Archive for the 'Tips and Tricks' Category

Microsoft PowerPoint: Presentations Do’s and Don’ts

Published
by
Emilie Musson
on December 1, 2015
in Microsoft Office Articles, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft PowerPoint Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 2 Comments

After much extensive research on Twitter, we worked out that the most used hashtag for PowerPoint was #dosanddonts. It was apparent that a lot of people wanted advice on how to produce a great PowerPoint but didn’t know how to keep it interesting and not too full on at the same time. So here are our best suggestions.

 

#DONTS

 

Minimal might be fashionable, however, no one likes a boring presentation. Creating something interesting is key, so make sure you avoid something like this at all costs.

 

There is nothing worse than black and white for a PowerPoint. It’s important to use the right colours so that it is eye catching and bold. Imagine that every slide is a billboard advertisement. It’s also crucial that you pick the right fonts, design, and layout. No one can take Comic Sans seriously and Times New Roman is is old and boring.

 

Untitled

 

There is nothing more annoying than something that is loud and in your face, so imagine reading a PowerPoint that had that effect. It can put a reader off instantly. Also, make sure that is doesn’t look childish. If it’s for business purposes, then it’s important to keep it looking professional and not look like a child has created it. Something that is definitely a big mistake, is writing too much information on one page so the audience has too much to read. Space your text out across multiple pages, let your PowerPoint ‘breathe’. Bullet points are great at creating easy reading.

 

pic 2

 

 

#DOS

 

Its difficult to say what is a good PowerPoint presentation depending on what it is being used for, However, if it’s for profession business purposes then its easy to pick out what makes it look appealing.

 

pic 3

 

It does look more visually appealing if the fonts are matching and there aren’t a lot of different styles. It can also help if the layout is simple and not to busy; you don’t want distract the audience from what you’re trying to promote. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so grab the audience’s attention and say what you want with an image instead of lots of paragraphs.

 

We hope this Tip helped, for anymore questions for may have you can drop us a message on Facebook or Twitter.

Microsoft Excel: Your Christmas List

Published
by
Emilie Musson
on November 24, 2015
in Microsoft Excel Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 0 Comments

Christmas is nearly upon us and we know how stressful it can be trying to budget and keep on track of finances. So here’s a helpful tip showing how you can use Microsoft Excel to plan ahead.

 

Using Excel create you Christmas List. The one below is from one of our staff:

 

Christmas List 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using “=SUM(D5:D11)” we have calculated the total cost that has been spent on the presents.  With a small budget of £100 we can also calculate what’s left to spend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now using the Filter function in the Data tab we can see what has been bought for each person. This works great if you have many presents like Santa.

 

Now when you click the down arrow next to “Who for?” we get the options below.

Christmas List 4

 

Below we can see what happens when “Mum” and “Blanks” are selected. Excel counted our calculations as a default but this can be changed. Right next to the Filter button used earlier is a smaller “Advanced” button. In there you can define your range. (So Mum has 3 presents)

 

Christmas List 7Christmas List 8

 

We hope you found this helpful. Look out for more tips on our blog Microsoft Excel Tips page and on twitter www.twitter.com/infero_training

Microsoft Word Tips: How to Select Text Vertically in Word

Published
by
Richard Blakemore
on June 2, 2015
in Microsoft Word Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 1 Comment

You probably get used to selecting text horizontally from left to right or right to left, for example, to format or copy it. For the left to right selection, click just before the beginning of a word, and while holding the mouse button down, drag to the end of the section that you want to highlight. For the right to left selection doing everything backwards achieves the same result.

 

But what if you want to select a text vertically, for example, to apply some formatting to the first 2 words in the text of each line as on a picture? Here’s a handy tip.

 

Microsoft Word 2007 Vertical Selection Before

 

 

You can select the text vertically. In order to do that, just hold down the <Alt> key on a keyboard whilst you are selecting the text as usually. You will get this result.

 

Microsoft Word 2007 Vertical Selection Highlighted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you can apply any formatting to it (here we selected Chicago font style).

 

Microsoft Word 2007 Vertical Selection After Formatting

 

 

Although in the example above we selected text at the beginning of the lines, you can make vertical selections anywhere on the page. It takes some practice to get use to but this handy tip can be used in Word 2007, 2010, and 2013.

 

 

Want more tips? Click on Microsoft Word Tips & Tricks

Microsoft Visio Tips: Stacking Order

Published
by
Simpson
on May 26, 2015
in Microsoft Visio Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 0 Comments

Visio is used to create Flowcharts, Organisational charts and floorplans. This means there may be lots of different shapes on the screen at one time.

 

In Visio, shapes can be places one on top of the other on a drawing page. The order in which shapes are place one over the other is the stacking order. A selected shape can be sent to the top or bottom of the stacking order, or moved one place forward or backward in the stack.

