This week we are looking at bullet points in Word and how you can use them in your documents. This is covered in our Basic Word training course.

What are they?

Bullet points can be used for a number of reasons in a document, from creating a list of instructions to summarising information in an easier to read format.

You can insert bullet points before or after you have typed in your information for the bullet points, in this hint and tip we are going to show you how to do both.

The bullet point button is found on the Home Tab and there are 2 parts to this button. The main part just inserts a plain bullet point, or the last bullet point style you have chosen, and the second part is a drop down arrow that gives you more options for inserting a bullet point with different styles to choose from and then option to create your own bullet point (which we will look at next time).

Inserting bullet points before typing text

To insert a plain bullet point on a blank ‘line’ in your document, click on the main part of the bullet point button. This will insert a black plain bullet point and you can then start typing in the information that you want with bullet points. Once you have typed in a line of text you can get your next bullet point up by hitting the enter/return key on your keyboard. We will cover how to remove bullet points further down.

Inserting bullet points after typing text

You might already have your list of information typed in and want to insert bullet points to it, which can be done. Firstly, select the information that you want to have bullet points in, then once selected click on the bullet point button. It will now have inserted bullet points into your document. It will insert a bullet point at each time you went to a new row in your document.

Removing bullet points

There are a few ways to do this. Once you have finished your last bullet point line of text, hit enter so that you are now on a new line with a bullet point. From here you can then:

1. Click back on to the bullet point button and it will remove it
2. Hit enter again and it will remove the bullet point
3. Use the backspace key on your keyboard to get you back to ‘normal text’ in your document (you might have to hit it a few times until you are back to the side of the page in Word)

You can also remove more than one bullet point at once, just select all the text that has bullet points currently and then click on the bullet point button. This will have removed the bullet points and changed your text back to ‘normal’ text.

We hope you like this hint and tip on Word basics inserting bullet points and make sure to look out for the next one on defining a bullet point!

If you liked this hint and tip, why not take a look at our previous one on BODMAS?

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This months blog is all about some unknown and unusual features found in Microsoft Word 365/2016.

Have fun exploring them!

Bookmarks (found on the Insert Tab, Links Gallery)

This allows you to select some text, particularly in a large document, and set a bookmark against it which is a bit like a hyperlink. It then allows you to simply go to that bookmark.

You can also in Options, Advanced show the Bookmarks (they appear with square brackets).

Inserting a Column Break

You may think, and we’d understand why, this is found on the Insert Tab like a Page Break but no it’s under the Layout Tab, Breaks, Column!

Read Aloud (found on the Review Tab, Speech Gallery)

Simply reads aloud the text you select.

Dictate (found on Home Tab, Voice Gallery)

Allows you to dictate words and then it’s simple to edit as seems fit. Use the Enter key for new paragraphs.

Quick Parts (found on Insert Tab, Text Gallery)

This is a bit like autotext but more for bulk text and logos. For example, you can create a Quick Part for an address to save you typing it in each time or the top of a letterhead with a company logo.

Navigation Pane (found on View, Show Gallery)

An excellent feature for showing the pages and headings in a document. It shows up on the left hand side of a document and allows quick access to pages.

These were just a few lesser known hints and tips in Word! Did you like these hints and tips on Microsoft Office training Worcestershire? If so why not take a look at our previous one on sparklines in Excel?

If you are interested in any Microsoft training Worcestershire then do get in touch at johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk or on 07903 840105 and we would be happy to help!

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Why not have a go at our relaxing heatwave quiz that we have put together below in Excel?

The heat! It was definitely a topic on most peoples minds and took over a lot of conversations for the last 2 months! There was a lot that the last heatwave gave us and a lot of areas that it had an impact in.

To an extent it was similar to Microsoft Office (I can imagine what you are thinking, bear with us with this analogy!) Microsoft Office has a number of software packages and each package has an impact on peoples lives in a number of ways; in their use at work and also in their personal use at home.

See it wasn’t too bad was it? Ok so that might have been stretching it a little bit, comparing the heatwave to Microsoft Office, but there are some similarities that can be seen between the two.

Try our fun quiz

As we thought that there were some similarities, we thought you may like to try out our fun quiz that we have put together! It will only take you a minute to do in your tea break! It was built using quite a few Excel topics which feature on all of our Excel courses.

Pop us an email and we’ll send the quiz spreadsheet over to you!

Let us know how you do in it (no cheating on Google!)

We hope you enjoy the little challenge we’ve set you.

If you would like to know more about Microsoft Office courses West Midlands or for any other challenges in Excel please contact us on johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk.

If you are intrigued as to how we built the worksheet feel free to drop us an email, we’d be happy to chat about it.

We hope you liked this little quiz, why not take a look at our previous hint and tip on the screen layout of Excel?

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Many of you will have been using Word for many years and there have been lots of new feature appear over the years. Maybe this list of our top ten will be helpful to you.

