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In earlier versions of Word, you were easily able to suppress the blank lines in a mail merge. In Word 2007, it does not seem to automatically do this.

Say for example, you have a data file with Address 1, Address 2, and Address 3. When you add the fields to your merge document, they look something like this:

«Address 1»
«Address 2»
«Address 3»
«City», «State» «Zip»

When you do the merge, if a record does not have a second or third address line, the result is something like this:

101 East Street

Anytown, US 12345

Rather than what you want:

101 East Street
Anytown, US 12345

The problem is that the default Normal style adds 10 pts of space between two paragraphs. When Word encounters a blank line with a space after value in a mail merge, it keeps the paragraph mark. The solution is to format the address fields with a style that does not place a space after each paragraph:

You could use the Word 2003 style set. (Change Styles | Style Set in the Styles group on the Home tab.)
You could create a new style called something like Normal No Space and format it to have 0 pt Spacing After each paragraph.
You could also use the Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style checkbox in the Paragraph dialog. Make sure to select only the list or this option will change the style for your entire document. (Paragraph dialog in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.)
You could format the address lines and manually specify 0 pt Spacing After each paragraph. (Paragraph dialog in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.)

This shouldn’t be happening, but at least there is a solution.

Posted in MS Word, Office 2007 | Top Of Page | 2 Comments »

Permanently Remove Tracked Changes and Comments from a Word 2007 Document

May 17th, 2007

Track Changes is an indispensable tool in Word that lets a group of people edit a document, while Word keeps track of what changes were made to the document and who made them. However, a persistent problem in earlier versions of Word has been the difficulty in removing all tracked changes and comments from the final version of a document.

When you accept or reject changes in a final document, Word is supposed to remove all traces of tracked changes and comments. However, many users have discovered that this information is difficult to remove permanently without using a third-party program.

This task is much easier and more effective in Word 2007. To remove tracked changes and comments from a Word 2007 document:

Click the Office button.
Click Prepare and select Inspect Document.
The Document Inspector dialog box will appear:
Check the Comments, Revisions, Versions and Annotations checkbox.
View the inspection results.
Click the Remove All button next to Comments, Revisions, Versions, and Annotations.
Click the Close button.
Save your document.

Your document is now free of all of the comments and tracked changes info.

Posted in MS Word, Office 2007 | Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »

Create and Publish Blog Postings from Word 2007

May 15th, 2007

Microsoft Word 2007 lets you create blog postings and publish them directly from Word. (Actually, I’m doing it right now!) Using Word is generally easier than most blogging software, which requires users to edit HTML code.

To create a blog posting from Word:

Click the Office button.
Select New, select New blog post, and then click the Create button (lower right corner).
Click the Register Now button in the dialog, and then select your Blog provider from the drop-down list.
Enter the appropriate information into the New Blogger Account dialog box.
Click the Picture Options button if you want to select a picture provider from the drop-down list.
(If you don’t use a picture provider, select None-Don’t Upload Pictures.)
Type your blog posting, and click the Publish button on the Ribbon to publish it to the blog. (When you publish, Word will prompt you for your Username and Password.)

Posted in MS Word, Office 2007 | Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »

File Formats: New vs. Old

May 15th, 2007

By default, Office 2007 saves files in new XML-based formats. Word uses the .docx and .docm extensions. Docx files do not support macros, while docm files are macro-enabled. Presumably, this is to cut down on the number of viruses aimed at Word documents.

Similarly, Excel uses the .xlsx and .xlsm extensions, and PowerPoint uses the .pptx and .pptm extensions. Access has also changed its file format to an XML-based format, using the .accdb extension.

However, the new formats are not backward-compatible. Therefore, people using any older versions of Office will not be able to open files saved in the new formats. Since it will be some time before a majority of users have Office 2007, we recommend saving files in the old formats if you intend to distribute them to other users.
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To save an Office 2007 file in an older format:

Click the Office button.
Select Save As.
At the bottom of the dialog box, under Save as type:, select Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc).

Posted in Office 2007 | Top Of Page | 2 Comments »

Save Files as PDF’s in Office 2007

May 15th, 2007

Office 2007 now lets you save any document, presentation or spreadsheet as a PDF (without having to purchase Adobe Acrobat). However, you have to download a plug-in to add this functionality.

You can download the free plugin from Microsoft at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en

After you have downloaded the plug-in, to save a file as a PDF, click the Office button and select Save As | PDF or XPS.

Posted in Office 2007 | Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »

Hiding the #DIV/0! Message

January 29th, 2007

If you are working with a formula that may refer to a blank cell or otherwise generate an error message, you can use a combination of the IF-THEN-ELSE and the ISERROR function to handle the #DIV/0! or other error messages that may appear.

The IF-THEN-ELSE has 3 parts: the condition, the TRUE condition, the FALSE condition. The following formula tests A1 for the number 100. If it is found, the cell displays the contents of A1. If it is not found, it multiplies another cell (B1) by 2:

=IF(A1=100,A1,B1*2)

By using one of the ISERROR functions, you can test for an error condition and use the IF statement to display a message or nothing at all. The common IS functions are ISERR, which returns TRUE for any error value except #N/A and ISERROR, which returns TRUE for any error value (#N/A, #VALUE!, #REF!, #DIV/0!, #NUM!, #NAME?, or #NULL!).

Suppose a cell is going to contain the average of several cells. If the cells are empty, the result will be division by zero and the #DIV/0! error will appear. The following formula will take care of this condition:

=IF(ISERR(AVERAGE(A1:A10)),”No Data”,AVERAGE(A1:A10))

If the formula AVERAGE(A1:A10) returns an error (most likely because there are no numbers in the range), the cell will display the words “No Data”. If there is no error, the cell will display the results of AVERAGE(A1:A10).