 

Stacking order 1

 

To change the stacking order of a image you can do the following:

 

On the Home tab, in the Arrange group there is a Send Backward and Bring Forward button like in the picture below.

Stacking order 2

 

 

Or you can right click an image and choose the same options like in the image below.

 

Stacking order 3

 

This can be done in Microsoft Visio 2007, 2010, and 2013.

Microsoft Outlook Tips: Auto-Replies

Published
by
Simpson
on May 19, 2015
in Microsoft Outlook Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 1 Comment

With how busy people are getting in the working day, sometimes it’s just too hard to reply to an email. Microsoft Outlook 07/10/13 gives you the opportunity to send an automatic reply if certain “rules” are met.

 

The first way to do this is by using the built in “Out of Office” feature. This only works when you are connected to a Microsoft Exchange Server account. To set up your Out of Office Feature you must do the following:

 

  1. Click File > Automatic Replies.

 

If you don’t see this command, you probably don’t have an Exchange Server account.

 

  1. Select Send automatic replies.

 

  1. If you want, select the Only send during this time range check box to schedule when your out of office replies are active. If you don’t specify a start and end time, auto-replies are sent until you select the Do not send automatic replies check box.

 

  1. On the Inside My Organization tab, type the response that you want to send to teammates or colleagues while you are out of the office.

 

  1. On the Outside My Organization tab, select the Auto-reply to people outside my organization check box, and then type the response that you want to send while you are out of the office. Select whether you want replies sent to My contacts only or to Anyone outside my organization who sends you messages.

 

 

You may not be using an Exchange server account for Outlook and if this is the case the above steps will not work. The steps below are how to create an Automatic reply using rules for Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail), POP3 and IMAP email address.

 

 

Firstly you need to create an email template.

 

  1. Click Home > New Email.

Auto-Replies 1

 

  1. In the message body, type the message that you want to send as your automated reply.

 

  1. In the message window, click File > Save As.

 

  1. In the Save As dialog box, in the Save as type list, click Outlook Template.

 

  1. In the File name box, type a name for your message template, and then click Save.

 

 

Now, create a rule to automatically reply to new email messages.

 

  1. Click Home > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts.

 

  1. In the Rules and Alerts dialog box, click New Rule.

 

  1. Under Start from a blank rule, click Apply rules on messages I receive, and then click Next.

 

  1. Under Which condition(s) do you want to check?, check any criteria that you want, and then click Next. Typically, you don’t need to check any items.

 

  1. Under What do you want to do with the message?, check reply using a specific template.

 

  1. Under Step 2: Edit the rule description (click an underlined value), click a specific template.

 

  1. In the Select a Reply Template dialog box, in the Look In box, click User Templates in File System.

 

  1. Select the template that you created in the previous section or one that you have created or downloaded, and then click Open.

 

  1. Click Next.

 

  1. Check any exceptions to the auto-reply rule. It’s common not to add any exceptions.

 

  1. Click Next.

 

  1. Under Step 1: Specify a name for this rule, type a name for the auto-reply rule, and then click Finish.

 

Microsoft Word Tips: Saving a Document in a Different Version

Published
by
Simpson
on May 12, 2015
in Microsoft Word Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 1 Comment

 

If you have an older version of Microsoft e.g. 2003 and you get sent a document from a newer version i.e. 2007 you won’t be able to open the file. If you don’t want this to happen there are two things that you can do.Microsoft Word 2007 Save As

 

 

  1. You can Upgrade to the newer version if you wish
  2. Or you can ask the sender to Save It In a Older Version and then send it back

 

 

If you want them to resend the document back to you in the 2003 version here’s how they can do it

 

 

  1. Click on the Office Button then go down to Save As
  2. Move your mouse onto the arrow next to Save As
  3. Choose the same version that you need (Word 97-2003 Document)
  4. Then click on Save

 

 

The sender can then send it to you in the format you can read.

 

Visit our Microsoft Word Tips page for more useful Tips 🙂

Microsoft Access Tips: Validation Rule

Published
by
Simpson
on April 27, 2015
in Microsoft Access Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 3 Comments

Access is designed for users to enter data into a database easily but sometimes people type in the wrong data and this can affect the tables and final reports.In this blog post we will be looking how to create a Validation Rule in Access 2007, 2010, and 2013.

 

To stop this you are able to implement Validation Rules to stop this from happening. The Validation Rule limits the values that can be entered into a field. So for example you are able to stop a number greater than 100 being entered in.

 

You can put a validation rule on any field in a table and this is found on the design view of that table, under the general tab.

 

Validation Rule 1

 

You can see there are 2 fields for Validation, Rule and Text. The rule is where you put in your “Rule” here are some examples below:

 


Rule Explanation
>30 Only numbers greater than 30
<20 Only numbers less than 20
Between 20 and 30 Numbers between 20 and 30

 

 

Validation text is where you put the text for the message box that will appear if the rule has been broken. This can be any message and you will always get a OK, Cancel Message box that will appear.

