BYU Software Help

Captivate Aggregator vs. TOC

2009-10-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

We've received a few questions about the Aggregate feature in Captivate 4. Allow me to explain what Aggregate is, why you might use it, and how it's different from the Table of Contents.

Aggregator

The aggregate feature is a new addition to Captivate 4 and allows a user to compile several individual files into one big file. To do this, your individual files need to be already published in .swf form. When you open the aggregator, choose your Action Script version (keep it consistent with your individual file AS settings) and then add the individual .swf files from their saved location. The result will be a new, larger .swf that includes the attached projects and a menu on the left allowing the user to navigate.

The aggregator is better for very large projects that can be broken up into individual sequences. This will help cut down on publish and preview time because you won’t have 50+ slides to process; instead, you’ll have individual 15-20 slide projects that can be compiled together.

Table of Contents

Captivate gives you the ability to create a table of contents within a single Captivate project. While the end result (being able to navigate through a project) is essentially the same as that of the aggregator feature, the table of contents is different because it navigates at a more local level (slide by slide), whereas the aggregator navigates at a broader level (project by project).

The table of contents is better for smaller, contained projects that still need navigability.

For more information about these features and more in Captivate 4, register for our Captivate class at http://it.byu.edu/training.

Bleeding Slugs in the Gutter (It's not as bad as it sounds)

2009-07-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, let me put in a plug for our excellent InDesign/Desktop Publishing class. If you are in charge of fliers, posters, newsletters, or any other publication, you will want to sign up for this free class.

In Word, you have probably run into the problem of trying to get everything to fit on one page. You make the font a little smaller, then you make the margins a little smaller. With just one line of text left on the next page and a font size that shouldn't be any smaller, you resort to making the margins smaller and smaller until at last, it all fits on that one page. Perfect. Click print and...

"The margins of section ? are set outside the printable area of the page."Doh! This begs the question, how then do magazines and other publications print with ink to the edge of the paper?Do they just have fancier printers than I do? Well, the truth is, probably. But it's not just the printers. In desktop publishing, there are a few features of document design that enable this effect. If you have ever used InDesign, you've probably seen such terms as bleed, margin, slug, gutter, etc. All of these terms have to do with printing and document layout.

To see what I mean, open a new document in InDesign. I'll create it with the following settings:If you can't see all the options in the picture above, click More Options. Don't know what kind of measurement this is? See what Google has to say.

Once you click OK, you will see the first page of your document. And a lot of lines. At least it's colorful! Right? Well, all the lines mean something and I've put together this handy little picture as a reference for you. Below, I will discuss each line.Here is my breakdown of each one of the regions displayed above (the answer to the problem stated above is found in the bleed description):

Paper Size
This is the simplest one and easiest to understand. The black line is showing you the paper size. In our case, it is 8.5" x 11". Everything inside the black line will be visible on the final printed publication. Everything (or close to it) outside it is useful but will not be visible when all is said and done. Keep that in mind.

Margin
The margin is a region inside of the paper. It is the space between your text and the edge of the paper. Because paper gets ruffled or torn on the edges, or because you don't want the possibility of your printer messing up and printing text of the paper, we use a margin as kind of "safety zone." I personally think it helps readability if text isn't going right up to the edge.

Gutter
This is basically a margin for columns. That's it. It is the space in between two columns.

Bleed
The bleed is the red (how clever) region just outside the paper. If you were going to send your publication to a printer, they would specify how big your bleed should be. Imagine this: you are creating a publication that is 8.5" x 11". Well, like you, the publisher's printer can't print to edge of the paper. How do they do it? They print your 8.5" x 11" publication on bigger paper (the printer would tell you how big so you could set the bleed) and then they cut your paper. When they are done, it appears as if the ink bleeds right to the edge of the paper.You can see in this image that the left would be pre-printed, and the right would be end result. (picture courtesy of Printernational)

Slug
The slug is like a comments section for non-printing information that might be helpful if you are collaborating with a team of people. For example, the title of the document, any edits you may have made, the date of the most recent update, etc.

