Thursday, November 17th, 2011

Save space – Compress your images in Word

compress images in Word 2010 Save space Compress your images in Word

A reader just asked if they added 50 images to a Word file would that blow out the file size when they send it to their colleagues. Answer: Yep! big time.

Most specially if you use your your beaut iPhone to capture the images, or a good compact camera or if you just insert big pictures. You see, unless you do something those big pictures will be inserted in the file and included in it when you save it – you can end up with a monster Word file (think 5Mb x 50!)

The solution to the problem is to compress the images. To compress all the images in your Word 2010/2007 file so that they take less room, click on any image and choose Picture Tools > Format tab.  Locate the Compress Pictures button and deselect Apply only to this Picture so all images will be compressed.

If there is an Options button click it to see the sizing options (this appears in Word 2007 but not in Word 2010). Then choose the Target output – typically Screen or Print are good options as they will view well and print just fine. Check the Delete Cropped Areas of Pictures checkbox so cropped data won’t be saved. Click Ok. Then save the document.

This compression feature will reduce your file to a better size for sharing without compromising the quality of the document. And the changes affect only the images in the document not the originals on your disk.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:59 amNo Comments links to this post

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Shape images and Clip Art in Word 2010

word 2010 shape clipart opener Shape images and Clip Art in Word 2010

There is a healthy range of free clip art available from Microsoft and it includes some photos including content from iStockPhoto.com. However, the process of getting them into your document any other way than by choosing Insert > Clip Art is not always obvious.

Here’s how to add a clip art image to a circle shape:

Choose Insert > Shape and select the Oval. Hold Shift as you draw to create a circle on the screen. If you choose Drawing Tools > Format > Shape Fill you get the option of applying a picture to the shape but not clip art.

Instead, right click the shape and choose Format Shape to get access to the new to Word 2010 – Format Shape dialog. Choose Fill > Picture or Texture Fill and click the Clip Art button.

word 2010 shape clipart 1 Shape images and Clip Art in Word 2010

Browse or search for an image. You could also have placed a Clip Art image into your document using Insert > Clip Art and then selected it and cut it to the Clipboard. Here in this dialog you can choose Clipboard to add the image from the clipboard – in short you have more options here for using image than you have using the Shape Fill list.

If the image is skewed out of shape – and it will be if it is a portrait or landscape image inside a circle which is pretty much a square with the corners cut off – you can adjust it.

Select Crop and, for a landscape orientation image inside a circle, increase the Picture Position Width value. For a portrait orientation image inside a circle, increase the Picture Position: Height value.

Then adjust the Offset X or Offset Y values, if desired, to control which portion of the image shows up inside the circle.

word 2010 shape clipart 2 Shape images and Clip Art in Word 2010

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 11:39 amNo Comments links to this post

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Switch between open documents in Excel and Word

Switch between windows excel word Switch between open documents in Excel and Word

Hmmm … I am fussy, I want my cake and I want to eat it too!

I want to have a clean task bar so I don’t want to see lots of files lined up there so I love Windows 7 and its clean task bar. But I find the new panel that opens when I right click an icon on the task bar to be just a little bit too free with information. I really want it to show me a list of currently open files – not everything that I have open or have recently opened. Actually I could live with the information it gives me if I didn’t have to actually use it to switch windows.

So, problem is… how can I switch between open documents in Excel or Word, for example, without having to use the Windows task bar? Solution is to use the Switch Windows button. I add it to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) and it totally makes sense to me.

In Excel or Word, click the Customize Quick Access Toolbar button and choose More Commands. From the list which currently shows Popular Commands choose All Commands and scroll to find the Switch Windows button and click Add.

Now it is on the QAT and it will show you all your open files and you can use it to switch between them by just clicking on the one to go to. Repeat the process for both Excel and Word and you’ll be happy – at least until something else bugs you!

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:58 amNo Comments links to this post

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Timeline in Microsoft Word 2010

The new SmartArt feature in Word 2007 and 2010 helps you create timelines very easily:

Step 1
Choose Insert -> SmartArt -> Process and select one of the process options such as Basic Timeline and click Ok. Type the text into the textboxes in the SmartArt object. Alternately, click the arrows at the far left of the object and add text via the dialog.
timeline1 Timeline in Microsoft Word 2010

Step 2
To format the timeline SmartArt, select the object and choose Format -> Design on the Ribbon and then select one of the SmartArt Styles. Click Change Colors to alter the colours used in your SmartArt object.
timeline2 Timeline in Microsoft Word 2010

Step 3
From the Shape Effects list you can customise an effect such as reflection or shadow for the art. In addition, as the look of a SmartArt object is controlled by the document theme you can choose Page Layout -> Themes and select an alternate theme for your document.
timeline3 Timeline in Microsoft Word 2010

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:01 am2 Comments links to this post

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

DIY Color Changing Clip Art

edit clip art original DIY Color Changing Clip Art

Much of the illustration Clip Art in the Microsoft Clip Organizer can be edited by changing its colors. By doing this you can not only recolor the art to match the look of your document but, if you use Theme colors then the art will change color when the Theme or Color scheme changes.

Now you won’t need information technology degrees to learn this – but maybe you’ll be so good at it, you just might consider graphic design college.

So, let’s see how the recoloring is done. First select the Clip Art and from the Picture Tools -> Format tab click the Group > Ungroup button. Answer Yes if you are prompted to convert the image to a Microsoft Office Drawing Object. In some applications  such as Publisher you’ll need to repeat the process and select Ungroup again.

edit clip art 1 DIY Color Changing Clip Art

Now click on individual parts of the object and either remove them or recolor them by selecting a Shape Fill Color from the Drawing Tools > Format tab. If you use Theme colors then the colors will change later on when the theme changes.

edit clip art 2 DIY Color Changing Clip Art

When you are done and you have recolored all the pieces you want to recolor, select all the pieces, right click and choose Group.

edit clip art 3 DIY Color Changing Clip Art

Change the document theme or Color Scheme to see the image change color to match the look of the theme.

edit clip art 4 DIY Color Changing Clip Art

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 6:22 pmNo Comments links to this post

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

Word – joining up short lines

find and replace line breaks 3 Word joining up short lines

One of my readers – Joe – recently asked for some help regarding removing spaces in Word. He thought that the problem with the text was additional spaces, but when I looked into it, it appears that something else is causing the issue.

Here is a piece of sample text and you can see that it is a series of short lines which my reader wants to make into one continuous paragraph.

find and replace line breaks 0 Word joining up short lines

To see what is causing him issues click the Show/Hide¶ button on the Home tab of the Word Ribbon.

At the end of each line you will find either a Paragraph Marker or a Manual Line Break – each is different and you need to work out which you have at the end of each line. Also determine if there is a space before each of the markers. If there is not a space you will need to add it yourself. Here is a mix of both markers but no spaces:

find and replace line breaks 1 Word joining up short lines

To make the lines flow into each other, from the Home tab on the Ribbon click the Replace option. If you need to replace Paragraph Markers, enter ^p into the Find What box. If you need to replace a Manual Line Break then enter ^l (lower case L) into the Find What box.

find and replace line breaks 2 Word joining up short lines

If you need to add a space, click in the Replace With box and press the Spacebar once – if you don’t need to add a space, then leave the Replace With box empty.

Click Find Next and then click Replace. Check to make sure the replacement is working as expected. If it is, click Replace All and lines will be joined together into a single paragraph of text.

Typically you only have to replace one type of marker and not both, but if you have both, then you will need to find and replace each individually.

When you’re done click Show/Hide¶ again to hide the extra characters from view.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 7:45 pm4 Comments links to this post

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Permanently fix Word’s image insert behavior

word image insert default setting Permanently fix Words image insert behavior

I was at dinner the other night and talking computers with some friends. We were joking about Excel not being a word processor when the subject of images came up. And Lo! and behold someone suggested that Excel was a much better option to use than Word so far as images are concerned.

This has been a particular issue for me for years. You see Word inserts all images, by default as in line with text which is the option you’d probably never want to use.

I promised my friends to show them how to fix Word – permanently – so images get inserted as you’d want them to be – with a square wrap around. It’s a good starting point and my recommended default for Word. You can change the wrapping if you want but 99.9% of the time this is the setting you’ll want to use.

In Word 2003, choose Tools > Options > Edit tab and from the Insert/Paste Pictures as dropdown list choose Square and click Ok.

word 2003 image insert default setting Permanently fix Words image insert behavior

In Word 2007 choose File > Word Options > Advanced tab and locate the Cut, Copy and Paste group. From the Insert/Paste Pictures as dropdown list choose Square and click Ok.

word 2007 image insert default setting Permanently fix Words image insert behavior

In Word 2010 choose File > Options > Advanced tab and locate the Cut, Copy and Paste group. From the Insert/Paste Pictures as dropdown list choose Square and click Ok.

word 2010 image insert default setting Permanently fix Words image insert behavior

Now you know how to fix it … spread the love and tell a friend!

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 11:40 am1 Comment links to this post

Friday, February 25th, 2011

Scale a font’s height but not width in Word 2010

step1 Scale a fonts height but not width in Word 2010I call this post – one step forward, two steps back. It’s a funky solution but it rocks and that’s why it’s worth today’s post.

Ok, you are in Word and you want to make a great title for a document. But it’s a little long so you can’t make the font really big cause that stretches it too wide. Hmm..

Ok, there’s a setting for scaling font width but not height – so what do you do? Well, with a little ingenuity you can solve the problem by scaling the width – in the reverse direction.