 

Validation Rule 2

Microsoft Excel VBA Tips: How to make a message box

Published
by
Simpson
on April 21, 2015
in Microsoft Excel Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 0 Comments

Using Visual Basic of Applications can make your Excel workbooks a lot more user friendly and functional. In this blog post we will be looking how to create a message box in VBA for Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013.

 

The first message box we will be creating will be a small message box which shows the text “Hello World”. Before we can do this, we need to enable the developer tab on the ribbon. To do this you need to Click on File > Options > Customise Ribbon > and then check the developer tab like in the image below.

 How to make a message box 1

 

So on the developer tab; on the left hand side you can see a coding section. This is where you can easily access the Visual Basic Software, Macros and other options.

 

How to make a message box 2

 

Clicking the Visual Basic button will open up the Visual Basic Software. When making a message box, you are unable to record a macro to make this for you. You will need to type code to do it.

 

Here is what the Visual Basic Software looks like.

 

How to make a message box 3

 

To write some code we need to create a module to hold the code. To do this go to the top bar, click on Insert > Module

 

How to make a message box 4

 

Once you have done that you need then to create a Procedure to hold the Message Box.

Click Insert > Procedure > Type a name > Leave it set to Sub and Public > Click OK.

Note: The name cannot have a space in it.

How to make a message box 5


In the Coding window you can then type the following to create a message box

 

 How to make a message box 6

 

To run the Procedure/Macro, go back to your Excel window. This can be done by either closing the VBA window or just minimising it.

 

On the Developer tab > Click on Macros and the new HelloWorld Procedure/macro will be in here.

 

How to make a message box 7

 

Highlight the HelloWorld Macro and click run. You will get a little message appear with your message inside!

 

How to make a message box 8

Microsoft Project Tips: Schedule, Auto or Not?

Published
by
Simpson
on March 24, 2015
in Microsoft Project Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 1 Comment

So you have been asked by your Line Manager / Director to start planning a Project in Microsoft Project. You get all the information you need, write it all down and then you are ready to sit down and start adding your Tasks and Resources into your new project. One of the first problems you will find when making a Project is to either select Auto Schedule or Manual Schedule.

 

 

So what is the difference between these 2 settings?

Schedule 1

 

 

Manual Schedule is the default setting for all New Tasks when you create a brand new project. And you can see from the image on the right what the tool tip is for this setting.

 

It updates the selected tasks to be manually scheduled so that the values you enter for Start, Finish and Durations are not automatically updated.

 

As you can see above it doesn’t update the Start, Finish and Durations of each task that has this option.

 

Schedule 2

 

 

Auto Schedule is a little bit different then Manual Schedule and you can see the main difference in the screenshot on the left.

 

It automatically calculates the Start, Finish and Duration values for this task based on dependencies, constraints, calendar and other factors.

 

 

 

So you can see the difference straight away. If you want Microsoft Project to put in Start dates, Finish Dates (depending on the Task duration) and if you want it to change depending on other tasks moving, extending, different constraints etc, auto scheduled will do it for you. Around 90% of your tasks would be best to be set as Auto Scheduled as it takes a lot of the problems when you need to change Tasks around/insert new tasks etc.

 

There is a couple of ways you can do this:

  1. You can write your tasks on your project, highlight them all and then on the Ribbon navigate to the Task Tab > Tasks Group and click on Auto Scheduled (or Manual Scheduled).

 

Schedule 3

 

  1. You could also do it by making sure you are in the Gantt Chart View > Navigate to the Task Mode Column and change the option in there as shown in the screenshot below.

 

Schedule 4

Microsoft PowerPoint Tips: Insert Media

Published
by
Simpson
on March 11, 2015
in Microsoft PowerPoint Tips and Tips and Tricks
. 0 Comments

You’ve got a very important presentation coming up in the next few days! You presentation is completed with all the information you want to deliver but you feel it has something missing? Why not spice up your presentation with a Video or with Audio?

 

 

Inserting Video and Audio on PowerPoint 2010 is a very simple task.

Insert Media 1

 

 

Navigate to your Insert tab on the ribbon and on the far right of this tab is your Media Group as seen in the image above.

 

This group is broken down into a separate section for Video and Audio.

 

 

Insert Media 2

Under the Video option you have 3 options to choose from:

 

 

Video from file: This allows you to import a video from your computer.

 

Video from Web Site: This allows you to embed a video from a website like YouTube.

 

Clip Art Video: This allows you to import a video from the offline/online clip art gallery.

 

 

Insert Media 3

Under the Audio Option you have 3 options to choose from:

 

 

Video from file: This allows you to import an audio file from your computer.

 

Clip Art Audio: This allows you to import an Audio file from the offline/online clip art gallery.

 

Record Audio: This allows you to record Audio in real time and insert straight into the PowerPoint.

 

 

Once the video or audio file is in, you are then able to modify it your hearts content.