Notes from the Help Desk…

Get used to dragging things around in Outlook.

For example, if you drag an e-mail message to the Contacts button, Outlook will create a new contact for the sender, with Name and E-mail fields already filled in.  The body of the e-mail message will appear in the Notes field.

If you drag a Contact to the Mail button, Outlook will create a new e-mail message to that Contact.  Very cool!

Drag a Contact to the Calendar button, and Outlook will create a Meeting Invitation ready to be sent to that person.

Drag a Contact to the Tasks button, and Outlook will create a Task Request addressed to that contact.

All Office 2010 applications now include a screen capture utility to help you quickly capture any area of the desktop screen.

The tool will automatically take screenshots of all open applications on your desktop (that are not minimized), and let you insert them directly into your document.

Inserting a Full Screen Screenshot

To insert a full screen screenshot:

1. Click Screenshot in the Illustrations group on the Insert tab of the Ribbon.
2. Word will display thumbnails of all open applications that are not minimized.



3. Click the thumbnail you want to insert the screenshot in your document at the insertion point.

Office 2007 introduced a new graphics engine that lets you add special effects to text and graphics.  These effects have been expanded and enhanced in Office 2010.

Text Effects

To add special effects to text:

1. Select the text you want to change.
2. Click the Text Effects button in the Font group on the Home tab of the ribbon.



3. Click the effect you want, or select additional effects from the menus at the bottom (Outline, Shadow, Reflection and Glow).

Artistic Effects

Word 2010 includes a number of new ways to modify graphics in a document.  All of these options are in the Adjust group on the Picture Tools/Format tab of the Ribbon.

The options in this group are summarized below:

Slicers are a new feature in Excel 2010 that let you add a snapshot view of a pivot table to a worksheet.  Slicers are like visual filters.  You may want to use a slicer when you only need to display a section of a pivot table.

For example, the pivot table below shows conference registrations broken down by city and state.  You can add slicers to this pivot table to display the data from one state or from only one town from one state.

Sparklines are miniature graphs that fit inside single worksheet cells.  They can show you trends or changes that may not be easily noticed by viewing the values in the spreadsheet.

Although Sparklines can be located in any cell, they are most effective when placed next to the data to which they refer.

Note that Sparklines are only available in .XLSX or .XLSM files. The option is greyed out in .XLS files.

Word 2010 includes a new feature that conveniently displays a preview of your document and a selection of print options in one screen.

To preview your document and select print options:

1. Click the File tab.
2. Select the Print category on the left.
3. Word will display a preview of your document and set of options:

Word 2010 includes a new Paste feature – the Paste Options Gallery, which puts a number of options for pasting at your fingertips.

As in earlier versions of Word, when you paste, you will see a Smart Tag that lets you select a variety of paste options.

As you hover over the options in the Paste Options gallery, the Live Preview feature temporarily displays your data as it will look if you select that option.

Viewing the Paste Options Gallery

To view the Paste Options gallery:

1. Press the CTRL key or click the Smart Tag.
2. Word will display the Paste Options Gallery:
3. Hover over an option to preview your pasted data.
4. Click an option to paste the data into your spreadsheet.

In Office 2007, the Ribbon could not be customized.

In Office 2010, you can customize the Ribbon to add new buttons, new tabs or new groups.  You can also rename the existing tabs and groups to suit your needs.

To add a new tab or group to the ribbon:

1. Click the File tab.
2. Click Options to open the Word Options screen.
3. Select the Customize Ribbon category on the left.

Use the controls in this screen to add commands to the ribbon, or to create new tabs or new groups.

The .DOCX and .DOCM file formats introduced in Word 2007 were not compatible with earlier versions of Word.

Note: The DOCX format does not allow the document to contain macros.  If the document contains macros, save it as a DOCM (macro-enabled) file.

Word 2010 file formats are now compatible with earlier versions.

When you open files created in Word 2003 or earlier, the file will open in Compatibility View.  However, you can convert the file to the 2010 format so that you can take advantage of new features in Word.

To convert an earlier Word file:

1. Open the file you want to convert.
2. Click the File tab, select Info and click the Convert button.
3. Word will display the following message:



4. Click OK.

Tip:  If you want to save the original version for reference, save a copy with a different name before you do the conversion.

The much-maligned Office Button in Word 2007 has been replaced by a File tab, which includes the standard File options (New, Open, Save, etc.), as well as a collection of options for creating new documents and managing documents once they are created, such as printing, sharing, and encrypting documents.

Clicking on the File tab brings up the new Backstage View, which hides your document and displays a full screen of controls.

The options in Backstage View are summarized in the table below: