Want to get rid of that tacky background?

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:

1. Select the image
2. Select the Picture Tools Format tab at the top
3. Click on the Recolor button in the top left corner
4. Choose Set Transparent Color
   
5. 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.

Format Painter

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:

1. Format one of the objects, cells, or lines of text
2. Select the object or cell (or highlight the line of text)
3. Select the Format Painter button (located on far left corner of the Home tab)
4. 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.

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Alt + what?! You will love this shortcut

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.

Draw Table tool De-mystified

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: