Digital Streets

If you are using Microsoft Outlook 2003 or 2007 as your email client, you are but a download and an install away from making it your Twitter client as well.  TechHit.com, a maker of utilites and add-ons for Outlook, has produced OutTwit to perform your Twitter needs. 

First, download the OutTwit Setup executable from TechHit.com.  Install the add-on.

Now, open up Outlook and you will find a Twitter addition to your menu bar.  To configure the settings, click the OutTwit button and select Options.

Input your Twitter user name and password in the designated textboxes.   Then set how often you want to check for new Twitter messages.  Next, select the folder that you want the Tweets delivered to (I recommend that you create a new folder that is to be strictly used for your incoming tweets).  You can also assign an Outlook category to the tweets.  Click OK when you have finished.

Once your Twitter messages start arriving, they will show up in the same fashion as incoming email messages:

Opening the messages will display something like this:

As I am sure you know, daylight savings time has been lengthened and will run from March 11th to November 4th. Because of this change, if you are running XP or previous versions of Windows, you will need to patch your operating system. Additionally, if you run Microsoft Outlook, you will need to patch it as well (corporate domains can patch Exchange instead of having to patch each individual client).  Here’s some necessary reading and links to get your system ready for the new DST.

1. February 2007 cumulative time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems. 
2. How to address the daylight saving time changes in 2007 by using the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook
3. Windows Mobile Updates for Daylight Saving Time (PocketPC)
4. Windows Mobile Updates for Daylight Saving Time (Desktop Tool)

Today I had the misfortune of sitting through a 90 minute presentation. I say misfortune, not because the material was dry and boring, but because the presenter had not learned how to avoid the biggest PowerPoint pitfall - his part of the presentation boiled down to reading off of the PowerPoint slides. He offered no discussion on these slides, no greater detail, only the words on the screen. Word by painful word. You could feel the clock grinding to a stop, as seconds seemed like hours. The 5o pages of the presentation had been sent out last week for review so that people could have a chance to see if there were any areas that they saw as problematic. If we reviewed the 50 pages and all he was going to do was read the 50 pages, then why bother with the presentation?

A PowerPoint presentation should never be used as the speaker’s script. The speaker should discuss the points on the presentation. Go into greater detail, paint a larger picture of the statements and info on the slides. You never want to make your audience spend more time looking at their watches than paying attention to your message. Being a PowerPoint parrot is the quickest way to completely ruin even the greatest of presentations.

The latest version of Microsoft Office will be released at the end of the month. There are some significant changes and improvements to the Office system that might take some getting used to. Here are some tech-recipes to help ease the learning curve:

General

• How To Restore the Quick Access Toolbar To Its Defaults
• Add Commands to the Quick Access Toolbar
• Place the Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon
• How To Minimize the Ribbon
• Cannot Uninstall Office 2007 Beta from XP or Vista

Word

• Using Address Block in a Mail Merge
• How To Disable the Splash Screen
• How To Change the Measurement Units
• Blogging in Word 2007
• Customize the Quick Access Toolbar
• Remove All Tracked Changes and Comments
• How to Insert Footnotes
• Add Figure Numbers and Captions to Your Graphics

Excel

• Where Did They Hide My Favorite Commands?
• How To Add Headers and Footers to Your Worksheets
• Highlight Duplicates
• Automatically Remove Duplicates
• Locate Cells Containing Conditional Formatting

PowerPoint

• How To Apply Shape Effects
• How To Add or Remove Alternate Text Associated with an Image
• How To Switch to the Slide Master
• Change the Default Design for New Presentations
• Using Presenter View
• How To Create Text Columns
• Create a Photo Album
• Package Your Presentation(s) for CD

Outlook

• How To Put Your Calendar into a Message
• Enable Contact Linking
• Easily Locate Large Items in Your Mailstore
• How To Create a New Data File (PST)
• Making the To-Do Bar Show Tasks from PST File
• Download Pictures Automatically
• Disabling/Enabling Add-ins
• Use Google Reader for RSS Feeds link
• Resend a Message
• Remove the Instant Search Prompt

Visio

• Prevent a Shape from Using Theme Effects or Color
• How To Copy A Custom Theme From Another Drawing

OneNote

• Optimize for Improved Battery Life

For precise positioning of a control, click it and then hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the appropriate arrow key to move the control in small increments. For precise sizing of a control, use the same process but hold down the Shift key.  These simple hints will give you a much easier time putting your controls exactly where you want them and exactly the size you desire.

