Typing speed tip for Word and Open Office users
Posted by Alan G in Business Communications, Creative Tips, Office Software, Word on December 28th, 2009
If you write business letters or other company documents, there are almost certainly some terms (like your company or product name, that you end up typing a lot. This might not be an issue if your company name is “Acme, Inc.,” but something like “Serious Business Strategies” or “Life Enhancement Supplement” might get a bit tedious after the third of fourth time you type it.
There’s a solution built into every modern word processor: Auto-Correct. Back in the day, auto-correct was something that non-typists fell in love with. Its purpose was to catch, and automatically correct, common typos (like “hte” for “the”) or misspellings (“acommodate” for “accommodate”). No sooner have you hit the space bar than the typo or misspelling corrects itself. Wonderful! But with a little imagination you can get a lot more mileage out of this feature than simply saving yourself from embarrassing mistakes (and not all of those, either, because it won’t fix “their” when you should have said “they’re” or “then” when it should have been “than”).
Here’s how the Auto-Correct dialog looks in Word:
You’ll find this one by looking under “Options” (from the Tools menu in Office 2003 and earlier, and in the hidden stuff under the Office logo in Office 2007). Find the Proofing tools and look for AutoCorrect.
It’s all in the way the feature works. The word processor (Microsoft Office Word, for example) watches the words you type, and when it sees a “word,” like “adn” that is listed in its auto-correct list, the program immediately substitutes what the list says is the correct one. Any combination of letters in the “Replace” column can be replaced with its corresponding entry in the “With” column.
If your company is “Acme Widget and Automation, Inc.” you can type “awa” in the “Replace” box and the full company name in the “with” box, then click OK. From now on, any time you need to type the company name, just type “awa.” As soon as you press the space bar, those nonsense letters turn into Acme Widget and Automation, Inc.
This works for people’s names, product names, or even (as you see in the screenshot) for substituting an actual copyright symbol © for the typed (c).
Best of all, you only have to get the spelling right once. After that, it will always, automatically, be correct.
Microsoft Office 2010 is (almost) here
Posted by Alan G in News, Office Software, Word on December 21st, 2009
Microsoft recently opened official public beta testing of Office 2010. That means you can download it here if you’re feeling adventurous and you want to see what’s coming.
Windows 7 Is Really That Good
Posted by Alan G in Uncategorized on October 22nd, 2009
I’ve been working with Windows 7 for several weeks. There’s plenty in this new version for anyone still on XP, and it’s a no-brainer for Vista users. Win 7 is nimbler than Vista, but it’s the little touches in the new user interface that I really like: things that genuinely help you get work done faster and more easily, let you find things quickly in a screen full of open programs or a system cluttered with thousands of files.
The new wallpapers include some brilliantly fantastical drawings that fall into a kind of “Dr. Seuss meets Cirque du Soleil” category that appeals to my whimsical side, but the fact that they can be set to change automatically every so many minutes is also a big plus. It just makes things easier on the eye, and less tiring not to have the same image staring at you all day.
If you’re thinking about it, jump in. Tell them Alan sent you…
Microsoft Office 2010 gets a movie trailer
Posted by Alan G in Business Communications, News, Office Software, Word on July 24th, 2009
Ever since Sprint’s success with their “movie trailer” marketing campaign for the Instinct cell phone, it seems every tech marketer has to have movies. Now it’s Microsoft, with “Office 2010 — The Movie.” It’s been up on YouTube for a couple of weeks, so if you haven’t caught it yet, here’s the link.
Actually, it’s kind of fun. It won’t really tell you anything about what 2010 will do differently, but there are various screen shots about the net and a more typical Microsoft introduction (in other words, very corporate and bland, but informative if the boredom doesn’t get you first) to the upcoming version at their website. You do get to actually see what things will look like, though.
Another way this site is typical is that it shows how to glitz up your documents (in some fairly horrible ways, sadly) but nothing about how to make a good looking document, pick the right font or set your margins or line spacing. If you’re a Creative Tips reader, you know about my campaign to bring business documents to a new level of good looks by providing the design tips that office software companies leave out of their tutorials.