Posted in MS Excel | Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »

Using Code Snippets in Dreamweaver

July 26th, 2006

A snippet is a chunk of code that you can store in Dreamweaver to reuse later. Snippets can include HTML, JavaScript, ASP, JSP, etc. For example, let’s say you need to add several graphics to your Web site, and each graphic is in a two-cell table with the graphic in the upper cell and the caption in the lower cell. Since you will use the same table (with different content) several places on the site, there is no need to create the table each time. Simply create it once, save it as a snippet, and reuse it whenever you need to.

Dreamweaver also contains some predefined snippets that you can use as a starting point. For example, one snippet of JavaScript lets you add a Close button to any Pop-up windows you include on your Web site. This snippet obviates the need to create the code for each window.

Dreamweaver also includes snippets of code that lets you add a Browse for File… button, a variety of formatted tables, drop-down menus, a Print button, navigation aids such as breadcrumb links, and many more options.

To add a snippet to your page:

Place the insertion point where you want to insert the code snippet, or select code to wrap a snippet around.
In the Snippets panel (Window | Snippets), double-click the snippet you want.
You can also right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the snippet, then select Insert from the pop-up menu.

To create a snippet:

In the Snippets panel, click the New Snippet icon (the one with the plus sign) at the bottom of the panel. The Snippet dialog will appear.

Snippet Dialog

Type a name for the snippet. Snippet names can’t contain characters that are invalid in filenames, such as slashes(/ or \), special characters, or double quotes (”).
In the Description text box, enter a text description of the snippet. (optional)
For Snippet Type, select Wrap Selection or Insert Block.
If you chose Wrap Selection, add code to the following text boxes:

Insert Before: Type or paste the code to insert before the current selection.
Insert After:Type or paste the code to insert after the current selection.

If you chose Insert Block, type or paste the code to insert.
Click OK.

To edit a Snippet:

In the Snippets panel, select a snippet and click the Edit Snippet button at the bottom of the panel.

To delete a Snippet:

In the Snippets panel, select a snippet and click the Remove button at the bottom of the panel.

Posted in Dreamweaver | Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »

Create a Design Template in PowerPoint 2003

March 21st, 2006

PowerPoint 2003 comes with several design templates that you can use to add an artistic design to your slides. If you want a wider variety of designs from which to choose, consider downloading additional design templates from Microsoft’s web site.

If you want a more unique design for your presentation, or if you need to include your company colors and logo on each slide, consider creating your own design template. (This is more of a mini-lesson than a quick tip, but it’s well worth the time and effort.)

Using the Slide Master

To create your own design template, you need to know how to use the PowerPoint slide master. If you’ve never used this feature before, you can access it by selecting View | Master | Slide Master. The slide master is the template on which your presentation is based. It contains background graphics, formatting for titles, bulleted lists, header/footer contents, etc.

You can use the Slide Master to make global changes in your presentation. For example, suppose the design template you selected formats all slide titles in white text, and you want all titles to be blue. You can make this change by opening the slide master and selecting blue as the font color for the title placeholder. When you close the slide master and return to your presentation, all titles will be blue.

Who Cares about the Slide Master?

You do, if you plan to create your own design template. That’s where you tell PowerPoint which background graphic to use, as well as how to format titles, bulleted lists, graphical objects, etc.

Let’s Create a Design Template

Let’s say you need to create a design template for your company. It must include the company logo, the company’s colors as a gradient background on all slides, and it must appear in the Slide Design Task Pane so that you can apply it to any new presentation you might create.

Here’s how:

Create a new blank presentation.
Select View | Master | Slide Master to view the slide master. (PowerPoint will also open the Slide Master View toolbar, which you can use to close Slide Master View.)

PowerPoint Slide Master

Change the background by selecting Format | Background. Use this to select a background color, a blend of two colors (gradient), a texture, or a picture.
Add the company logo by selecting Insert | Picture | From file…
Drag the logo to place it on the slide and size it appropriately.
Select View | Header and Footer to add the date and/or slide number to each slide.
Close Master Slide View.
Save the presentation as a design template (*.pot).

Save PowerPoint Design Template

PowerPoint will automatically save the template in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates. Do not save the template in a different location; it needs to be in this folder in order for it to show up in the Slide Design Task Pane.
Close the presentation.

Using Your New Design Template

Create a new presentation, or open an existing one.
Select Format | Slide Design to open the Slide Design Task Pane.
Scroll through the design templates to find the one you created. (If you don’t see it, close PowerPoint and re-open it.)
Apply your design template to the active presentation by clicking on it.
You can also use the drop-down menu to apply the design to one slide, all slides, or to use it as the default design for all new presentations.

Design Template Drop-down Menu

Posted in MS PowerPoint | Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »

Pioneer Training

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Dreamweaver

Excel

Office 2007

Outlook

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Windows XP

Word

upl67964.txt

Supressing Blank Lines in a Word 2007 Mail Merge

Permanently Remove Tracked Changes and Comments from a Word 2007 Document

Create and Publish Blog Postings from Word 2007

File Formats: New vs. Old

Save Files as PDF’s in Office 2007

Hiding the #DIV/0! Message

Using Code Snippets in Dreamweaver

Create a Design Template in PowerPoint 2003

Using the Slide Master

Who Cares about the Slide Master?

Let’s Create a Design Template

Using Your New Design Template

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