Basics: Function Keys.

Back in DOS days, the function keys were essential; now that we're using windows, they are an afterthought.  But they still can be useful; if you're typing something, it's usually faster to use them than to find the mouse and move it where it you want it.

Here is a brief listing of some useful function keys in Office:

To do this	Press
Get Help or visit Microsoft Office Online.	F1
Repeat the last action. This is especially useful in Excel; I use it to delete non-contiguous columns multiple times.	F4
Choose the Go To command to let your find and replace.	F5
Go to the next pane or frame.	F6
Choose the Spelling and begin a spell check.	F7
Extend a selection. If you've selected a character, this will select a word.  Pressing it again will select the paragraph.	F8
Show KeyTips. You can then press the indicated key to activate items on the ribbon.	F10
Choose the Save As command	F12

One of my favorite and most useful features of MS Word has been something that's been unchanged as part of the program since DOS days, but which is poorly documented: The Case Toggle.  It switches characters from upper case to lower case and vice versa.  It also capitalizes words.  So if you have your caps lock on and end up typing a whole sentence, you don't have to retype it all.

To change the case, highlight the text and then hold down the Shift key and press the F3 key.  The text will change case, changing UPPER CASE to lower case; lower case to Capitalizing Each Word; and Capitalized Words to UPPER CASE.

Saving Word Files from E-mail

Some students have evidently been having problems with saving Word files they've opened in Outlook Web Access.

When a Word file is sent as an attachment, and you open it in Outlook Web Access, it opens Microsoft Word on your computer. But there's a problem -- the file is saved in a temporary folder. Thus, any changes to the file are saved to this temporary file and not in the copy in the e-mail.

If you open the file again from the e-mail message, you won't find your changes.

The temporary file also may be hard to find; it's in an obscure folder on your computer and may even have a completely different name.  It's possible -- though not easy -- to find this, and the folder may well be deleted by the time you go looking.

The solution is to plan ahead.  There are two things you can do to save your work.

• Save the attachment instead of opening it.  When you click on the attachment, you are given the options to Save or Open. Always choose "Save" and save the file to your hard drive.  Then click on it to open.  Now your changes will be kept.
• Use "save as" instead of "save." If you have opened the attachment, that's fine.  But don't just save the file.  Select "Save as" from the Office Button (at the top left of the screen).  Select a location and name and save the file there. Your changes are now on your hard drive.  You can do this the first time you save the file, or the last, but you must do it at some point or your work will be lost.

Remember -- unless you take either of these steps, any changes you save are only temporary.

Ahead of the Curve

People don't know how to use PowerPoint.

Oh, they can create presentations, but they don't know how to use it. So you end up with "Death by PowerPoint," with the presenter reading off the screen (The classic joke about this is "The Gettysburg Address in PowerPoint").

In addition, the setup of PowerPoint lends itself to the bullet point model.  When you click on a new slide, that's what you get. And while bullets can be useful, if all the slides are nothing but bullets, your presentations quite often become sleep aids.

About a year ago, I went to a conference where one of the presenter showed a new, more effective way of using PowerPoint.  Instead of using bullets, you follow a few general principles:

• A full sentence as the title.
• An illustration that demonstrates what the title is talking about.
• Lots of white space.

I started using this last year and discovered it made the presentations much better. Instead of them being the presentation notes for what you're saying, they become the illustrations for the words. People listen to you, but have a concrete image to help them remember.

Well, now Microsoft is taking notice. In their Office Hours blog, they recently did an article called "PowerPoint without Bullets."  And the result was much like I saw in that presentation last year.

A full sentence?  Check.  An illustration? Yup.  Lots of white space? Yessiree. It's a good feeling to be ahead of the curve.

The Office 2007

No, not this one:

 

This one:

Siena will be deploying Office 2007 over the summer. It's a big change from Office 2003, and the biggest change in Office software in about 15 years. For the first time since then, things look different.  It's not hard to figure it out, but the first time you'll probably be confused. 

The first thing you need to know is one simple fact.  This:

is a button, not a design element. It's called the Office Button (sometimes, to add confusion, people call it "the pearl") and it works like the "File" menu in previous versions of Office.  I expect that most of our helpdesk calls from new Office users will be about issues that can be solved by clicking the Office Button.

Information about the roll out, plus some ways to get help, are on our Office 2007 page. It's still being built, but already has some tips and suggestions on how to use it.