If you have any other questions or are interested in more basics of InDesign, sign up for an InDesign Foundations class today.

Branching in Qualtrics

2009-07-23T09:11:00.001-07:00

So you’re about to create three different surveys to send to three different audiences, (for example prospective students, students, and grad students)… except you don’t know how do you make sure each respondent gets the right survey. Qualtrics has an easy answer, just create one survey and use branches to get the right information from everyone.

Start out with a question that segregates your audiences (are you a student, grad student exc.). Then set up three blocks, one for the responses for each group. Now go into your survey flow, and add branch for each possible answer to your first question. These branches work a little like skip logic in that you set up a condition, and only the respondents that meet that condition see that part of the survey. Set a condition for each possible answer to the first question, and then add as a new element the block of questions for that group.

By using branches, you just simplified your survey sending process! You now only need one mailing list, and you can ensure the right people are answering the right questions.

To learn more about Qualtrics, sign up for our Qualtrics course.

Why "Alpha?!"

2009-07-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

The reason the transparency color option is called "Alpha" in Adobe Flash:

So you've sat through class; Adobe Flash Day 3. You're now making a slide show on your own. You've imported images, you've made them all symbols and now you're adding the fade in and fade out effects. You select your graphic symbol, cruise on down to the Properties tab and see "Color: None." Confidently, you select the drop-down menu to make your fade-out transition effects and see....Alpha? How does that even make sense?!

From what i can find, it all goes back to the development of a type of code made up of 0s and 1s that was created in the 70s. This code, which refers specifically to an element called the "alpha channel," is used for storing information about a 2D image in computer graphics. The 0s and 1s represent if there is any information to be saved per pixel. (A 0 indicates a fully transparent color and a 1 represents a fully opaque color.) I'm assuming they chose the word "Alpha" for this topmost channel because "alpha" is the first letter of the Greek alphabet (get it? ALPHAbet?) like the letter "A" (get it? A for ALPHA?!) Anyway - the process of Alpha compositing is adjusting the values in the alpha channel (the top layer where color information is stored on a per pixel basis) so as to combine the image with it's background to give it a transparent effect.

Get This!:
For the invention and development of the alpha channel, Smith, Catmull, Porter, and Duff won a technical Academy Award in 1996!!
Want to learn more about Adobe Flash or sign up for a class? Click here!

Sources:
1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_compositing
2.http://research.swtch.com/2008/01/alpha-compositing.html

Captivating Captivate

2009-07-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

Need to train someone in your office on using Captivate? You can actually record Captivate within Captivate. And you don't even need to install a previous version to make it happen.

Because Captivate can record Application Windows, you just need to have two instances of Captivate open at once. You can do that by opening up Captivate the first time and then repeating those same steps to open it a second time. Once you've got two Captivate instances running, you'll be able to select one from the Application drop-down menu.

Captivate away!

Resize a Captivate Project

2009-07-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

Lots of times we have to make a full screen recording in order to capture all the necessary material for our project. However, when we publish our project, we want it to fit comfortably inside a web browser. For this to happen, you can actually resize a project after you have recorded it.

Click on the Project menu at the top
Select Rescale
Resize your project by changing the height/width or the height/width percentages

Tip 1: If you don't want your project to become skewed, make sure the Maintain aspect ratio check box is checked.

Tip 2: You don't want to resize your project too much or too many times. Both drastic size changes and multiple changes will reduce the clarity and resolution of your project.

Learn more about Captivate in one of our great classes! Click here to register.

Create a Basic Report in Access

2009-07-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

This tutorial will go through the basics of creating a report in Microsoft Access 2007. These skills are covered more in depth in our Access Foundations class and our Advanced Reports SkillBuilder.

To follow along with this tutorial, download the University Records database used in our classes. If you aren't familiar with this database, take a moment to open the tables and look around to see what we're working with.

