In At Home with Microsoft Word Checklists we wrote about how to use Microsoft Word to help you with tasks around the house. Can Word help with travel?
 
Going away on holiday is really fun enjoyment for all the family. But it can also take a lot of planning and organisation, which can create lots of stress. Microsoft Word checklists and travel design templates are a real time saver when planning all your holiday details, as you can write down all of your holiday arrangements without the fear of forgetting something. So here are just a few ideas:
 

Pre-Travel Checklist

Before you leave your house and set off, there are probably a few things you need to take care of. So why not create a pre-travel checklist, which you can then personalise with your own tasks. This may include making sure all electrical appliances are either switched off or unplugged, ensuring all doors and windows are locked, and blinds and curtains are drawn. This may include stopping all home-delivery services i.e. milk or newspapers or arranging a neighbour to pick them up, deciding whether to keep any food you have in the freezer or throw it away if it’s perishable.
 

Packing Checklist

Making sure you have everything you need before you leave is very important, there’s nothing worse than getting to your destination and realising you have forgot something. Create a to-take list so that you know you haven’t missed anything. This should include taking passports, tickets, debit and/or credit cards or other financial means. You could also include other items such as clothes and toiletries to organise your packing.
 

Travel Itinerary

Travel Itinerates are very useful for travel information, you can use these for flight details such as airline name, your flight number, and departure and arrival times of your plane/train/bus etc. You can also include information such as your hotel’s address and contact details. Having this list ready will save your time, rather than rummaging through all your documents trying to find the right piece of paper.
 

Designed Luggage Tags

At the airport you might spend ages trying to recognise your luggage on the conveyor belt. So why not create a personalised luggage tag, to make your suitcase stand out more. You can choose from a wide range of template designs available in Word or create your own. And if your luggage accidently gets lost, the airport staff will be able to recognise it and contact you to return it.
 

Trip Planner

If you have anything planned out for a day, or have a busy schedule you might want to look at the trip planner. It is designed like a calendar and has time slots to plan out the activities you want to do. You will not need to remember all activities and guarantee you do not miss anything interesting.
 

Travel Booking Error

In the unfortunate event that you aren’t happy with a service from your holiday, you probably need to write a complaint letter. So use Microsoft Word template like a Travel Booking Error Complaint letter. You can customise the template and write, for example, to the hotel or airport and explain what you were unhappy about.
 
 
The great advantage of creating these forms on your computer is that once you’ve created them, you only need to update them with additional info. Having the list ready will make preparation and the trip itself less stressful and enjoyable.
 

There are so many useful features of Microsoft Word, from writing letters to creating posters. You can find a huge variety of these designs on the Microsoft Word templates page so why not have a look.

At Infero, we understand that you wish to stay up-to-date with the latest versions of the software that you may use on an everyday basis such as the Microsoft Office suite. So when Microsoft released their new 2010 version of Office, we knew that it wouldn’t be long before we would have enquiries regarding courses to help better their knowledge.

Therefore we can now offer training on the 2010 versions of Microsoft Access, Excel, Outlook, Project, PowerPoint, Publisher and Word courses for you to choose from and still have the 3 levels of beginner, intermediate and advanced for you to choose from where applicable.

For those who are upgrading their versions of Office, we are also offering Transition Courses on each program to aid in making the upgrade as trouble-free as possible. For example, here is our Microsoft Excel 2010 Transition from 2003 Training Course.

Delegates taking these new courses will be getting all of Infero’s great benefits including our 100% money back guarantee if you are unsatisfied with the course. However if you are taking one of our transition courses, since these only run for half a day there will be no pub lunch included.

So, if you or indeed your company are upgrading, contact us and we’ll do everything we can to ensure that the transition training from one version to another goes as smoothly as possible.

For those who aren’t upgrading but would like some Training Courses in Access, Excel, Outlook, Project, PowerPoint, Publisher or Word, then feel free to take a look at our Public Schedule or Contact us to arrange a course for you. We are more than happy to help.

Dubbed Office 365, the new cloud version of Microsoft’s popular Office software will be available shortly as a test version before going on sale as a subscription service next year.

Office 365 will be available through most Internet browsers including Firefox, Safari and Chrome as well as Smart-phones and other mobile devices.

Office 365 will give users access to programs such as their Outlook e-mails and simplified versions of Word and Excel virtually anywhere without the need of having to install any software. If the user does have the software installed, then they will be able to access more features of the software

This is just the latest of shots in the Cloud Computing war between Microsoft’s Office software and Google’s Docs software with Microsoft determined to claw back ground it had lost when we compared the two in our previous article: Google Docs Versus Microsoft Office Web Apps.

Only time can tell now if Office 365 has enough firepower to help sink Google Docs or if Google can come up with a suitable response to this latest hit.

In one of our previous articles, you remember how we compared Google Docs & Microsoft Office Web Apps to see which one most benefited the user? Well now after just 100 days, Microsoft reports that the number of Office Web Apps has surpassed the 200 million mark.

To celebrate this achievement, they are adding more features to what we described as their ‘Diet Office’ so that you can now embed both Excel and PowerPoint documents onto web pages for easy viewing.

They are also adding the option of being able to import documents which have been created online using the Web Apps into the full Microsoft Office if it is installed on your computer for editing purposes. This feature should turn to be extremely popular as the diet version of Office lacks many of the key features which users use on a daily basis.

To finish off this upgrade, Microsoft has also added the Mobile Applications. So now you can edit your files, practically anytime, anywhere, whether you are heading for a meeting or relaxing on a beach somewhere hot.

