Top Tips

This section of the website is designed to provide you with some shortcuts and top tips on how to get more from the systems we use every day at work.

If you have any areas you would really like to know what the best ‘userbility’ tips are, get in touch here with your request and we’ll see what we can do.

Create Keyboard shortcuts to open Programs

You can create keyboard shortcuts to open programs, which can often be simpler than opening programs using your mouse or other pointing device. Before completing these steps, verify that a shortcut was created for the program to which you want to assign a keyboard shortcut. If no shortcut was created, browse to the folder that contains the program, right-click the program file, and then click Create Shortcut to create one.
1. Locate the shortcut to the program for which you want to create a keyboard shortcut.
2. Right-click the shortcut, and then click Properties.
3. In the Shortcut Properties dialog box, click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Shortcut key box.
4. Press the key on your keyboard that you want to use in combination with CTRL+ALT (keyboard shortcuts automatically start with CTRL+ALT), and then click OK.
You can now use this keyboard shortcut to open the program when you’re using the desktop. The shortcut will also work while using some programs, though it might not work with some programs that have their own keyboard shortcuts.

Windows Explorer: Moving Between Web Pages

On the web you might want to go move back and forward throughout web pages and you have to stop what your doing and press the back button at the top of the screen. Instead of this an easier and quicker way is to press ALT Left to go back a page and ALT Right to go Forward a page.

Microsoft Word 2007: Prevent Automatic Bulleted and Numbered Lists

Microsoft Word 2007 automatically creates bulleted and numbered lists as you type. While many people appreciate this feature, others would rather take more control over their document editing. Perhaps you do not want the automatic formatting that comes with list creation, or you may prefer creating a list with actual asterisks.

To disable this automatic feature:

1. Access the Microsoft Word 2007 Options menu.

2. Select “Proofing” in the left pane.

3. Underneath the “AutoCorrect options” section, click the “AutoCorrect Options” button.

4. When the “AutoCorrect” multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click the “AutoFormat As You Type” tab.

5. Underneath “Apply as you type”, uncheck “Automatic bulleted lists” and “Automatic numbered lists”.

6. Click “OK” on the dialog boxes to save your settings.

Microsoft Outlook 2007: Change Outlook 2007′s Junk Email Filtering Level or Disable It

Microsoft Outlook 2007 automatically attempts to filter some junk e-mail from your Inbox to keep it from getting clogged with phishing attempts, spam, and other unwanted messages.

As the amount of unsolicited e-mail constantly rises, you may find Outlook’s default filtering level ineffective in dealing with the swarm of junk e-mail. You can increase the filter level so that more junk is caught at the risk of filtering some legitimate e-mail. On the other hand, if too much legitimate e-mail is moved to the Junk E-Mail folder, you can disable filtering altogether, with one caveat. Or, if you only send and receive e-mail to/from certain individuals you can move all other e-mail to the Junk E-Mail folder.

1. Select “Tools” – “Options”.

2. The “Options” multi-tabbed dialog box appears. Make sure the “Preferences” tab is selected.

3. Click the “Junk E-mail” button.

4. The “Junk E-mail Options” multi-tabbed dialog box appears. Make sure the “Options” tab is selected.

5. From here, underneath “Choose the level of junk e-mail protection you want”, click one of the four radio buttons:

Changing Outlook 2007′s junk e-mail filtering level to “High”

6. When done, click “OK” on the dialog boxes to close them.

Undo Minimising all Windows

To undo the mimimise all function you could individually click on each window or you could hold the shift key and the windows button (in the bottom left hand corner of the keyboard) and  press M. This will enlarge all minimised windows.

Minimising all Windows

To minimise all windows you could individually, go into each one and click the minimise button on the top right hand corner, or you could hold the Windows button at the bottom left hand corner (inbetween the Ctrl and Alt button) and press M this will minimise all open windows to show the desktop.

Inserting a Copyright Mark

There are a number of special symbols that are often used in the course of creating a document. One common symbol is the copyright mark, which is a small letter C surrounded by a circle. Copyright marks are easy to add to your document, assuming you are using a version of Word that has AutoCorrect and that it hasn’t been turned off or modified. If this is the case, you should be able to type a lowercase C surrounded by parentheses—as in (c)—and Word will automatically change the three characters to a copyright mark.

If you have AutoCorrect turned off. If you use the keyboard a lot, you can simply press Ctrl+Alt+C.  

Deleting Words

While editing documents, it is not uncommon to delete words, phrases, and the like. Different people take different approaches to the task. For instance, some people just select the text and press Delete, while others may simply hold down the Delete or Backspace keys until the unwanted characters disappear.

If you are in the latter group, and you spend a lot of time pressing Delete or Backspace, you may be interested in a handy shortcut provided by Word. All you need to do is hold down the Ctrl key to speed up your deletions. Using Ctrl+Delete deletes text from the insertion point to the end of the next word. For instance, if you wanted to delete four words to the right, simply press Ctrl+Delete four times. Likewise, Ctrl+Backspace deletes words to the left of the insertion point.

An interesting use of these shortcut keys is to speed up editing tasks, not just mass deletions. For instance, let’s say you wanted to change the word “sidestep” to “sideways.” Normally you would find some way to simply delete “step” and type “ways.” This could involve pressing Delete or Backspace four times to get rid of the unwanted portion of the word. You can make your edit faster if you just position the insertion point at the beginning of “step,” press Ctrl+Delete once, and then type “ways.” 