1. Selecting text – the “triple click” on a word will highlight the whole paragraph
2. You can create autotext and Quick Parts for short phrases or block text respectively to save time
3. Screenshots and screen clipping allow you to insert parts of an alternative window on a PC into your Word document
4. To compare the differences between documents, use Review Compare
5. The F9 button updates a Table of Contents and Bibliography
6. Where possible use Heading styles of 1,2,3 so that you can take advantage of Outline numbering and TOC’s
7. To insert a column break, its hidden away in Page Layout, Breaks
8. To insert a Watermark into a document, choose Page Layout Tab
9. In Word 2013 you can do convert a PDF back in to Word
10. Try Email mail merge marketing from an Excel spreadsheet containing names and email addresses

Mail Merge

Mail Merge is one of the most useful facilities within the Microsoft Office suite of programs and which we will go in to a bit more detail below with more tips on it. We cover mail merge in our Intermediate Word training course.

It is possible to mail merge from Excel into Outlook and Access into Excel as just two examples.

I often start with my data sitting in Excel as a single worksheet. Take for example a customer address list. A list of prospects or customers can be entered as separate rows into Excel with clear column headings e.g. Customer name, address 1, post code etc.

You can then import this list into Outlook as a new set of Outlook contacts or indeed as a new Access table to start off your database.

Excel worksheets are also particularly useful for compiling form letters and producing mailing labels for customers.

They’re real time savers!!

We hope you liked this post, if so why not take a look at our previous one on a ‘pick n mix’ of Excel tips?

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Excel Worksheets

Four things you may not know about Excel worksheets:

1. To colour a worksheet simply right click and choose a Tab colour
2. To move a worksheet to a different position simply drag and drop the sheet to the left or right
3. To rename a worksheet its quicker to double click on it and then type over the worksheet name
4. When using a worksheet in a formula where a sheet has an embedded space in it use an apostrophe e.g. =sum(‘jan 18:mar 18’!b2)

Consolidate command

The Consolidate Command found on the ‘Data Tab’ in Excel allows you to summarise data from separate ranges across several worksheets on to a single range on a master sheet. This also has a wonderful drill-down capability if required.

IF Statement

The IF statement in Excel is one of the most useful functions which allows you to return an answer to the function depending upon whether the test or condition you are considering is true or false.

It takes the form: =IF(logical test, value if true, value if false)    For example, it may take the form   =IF(c12>100, c11*1.1,c11*1.2)   this may be used if considering price updates in pricing or in costing.

Remember: if you are testing against numbers in your condition you do not need speech marks but if you are testing against a letter or word you would need speech marks.

Data Validation

Excel is not normally known for its data validation but there is a simple feature found in it called Data Validation. Data Validation in Excel allows you to verify the contents of cell and display error messages if incorrect data is inserted. This could be used to verify a range of numeric data or to verify from a list of possible values.

Customisation

Excel has some non numerical wonderful features that can be used within the package to aid you in its use. One feature is customisation of the ribbon, where you can create your own ribbon with its own groups that you can organise commands in to that you use on a regular basis to make it easier to find them at a later date. Another is customising your QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) which allows you to customise the top left hand ‘toolbar’ in your screen with some commands that you use on a regular basis too.

Conditional Formatting

Conditional Formatting in Excel allows you to apply rules to a set of data so that they are highlighted or display a symbol depending on what rule the figure falls in to. A good example of this is to show sales; £0-£150 highlight red, £150-£300 highlight amber, £300+ highlight green. This feature is found on the Home Tab within Excel.

Remove Duplicates

One lesser known feature is Remove Duplicates. This feature allows you to remove any duplicated data within the range of data present in your spreadsheet. To use this feature, you go on to the Data Tab, and click on the Remove Duplicates option. This will then allow you to choose what you want to check for duplication and then remove any duplication. This will then remove the duplicated data but it will not tell you what you have removed. If you are unsure about using this option, you can use conditional formatting to ‘highlight duplicates’ which might be a safer option for you!

These are just a selection of helpful Excel tips to try and help you in your jobs! There are lots more on our general hints and tips page if you want more, take a look!

If you liked this post, why not take a look at our previous one on some tips from our Advanced Excel course?

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When you first see Microsoft Office 2013 or indeed Office 365 (the on line version) you may think there is not much difference to Office 2010. Certainly the existing features are kept, the tabs and ribbons remain the same but new features are added particularly in Excel.

One new really good feature in Excel 2013 is called Quick Analysis. This button appears in the bottom right hand corner when you select a set of data and it allows you to easily do any of the following actions:

• Conditionally format the data that you have just selected
• Create a chart and easily add Chart elements, Styles and Filter your dataset
• Add Sparklines to your data in the spreadsheet
• Create Totals for the specific data that you have selected

Even though there are a lot of good new features in Excel, there are lots of new features within the other Microsoft Office packages.

One example is the Presenter view in PowerPoint. This view allows the presenter to see on part of their screen the slide that is up on the projector screen that the audience can see and then on the other part this presenter view which shows the next slide that will come up and any notes that have been assigned to the current slide.

Another example is the reading pane option within Word. This view is useful if your find reading word documents tiring as it makes the view more like that of a reading book. As well as this reading pane more, there is also an option to convert a PDF document in to a Word document to make editing it easier.

We now run a half day overview course on Microsoft office 2013 and if you are interested please contact us on johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk.

If you liked this post, why not take a look at our previous one on new features in Excel 2013?

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