Choose your own location

Word

you can change the default location by going to Tools>Options. On the "File Locations" tab you can modify the storage location.

Excel

Tools>Options. On the "General" tab change the default location.

PowerPoint

uses Tools>Options and the "Save" tab.

Access

Tools>Options and the "General" tab for Databases and Projects

Publisher

Tools>Options "General".

Outlook

will make you take an underground tour into the Registry to change the location to save e-mail attachments.

FrontPage/Expression Web

appears to require the same sort of spelunking.

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

By Cliff Atkinson

"But what might not be evident in the simplicity of this slide is what happens when the audience experiences it along with your verbal explanation. Because the slide design is simple, the audience can quickly scan the headline and visual and understand the idea. Then their attention turns to the place you want it. — to you, the words you're saying, and the way the information relates to them. Instead of making everything explicit and obvious on the slides, you can leave the slides open to interpretation so the audience is dependent on you, and you on them.

What (the experts are) saying, basically, is that slides filled with bullet points create obstacles between presenters and audiences. You might want to be natural and relaxed when you present, but people say that bullet points make the atmosphere formal and stiff. You might aim to be clear and concise, but people often walk away from these presentations feeling confused and unclear. And you might intend to display the best of your critical thinking on a screen, but people say that bullet points "dumb down" the important discourse that needs to happen for our society to function well.

Somewhere in our collective presentation experience, we're not connecting the dots between presenters and audiences by using the conventional bullet points approach. This issue is of rising concern not only to individuals and audiences - even the major players of large organizations are taking notice of the problem. It seems that in every location where people meet, from small meeting rooms to board rooms to conference halls, people want a change."

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

A type change

Labels: Customize, Fonts, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Fresh material

Labels: Customize, General, Instructional, Reference, Templates, Tips, Tutorials

It's mouse and keyboard quick!

"At the bottom left hand corner of PowerPoint (bottom right for PowerPoint 2007), you will see 3 mini buttons. They are: Normal View, Slide Sorter View, and Slide Show. Now here's a quick trick:

When you hover over these 3 mini buttons, hold down the Shift key. The mini buttons will now become Slide Master view, Handout Master view, and Set Up Show respectively."

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Hold that note

Labels: Customize, General, Notes, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Then start the show

Labels: Customize, General, Presentation, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

End the show

"To force the presentation to end without the black screen on every computer, add an action button or autoshape on your last slide within the presentation.

You can now set the . . .action setting to "end show". This will force your presentation to end without displaying the final black screen and end of slide show message.

Labels: Customize, General, Presentation, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

PPT does not forget

"PowerPoint numbers slides in several ways and it pays to know the difference.

When you create a new slide, it gets a unique SlideID, a unique number that's read-only… you can't change it manually or programmatically. Reordering the slides won't cause it to change. Once a slide is created, it keeps the same SlideID forever.

SlideIndex is the ordinal number of the slide in the presentation as it's currently arranged. Move a slide around in slide sorter and its SlideIndex changes to reflect its new position in the show."

"Microsoft PowerPoint has the ability to create custom slide shows, which are subsets of existing slides within your presentation. When you print a custom show, PowerPoint prints the page number defined for that slide. For example, if you print a custom show named My Show that consists of slides 2, 8, and 13 of your presentation, the numbers 2, 8, and 13 appear on the printed output.

This article provides a sample Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro that prints out a specified custom show and numbers the pages consecutively, beginning with the number 1."

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Interactive Color Wheel

Labels: Color, Customize, Formats, General, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Vary the show

Sub sort_rand()

Dim i As Integer
Dim myvalue As Integer
Dim islides As Integer
islides = ActivePresentation.Slides.Count
For i = 1 To ActivePresentation.Slides.Count
myvalue = Int((i * Rnd) + 1)
ActiveWindow.ViewType = ppViewSlideSorter
ActivePresentation.Slides(myvalue).Select
ActiveWindow.Selection.Cut
ActivePresentation.Slides(islides - 1).Select
ActiveWindow.View.Paste
Next

End Sub

Labels: Customize, General, Presentation, Reference, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Use Office for more than the office

"Microsoft PowerPoint is a robust tool for creating powerful presentations. But you can also use PowerPoint to create multimedia cards to send in e-mail to friends and family - perfect for vacations, holidays, and numerous other occasions.

With PowerPoint, you can easily personalize the colors and design, include your own videos and photos of the family, and choose just the right message for each recipient."

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Let the add-ins begin

Learn how to customize the Ribbon user interface (UI) in the 2007+ Microsoft Office release. Also learn how new features in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the 2007+ Microsoft Office System support RAD development of Ribbon customization. (40 printed pages)

Labels: Customize, Reference, Ribbon, Tips, Tutorials

No need for Photoshop

Labels: Customize, General, Graphics, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Moving

• The Push Left slide transition
  
• A background with no vertical borders
  
• One or two continuous horizontal lines
  
• Other optional horizontal elements

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

The hammer or the carpenter?

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Invisible clicks

Labels: Customize, General, Performance, Presentation, Reference, Tutorials

Unique designs

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials

Access additions

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Ribbon, Shortcuts, Tips, Tutorials

Unencrypted

"Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have been able to password protect documents for several versions by setting the 'password to open'. What we felt could be improved was the ability to enforce password strength rules, similar to what may be required when logging into your computer at work."

Labels: Customize, General, Reference, Tips, Tutorials