20 March 2018

Finding the Font Color

Byte of the Day, Word

Finding the Font Color

Every once in a while you must work with a document where a custom color was used to format headings or other pieces of text. If you’re lucky, the font color used is one of the standard choices in the Font Color Palette. Changing the font color is quick and easy.

Standard Colors

First, to find the color of a piece of text. Next, click on the Font Color button (located on the Home ribbon). This displays Theme Colors and Standard Colors. If the color is a standard color, look for a color block outlined in red. If no color is outlined, it is not a standard color.

More Colors

From this point, click More Colors. A hexagon color palette will appear. If your text color is on this palette, the color will be outlined in white. If no color is outlined, you need to find the Custom color.

Custom Colors

It’s not difficult to find out if the color used was a Custom Color. Click on the Custom tab. Make note of the Red, Green, Blue values that make up that particular color. Once you know the values, enter them into the Custom Color palette for other programs – for example, creating an exact color match in MSPowerPoint, MSExcel or others.

Reveal Formatting

Last, you can also use the SHIFT+F1 to open the Reveal Formatting pane. This pane will give you information about the text you selected – or wherever your insertion point is.

Happy Learning!

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15 March 2018

Making Use of Split Screen in Word

The Big Byte, Word

Making Use of Split Screen in MSWord

There are several ways to navigate a document in MSWord. When you have a large document, the Split Screen option can make navigating faster and easier. No one likes to spend time scrolling backwards and forwards! If you split the screen, you can see two different sections of your document on the screen simultaneously. Use this feature to see your introductory paragraph and compare it to your concluding paragraph. Another reason to use a split screen in Word would be to quickly cut/copy/paste between different sections in your document.

There are a couple of ways to activate the split screen.

Using the Ribbon

The split screen button is found on the View tab. Click View, then click Split. This will activate the horizontal split screen bar.

Move your cursor up or down to move the split screen bar until it appears in the desired location – then click to place the bar. Your screen will be split and you can navigate the two sections independently of each other. You will see 2 separate scroll bars on the right side of your screen.

Notice how the top and bottom screens scroll individually, and each pane has its own ruler and scroll bars.

Removing the Split Screen in Word using the Ribbon

To remove the split screen, simply click on the Remove Split button found on the View tab.

Alternative Method to Activate the Split Screen

You may already know about the Split Screen button on the View tab; it’s pretty easy to discover by looking at the options on the Ribbon. The following option is less known and allows you to activate the Split Screen without using the Ribbon.

On the right side of your Word screen, look for a small, horizontal, black bar at the top (or bottom) of the vertical scroll bar – it looks kind of like a minus sign. When you point at it (with your mouse), the pointer will turn into a double-sided arrow.

Click, and drag down to split the screen.

To remove the split screen

Use your mouse to point at the horizontal split screen bar, then either click and drag the bar all the way up or double-click the split bar to remove the split screen and return the document to a single screen.

Compare Two Different Documents Using a Split Screen

If you would like to compare two different documents – or view them side-by-side – use the View Side by Side button on the View tab.

Both files should be open before selecting this option.

Go to the View tab, then select the View Side by Side button. You can remove this view by clicking the same button again; your view will return to a one-document view.

The Synchronous Scrolling option can be turned on or off. With this feature activated, both documents will scroll simultaneously. Meaning, as you scroll up or down in one document, the other document will also scroll in the same manner.

Happy Learning!

Webinar Available: January 23rd @ 12pm

If you liked this article and want more of the good stuff, join our monthly Webinar Training! Our lead trainer is offering MSWord online webinar classes on the 4th Wednesday of every month @ 12:00pm. Lunchtime is a great time to feed your brain and your belly! You can join the webinar using the GoToMeeting code below – just click on the link 5-10 mins prior to the start of training to make sure you get all set up in time. 60 min classes are $75. If you have questions – or would like to register for the online class – please contact julie@braincandyinc.com.

MSWord Training
Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
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Would you like to enhance your skills on a specific topic from the comfort of your home or desk? Our 60 minute webinars deliver quick, high quality training, helping you make the most of your valuable time. Some of our webinar classes are: MSWord Essentials, MSWord Styles, MSWord Outline Numbering, MSWord Headers & Footers, MSWord Table of Contents & Table of Authorities, MSExcel Essentials, MSPowerPoint Essentials, and many more! What topic, feature, or skill would you like to know more about? Drop us your wish list in the comments!

