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Rules give you many options for automatic disposition of e-mails when they arrive in your inbox.  Rules in my Outlook program are found under “Tools” on the toolbar. 

I thought that this might be a really useful tip, since my work’s tech support desk called me yesterday and asked me how to set it up for another employee. We monitor several very active listservs and I use the rules to automatically move messages with the listserv addresses in the To: field to special folders that I’ve set up. This gets them out of my In Box, and I can look through them when I have time.

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The Rules Wizard (above) which opens up when you select Tools > Rules & Alerts gives you several choices in two sections: Stay Organized and Stay Up to Date. Stay Up to Date even gives you the option to have an alert sent to your mobile device when a message comes in from certain individuals!

Select the template from the list at the top that you want to use. When you do this, the description in the box at the bottom changes to reflect your selection. Select “Next” and this menu will appear. 

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Pick your option off the list (read them carefully). There are a lot of actions and sometimes they’re not clear exactly what will be the result, but if it dooesn’t work the way you thought it would, you can always go back and delete or edit the rule. 

I usually use the first one - “from people or distribution list”.

I go down to Step 2 after I’ve made my selection and click on the first underlined link. I then select the address I want to move from my Outlook Contact list which opens or type the exact entry from the “From” field in the e-mails I want to move into the “From ->” field near the bottom of the window that opened.

After that I move to the second underlined link. The folder list opens up. If I don’t already have a folder for it to go into, I can select “New” and create one specifially to collect e-mails from this address.

Click “Next” and if you’re done “Finish”.

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Once the rule is made and you click “Finish,” you’ll see this window. Select your new rule and “Run Rules Now….” This will test if the rule is functioning the way it should, but make sure you have some of the e-mails in your In Box first.

In Excel, as you’re scrolling down your spreadsheet, you will quickly lose sight of your column headings.

Here’s how to keep them on the screen:

Click the row heading that is immediately beneath the row with the column headings.

Click Window / Freeze Panes in the toolbar.

Now scroll down your spreadsheet and see the difference.

To Unfreeze the Panes, repeat the steps. The freeze/unfreeze toggles on and off.

Change the Case:

Select the text you want to change and press SHIFT+F3.
Each time you press the SHIFT+F3 keys, the text case switches from Title Case, UPPERCASE, to lowercase.

Change the Size of the text:

Select the text you wish to increase or decrease in size.
Increase – CTRL+]
Decrease – CTRL+[
Each time you press the key combination it will change one size.

Text Selection Tips:

To select a word, double-click it or click once inside of it.
To select a sentence, hold down CTRL while you click anywhere inside of it.
To select a paragraph, triple-click anywhere inside of it.

Text Selection Shortcut Keys:

To extend a selection…       Press these keys
One character right               SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW
One character left                  SHIFT+LEFT ARROW
To end of a word                    CTRL+SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW
To beginning of a word         CTRL+SHIFT+LEFT ARROW
To end of a line                      SHIFT+END
To beginning of a line            SHIFT+HOME
One line down                        SHIFT+DOWN ARROW
One line up                             SHIFT+UP ARROW
To the end of a paragraph   CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW
To the beginning of a paragraph             CTRL+SHIFT+UP ARROW
One screen down                  SHIFT+PAGE DOWN
One screen up                       SHIFT+PAGE UP
To the end of a window       ALT+CTRL+PAGE DOWN
To the beginning of a document               CTRL+SHIFT+HOME
To include the entire document               CTRL+A

Text Selection Tips:

To select a word, double-click it or click once inside of it.
To select a sentence, hold down CTRL while you click anywhere inside of it.
To select a paragraph, triple-click anywhere inside of it.

Text Selection Shortcut Keys:

To extend a selection…                      Press these keys
One character right                           SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW
One character left                              SHIFT+LEFT ARROW
To end of a word                                CTRL+SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW
To beginning of a word                      CTRL+SHIFT+LEFT ARROW
To end of a line                                   SHIFT+END
To beginning of a line                         SHIFT+HOME
One line down                                     SHIFT+DOWN ARROW
One line up                                          SHIFT+UP ARROW
To the end of a paragraph                CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW
To the beginning of a paragraph      CTRL+SHIFT+UP ARROW
One screen down                                SHIFT+PAGE DOWN
One screen up                                     SHIFT+PAGE UP
To the end of a window                     ALT+CTRL+PAGE DOWN
To the beginning of a document       CTRL+SHIFT+HOME
To include the entire document       CTRL+A

Ever hit some keys by accident (drop a book/ cat on the keyboard) and something happens to your work and you don’t know what caused it? It could have been one of these combinations which will work in almost all Microsoft programs.