I think overall most people will like using the new programs.  The menus, though different, are more logically designed. The new ribbon bar shows more options, and there are some great features built in. There are also new Office programs like OneNote (which I find a great tool) to make things easier.

I'll be talking about some of the new options from time to time here on the blog.  If you have specific questions, contact the call center.

Preparing to Switch

Eventually, Office 2007 will replace Office 2003. I've talked about it before and gave some suggestions about the differences. And I've just discovered something that will make the transition easier.

But first, as is my wont, a little history. I wrote previously about Lotus 1-2-3 and how Microsoft had to work to detrone it as the standard spreadsheet. One of Microsoft's techniques was to let you type in Lotus commands and have Excel translate them and give you a quick demo of how to do it in Excel. Soon users learned the new commands and had very little downtime.

Microsoft is doing something similar with the Word 2007 demo. They have both a web-based and downloadable Flash presentation that shows what a give Word 2003 command looks like in Word 2007. The short clip below shows how it works. I've chosen the "Headers and Footers" command, since it's one of the least logically located one in Word 2003.

Blogger made this display too small to use. To see the full-size demo, go to the demo link. (Requires Windows Media Player)

You can find the online demo at http://tinyurl.com/y85r6y and the downloadable demo at http://tinyurl.com/2bu79o. It's actualy kind of fun, and a nice reference (Tip: You can download the downloadable version and it will work nicely on your computer. Very easy install: only one file.)

Addendum

Rene Molineaux here at I&TS has pointed out that Microsoft has similar interactive demos for all the Office 2007 products. A full list can be found on their website.

New Office

Office 2007 is coming (actually, it's already here, but Siena hasn't adopted it quite yet).

I'm pretty impressed with the program. Items are designed in a fairly logical manner, and are simpler to find. Fewer mouse clicks. In addition, there are some really nice formatting options.

Microsoft has put together a nice quick demo of some of the changes*. The most obvious difference is the menu. You don't have the same options you've gotten used to in the past decade. Instead, there is a "ribbon" that gives far more options than previously. Instead of trying to remember what menu to click to display what you want, you can very often see it without clicking.

Most confusing is the Office Button. It's a little button at the upper left of the screen that leads you to the type of options you see on the file menu. Since it looks like a design element and not something to click on, people are going to find it hard to find things at first.

I also wonder why they don't put a print button on the top menu. You can add it manually, but normally you have to click an extra time to print.

But these aren't deal killers. They'll cause confusion at first, but after a little time working with the program, people will get the hang of them.

Here's a nice description of the differences between Office 2003 and 2007 (pdf). If you want to test out Office 2007, log on to Citrix (either through Program Neighborhood or via the web) and try it out.

*Though I wish they wouldn't sound so enthusastic about how the software changes they way they work; most people like the way the currently work and would prefer not to change, even if the result is better.

The Creeping Terror (Office 2007)

Office 2007 will be making its way on campus for the fall, like a creeping terror that can't be stopped: students will find it's the only version of Office for sale when they buy their computers.

I've been using the programs and generally like them. The "ribbon bar" feature makes it very easy to find things, and the dynamic formatting aspect is very nice. The latter lets you see how text will formated without applying the format -- you hold your mouse over the option and the text is changed. Really handy for formatting documents when you wonder how a particular point size, color, font, etc. will look.

However, I&TS isstill making plans on deploying the software to faculty and staff. You see, even though the setup is much more logical and lets you use features that you didn't know about previously, it has one disadvantage: it is different.

Now, my attitude when I come up with something new is "Hey! This is great! Let's figure out how this works!" But I know I'm a bit weird that way. Change is frustrating for a lot of people, so we can't just throw something like this at users and expect them to love all the new features. If you're working on a project, it can be very frustrating if the feature you need isn't where you expect it when you need it.

There are also question about compatibility. Old timers can remember when every word processor upgrade involved a new file format, but Word, PowerPoint, and Excel have had the same file formats for a dozen years, so people aren't used to this sort of change.

I&TS have pushed out patches to Office 2003 so Office 2007 files can be read. If a student sends a .docx file (Word 2007), it will convert automatically. You can save as 2007 or 2003.
(Except in Access. As usual for Access upgrades, all bets are off.)

We will be rolling out the software slowly, and will make sure we have plenty of instructional materials available, so you won't be overwhelmed.