As we step into February, we thought we would send you a list of 17 Word tips for the beginning of this year. Many of you will have been using Word for many years and there have been lots of new features appear over the years.

Hopefully this list of a variety of tips will be helpful to you! From the team at JPL.

17 Word Tips

1. Selecting text – the “triple click” on a word will highlight the whole paragraph.
2. Quick Parts – these can be used for short phrases or block text to save time. A common use for this is a signature.
3. Screenshots allow you to insert parts of an alternative window on a PC into your Word document
4. The F9 button updates a Table of Contents and Bibliography
5. To insert a column break, its hidden away in Page Layout, Breaks
6. Bullet points – most people use the standard dot, but did you know there is a tick bullet point? To create a bullet tick you click on the drop down arrow next to the bullet point button and you can pick it form the list
7. To insert a text Watermark into a document, choose Page Layout Tab or Design Tab depending on the version of Word
8. Try Email mail merge marketing from an Excel spreadsheet containing names and email addresses
9. In Word 2013 you can convert a PDF back in to Word
10. Creating Autotext in word. If you regularly misspell a word and use an unknown word to Microsoft’s dictionary why not try autotext to create it. Its under File, Options, Proofing.
11. You can compare (Review Compare) two documents which may contain textual differences and see where they are automatically. It’s an extension of Tracking Changes
12. I think probably the most powerful feature and well underutilised in word is Styles. Its the foundation for Table of contents, multi levels, indexing and hyperlinking and other features too. It’s found on the Home tab. Particularly good are Heading 1,2,3 etc.
13. Creating your own Tab and ribbon (this can be used in pretty much all the Microsoft packages). Simply use Customise the Ribbon feature by right clicking on any ribbon and then you can name a Tab and create your own groups for the favourite commands you often use. It’s a great way of keeping all the commands you use a lot in one place.
14. Format Painter. If you select some text that you want to copy the format of first, you can then click on the format painter button and it will then allow you to format other words the same.
15. Picture Watermarks. You can also create a picture watermark for your company (Page Layout, Watermark, Picture)
16. Using the Screen Clipping tool. Insert Screenshot, Screen Clipping will allow you to insert into a document any part of a screen not just the whole screen image. This replaces the Crop tool you used to have to use.
17. Citations which allows you to reference a book, periodical, journal, web site etc. to the author, year, page number. From these citations, you can automatically build a Bibliography at the end of your document. It’s all in the References Tab.

If you want to ask more about the courses we offer, please email us on johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk.

Alternatively, you have a look at our course agenda on our website here and can send a contact form with your query on our contact page.

If you liked this weeks hint and tip on 17 Word tips, then take a look at our previous post on 4 surprising tips in Outlook.

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Recently we’ve run so many Microsoft Excel training courses Worcestershire courses, with great feedback on especially the Excel shortcuts; we thought it would be helpful to remind you of some of the key “time savers” in Excel. Most of these are applicable to all versions but some which are pertinent to a particular version are mentioned.

These Excel shortcuts range from the obvious to more obscure!

10 Excel Shortcuts

1. Fill Copy Button (little black square in bottom right of a cell) has two main purposes.
   • Create a data series or 1,2,3,4 or a custom list series Jan, Feb, Mar
   • Copy a formula relative to the place you are copying it into
2. Whenever sorting, subtotalling or filtering always have row 1 as your headers (fields) and rows 2 onwards for detail data with no blank rows or columns. Before activating the command choose an active cell in your list not an empty cell.
3. Holding Control button then pressing the Strange button (the button with 3 strange characters under Esc key) will show all your formulas. Repeat to revert back.
4. Select Data then F11 (Create a chart Sheet) – everyone’s all-time favourite
5. Using Slicers to filter in Pivot Tables (Excel 2010, 2013, 2016 only)
6. Group Sheet Selection (using shift key) selects all sheets to negate the need for multiple copy paste activities
7. Accounting number button in middle of the Home ribbon (quicker than right click Format Cells)
8. Freeze panes – will hold rows and columns in place whilst scrolling. Select a cell then VIEW Freeze Panes will freeze both a row and column.
9. New Quick Analysis button (Excel 2013) allows you to chart, conditionally format or create totals close to the action.
10. Evaluate Formula in Formulas Tab allows for tracing through a complex set of arithmetic operations in Excel orders of precedence.

We cover all these features and many more in our Excel courses which range from Basic Excel to Master Class Excel. As well covering Excel shortcuts, we also cover lots of aspects of the Excel package to help build on your existing knowledge or to help you learn features you did not know about before!

Full details of courses are on our Microsoft Excel Training page.

To have a look at one of our sample Excel agendas, please click here – this agenda is for our Intermediate Excel course.

If you would like to ask us about helping you or your staff improve on their Excel knowledge, then please get in touch via our Contact Page. If you’re interested in Microsoft Excel training courses Worcestershire then get in touch now.

You might also find our recent post on Excel Navigation short cuts useful.

The post Excel Training Courses Worcestershire – Ten Excel Shortcuts & Tips appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

You’ve probably been using these two main line products for a long time but maybe didn’t know about the following features.

Try them out, they are really quite simple.

Excel Features

1. Creating your own Tab and ribbon (in Word and Excel). Simply use the ‘Customise the Ribbon’ feature by right clicking on any ribbon and then you can create a new Tab and give it a name. You can then create your own groups for the favourite commands you often use. Its a great way of keeping all the commands you use a lot in one place.
2. Advanced Filtering and Data Sub Totals are features shown on our Intermediate course and from experience they are rarely used but should be. Both can save a lot of frustration and in some cases hours of extra work.
3. In Excel a really useful fun button to use is the QA (Quick Analysis) button shown at the bottom of a range of data when it is selected. Its used to conditionally format data cells and create charts, as well as other options.
4. Again In Excel, Evaluate Formula is really good at gently breaking down a formula’s arithmetic in to the sequence Excel performs the calculations. You can then see how a cell has been used in a formula or how other cells have been used to create it.

Word Features

• Creating your own Tab and ribbon (in Word and Excel). Simply use the ‘Customise the Ribbon’ feature by right clicking on any ribbon and then you can create a new Tab and give it a name. You can then create your own groups for the favourite commands you often use. Its a great way of keeping all the commands you use a lot in one place.
• I think probably the most powerful feature and well underutilised in Word is Styles. It’s the foundation for Table of Contents, multi levels, indexing and hyperlinking and other features too. Its found on the Home tab. Some styles that are particularly good are Heading 1,2,3 etc.
• Creating Autotext in word. If you regularly misspell a word and use an unknown word to Microsoft’s dictionary why not try Autotext to create it. Its under Options, Proofing.
• Again in Word you can compare (Review Tab, Compare) two documents which may contain textual differences and see where they are automatically. Its an extension of Tracking Changes

These are just a selection of lesser known features in Word and Excel from JPL computers. If you would like to know about more then contact us on johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk or take a look at our hints and tips page for more.

If you liked this post, why not take a look at our previous one on the use of colour in Excel?

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