The Report
We are going to make a report that lists Students, the basic information about the courses they are taking, and the faculty that teach those courses.

Note: As you are working throughout this tutorial, it will be best to have all objects (tables, queries, reports, etc.), except for the one you are working on, closed. This will save you some headaches caused by possible Access errors

Decide the Record Source
Where is the data for your report going to come from? Will the information on your report come from one table, or multiple tables? If it is only going to come from one table, select the table by clicking on it, and skip the next step. If the record source is going to by multiple tables, consider making a query to base the report off of. That's what we're going to do.

Make the query. Using the query wizard(Create tab -> Query Wizard), let's create the record source for our report.

With Simple Query Wizard selected, click OK.
In the Tables/Queries box, select Table: Students.

Double click the essential fields (first and last name, byu_id, and net_id)

Select Table: Courses

Add these fields: course, transcript_title

Select Table: Faculty

Add these fields: first and last name
Just for fun, lets add the teacher's salary. I think it would be nice for students to see how much their teachers are making :)

Click Next.
Detail or Summary Query? Choose Detail, and click next.
Click Finish. Your query should look something like this...

Close the query, and make sure it is simply selected (It should be orange in the object navigation).

Create the Report
Okay, we're ready to make the report. Go to the Create tab and click Report (pictured below). This is to create an "Auto-Report."Grouping and Sorting
There is no need to see the same name over and over again, so we will group similar information, and then sort. We could have done the sorting in the query, but I wanted to keep the data as raw as possible.

To group classes by student, click Group and Sort (make sure you are in Layout view).At the bottom of your report, you will have a new section.Click Add Group.

We could group by name, but there are students with the same name, and it would group their schedules together. So let's group by something unique, like BYU ID. Click byu_id.To sort by last name, click Add a Sort, and then select Student_last_name.

Once you do, you'll notice that it is still sorting by BYU ID first. We need it to first sort by last name, and then group by BYU ID. To change the order of grouping and sorting, click the up arrow on the right.

We can still see information repeating over and over again, like the students' names. To put all the repeating information in the group header, we need to go to design view.Now that we are in design view, de-select the table by clicking in a blank spot of the report. All the orange-ness should go away.

We are going to delete a few things and add them back in a little bit. Click First name, and push delete. Do the same for last name, byu id, and net id.

Creating a new text box
In the "Controls" group of the ribbon, click Text Box. Then, your next click should be right under where it says "byu_id Header." Click where it now says Text 23, and push delete. Where it now says Unbound, type the following:

=[Students_first_name] & " " & [Students_last_name]

Format the text to look something like a header (bold, bigger font, etc.) It should look something like this:Now switch to layout view, and in the AutoFormat group, choose one of the prettiest formats you can find. Resize the columns so it all fits on one page by clicking one of the columns, and then clicking and dragging the right edge (the orange one) to the left.

The final report
Congratulations, that's it! Here is the final report (in the Print Preview view)

Free Teeth Whitening! (in Photoshop)

2009-06-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

Check out this quick tutorial on how to whiten teeth in Photoshop!
Click the play button below to begin.

Learn more cool tips and techniques in one of our fun Photoshop classes! Click here to register.

Dot dot dot..................Tab Stops and Leaders

2009-06-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

Please, do not EVER push the period key on your keyboard more than three consecutive times. This is a Microsoft Word sin and you will regret it for the rest of your life - especially if you ever try and change some of your text.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to do some basic things with tab stops and leaders - without pushing the period key (see below)

Oh, and before we get started, if you like this tutorial and want to learn more, sign up for our free Word Foundations class.

Okay, open a new Word document and type something on the first line.
Make sure you are on the Home tab, and click on the Paragraph dialog launcher (see below)
Click Tabs...
In the Tab stop position text box, type in a number like 6.5. Then in the alignment section, click Right.
Now here's the magic! Click on one of the Leader options (besides None, of course)
Click Set, and then OK.

Now you are all ready to go. Push tab on your keyboard and type something else. Wa la! If you push enter, you should be able to do it again, and again, and again................................

Want to get rid of that tacky background?

2009-06-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

Have you ever inserted an image in Word or PowerPoint that had a background that you wanted to get rid of? Well here is one way to do just that!

After you have inserted the image:

Select the image
Select the Picture Tools Format tab at the top
Click on the Recolor button in the top left corner
Choose Set Transparent Color
Click on the background of the image

Voilà! Your unwanted background is now invisible!

Note: In order for this to work, the background must be a solid color, and that color cannot be inside the part of the image you want to keep.

Intensify and Emphasize with the Dodge and Burn Tool

2009-06-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

If you have been using Photoshop or taken one of our classes, you know the importance of non-destructive editing. This is best explained in the use of adjustment layers and masking. However, with the dodge and burn tool, non-destructive editing is a little less intuitive.

This quick tutorial will show how to use the dodge and burn tool non-destructively to intensify the clouds and water in the picture below:

Just a few simple steps...

Download the picture.
Create a new blank layer on top of the background layer.
Click Edit --> Fill
Where it says Use:, select 50% Gray, and click OK
Now, on your layers pallette, change the blending mode to Overlay. Your layers pallette should resemble the screenshot below.

Now, select the Burn tool and paint over the clouds and water. Use the Dodge tool and paint over the sun and clouds right under it. A brush size of about 90 works best.

To see exactly what you've done, turn off the visibility of the background layer. Good work!

Eyedropper Tool to the Max!

2009-06-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

Those of you who are familiar with the Format Painter in Microsoft Office programs have probably wished there were a similar tool in other programs. Well in Adobe InDesign, you can use the Eyedropper Tool to quickly copy text formatting and apply it to other text, just like you can with the Format Painter!

Just follow these steps:

Format one paragraph the way you want it (I recommend using a paragraph style)
Select the Eyedropper Tool from the toolbox on the left
Click on the formatted paragraph. Your Eyedropper Tool should now appear to be filled (it's filled with the formatting characteristics of that paragraph)
You can now click on any unformatted paragraph with the Eyedropper Tool, and it will format them! Not only that, but it will even apply the paragraph style to those paragraphs!

Learn more about InDesign shortcuts and paragraph styles in one of our fun classes! Click here to register.

Sort Birthdays by Month, then Day, then by Year

2009-06-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me! Yes, as today is my birthday, it is only fitting that I post an IT training tutorial about sorting birthdays in Access.

To prepare for this tutorial, download our University Records database, and open a new query, by clicking on the "Create" tab, and then "Query Design."

Add the Students table.
Add these fields to the query: first_name, last_name, and birthday.
Sort birthday ascending.

Your query should look like this:Here's the problem: When you run this query, it sorts first by year, then by month, then by day. Sorting like that makes sense because obviously December 25, 1953 came before October 31, 1975. However, we want our birthday list sorted by month, then day, and then year. That way we can send out birthday cards to everyone that was born in June, regardless of the year they were born.

Query Expressions
Were going to use some functions to pull out important information from our birthday field.

In query design view, clear the sort from the birthday field.
In the next column over, name a new field by typing (without quotes): "B-Day Month:"
Now type in the function: "Month()"
Now, between the parenthesis, we want to specify what value we want the month of, and that would be the birthday. So type: "[birthday]" between the parenthesis.
Sort this field ascending, and run your query. (final design view below)

To sort next, by day, add another column on your design view. Guess what the name of this function is...Day()!

It should look something like this: "B-day Day: Day([birthday])"
Sort ascending.
Done

To learn more skills like this, sign up for one of our free Access classes. It will change your life in all the right ways.

Don't Curse the Cursors in Excel!

2009-06-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

The first time you open Excel all the different cursors can be a little confusing. Perhaps you have used Excel before but get frustrated because of the unpredictable results you get by clicking in different places.

There is a lot more to it than just a simple click or double click - so buckle up and check out the table below that lists all the different cursors and their many behaviors. Some of behaviors require you to hold down keys on your keyboard (Shift, Ctrl, or Alt).

How can you try it out? Open up Excel and just playing! Or open up one of the files from our class page to try it out. If you get lost or want to learn more, sign up for one of free classes.

Combining First and Last Names in Access

2009-06-09T15:30:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when I'm creating a query which will be used in a report, I like to display pieces of information together in one field. A common example of this is displaying first and last names together in one field. The principle itself is pretty straightforward, but sometimes the syntax can be a little confusing. We cover this topic in more depth in our Access Foundations Class (so you should click on the link and sign up) but this should get you on your way.

Whenever one creates a relational database in Access, it's important to separate information as much as possible in order in increase the flexibility of the queries that one can create. As a result, we often end up with a database where we separate elements that we normally combine. For example, when we address envelopes, we need the house number, street name, and zip code to be together. But when we enter those pieces of information in Access, we usually split them up so that we can sort, group and search them as separate elements.

In order to put them back together in a query, go to your

Type the name of the first field in brackets (ex. [last_name])

To add another field, type an Ampersand (ex> "&")

Type the name of the second field in brackets (ex. [last_name]&[first_name])

You'll notice that this will just put the two fields together without any spaces, so it might be useful to put a space in between the two fields in quotes:

[last_name]&" "&[first_name]

Or you might even sneak a comma in there so it looks like this:

[last_name]&", "&[first_name]

Which will look like this:

"Urie, Jonathan"

In access, it will look like this:

The "Expr1:" from that picture simply refers to the name of this new field and the finished result looks like this:

Take Screenshots Without Opening OneNote

2009-06-04T15:18:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you want a picture of something on your screen. Screen shots allow you to capture your whole screen or just a part of it and save it as a picture.

OneNote has a great tool for taking screen shots or "screen clippings." However, you may not want to have to open OneNote every time you want to take a picture. So, you can actually place OneNote in your taskbar, and access just the screen clipping tool from there.

How to place OneNote in the taskbar:

In OneNote, select Tools at the top
Select Options...
Select Other from the menu on the left
Check the check box at the top labeled: Place OneNote icon in the notification area of the taskbar

Now, you should see the OneNote icon in the bottom right area of your screen in the taskbar.

How to use the screen clipping tool:

Right-click the OneNote icon in the taskbar
Select Create Screen Clipping
You may have also noticed the shortcut (Window + S)
Your screen will turn faded, and you can click and drag your cursor over the area you want a picture of

OneNote will automatically open and place the screen clipping on a page. The picture is also placed on clipboard, so you can now paste that image anywhere, even in documents outside of OneNote.

Learn more about the awesome capabilities of OneNote in our class! Click here to register.

Format Painter

2009-06-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

One of the quickest ways to format text or objects in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is with the Format Painter. For example, if you have several lines of text in a Word document that you want to look the same, it can be a hassle to format each line of text individually. So, after you have formatted the first line of text, you can copy that formatting with the Format Painter and apply that formatting to the other text lines. The Format Painter works the same in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

How to use the Format Painter:

Format one of the objects, cells, or lines of text
Select the object or cell (or highlight the line of text)
Select the Format Painter button (located on far left corner of the Home tab)
Select the unformatted objects or cells (highlight the unformatted lines of text)

This method allows you to format objects one at a time. If you have multiple objects that need to be formatted, simply double-click on the Format Painter button in step 3 (see steps above). The Format Painter stays on so you can apply formatting to multiple objects, cells, or lines of text. Then, when you are finished, de-select the Format Painter button.

The Format Painter is an awesome tool that will save you time and effort as you make your format your documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.

Learn more tools and shortcuts for Microsoft programs in our fun classes! Click here to register.

Fancy gradient for your webpage

2009-06-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a gradient in Photoshop and then add it to the background of a web page you are making in Dreamweaver. To learn other awesome skills like this one, sign up for our Dreamweaver of Photoshop Foundations class.

(after you click play it will take a couple of seconds to start...)

Last names 255 characters long? Yeah, right.

2009-06-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Anytime you create a table in Access that includes text fields, the default field size is 255. Well, most people change this (or should!) every time they create a new field; and 255 is almost always bigger than the field needs to be.

Is there a way to change the default to something other than 255?

Of course! Its actually very simple.

With Access 2007 open, click on the Office Button in the top left corner.
When the menu opens, click "Access Options" in the bottom right corner of the menu.
After you have clicked Access Options, a box will open. On the left is a list of option categories - click Object Designers (and that's what you are!)
At the very top of these options you will see a line that says "Default Text Field Size: 255" - change that number to anything less than 255! The screen shot below shows this step.
That's it!

To learn more about the basics of tables and working with Access, click here to sign up for our free Access Foundations course.

Anchored Objects in InDesign

2009-05-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

Q: In my InDesign document, I have a picture or text box in the middle of my body text with a text wrap around the object. But when I adjust the body text (e.g., font size, body text position), the picture or text box is no longer next to the original sentences in the body text (i.e. the object is out of sync with the body text). How can I fix that?

A: You need to make the picture or text box an anchored object.

Select the picture or text box with the selection tool
Cut the object (Ctrl + X)
Choose the type tool from the tools on the left
Place the cursor in the body text where you would like the object to be anchored to (i.e. when that part of the body text moves, the object will move with it)
Paste the object into the body text (Ctrl + V)

You are now free to manipulate the object (re-size and reposition) as you like, but now when the body text moves, the object will move with it!

Sign up for one of our classes to learn more about working with graphics in InDesign! Click here to register.

Alt + what?! You will love this shortcut

2009-05-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Quickly look up definitions and articles in Office 2007

This is awesome! Okay, so you are reading a document in Word, or you are making a PowerPoint presentation, and you come a cross a word you are not familiar with. Or maybe, while reviewing some Art History class notes you took in OneNote you come across a word that you need a little more information on, like Neoplasticism (see picture).
Okay, so you could go through the long tedious task of opening dictionary.com, or wikipedia, and attempting to retype the word Neoplasticism. Or, even worse, you could get an actual dictionary or encyclopedia, but I don't want to and neither do you!

So, here we go, hold down Alt on the keyboard and Click the word you want to look up!

The Research task pane opens in Office 2007 and gives you definitions, translations, synonyms, and articles from Encarta online (Microsoft's online encyclopedia). Take a look below for what I got when I Alt+Clicked "Neoplasticism."

Now go try it. Open your most commonly used Office Program, type in a word, hold down ALT on you keyboard, and then CLICK on the word. After you experience it, click here to sign up for our Office 2007 classes or our Computer Basics class. You will learn more great time-saving shortcuts.

Online Suvey: How do you feel about online surveys?

2009-05-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

What is Qualtrics?

Whether you are a department trying to meet the needs of students, or a student doing research for a psychology project, Qualtrics can make your life easier. Surveys are a simple and efficient option for getting information and opinions from people. With Qualtrics, surveys are made even easier because you can take care of everything online.

Qualtrics is web-based survey software that allows you to make custom surveys using any type of question you can come up with, including matching, ranking, drill down, likert, hotspots and constant sum questions. It then walks you through simple distribution and tallies your results. You can then have it generate tables and graphs of your data, and even run cross tabulations

BYU has received a multi-year grant from qualtrics, which means that if you are a BYU employee or student you can get a free online account. Once you have an account you can access it from any computer. If you want to learn how to use Qualtrics (or even just learn what all those question types do) sign up for our new Qualtrics class.

What-If Analysis - Goal Seek

2009-05-22T15:07:00.000-07:00

What if you are trying to reach a specified result for a formula, but you do not know what the input value for one of the variables should be? Use Goal Seek to find the input value of the variable.

Example: You are trying to project net income for your business. You have projected sales revenue and expenses, but you would like to see if you can cut costs somewhere to increase net income (see income statement below).

What would administration expenses have to be cut down to in order to have net income of $100,000?

Use Goal Seek:

On the Data tab, select What-If Analysis and then Goal Seek...
Set cell: $C$7
(we want to make net income our fixed result)
To value: 100000
(the fixed result value)
By changing cell: $B$4
(the unknown variable)
OK

Excel now plugs different numbers into cell B3 (Admin. Expenses) until C6 (net income) equals $100,000.

In order for this to work, the set cell and changing cell have to be linked either directly or indirectly through formulas or functions. In this example, Total Expenses is the sum of the three expenses/costs, and Net Income is the difference between Sales Revenue and Total Expenses. Also, Goal Seek only works when you are trying to find the input value of one variable.

Sign up for our free Excel class on data analysis to learn more about Goal Seek and other awesome tools! Click here to register.

Draw Table tool De-mystified

2009-05-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Recently I was preparing to teach a PowerPoint class and one mystery I needed to solve (and then teach) was the "Draw Table" tool in PowerPoint. I had been told that this tool allows you to draw a custom table, but how to do it was a complete mystery to me. This tool is located under the Insert tab and can be found by clicking on the "Table" button. One of the options on the menu is "Draw Table:"
Once you've selected this tool, the cursor changes to look like a pencil. Once this has happened, draw the border of your new table to your desired specifications. If you don't get it right, don't worry--you can always resize the border later.

After you've drawn the border, you'll notice that the only thing you've got now is a giant cell, which is more or less useless. But here's the exciting part!
Now, go back to the Insert tab and the Draw Table tool and select it again. The pencil cursor should reappear.

You can now use your pencil cursor to draw custom rows and columns within your table. You can also draw diagonal lines! In this way, you can create your own custom drawn table.

Once you are satisfied with the rows and columns in your new table, press the ESC key to get rid of the pencil cursor. Now you can use the regular formatting options to make your table look great and interesting.

There you go--Draw Table tool de-mystified!

Here is an example of an empty table that I created using the Draw Table tool:

Access Security Warning

2009-05-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Whenever you bring in a database from the internet or if you store your database on a network, you will get a security warning when you attempt to open the database in Access. It should look this:

Access is run by a programing language called visual basic (VB) and so there is a small possibility that there might be a virus embedded in the code of the database. By default, Access disables all of the "macros" (or bits of programing) so that there is no risk of a malicious virus taking over your computer. To enable the content, click on the options buttons and select the radio button entitled "Enable this content." If you don't enable the macros, some of your database's functionality will be restricted.

If you have any further questions, please sign up for our Access Foundations class!

Why Are Dates in Excel Off by Four Years?

2009-05-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

Q: When I import data from one Excel workbook to another, why are the dates four years off?

A: Excel operates on two different calendar systems based on the years 1900 or 1904. If you experience the above problem, the two workbooks were set to different calendar systems.

To fix this:

Click on the Office Button in the top left corner of Excel
Select Excel Options
Select Advanced from the menu on the left
Scroll down to the section called When calculating this workbook
Check or un-check the check box next to Use 1904 date system

Click here to register for our Excel classes!

What is Leading?

2009-05-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular concern about lead, leading is one of the most basic style options in Adobe InDesign. In Word, or other common software, it is referred to, and better understood as, Line Spacing - or the amount of space in between to lines of text. This post will not explain exactly how to set the leading, but you can learn how in our free InDesign Foundations class.

Where did the term "Leading" (pronounced "Led-ing," not "Leed-ing") come from? After some quick research on Wikipedia, I verified what I had previously learned from another instructor in our office. When type was set by hand on printing presses, "strips of lead...of appropriate thinkness were inserted between lines...to add vertical space." (see Wikipedia: Leading)

What an easy way to add space between lines! I guess you could just push enter a bunch of times...

Either way, sign up for an InDesign class and learn more about digital print layout!

Importing Brushes into Illustrator

2009-05-14T14:09:00.001-07:00

Q: How do you import brushes into Illustrator?

A: What? You mean turn into this?

Be sure to sign up for our Illustrator class if you want the full explanation, but this post should get you on your way.

I'm glad that you've asked this question. Brushes in Illustrator are AWESOME and I think that Everyone should be able to use them to spice up their artwork. They're really simple to use once you have them, but sometimes getting them into your document can seem as challenging as creating your own artwork! But not to fear! In no time, you'll be joyously scatter-brushing with the best of them.

To start off, you need a set of illustrator brushes (Go to Google and search for free illustrator brushes and you should get a bunch of hits). Once you've downloaded a brush set, make sure that it's unzipped and saved somewhere safe on your computer. Sometimes, your web browser will save your downloads in temporary folders, so make sure that you move them to a folder that you can remember.

Illustrator brushes can be confusing because they can be saved in so many different file formats. some will be saved as ".ai" files (illustrator files) and if you just double click on them, they open up in a separate document. Others will be marked as .pdf or.eps or any number of extensions, but don't worry! The following steps should work. (If they don't then you might have a bum set of brushes... oh, and if your brushes are saved as a ".rar" file, it means that they were compressed with a special compression program and you'll need a special program to extract them.)

In illustrator, go to your brushes panel and click on the brush libraries menu in the bottom left. Select "other library."

Navigate to where you've saved your brush pack and open it. Your brushes should open up.

And that's it! Have fun!

Oh, and if you want to learn more, be sure to sign up for our Illustrator class!

-Jonathan

Make Path from Selection

2009-05-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Q: Is there a way to take a selection (made from one of the selection tools) and turn it into a path? Or even just a way to define a path in the same way the magnetic lasso tool works?

A: Yes! Absolutely! It is actually quite easy. First, once you have a selection made, open the Paths palette (usually grouped behind the layers palette). Click the button that says "Make Work Path from Selection" (see picture below).Then, double click the new "work path" in the palette, and click okay. It is now a path!

Typically, paths are created with the pen tool. To use the pen tool like one of the lasso selection tools, click and hold on the pen tool in the tools palette, and choose "Freeform Pen Tool." Unfortunately, there isn't a way (at least to my limited knowledge) to use the Pen Tool in the same way the Magnetic lasso tool works. If you find out there is, please leave a comment correcting me!

To learn more about the many selection tools, including my personal favorite - the quick selection tool, click here to sign up for the free Photoshop Foundations class! It is sweet!

Adjustment Layers: Make other brides jealous

2009-05-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

I got married two weeks ago today and am enjoying going through the MANY pictures taken of my sweet bride and I, as well as my family. One common thing that photographers will do with a picture of a bride holding her bouquet, is make everything black and white but the bouquet. This is very simple to do in Adobe Photoshop, and the video below demonstrates how. These skills and more are taught in our Photoshop Foundations Class. The class is free and usually meets two or four times over two weeks. To sign up for this, and other Photoshop classes, click here!

Locking Cell Formatting

2009-05-06T14:35:00.001-07:00

Q I have a spreadsheet that is edited by student employees. I want them to be able to enter data, but not be able to change the formatting of the spreadsheet. Is this possible?

A The first step is to select all of the cells that you want users to be able to put data in. We then need to tell excel that once we lock the sheet, these cells should still accept data changes. To do this, go to the Home Ribbon->Cells Group->Format->and choose Lock Cell. (You’ll see that Lock Cell is already highlighted so by selecting it you are in effect “Unlocking” the selected cells.

Next we need to lock the entire sheet. Go to the Home Ribbon->Cells Group->Format->and choose Protect Sheet. Here you’ll want to make sure at least the first two options are selected. That’s probably all you’ll want to leave selected (make sure all of the format options are unselected). You can even set a password if you want to here, but make sure you’ll remember it!

That should do it! Now they can only insert data into the cells you specifically unlocked and they won’t be able to change any formatting.