14 March 2018

Insert a Cross-Reference in MSWord

Dear Ms. Bytes, Word

Dear Ms. Byte,

I am working on a document that contains several charts. I would like to refer to a chart within my document by indicating the page number the chart is on. If I type the page number, but then later on the chart is moved to a different location, I have to remember to go back and manually change the page number reference. I’ve heard about the possibility of inserting a field to help me with this – am I on the right track?

Sincerely – Susie M.

Dear Susie M.,

You are on the right track! Yes, you will insert a cross-reference field. This field will update, so no matter where the chart is in the document, the reference will always reflect its current location. Following the steps below will help you insert a cross-reference.

Sincerely – Ms. Bytes

Insert a Cross-Reference in MSWord

Insert a cross-reference if you want to refer to another part of your document, i.e. a chart or specific paragraph. Clicking the reference link will take you to that location. If you need to link to a different document you would need to create a hyperlink.

Creating a Bookmark

Select the text you want to be cross-referenced. In Susie’s situation, she would select the chart.
Assign this text/object a Bookmark name.
First, click on the Insert Tab.

Then, click on Bookmark.

Next, type a name for the bookmark. It is not case sensitive, and spaces are not allowed. You may use an underscore character.
Last, click Add. The bookmark will be named, and the dialog box will close.

Insert the Cross-Reference

The next step is to position the insertion point where you want the cross-reference to appear. In Susie’s situation, she would place her insertion point in the paragraph she wants the page number to appear (i.e. “Please see the graph on page _“).

Insert the Bookmark.
- If necessary, click on the Insert tab.
- Then, click on Cross-Reference (it is to the right of Bookmark on the Insert ribbon).
- The Reference Type = Bookmark.
- The Insert Reference To = Page Number.
- Select the Bookmark, then click Insert.
- Finally, click Close.

At this point, you will see the page number of the chart! If you point near or on the cross-reference, you will see the tip telling you to Ctrl+Click to follow the link.

Online Webinars

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13 March 2018

Excel Shortcut Keys

Byte of the Day, Excel

How Many Shortcuts Do You Know?

We have found that having a good working knowledge of how to navigate within your spreadsheets, like using Excel shortcut keys, can make work easier and faster. Even though everyone should know these shortcuts, we are always surprised when an experienced user tells us excitedly, “Hey! I didn’t know that one!” Here are a few, easy keystrokes that you may already know – or maybe you don’t. Open a spreadsheet and try the following shortcut keys and let us know in the comments if you picked up anything new. Happy Learning!

Excel Shortcut Keys – Using the Fill Feature

The Fill Feature allows you to enter text and values into a block of adjacent cells, instead of typing them individually. You probably already know how to use the mouse and grab the Fill Handle located in the lower-right corner of your selected cell and drag it to fill in the adjacent cells. But for those of us who find it faster to use keyboard shortcuts – here are a few:

In the video below, see an example of selecting cells in a column, cells in a row, and a range of cells. Remember to select first, then press the keystroke listed.

To fill down = Ctrl+D
Fill to the right = Ctrl+R
Fill into selected cells = Ctrl+Enter

Excel Shortcut Keys – Selecting and Working with Cells

Select entire sheet = Ctrl+A
Turn Filter feature on and off = Ctrl+Shift+L
Go to a specific cell = F5 or Ctrl+G, then type in the cell name (i.e. A5)

Excel Shortcut Keys – Working with Formulas

Absolute Reference = F4 (click into the formula using the Formula Bar & press F4)

Excel Shortcut Keys – Working with Sheets

Insert a new worksheet = Shift+F11
To rename a worksheet = Alt+O+H,R (type the name of the sheet, then press Enter)
Delete current worksheet = Alt+E,L
Select current & previous sheet = Ctrl+Shift+Page Up (this will Group the two sheets)

Online Webinars

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7 March 2018

Remove Extra Spaces Between Words

Dear Ms. Bytes, Word

Dear Ms. Byte,

After copying text from a web source, I pasted the text into my Word document. Now, there are a lot of extra spaces between words. I can delete the spaces manually, but there has to be a faster way to remove extra spaces between words.