Changing Font Size Using a Shortcut Key

One of the interesting shortcut keys in Word is the one that allows you to change the point size of a text selection. The shortcut key is Ctrl+Shift+P, but exactly how the shortcut functions depends on what you have displayed on the screen.

This may sound odd, but you can try it out. If you are using a version of Word prior to Word 2007 and you have the Formatting toolbar displayed (as most people do), then pressing Ctrl+Shift+P selects the Font Size control on the toolbar. You can then type the font size you want to use and press Enter. (Pretty handy if you don’t want to take your hands off the keyboard.)

If you don’t have the Formatting toolbar displayed for some reason, then it seems obvious that the Font Size control can’t be selected—it isn’t even visible. Instead, pressing Ctrl+Shift+P results in the Font dialog box being displayed, and the Size control being selected. Again, you can type the desired font size and simply press Enter.

If you are using Word 2007, then pressing Ctrl+Shift+P always results in the Font dialog box being displayed and the size control being selected.

Centering a Paragraph with the Keyboard

Most people, if they need to center a paragraph, use the Center tool on the Formatting toolbar or the Home tab of the ribbon. While this is quick and easy enough, some people resent the need to remove their hands from the keyboard to do their formatting. (I must say that I find it distracting to constantly switch between the keyboard and the mouse. It’s just not very efficient, as it means I need to change my mental focus.)

If you want to center a paragraph by using a keyboard shortcut, simply press Ctrl+E. Bingo! The paragraph in which the insertion point is located is centered the same as if you clicked on the Center tool.

The same goes for  Ctrl+L for left and Ctrl +R for right. 

Adding your cell totals in excel

If you adding together totals in excel which are in the same column, instead of manually adding them up, if you select the first cell and scroll down and at the bottom of the page it will tell you what the sum is and how many cells it has added.

Copying from a webpage to word

2007

Have you ever copied from a webpage to word and the format is all over the place. Then this tip will really save you time.
Highlight the text and click the clear format button which is an A with an eraser at the top right hand corner of the font section.

2003

2003 is a little bit different as to find this you will have to go to the formatting tab at the top of the page and click Font. Then click the Clear formatting option in the pick formatting to apply box. remember to have everything highlghted before you do this.

Viewing web pages on a small screen

If you have a small screen laptop and are struggling to see the full webpage. If you press F11 on your keyboard then it will hide the top and bottom toolbars so you can easily see a larger screen. To use the toolbars at this stage just hover over them and the one you hover over will appaer and when your done it will hide again. To get your screen back to normal just press F11 again.

Viewing and navigating documents

To see where many Word 2003 commands are located in the Microsoft Office 2007 Fluent user interface, you can use the Interactive: Word 2003 to Word 2007 command reference guide. The guide is a visual, interactive tool that helps you quickly learn where commands are in Office Word 2007

• To turn off Full Screen Reading view and return to Print Layout view, press ESC.
• To prevent Full Screen Reading view from opening automatically, in Full Screen Reading view, click View Options, and then click Don’t Open Attachments in Full Screen.
• To move to the previous or next word, press CTRL+LEFT ARROW or CTRL+RIGHT ARROW.
• To go to the beginning or end of a document, press CTRL+HOME or CTRL+END.
• To view a document’s organization and jump to different sections, on the View tab, in the Show/Hide group, click Document Map.

Snapping Windows to the edge of the screen in Windows 7

Snap is a quick (and fun) new way to resize open windows, simply by dragging them to the edges of your screen.

Depending on where you drag a window, you can make it expand vertically, take up the entire screen, or appear side-by-side with another window.  Snap makes reading, organizing, and comparing windows a…well, you get the picture.

If you don’t want to drag the windows you can simply hold down the Windows key and press the left, right or up arrow to achieve the same goal.

To see it in action, have a look at this video

Pasting Unformatted Text

Ever wondered how to copy data from the internet, a PDF or another document directly in to your current word document without having to reformat the entire thing? Well, here’s how.

Word 2007

Highlight and copy the text you need, go in to your word document and select the small down arrow below the paste option on the home tab, click on Paste Special, then on Unformatted Text and hit enter.

Word 2003

Highlight and copy the text you need, go in to your word document, click on Edit, Paste Special, then on Unformatted Text and hit enter.

Your text will now appear in the document in the same style as your existing text.

Zoom

Want a closer look at what you’re reading? Use the scroll button on your mouse to zoom in and out of word documents, internet explorer, windows desktop and most MS applications.

Just hold down the Ctrl key and roll the scroll wheel forward to get a closer view of the document – to shrink, roll back.

Move using ‘Alt’ key

Moving data from one Excel worksheet to another is easy. Simply highlight, then hold down the ALT key and move the mouse until the pointer arrow is on the border of the selection.

Drag the selection down to the destination worksheet tab and, when the arrow touches the tab, Excel will switch to the desired worksheet.  Then drag your data to the correct position, let go of the mouse and the ALT key.

* To copy data, hold down the CTRL+ALT keys and perform the steps above.

Cleaning a spillage on a keyboard

Get a computer’s keyboard wet and the water will disrupt the electrical contact made between a key and the circuit board below. That’s the bad news. The good news is that, once dry, the keyboard should work again. So if you do spill water over one, disconnect it, shake or drain it, then leave it to air dry for a day. Don’t use a hairdryer on it, as the heat can cause damage.

Sugary or milky drinks, however, leave residues after drying that will permanently kill the keyboard, so if your builders tea goes flying, you’ve got little to lose. Run the board under a tap to flush out all sticky stuff, leave it to dry as above and, if you’re lucky , the keyboard will live again.