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PDF is a fixed-layout electronic file format that preserves document formatting. It ensures that when the file is viewed online or printed, it retains exactly the format that was initially intended, and that data in the file cannot easily be changed.

Before the release of Office 2007 we had to either buy Adobe Acrobat for about £450 in order to convert Office files into PDF format, or install a third party software solution.

With the release of Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft introduced a file format called XPS. It is similar to PDF in that you can save a file to this format and share or print it at a later date. This XPS format is not the global standard, and not many people know what it is when they receive it.

The following Office applications can be used to convert files to PDF format:

• Access
• Excel
• InfoPath
• OneNote
• PowerPoint
• Publisher
• Visio
• Word

In order to convert files, you need to install 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS. 

Let’s use Microsoft Word application to convert a Word file into PDF format.

1. Open a Microsoft Word document you want to save in PDF format
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then navigate to Save As, and click PDF Or XPS.

 

 

3.  In Save as Type, make sure that PDF is selected.

 

 

If you want to open the file immediately after saving it, select the Open file after publishing check box. This check box is available only if you have a PDF reader installed on your computer.

 

4. Click Publish to create your PDF.

You may have noticed when typing into a column that if you start to enter some text that begins with the same letters as text that has been previously entered in that column, Excel completes the remaining characters for you. This feature is called AutoComplete.

It will not always work, for example, for entries that contain only dates or numbers.

If the first few characters that you type in a cell match an existing entry in that column, Excel automatically enters the remaining characters for you. Excel automatically completes only those entries that contain text or a combination of text and numbers. Entries that contain only numbers, dates, or times are not automatically completed.

You have the following choices:

• Accept a proposed entry by pressing ENTER (in this case the completed entry will match the pattern of uppercase and lowercase letters of the existing entry)
• Replace the automatically entered characters by ignoring the proposed entry and continue typing.
• Delete the automatically entered characters by pressing BACKSPACE.

However, if you find this feature is not useful, you can turn it off:

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
2. Click Advanced, and then, under Editing options, clear or select the Enable AutoComplete for cell values check box and turn automatic completion of cell values on or off.

Suppose you need to shift the content of rows with the content of columns. What shall you do?

The Transpose option shifts rows and columns on the worksheet. For example, if you have a table where the months appear as rows and the sales as columns, the transpose option will reverse the rows and columns.

You need to do the following:

1. Select the range you want to change
2. From the Home tab in the Clipboard group, click the Copy button
3. Select a cell outside of the range you copied
4. In the Clipboard group, click the Paste drop-down arrow and select Transpose

To insert the above using your keyboard, place your cursor on a cell, row number or column letter and use <CTRL> + <SHIFT> + <+> keys.

A few friends of mine recently told me they don’t have a new .docx format and couldn’t open a file in Word format.

Do you have Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003 and receive an error message when you try to open a file in Word, Excel or PowerPoint?

Error messages include:

• Windows cannot open this file
• The file is not in a recognizable format
• PowerPoint can’t open the type of file represented by filename

This article may help you to get rid of the problem.

Microsoft has added the new Office Open XML Formats to the following 2007 Microsoft Office programs:

• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office Word 2007

Some of the formats have been changed and are now:

• Word Document (*.docx)
• Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)
• PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx)

To be able to read files in new formats from the earlier versions of Microsoft Office you will need to install and download a Compatibility Pack.

A compatibility pack is available to help you open and save Office Open XML formats in earlier versions of Microsoft Office. You can install the compatibility pack on a computer that is running Microsoft Office 2003 programs, Microsoft Office XP programs, or Microsoft Office 2000 programs. When you install the compatibility pack, you can open, edit, save, and create files in the Office Open XML Formats.

All you need to do is:

1. Make sure that you have all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update. Just press the Express button from the Welcome to Microsoft Update page and follow the instructions.

2. Download the Compatibility Pack by clicking the Download button from the Microsoft website on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en and save the file to your hard disk.

3. Double-click the FileFormatConverters.exe program file on your hard disk to start the setup program.

4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

These simple steps will ensure you can open and save files in the Office Open XML Formats. They will also mean you have the latest Microsoft Update for your Windows application, which is a MUST for protecting your computer from threats.