If you are interested in learning more about the full/desktop versions of any Microsoft Office Program, then head on over to our Microsoft Office Training Courses where you can choose from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Access and Outlook.

Feel free to browse our Public Schedule or contact us and we’ll be happy to help arrange your training.

As technology becomes more advanced, more and more people are choosing to work whilst on the move. This includes the creation and editing of documents anytime, anywhere. One of the good things for this kind of user is that the software needed to do this is available for free such as Google Docs and Microsoft’s Office Web Apps.

But which one is better to use? Well we’ll compare both on various points and see which ends up the victor.

1. Free Online Storage Space.

If you are looking for lots of online storage space then you need to use the Office Web Apps. Sharing storage with SkyDrive, it offers a huge 25GB of free online storage for your documents. These documents can be set to private so that just you or you and your friends can access them or you can share them publicly which gives anybody access to them.

Google Docs offers only 1GB of free storage which, although is alot, pales in comparison with the Office Apps.

2. Live editing.

Sometimes it is best to have many eyes to be able to look at a document and edit it together, especially if one of the people is elsewhere. Google Docs allows you to do this, as well as allowing the editors to talk between each other in the group chat as they edit the document.

Office Apps also allows multiple people to edit the document, but only allows them to do it one at a time. If somebody tried to access the document whilst it was being edited by somebody else then they would get a message saying that the document cannot be opened.

3. Supported File Types.

In Office Apps, you can only open, save or edit documents created in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote.

Google Docs gives you all of these and more which make Google Docs a clear winner for the modern day user.

4. Features.

Google Docs has many features in its Word Processor which make it extremely useful such as the spell-check as you type, ability to insert tables into your text and add footnotes.

The ability to reinstate a past version of the document if you have found that something has changed which you don’t want is also a useful function which can be done using the Revision History.

The Spreadsheet in Google Docs seems to be even better, offering lots of features and options which you would find useful when creating a spreadsheet.

With Office Apps, Microsoft seems to have put Word on a strict diet and have unfortunately left out some of the features which people enjoy such as footnotes, line-spacing and much more, leaving just the bare basics to play with

They seem to have also fed Excel with the same diet, having Functions (such as Formulas) axed from Office Apps as well as other functions like graphs.

Whilst Office clearly has the space advantage, Google Docs users get more features to choose from and this ultimately hands the crown of Web Document Editing to Google Docs… at least for now.

Want to learn more about the diet-free Office? Then come on one of our Office Training Courses!

When running a business, keeping on top of your cash flow by keeping track of your customer’s payments is a number one priority. Because otherwise your business loses money and invoices go unpaid and lost.

This will in turn have a devastating effect on the health of your business because whilst small businesses can survive for a short time without sales or profits, if there is no cash flow then the business will die.

To keep track of the invoices of your customers there is software available out there such as SAGE. It is highly likely that most big businesses will already be using this or has an existing system in place.

But what if you are only a small business? The cost of the software can be expensive. Did you know that you can also use Microsoft Excel to do this task?

That’s right; Excel can serve as an effective tool to manage your finances. You can create your own simple template noting all your invoices and their due dates. Alternatively you can download a correct template such as this Small Business Cash Flow Projection Template from Microsoft.

Don’t let your business fail just because of poor handling of finances. Make the most of the tools at your disposal and watch your business flourish.

If you would to know more ways in which Excel can help you, take a look at our Excel Training Courses.

Want to know more how Microsoft Excel can help you? Click on Microsoft Excel Articles. 

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.

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

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)

Looking for more Outlook Hints and Tips

When I first time saw Microsoft Excel 2007 I thought I have a new annoying task to do – to learn excel. But after some playing with it I’ve realised how much I like this software. As time has gone by I prefer it. Here are 5 reasons why I prefer Excel 2007 to previous versions.

New level of limits

Microsoft Office Excel 2007 supports 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns. The number of rows has increased from roughly 65536 to 1.1 million; the number of columns has increased from 256 to over 16385! Columns now end at XFD instead of IV.

Office Excel 2007 also supports up to 16 million colours, which enhance visual appearance of graphic elements.

Improved sorting and filtering

Excel has always included sorting and filtering tools. With Excel 2007, the sorting and filtering options have been expanded. For example, you can now sort data by colour or by up to 64 levels (previously, you were limited to 3 levels).

Data can be filtered by colour or by dates. The AutoFilter dropdown list now displays more than 1000 items to choose from and multiple items to filter are available. Filtering capabilities can also be applied to data in PivotTables.

Powerful data visualisation tool

Do you need to highlight data when you are over or under budget or want to draw attention to the important data from a huge list?

With enhanced conditional formatting features you can highlight trends in your data, find the highest and lowest data, find exceptions and annotate data into categories. Using colour scales, data bars and performance indication icons will help you to achieve this.

Easy to use PivotTables and Pivot Charts

No need anymore to drag data into drop zones, just select the fields that you want to see in a new PivotTable field list.

And after you’ve created a PivotTables enjoy easy sorting and filtering data within PivotTable data or apply conditional formatting.

PivotCharts are also much easier to create than before. The chart formatting that you apply will be maintained when you make changes to the PivotChart, which is a significant improvement from previous versions of Excel.

New Functions are added

Microsoft Excel 2007 has 343 functions with 51 new functions. New functions mainly are within 2 new categories – Engineering (39 functions) and Cube (7 functions). The remaining five are IFRROR, AVERAGEIF, AVERAGEIFS, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS

So, really Excel 2007 is the must to upgrade for everyone using Excel. And you know that Excel training will help you to learn those tricks to make your business life easier.

Want to know more how Microsoft Excel can help you? Click on Microsoft Excel Articles.