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1. Play around with Text Effects.

In Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft have introduced the new Text Effects button which gives the user the chance to add Word Art style effects to their text, but without turning the text into a graphic.

To access these text effects, you go to the Home tab and select Font. This will add a text effect button which you use to add the effects.

To get a set of effects that doesn’t appear in the pop-up Text Effects gallery, click the lower right corner of the Font group to launch the Font dialog box, and then click the Text Effects button at the bottom for a complete set of options.

2. Try some Calligraphy in your documents.

In Microsoft Office 2010, you get the chance to use effects to change text to make it look like fancy calligraphy work. To do this you have to experiment with the fonts as some don’t change as much as others.

To start experimenting, click the lower right corner of the Font group to launch the Font dialog box, and then select the advanced tab to access settings for custom kerning (character spacing), ligatures, and stylistic sets, which create the extended swirls that will achieve the calligraphic look with some of the fonts.

3. Use artistic effects on your pictures.

These artistic effects can be used to change your normal photos to make them look like drawings or painting and can add an artistic flare to the document itself.

To try out these new artistic effects, simply click the Artistic Effects button in the Picture Tools ribbon and then hover over the effect you wish to try out. Be prepared to wait a few second to preview some effects, however. To try different intensities and transparencies of effects, select the effect and click the Artistic Effects Options button at the bottom of the preview gallery.

4. Play videos from the internet in your PowerPoint presentations.

If there is a video that you would to use in a PowerPoint Presentation and it is only available online, there is now the option to play the video through PowerPoint if you play the presentation on computer with an internet connection.

In order to do this, just copy the embed code from the site, open the Insert tab on the ribbon, and click the Video button in the Media group on the far right. Then click Video from Web Site in the pop-up menu, and paste in the embed code.

5. Insert screenshots quicker and easier.

With Microsoft Office 2010, it is now even easier to insert screenshots of any windows that haven’t been minimized into a document.

To do this, go to the Insert tab; click the Screenshot button in the Illustrations group to get a pop-up window that shows all open windows. Click the one you want to capture and the screenshot will appear in your document, ready for any editing you need to do.

So you are currently using Excel to store a list of information but now that list has gotten too big to keep on scrolling through and has become a time consuming chore? You should import your data into Microsoft Access which offers you powerful database tools to handle all the information.

To start importing your data, follow these steps.

Step 1: Open Access and create a blank database. Once you have done this, Access automatically brings up a table. You can close this table as it isn’t needed.

Step 2: Click the External Data tab at the top of the page and then select Excel in the Import category which will in turn bring up the Get External Data – Excel Spreadsheet wizard to help you input the data.

Step 3: Browse for the worksheet which contains the information that you would like to put in the Access database and then select the button labeled Import the source data into a new table in the current database. Click on OK to continue.

Step 4: If you have different worksheets in the same document, select which worksheet it is that you want to import and then click Next to continue.

Step 5: Next, if the spreadsheet you’re using has column heading in its first row, click the box, if not names will be generated and you’ll be able to change them later on. Then you click on Next again.

Step 6: The next screen gives you the option to leave any column that you don’t want to import out. In order to do this, you start by clicking on the first column in the preview area. If you don’t want to import that column into the table, put a check mark in the box next to Do not import field and move on to the next column. To change the name of a field, use the Field Name box to change it and then just select which type of data is in the column itself.

Step 7: Next you have to choose a Primary Key if you want one.

Step 8: Input a name for the table in the box under Import to Table and then click Finish.

Step 9: You’ll now be asked whether you want to save the import steps or not. If you are importing more than one worksheet with the same layout then you can choose this option to save you time importing future worksheets. Click close and your new table will be shown in your database.

Do you find yourself sending out regular emails such as newsletter which all use the same layout but you find yourself having to type out and spend time getting the layout right each time that you want to send the email to your subscribers?

Well then you need to set yourself up a template to make the task so much easier and save yourself possibly hours of work time. Follow these simple steps to help you create a template in Microsoft Outlook 2007.

Step 1: Open up your Outlook and start writing a new e-mail, add any contacts and a subject for your template. Then input all the content before finalizing any other formatting you choose.

Step 2: You have to then save the email as a template. Click the Microsoft Office button and then click Save As. From the Save As Type drop down list, select Outlook Template and then just give the template a name and select where you want the template to be saved to before you click on Save.

Step 3: To use your new template, go to the Tools menu and select Forms. From there, select Choose a Form. From the Look In drop-down list, select User Templates in File System. Navigate to the location where you saved the theme if it isn’t in the Templates folder. Select your template. Make any changes, such as updating the message body content or subject line, or adding or removing recipients, and then click Send.

Want more tips? Click on Microsoft Outlook Tips and Tricks

It is official, Microsoft have released the 2010 version of Microsoft Office. Choose from 3 different versions: Home and Student, Professional or Home and Business.

This new version offers a range of new features that the previous 2007 version lacked such as a new feature that Microsoft call a ‘Serial Connector’ in Microsoft Outlook which allows the user to write emails whilst seeing status updates from their family, friends and colleagues as well as showing any past communication with them.

