PC Magazine: 8 Handy Microsoft Word tools

Thought this was pretty cool, so I’ll post it:

Shrink document by one page. A document whose last page is mostly blank is a waste of printer paper, especially if you have to make a lot of copies. Your letters and mailings will also look more professional if they fill the pages nicely. If Print Preview reveals a skimpy last page, click the Shrink to Fit (Word 2003) or Shrink One Page button (Word 2007). Word will tweak the fonts in the document to make it a page smaller. Don’t like the results? Just press Ctrl-Z to Undo.

Calculate in tables. Sure, you can embed an Excel worksheet in a Word document, but if you just need a few simple calculations, you can use Word’s own math skills. Select a cell at the bottom of a column and click Formula on the Table Tools Layout ribbon (Word 2007), or select Formula from the Table menu (Word 2003). Word will suggest =SUM(ABOVE), but you can select among over a dozen functions. Besides choosing ABOVE, BELOW, LEFT, or RIGHT to work with all cells in the specified direction, you can reference individual cells and ranges as you do in Excel—for example, =AVERAGE(A1:C3).

Merge to e-mail. Mail-merging to letters and envelopes is too-too 1990s, but you may still need to send a common message to a group of correspondents. That’s no problem, since the familiar mail-merge feature in Word can also send e-mail messages. In Word 2007, complete your letter, click Finish & Merge in the ribbon and choose Send E-mail Messages from the menu. In Word 2003 select “E-mail messages” at the very first step of the Mail Merge wizard. Either way you’ll be prompted for a subject (the same for every message) and for a data field that holds e-mail addresses of the recipients.

Compare two documents. Your newest client just returned a revised version of a contract document file but didn’t mark his revisions. Is he trying to hoodwink you with sneaky changes? Rather than ruin your eyes poring over the old and new documents, have Word find the differences. In Word 2003 open the old document, choose Compare and Merge Documents from the Tools menu, and select the new document. In Word 2007 choose Compare | Compare from the Review ribbon and select both the old and the new document.

Document inspector. Your Word 2007 documents may contain a lot more information than you realize–tracked changes, comments, hidden text, private properties, and more. Distributing a document with this kind of data present can be embarrassing. To make sure you’re not revealing too much in a Word 2007 document, click the Office button at the top left, point to Prepare, and click Inspect Document in the resulting menu. Word 2003 has no precise equivalent, but you can get some benefit using the Security tab of the Options dialog. Check the boxes “Remove personal information from file properties on save” and “Warn before printing, saving, or sending a file that contains tracked changes or comments.”

Built-in translator. The Research panel in both Word 2007 and Word 2003 includes an option to translate the selected text or the entire document between various languages. It’s more useful when you’re trying to puzzle out what a foreign-language document means than when you want to communicate your own thoughts with those who don’t speak English. To see why, translate a few sentences from English to another language and then back to English.

Create fancy equations. Sure, you can write “the electric field equals one over the electrical conductivity times the electric current density,” but is a lot more compact. To insert an equation into Word 2007 choose Equation | Insert New Equation from the Insert ribbon and use the tools on the Equation Design toolbar that appears. In Word 2003, it’s a bit more awkward. Select Insert | Object from the menu, choose Microsoft Equation 3.0, and click OK, then use the Equation toolbar that appears.

Use math autocorrect. (Word 2007 only) All of those fancy math symbols can be available even outside the Equation Design toolbar. Click the Office button at the top left, click the Word Options button, select Proofing, click AutoCorrect Options, and check the box “Use Math AutoCorrect rules outside of math regions.” Now you can type \aleph to insert an aleph (ℵ), \int for an integral sign (∫) or even type \quadratic to insert the entire quadratic equation (x=(-b±√(b^2-4ac))/2a).

-Kolametal

6 Web Memberships Everyone Should Have

The Internet is full of great sites…here’s six that you should definetely join if you get the chance. Ranked in no paticular order.

1. Facebook

Cost to join: Free

Sign up-its a great way to network with friends from your school or work. Easy to navigate, and gives users a lot of freedom to customize their profiles. Leaps and bounds better then MySpace.

2. Netflix

Cost to join: $16.99 a month

Get access to thousands of DVDs on here, mailed directly to you. I think Netflix has literally every movie and TV show ever released on DVD. Definitely worth the money.

3. Wikipedia

Cost to join: Free

Yes, you can get by without a membership. But you are able to edit protected articles and gain access to other feature(such as the userboxes-I had fun with those) when you sign up. It only takes a few minutes…try it out.

4. Digg

Cost to join: Free

Make your opinion heard…join Digg. Good site to comment on articles pertaining to everything from the 2008 elections to a homeless woman who hid in a man’s closest for a year.

5. Youtube

Cost to join: Free

You need an Account to upload videos…its easy to join, and free to do so. And now you’re able to share your videos with the world.

6. eBay

Cost to join: Free, but price of purchased items varies

Everyone has old junk they’d like to get rid of. Why not sell it? One man’s  trash is another man’s treasure, as the saying goes. You’ll find stuff on eBay that you’d never get on Amazon.

Hope you enjoyed the analysis…I enjoy all of these websites, and think that everyone should look into them.

-Kolametal

Indiana Jones Movie Review

Went to see the new Indiana Jones movie a few days ago.  Now, while it will never compare with the original Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark I thought it was a fun and engaging film. People will probably tell you that “the ending ruined it”-I say it did not. This installment Of the famous series follows the archaeologist(Harrison Ford) on a journey with his son(Shia LaBeouf) to the Amazon in order to decipher the  secret of the crystal skulls. The setting of the movie takes place in 1957, and Indy’s enemies are not German Nazis, but Soviet communists, who break into Area 51 in order to steal a box containing remains Jones excavated a decade ago. From there, the movie unites Jones and a son he never knew he had in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the crystal skulls and obtain their power before the Soviets do.

I thought the movie was well done, especially for an installment so late in the series. Harrison Ford has aged significantly since Raiders of the Lost Ark, but his acting remains great, and Shia Lebouf’s youth made up for it. There is a number of great chase scenes, and plenty of action. The plot is a little complicated at first, but makes sense before too long. One thing that I didn’t like-the character of Indiana Jones seemed a little…well, out of character. Maybe it was the age, but I’m not sure. However, the movie is still worth seeing-check it out.

-Kolametal

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