The Cute Designer Video That Started It All
Posted by Alan G in Fun Stuff, Graphic Design on July 13th, 2009
I make no secret of my admiration for Gridiron Flow, which in my not-so-humble opinion is the best thing to happen to designers since desktop publishing. Here is the very original YouTube video that enticed me into the private beta test program for the product, more than a year ago:
Microsoft Announces Office 2010 Free Web Services
Posted by Alan G in Business Communications, News, Office Software, Word on July 13th, 2009
At Microsoft’s annual Partner Conference in New Orleans, they announced the “Technology Preview” of Office 2010. This means the new programs will be available to members of Microsoft’s partner network and developers around the world to examine, test and provide feedback. Part of the plan for Office 2010 is an online service, some of which will be free, that will allow users to work with Word and Excel in a web browser. How they will compare (and compete with) Google Docs and Acrobat.com isn’t clear yet, but such things as simultaneous working on an Excel spreadsheet (sounds nightmarish, actually) or being able to “broadcast” a PowerPoint slide show on the fly could have some appeal.
It will be interesting to see how many people take to this. I’m not a believer yet, myself, although there are times when working with clients that I create online versions of documents so that different people can have access to comment and make changes or updates. I’m not convinced that the web is secure enough, nor that connections are generally speedy enough, for so-called “cloud computing” to become the norm. Documents are like young kids: I just feel more comfortable when I know where they are.
Flow has its own teaser trailer
Posted by Alan G in Graphic Design, News on July 6th, 2009
You have to love a software company that can put out a seriously cool movie-style trailer for their latest product.
I’ve written about Flow, the application that transforms the way we work with creative software. It was a blast testing, suggesting improvements, and watching the program evolve from its original concept to the mature product that it became when it went on sale last week. Even if you don’t work in the graphic arts, I am sure you’ll hear more mention of Flow. It will become as ubiquitous as Photoshop, no question.
For more information about Gridiron Flow, watch the Overview video and browse their website.
The next version of Microsoft Office is about to go (semi)public
Posted by Alan G in Business Communications, Office Software, Techie Stuff, Typography, Word on June 28th, 2009
Type designer Thomas Phinney posts in his blog that Microsoft Office 2010, due to be released as a “technical preview” in July, will make a giant leap forward in its handling of typefaces: it will begin to support some (not all, by a long way) of the many advanced typesetting capabilities built into modern fonts (a standard known as OpenType, which I’ll expand on later in this post).
Transforming the way you work with creative projects
Posted by Alan G in Graphic Design, Techie Stuff on June 27th, 2009
I’ve mentioned Gridiron Software’s new application, Flow, in a previous post. I’ve been beta testing Flow since the latter part of 2008, and it’s been quite an evolution. Big news is that the first (possibly the only) Release Candidate has just been made available for download at www.gridironsoftware.com. Every once in a long while, a new program comes along that actually merits the term “innovative,” that changes the way we use computers. The first spreadsheet program (VisiCalc, for those whose memories go back that far) was one. Photoshop was another. Flow is in that category.
If you’re not a video editor or graphics professional, don’t assume Flow isn’t for you. Anyone who works with Microsoft Office files, creating documents, writing copy, or putting together PowerPoint presentations could potentially benefit greatly. There are some excellent intro and how-to videos here.
Breaking News: As of June 30, Flow is now shipping.
Corporate Identity Standards Aren’t Just for Big Corporations
Posted by Alan G in Business Communications, Creative Tips, Graphic Design on June 24th, 2009
The latest issue of Creative Tips, going live tomorrow, details more about what a style book is and how to make one. Very few small to medium size businesses have a style book, far less use one, because nobody teaches business owners (or dentists, or consultants… name your field) that the marketplace does, 100 percent, judge a book by its cover. (If that’s not so, why do publishers put such enormous amounts of money and effort into designing terrific covers for their books?)