Another new feature for 2010 is the new ‘Co authoring’ which can be used in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Note. This allows both you and colleagues to share and work on documents together online, in real time.

Microsoft gives you the chance to trial the product before you buy with a free trail which you can download from here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/try/try-office-2010-FX101868838.aspx?WT.mc_id=MiG_Products

There is nothing worse than going to check your emails one day and finding out that for one reason or another that you have lost everything. If you rely heavily on emails for business, this can turn into a major drain on your company unless you spend a couple of minutes every so often to create a back-up of your Outlook folder. Here are 3 simple steps to follow which could save you hours of work time if something goes wrong.

Step 1: In your Outlook Shortcuts menu, right click on the Outlook Today icon and then select Personal Folder Properties before clicking Advanced.

Step 2: What you need now is the Path from the path menu. Copy this and then open Windows Explorer. Paste the path into the address bar and press Enter.

Step 3: Look for the Outlook.pst file which is located in that folder and copy it by right clicking it and select copy. Then paste the copy onto your back-up disc.

Using Outlook 2007? Then this article is for you! When Good E-mails Go Bad! Solution: BACK UP!

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Is your business dependent on E-mail? Does your company generate business via email enquires? What happens if for one reason or another, you lose all of your e-mails? Do you have a back-up plan?

With E-mail being one of the major ways both individuals and businesses keep in contact with one another, one of the most important things to do is back-up your emails. Although it takes only a few minutes, it can save your business hours of time if something does go wrong. If you use Microsoft Outlook to manage your email then depending on which version of Outlook you are using it is fairly straight-forward to create these back-ups.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 Users:

Step 1: Click the File menu on the top toolbar and select Import and Export, this will prompt the Import and Export Wizard to show.

Step 2: Select Export to a file and then click Next. You then choose Personal Folder File (.pst) and then click Next again.

Step 3: The Personal Folder should now be highlighted. If not, select Personal Folder. You then double click on Personal Folder to collapse everything. Ensure that you have checked the Include Subfolders option and then click Next.

Step 4: You can leave the default name in the Save Exported File as or rename it if you prefer. Then if you select Browse, change the location you want to save the file to one which you can find easily such as the Desktop. Then click Finish.

Step 5: You can either choose to add a password to your file for extra security or just click OK and the process is complete.

Using Outlook 2003 instead of 2007? Read this blog: Back-up Your Outlook (Outlook 2003 Users)

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Whilst using Microsoft Excel, do you save all your Excel worksheets to a specific folder and are tired of searching for that folder each time you want to save a worksheet? Well in this tip, I will tell you how to set Excel up so that it saves to your designated folder each time.

First of all, click on the Microsoft Office button in the top left hand corner of the page and then scroll to the bottom to Excel Options.

You then select the Save tab at the side and look for the Default File Location box. In that box you put the folder which you want to save your Excel worksheets to which you can just copy and paste from the folder itself.

Then just click Save and you’re done.

Click to view Microsoft Excel Training Courses that Infero currently offers.

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Whilst using Microsoft Word, there are a number of keyboard shortcuts which you can use so that your attention isn’t taken away from the keyboard to use the mouse. Here are some of the most useful ones:

Bold text: Ctrl + B

Italic text: Ctrl + i

Underlined text: Ctrl + U

To bring up the thesaurus: Shift + F7

To undo any action such as typing etc: Ctrl + Z

Select all the text in the document: Ctrl + A

There are more available for viewing through the Microsoft Office Help Menu which can be accessed by pressing the F1 button and typing in the search bar: Keyboard Shortcuts and then selecting: Keyboard Shortcuts for Microsoft Word. 

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In Microsoft Word, when you make a spelling mistake in your text, Word automatically shows you that you have made a mistake by underlining the affected words with a red line.

I was asked this week to see if there was a way to get Microsoft Excel to act like Microsoft Word in the way that it recognizes spelling mistakes automatically and highlights them to bring them to your attention. After looking into this I found that unfortunately there isn’t a way to get Excel to recognize and highlight any mistakes you make whilst filling in the spreadsheet. However to correct any mistakes that you have made in Word, you can either press the F7 key on your keyboard or right click over the mistake and Word will offer you suggestions for the correct spelling.

To turn on/off this feature, follow these steps:

Click the Microsoft Office Button in the top left corner, and then click Word Options and select Proofing.

If you want to just turn the checker on for the document you are working on, do the following:

Under Exceptions for, click Name of currently open file and select or clear the Hide spelling errors in this document only and Hide grammar errors in this document only check boxes.

If you want to turn the checker on/off for all documents you create from now, do the following:

Under Exceptions for, click All New Documents and select or clear the Hide spelling errors in this document only and Hide grammar errors in this document only check boxes.

The only tool that comes close to doing this job in Excel is the Auto-correct option which can identify and correct common mistakes and typos such as replacing teh with the.

Want more tips? Click on Microsoft Word and Excel Tips.