Combination Key Shortcuts:
Key Combination              Result
[Alt] and [Esc]                   Switch between running applications
[Alt] and [Tab]                  Toggle between running applications
[Alt] and letter                   Select menu item by underlined letter
[Ctrl] and [Esc]                   Open Program Menu
[Ctrl] and [F4]                    Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)
[Alt] and [F4]                      Quit active application or close current window
[Alt] and [-]                         Open Control menu for active document
[Alt] and [Spacebar]           Open Control menu for active application
[Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow            Move cursor forward or back one word
[Ctrl] Up, Down arrow        Move cursor forward or back one paragraph
[Ctrl] and X                           Cut selected text or object(s)
[Ctrl] and C                           Copy selected text or object(s)
[Ctrl] and V                           Paste copied text or object(s)
[F1]                                         Open Help for active application
Windows+E                           Open Windows Explorer
Windows+F                           Open Find
Windows+M                          Minimize all open windows
Shift+Windows+M                Undo minimize all open windows
Windows+R                           Open Run window
Windows+F1                         Open Windows Help
Windows+Tab                       Cycle through the Taskbar buttons
Windows+Break                   Open the System Properties dialog box

Keyboard Shortcuts:

Shortcut      Function
Ctrl + A       Select All
Ctrl + B       Bold
Ctrl + D       Duplicate
Ctrl + F       Find
Ctrl + G       Go To Page
Ctrl + H       Replace
Ctrl + I        Italic
Ctrl + J        Justify Text
Ctrl + L        Left Align Text
Ctrl + N       Open New document
Ctrl + O       Open
Ctrl + P        Print
Ctrl + Q       Quit
Ctrl + R        Right Align Text
Ctrl + S        Save
Ctrl + U       Underline
Ctrl + V       Paste
Ctrl + W      Close document
Ctrl + X       Cut
Ctrl +Z        Undo

You can edit the look and feel of the entire PowerPoint presentation by using the Slide Master view to make changes to a template or to create a template from scratch. It is usually best to do this before creating the presentation

For businesses and organizations, this ability is crucial for setting a consistent corporate identity. Within the Slide Master, you can insert company and copyright information. For example, you can insert a logo which will appear on every slide.

There are two Slide Masters which are available – Page Master and Title Master. Changes to the Page Master will appear on every slide within the presentation. Changes made to the Title Master will only appear when this slide is use – usually as the first slide or possibly as chapter type divisions.

To view the Slide Master, select View menu > Master > Slide Master.  This menu will appear.   

Going from left to right, the choices are “Insert New Slide Master, Insert New Title Master, Delete Master, Preserve Master, Rename Master, Master Layout, and Close Master View.  This menu should be used, especially if you are creating a master from scratch. It is also important for you to be able to return to your presentation.

The first time that I played with the slide masters (I play with features a lot), I couldn’t figure out how to get back to the regular slides. Finally, I used the “Close Master View,” and I was returned to the regular presentation.  

Below is an image of a blank Slide Master. Please note that the two views on the left (Title Master & Slide Master) are connected by a little bracket. This is important because changes should be consistent between the two and if you make a change to an element in one that is also in the other it will carry over.

Make your changes by filling in the boxes available at the bottom of the screen. You can also apply font changes, bullets, colors, etc. on these masters. If you right click on the master (but not in any text boxes), you’ll see the choice “Slide Design.” This will open up the Slide Design panel. You can easily apply “Color Schemes” from the choices and not have to set all these things individually. You can make changes to the schemes by clicking on “Edit Color Schemes” which is usually at the bottom of the Apply a Color Scheme panel. 

If you want to reuse this design, it needs to be saved as a template. Just Save As, use the default destination or the program won’t be able to find it again, and select “Design Template” from the type menu. It should appear next time in the list of design templates for you to choose from.