Select the text to alter then click the small icon in the bottom right of the Font group on the Home tab of the ribbon and click the Character tab. Set the Scale of the font to around 50% to shrink its width. Now, back in the Home tab, size the font up so it is nice and big. The ‘big’ font setting gives you the increased font height – which is what you want, and the small Scale value gives you the narrow width which solves the “too wide” problem.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:11 amNo Comments links to this post

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Straightening an image in Word 2010

Word 2007 2010 straighten an image Straightening an image in Word 2010

While Word 2010 has no tool for straightening an image, you can create the same effect.

step 1

To do this, I’d suggest you start with a new drawing canvas which is Insert > Shapes > New Drawing Canvas to draw a canvas on the screen.

Word 2007 2010 straighten an image step1 e1295298549513 Straightening an image in Word 2010

step 2

Adjust it to just larger than the image that you want in your document and then click inside the canvas and choose Insert Picture to select an image to insert.

Size the image once it’s placed inside the drawing canvas.

Word 2007 2010 straighten an image step2 Straightening an image in Word 2010

Step 3

Now with the canvas selected but not the image, choose Insert > Shapes and select a rectangle shape.

Draw the rectangle shape over the top of the image.

From the Drawing Tools> Format tab, set the Shape Fill to No Fill and the Shape Outline to White and set the Outline Weight to a large weight. To do this, you’ll probably need to select the format shape options so that you can set the shape outline to something like 40 points. You need something that will cover the edges of the shape that you are about to crop.

In this image, I’ve set the outline of the rectangle to a light grey so you can see what you’re aiming to achieve:

Word 2007 2010 straighten an image step3 Straightening an image in Word 2010

Step 4

Now with the image selected rather than the shape, rotate the image until it is straight. Select the image and click the Crop button crop away a little bit around the edges of the image. You don’t need to crop too much but you might need to crop a little bit.

Click outside the image and now adjust the shape itself the white border you created so that it covers the area of the image that you want to hide because you’ve rotated the image.

Word 2007 2010 straighten an image step4 Straightening an image in Word 2010

In some cases, you may still not have enough border so you can adjust it to make it wider or narrower as required not by selecting the rectangle and choose Drawing Tools > Format tab > Shape Outline > Weight> More Lines and now increase the size of the line until you have enough border to hide the outside of the image.

The border grows from the middle out so you need to add about half as much extra border than you think you need.

Once you’ve added the extra border, click on the border and drag it outwards until it covers the uneven edges of the image.

Word 2007 2010 straighten an image step5 Straightening an image in Word 2010

Essentially what you’re doing here is rotating an image then using a white frame with no fill placed over the top of the image to mask out the area of the image that is on an angle and that you don’t want to see.

When you’re done, you can resize the drawing canvas until it fits closely around your image. It should not extend over the image or you will distort the frame.

Placing the image and frame inside a drawing canvas means that you can just click and drag on the drawing canvas edge and it will move both the frame and the image in your document.

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 1:11 pm2 Comments links to this post

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Section Breaks in Word 2007 & 2010

Microsoft Word 2010 section breaks customize ribbon Section Breaks in Word 2007 & 2010

I love working with Microsoft apps and finding cool things to do with them. I hate it when Microsoft messes with my head.

While I love Microsoft Word 2010, Word 2007 was never my favorite application so I didn’t use it as my day to day tool preferring to stick with Word 2003 which really was a great program.

Now that Word 2010 is here, I have bitten the bullet and I’m turning all my production work over to Word 2010 – it is just such a wonderful program and a fitting successor to Word 2003.

But, wonderful as it is, it has some annoyances. One is when you come to insert a section break into a document. For years I’ve used the Insert menu in Word 2003 to add Breaks of all types to my documents. In Word 2007, 2010 – no go! You can insert a cover page, a blank page or a page break and any other number of smart document objects from the Insert tab – but you can’t insert a section break.

Instead the Breaks feature has been moved to the Page Layout tab – select it and then choose Breaks. Why it wasn’t placed on the Insert tab along with page breaks or why page breaks was added to the Insert tab and also duplicated in the Page Layout tab, I don’t know, but there it is.

So, when you need to add a section break to a Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010 document use the Page Layout tab, select Breaks and then, for example, Next page to create a section break that immediately opens a new page in the document.

You may not like it, but if you’re using Word 2007 you have to accept it’s Microsoft’s world and we just get to live in it.

If you’re using Word 2010 – Yeah! life is good. Thanks to the new customizable ribbon you can add your own Group to the Insert tab, move it up so it’s alongside the built-in Pages group then add the Breaks command to it – it’s a great solution and quick and easy to do and it makes such good sense.

Microsoft Word 2010 customize ribbon insert tab Section Breaks in Word 2007 & 2010

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posted by Helen Bradley @ 11:50 am2 Comments links to this post

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