Sincerely – Frustrated Fran

Dear Frustrated Fran,

I’m so glad you asked – yes! There is a faster way to remove the extra spaces between words. Following these steps will save you a bunch of time.

Sincerely – Ms. Bytes

Remove Extra Spaces Between Words

Obviously, you would like to have one space between words, right? Since you don’t want to remove all the spaces in your document, the secret will be using Word’s powerful Find & Replace feature. You are going to “Find” all of the extra spaces and “Replace” them with only 1 space.

In the steps below, step #4 indicates that you should enter 2 numbers in brackets. The first number is the minimum number of sequential spaces to find, and the second represents the maximum number of sequential spaces to find — in the example below, {3,20} is asking Word to find a minimum of three and a maximum of 20 consecutive spaces.

Pressing Ctrl+H will open the Find and Replace dialog box.
In the lower section, click on the More button. This will display the search options.
Select the Use wildcards check box.
In the Find what field, press the spacebar once followed by {3,20}.
In the Replace with field, press the spacebar once.
Click Replace All.

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6 March 2018

Submit an Optimized PDF

Byte of the Day

Submit an Optimized PDF

When submitting documents for filing in San Diego Superior Court, the clerk requires that you submit an Optimized PDF document.

There are three easy steps to submit an optimized PDF

First, you will scan the document.

Second, save it as an Optimized PDF and make compatible with Acrobat 9.0 and later.

Third, upload to appropriate location.

Your specific copier/printer may automatically perform this task, but it’s a good idea to double-check the document before uploading it.

Coming Soon – Webinars

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27 February 2018

Table of Contents – Generating Multiple in One Document

The Big Byte, Word

Generating Multiple Table of Contents in One Document

If you have a very large document, using more than one Table of Contents in it can make managing the chapters much easier! This option is useful if you are putting together a large instruction manual, training book, or human resources binder – just to name a few.

Heading Styles

Before you can insert a Table of Contents, you will need to identify the text in your document that should appear in the TOC. The easiest way to mark and generate a TOC is by using the Heading Styles. MSWord has 9 Heading Styles to use – which gives you up to 9 levels in your TOC outline. Before generating the TOC, you should apply the Heading Styles. Go do that and come back… I’ll wait right here!

Bookmarks

After applying the Heading Styles, you will create a bookmark for each area (part, segment, zone) in your document that needs its own Table of Contents. You will need to select the entire area (highlight/select all of the pages that contain the text that will appear in the first TOC) and create a Bookmark – one bookmark for each area. I am specifically not using the word “section” to avoid any confusion. You do not need to break your document into sections to have multiple TOC’s. However, if you need to control pagination, page numbering, etc., then you will need to use Section Breaks as necessary.

To Bookmark an area:

First, select the entire first area that contains all the text to appear in a Table of Contents.

Next, select the Insert tab and click on Bookmark.

Type in a descriptive name (no spaces) and click Add. Important Note: you will need to remember the name of your bookmarked area because you will need to type it in a later step… so write it down!

Do this for each area in your document that will need its own TOC.

In my example document, I made the Heading Styles in each area a different color so that it will be easier to see the separate parts.

Generate the Table of Contents

The last step is to generate the Table of Contents. Place your insertion point where you want the TOC to appear. Click on the Insert tab, click Quick Parts, then Field.

Next, select Index and Tables from the Category drop-down list.

Next, click on TOC.

In the lower-left, click on the Field Codes button (it changes to Hide Codes and the Options button appears).

Next, click on the Options button.

Next, click on Add Field. The Field Options dialog box will open.

After the Field Options is visible, select the \b switch and click Add to Field.

Then, click to the right of the \b switch and type the Bookmark name for the section you want. Remember I mentioned that you would need to type in the name of the Bookmark?

Finally, click OK, then OK again.

The Table of Contents will be inserted!

Repeat the steps for each Bookmarked area to generate the TOC for that area.

Happy Learning!