Comments can be a useful aide for your worksheet by helping others interpret your spreadsheet. They can also be a great help for you if you only access the sheet from time-to-time and need little reminders to remember what your thought process was. To add a comment to a cell:

1. Select the cell which you’ll add a comment.

2. Click Insert then select Comment.

3. Type the comment into the box.

4. After you have finished typing the comment, click outside the box..

Cells with comments will have a red triangle in the upper right corner. To view the comment, place the mouse pointer in the cell. The comment appears to the right of the cell. The comment will disappear once the pointer is moved away from the cell. If you wish to edit the comment, simply right-click the cell and select Edit Comment.

Switching paragraphs around in a Word document sounds like it would be a royal pain. You could of drag text around or cut and paste. However, a better method is to click on the paragraph you’d like to move, hold down Shift+Alt, and move the paragraph up or down using the arrow keys. Each press of the arrow key causes the selected paragraph to move over one adjacent paragraph.  A great time saver when getting that document to look just right.

Keyboard shortcuts can be a great timesaver when performing various tasks.  Today we will focus on those from Microsoft Office.  I am going to limit the focus to Word, Excel and Outlook since they are the most widely used from this suite.

Office Keyboard Shortcuts

General

• Ctrl+C: Copy selection.
• Ctrl+X: Cut selection.
• Ctrl+V: Paste copied selection.
• Ctrl+Shift+>: Increase font size.
• Ctrl+Shift+<: Decrease font size.
• Alt+F11: Open Visual Basic for Applications.
• Alt+Shift+F10: Display Smart Tag options.

Outlook

• Ctrl+Shift+I: Switch to inbox.
• Ctrl+Shift+O: Switch to outbox.
• Ctrl+Enter: Send current message.
• Ctrl+R: Reply to a message.
• Ctrl+Shift+R: Reply All to a message.
• Ctrl+Shift+A: Create a new appointment.
• Ctrl+Shift+M: Create a new message.
• Ctrl+1: Switch to Mail.
• Ctrl+2: Switch to Calendar.
• Ctrl+3: Switch to Contacts.
• Ctrl+4: Switch to Tasks.
• Alt+F1:  Toggle navigation pane

Word

• Shift+F3: Toggle selected text between lowercase, title case, and uppercase.
• F4: Repeat your last action.
• Shift+F4: Repeat the most recent Find command.
• Shift+F5: Jump to the last change you made in the document.
• Ctrl+F6: Toggle between open documents.
• F7: Run the spell-checker.
• F12: Open the Save As dialog.

Excel

• F2: Edit  cell’s contents.
• Ctrl+1: Open the Format Cells dialog.
• Ctrl+Page Up: Move to next sheet in the workbook.
• Ctrl+Page Down: Move to previous sheet in the workbook.
• Ctrl+Shift+”: Copy value from the cell above into the current cell.
• Ctrl+R: Fill contents of active cell into selected cells to the right.
• Ctrl+D: Fill contents of active cell into selected cells down.
• Ctrl+`: Toggle between showing cell values and formulas in cells.
• Ctrl+$: Set selection to currency format with two decimal places.

Change The Function of the Enter Key

Normally, when you press the Enter key, Excel goes to the next cell down. The Enter key can be made to move to in any direction (up, down, left, right) or leave you in the same cell. To change this, go to Tools | Options and select the Edit tab. Change the value in the dropdown for Move selection after Enter direction setting or uncheck the box to remain in the same cell.

Change The Number of Worksheets That Excel Starts With

Excel, by default, creates new spreadsheets with three sheets. To change this number go to Tools | Options and select the General tab. Set the number for Sheets in New Workbook.

Other Tips:

How To Bypass Table Recalculation

How To Hide Formulas from Other Users

How To Copy Excel Column Widths

Copy Formatting from One Cell or Range to Another

How To Copy Formatting From One Chart To Another

How To Email an Excel Workbook

Calculating Elapsed Time

How To Reference Cells in Other Worksheets

If you find that you mainly use only the Inbox then you only need access to the navigation pane from time to time. To give you more room to work with, hide the navigation pane by pressing Alt+F1. Whenever the time comes that you need to use the navigation pane, simply press Alt+F1 again and it will toggle back.