter a value for the column width.

Now when you refresh the pivot table, the column doesn't resize. Instead its width corresonds to the value you entered.

Perfect Tutorials on Charts

2012-05-31T09:06:00.003-07:00

Often we come across great ways to do things. The link below is a perfect solution if you are having trouble with charts!

http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-excel/archive/2012/05/30/excel-tutorials-on-charts-.aspx

Try seaching your Outlook Calendar

2012-05-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

Now when is that neighborhood planning meeting and will it conflict with the business dinner your boss just asked you to attend? Your calendar is so full that scanning it won't help. You might not know that the Outlook Calendar has its own Search to help you sort out the dates.

Search calendar items
In Outlook, in the Navigation Pane, click Calendar.

In the upper right corner of the calendar, in the Search Calendar box, type in a search term to find the meeting you are looking for.

How to use Excel on your iPad

2012-05-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Did you know that you can use your iPad to view and edit Excel files? Well, I didn’t until a few days ago.

It’s really easy to do and the best thing is that it’s free. You don’t need any apps, you don’t need to install anything. All you need is your iPad, an internet connection and a free Windows Live ID and SkyDrive folder.

Word and Publisher: What are they?

2012-05-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

The similarities…and differences

Both Word and Publisher are suitable for even the beginner computer user, and both are pretty flexible when it comes to creating, well, just about anything (except for a database, a spreadsheet, or a few other things). Both can utilize text, images, and various complicated types of formatting.
If you want to create a business card, you can do it in either program. If you want to create a newsletter, the same rule holds true: Either program can handle the job. In fact, there is a whole list of tasks that either program can handle quite nicely. However (and this is a BIG however), one of these programs is better when you're dealing with a lot of graphics (Hint: That program starts with the letter "P") and one is better for legal documents and more text-intensive projects (Hint: That program starts with the letter "W").

So…which one should you use?

Well, I started to create this really cool table that outlined all the things that each program is good for…and then I found an article page on this very Web site that does the exact same thing. A coworker — and friend — of mine created this very helpful table. (Leslie, I thank you for taking the time to do this so that I could just blather on in the manner to which my readers have become accustomed.)

If you want to create	Use this program	Why?
Graphically rich print and e-mail newsletters	Publisher	Precise control over positioning text with images and other design elements.
Graphically rich catalogs	Publisher	Pre-designed catalog publications and the Mail and Catalog Merge Wizard.
Greeting cards	Publisher	Greeting card types and designs you can customize for all your business and personal needs.
Consistently branded business communications and marketing materials	Publisher	Master Design Sets that create a coordinated look and feel for your company letterhead, business cards, brochures, and labels.
Posters or banners	Publisher	Poster and banner designs with easy width and height choices to match your needs.
3- or 4- panel brochures or flyers	Publisher	Many designs to choose from with optional space for customer addresses, and order, response, or sign-up forms.
Business cards	Publisher	Design types to match all of your business communications and marketing materials.
Design publications to be commercially printed	Publisher	Support for large jobs that require the services of a commercial printer, including composite CMYK PostScript output and advanced print settings for better color separations.
Documents with a table of contents and index	Word	Indexing and table of contents features allow you to create a professional published document.
Long documents	Word	Features specific to research papers, business plans, or other longer documents including page numbering, footnotes, endnotes, and annotations.
Legal documents	Word	Legal document support with features such as line numbering, restricted access to sensitive documents, and checks for hidden text.
Short, simple documents (memos or letters)	Word	Templates and Wizards that allow you to choose style and function, as well as content for the documents you write every day.
Document sharing and collaboration	Word	Document Workspaces allow colleagues to work together on documents by using task lists, using links to resource materials, and storing related or supporting documents in a document library.
Handwritten notes and comments	Word	With Tablet PC ink features, you can take handwritten notes or mark up Word documents.
Documents with XML support	Word	The Extensible Markup Language (XML) feature saves hours by allowing creation of document elements that are both searchable and reusable.
Documents requiring review or editing	Word	Change tracking, inline comments, side-by-side compare, compare and merge, compare versions, and text highlighter features support document revision and collaboration.

What is new in 2010 and 2011

2012-05-08T09:22:00.001-07:00

Many people ask what is new with Office 2010 for PC and Office 2011 for Mac. The answers are not that simple. There are a lot of in-depth items that are similar across both platforms. For more spcific, please click on to view a Presentation.

Schedule View in Outlook

2012-04-18T08:10:00.002-07:00

Schedule View in Outlook 2010
Written by: Yasuhiko Mori, Outlook Program Manager, Tokyo, Japan

Microsoft Outlook 2010 has a new feature called Schedule View that makes it easier to schedule time with your co-workers. Schedule View is a new horizontal layout for the Outlook calendar that displays many calendars at the same time.

To try Schedule View in Outlook 2010, in Calendar, click Schedule View . Schedule View also appears if five or more calendars are selected. (That number is customizable.)

Team Calendar
Schedule View is useful when you work closely with a team of co-workers who share their calendars. If you have a Microsoft Exchange Server account, the calendar group Team Calendar appears in the Calendar Navigation Pane. The Team Calendar group contains calendars for your manager, direct reports, and peers as determined from information in the Windows Active Directory.
To view your team calendar, select the Team Calendar check box. All calendars in the group appear in the Schedule View.

Scheduling a meeting
To schedule a meeting when in Schedule View, do the following:
1. In Calendar, in the Navigation Pane, select the people that you want to invite to the meeting. Select the conference room if you also want to include a conference room resource.
2. If you want to schedule a conference room resource, select a conference room.
3. The top row of the Schedule View displays a summary of the free/busy availability for all the people that you have selected. You can use this summary to find the best time for the meeting.
4. After you have selected a time slot, on the Home tab, in the New group, click New Meeting. The attendees and time are automatically entered. Type a subject, and then click Send.

I hope you find Schedule View useful.

Copied from The Office Blogs (http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-outlook/archive/2012/04/16/schedule-view-in-outlook-2010.aspx)

Using Windows Flip 3D

2012-04-17T11:10:00.004-07:00

With Windows Flip 3D, you can quickly preview all of your open windows (for example, open files, folders, and documents) without having to click the taskbar. Flip 3D displays your open windows in a stack. At the top of the stack, you'll see one open window. To see other windows, you can flip through the stack.

You can open Flip 3D by pressing CTRL+Windows logo key +TAB. You can then press TAB to cycle through the windows. (You can also press RIGHT ARROW or DOWN ARROW to cycle forward one window, or press LEFT ARROW or UP ARROW to cycle backward one window.) Press ESC to close Flip 3D.

Create Desktop Shortcut use path;

rundll32.exe DwmApi #105
click <next>
Name it what ever;
<Finish>
Right click and choose properties;
change icon;
type imageres.dll;
upper left corner choose Flip3D icon;
click Ok; click Ok;
Right Click Pin to Taskbar;

To use: click it on taskbar to enable, wheel on mouse to scroll.

Learn what's new in the SharePoint 2010 Ribbon

2012-04-04T12:40:00.001-07:00

Security, Security, Security

2012-04-04T07:52:00.001-07:00

Security is a huge word with today's technology and Microsoft makes is simple. The Office team makes it simple for Onenote, Microsoft's note taking program.

http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-onenote/archive/2012/03/27/password-protect-onenote-notes.aspx