Coming Soon – Webinars

Would you like to enhance your skills on a specific topic from the comfort of your home or desk? Our 60 minute webinars deliver quick, high quality training, helping you make the most of your valuable time. Some of our webinar classes are: MSWord Essentials, MSWord Styles, MSWord Outline Numbering, MSWord Headers & Footers, MSWord Table of Contents & Table of Authorities, MSExcel Essentials, MSPowerPoint Essentials, and many more! What topic, feature, or skill would you like to know more about? Drop us your wish list in the comments!

6 December 2016

Spellcheck Problems in Microsoft Word

The Big Byte, Word

Spellcheck Problems

There’s nothing more annoying than spellcheck problems. If you have noticed that Spellchecker has not been picking up some of the misspellings in your documents, there could be several reasons and it might take a little bit of detective work to figure exactly why.

The Possibilities

Possibility #1: You ignored the word previously during a typical spellcheck. This means that the misspelled word was added to the dictionary and spellcheck will ignore it.
Possibility #2: You typed the word in uppercase. The default option in MSWord is to ignore words typed in uppercase.
Possibility #3: You applied a style to the word and the format of the style is to skip words formatted with that style.

The Solutions

Solution #1: If you accidentally added a misspelled word to the dictionary, this would cause the spellcheck problem. You can reset the dictionary using the Proofing settings.
- First, click on File, Options, then Proofing:

Solution #2: If you would like to include words typed in uppercase in the spellcheck, you will need to turn off the option to ignore them – otherwise, this causes the second spellcheck problem. First, click on File, Options, then Proofing:

Solution #3: if the other solutions did not fix the spellcheck problems, you could dig a little deeper and see if the word has a style applied to it. If that style has been formatted to be omitted from the spellchecker, this will cause a spellcheck problem. Find out if the word has a style applied to it by clicking into the text and take a look at the ribbon – if a style is selected other than “normal”, that means there is a style applied.

Since this example text has a style applied, the next step will be to look at the properties of the style. While pointing at the style “Movie Title”, right-click then choose Modify.

Here you will see the various formatting options associated with this style. One of them is “do not check spelling or grammar”.

Your next step would be to remove that option from the style format. First, Click on Format, then choose Language.

Next, you will uncheck the option “Do not check spelling or grammar”. This action is taking place inside the Modify Style dialog box and will only affect this style. Lastly, click OK, then OK again. The Spellchecker will now catch misspelled words that have that style applied to it.

Happy Learning!

Coming Soon – Webinars

Would you like to enhance your skills on a specific topic from the comfort of your home or desk? Our 60 minute webinars deliver quick, high quality training, helping you make the most of your valuable time. Some of our webinar classes are: MSWord Essentials, MSWord Styles, MSWord Outline Numbering, MSWord Headers & Footers, MSWord Table of Contents & Table of Authorities, MSExcel Essentials, MSPowerPoint Essentials, and many more! What topic, feature, or skill would you like to know more about? Drop us your wish list in the comments!

8 November 2016

Outlook – Fast Flagging!

Byte of the Day, Outlook

This byte is for fellow neat freaks who like a tidy Inbox and want to quickly flag and find important emails. With a message, or two, or three, or however many selected, press the Insert key to toggle the flag on or marked as done.

Happy Learning!!

12 September 2016

CompuLaw Crashed and I Cannot Log In!

Byte of the Day, CompuLaw, Docketing

CompuLaw Crashed!

Having issues logging back in after CompuLaw crashed? Did you get the dreaded message saying you are already logged into the application? Fret no more, life just got easier!

Thanks to some changes to the application, you can log yourself off in three simple steps.

Click the “View Logins” button.
Right click your initials in the “Logged In Users” list.
Click “Remove Entry”.

Now click the “OK” button and calendar away!

Happy learning!

Coming Soon – Webinars

Would you like to enhance your skills on a specific topic from the comfort of your home or desk? Our 60 minute webinars deliver quick, high quality training, helping you make the most of your valuable time. Some of our webinar classes are: MSWord Essentials, MSWord Styles, MSWord Outline Numbering, MSWord Headers & Footers, MSWord Table of Contents & Table of Authorities, MSExcel Essentials, MSPowerPoint Essentials, and many more! What topic, feature, or skill would you like to know more about? Drop us your wish list in the comments!