Office 2003 Timesaving Techniques for Dummies

What’s in This Book

To save you time, I organized this book into Techniques — groups of related tasks that make you or your computer (or possibly both!) more efficient and more effective. Some Techniques are short ’n sweet, tackle one specific topic, and get you in and out of Office in a nonce. Other Techniques depend on a deeper understanding of how Office works. Take your time when you go through the more complex Techniques, and you’ll be rewarded with big gains down the road. No two people work the same way. Why should computers?

When a Technique requires you to perform a series of steps, I take you through them in a very direct way. But some big timesavers aren’t complicated at all. Keep your eye out for shorter tips, sidebars, and timesavers that are tangentially related to the main topic at hand. Watch for the icons. And don’t be sur¬prised if you bump into a tip or two that urges you to change how you work, as opposed to making changes to your computer.

This book continues the easy-to-read, two-column for¬mat that was pioneered in Windows XP Timesaving Techniques For Dummies. It’s full of figures and other visual cues that make it easier for you to scan and enter a Technique at the point most appropriate for your circumstances. Linear thinking is good. Non¬linear scanning is better: That is, wade in at the topic you need help on . . . no need to read this tome cover to cover.

Lay this book flat so you that can see exactly what you’re doing. Yes, the book was made to stay put.

You can read the book from beginning to end, or you can jump directly into the Technique of your choice. Either way works just fine. Any time a con¬cept is mentioned that isn’t covered in-depth in that Technique, you’ll find a cross-reference to another Technique to find out more. If you’re looking for something specific, check out either the Table of Contents or the index.

The Cheat Sheet at the beginning of this book lists my choices as the most important quick timesaving Techniques. Tear it out, tape it to your monitor, and/or pass it around to other folks at the office. We’re all in this leaky boat together.
Here’s a quick guide to the meat of the book:

Part I: Knocking Office Into Shape

What you need to do to Office (and Windows!) to take off the training wheels. Here you discover how to make Windows a safe place for Office and get at your Office programs faster. Organize Office docu¬ments in ways that make sense for you, and then customize the Open dialog box’s Places Bar so that finding files is a snap. Delve into how to set up a backup regimen and stick to it. And don’t miss downloading and installing the latest patches — and knowing when not to. Go on to disable the really obnoxious IntelliSense setting that converts typed Web address and e-mail addresses into links and use the Office Clipboard with aplomb. Then work with graphics in all the Office applications and streamline your toolbars.

Part II: Saving Time with Word

For most people, timesaving gains in Word have the biggest impact. You gotta read here to discover how to turn off all those stupid IntelliSense settings. Use Word’s features to lay out a page that works with you and not against you. Print impressive labels. Read about ways to edit that really work. Use Find and Replace and unleash the truth behind styles. Stick with me to create top-notch letterhead and tame Word’s graphics.

Part III: Streamlining Outlook

Do you live in Outlook? Here’s what you don’t know. I show you here how to set up meaningful search fold¬ers and organize with quick clicks. Keep Outlook from autocompleting your way into oblivion. Fight spam before it happens. Finally, look at files attached to e-mail messages — without getting infected — and share Calendars and Contacts.

Part IV: Exploiting Excel

For crunching much more than numbers. Here you nav¬igate creating spreadsheets that check themselves and make spreadsheets look better onscreen and when printed. Use Excel as a database — er, list — manager and read the why’s and wherefore’s of pivot tables and charts. Finally, calculate sales tax with the Lookup Wizard.

Part V: Pushing PowerPoint

Making presentations that don’t take forever. Still with me? Don’t miss working with the right file type and making a real presentation template. Eliminate the middleman with presentations that run them¬selves. Plan for predictable questions and see how working backward can save you lots of time.

Part VI: Assimilating Access

A few quick programs go a long way. Discover how to print cover sheets for all your reports as well as the skinny on running totals and subtotals. Also read how to print labels and then set formatting once . . . and forget it.

Part VII: Combining the Applications

Some of the Office apps work together, some of the time. Here you find my most-requested explanation: how to print holiday greeting letters. Read on for how to run an electronic newsletter. And don’t miss converting a Word outline directly into a presenta¬tion or animating Excel charts in a presentation. Cross-app finale: Rotate text in a Word document — with a little help from Excel.

Part VIII: The Scary (Or Fun!) Stuff

Macros can make your life better. You need this stuff. Become a power user by inserting unformatted text in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Then make Word’s Show All show you all that you want to see, with none of that extra junk. Print a folder full of spread¬sheets. Strip personally identifiable information out of Word docs and Excel spreadsheets. Become an honorary member of Monty Python with spam bust¬ing. In conclusion, create smart documents. Read Comments To Download