Every few years Microsoft releases a new version of its Office Suite of applications and services. The last release, Office 2007/2008 (initially for PC) was heralded as a massive improvement over Office 2004 and introduced groundbreaking features like the use of Open XML formats (allows seamless cross platform editing of files) as well as the 'Ribbon,' a useful set of tabs to gain quick access to related tools. Office 2010 is set to follow the trend and will add several hitherto unseen features.

 

Integrated Outlook
The new Outlook 2010 promises to provide greater integration with social networking sites (Facebook) and micro blogging phenomenon Twitter as well. You will be able to setup and customize the all new Outlook Social Connector that allows you to view pictures of contacts, keep track of conversations and attachments shared as well. Updates promise more comprehensive information about individual contacts and detailed records of interactions
with the contact over mediums other than just e-mail.

 
SkyDrive

 

 Is a great online storage facility provided by Microsoft. The concept is simple, you get to save all your files and folders in the cloud via SkyDrive. You will be able easily access and edit all your Office files and folders via SkyDrive anywhere in the world with an internet connection. All you'll need is to  login with a Windows Live ID (which you can create for free). Even if you are working on another computer without Office installed, complete online web applications are available to allow unrestriced editing of your files. The first 25 GB is absolutely free so there is no reason not to at least give the feature a shot.

Enhanced Ribbon
The navigational 'ribbon' tabs in Office have been greatly personalized and are now tailored to provide tab options based on the commands and functions you have been using. Users will also be able to create custom 'ribbons' with their favorite commands and tabs. Reports also suggest that 'ribbon' will provide greater cross program functionality by integrating features between different Office programs. According to CNET.com, "The tabs lining Office's navigational 'ribbon' are now contextual, so your tab options will change based on the commands you're using. A new feature enhancement called Quick Steps (shown in Outlook)
enables you to quickly take advantage of commonly used features in your workflow. This addition gives you access to more Office applications and features regardless of which Office program you're working with at the time." The ribbon introduced as a novelty feature in Office 2007 looks set to become a much more integral aspect of the Office experience.

 

Paste Preview
A simple but highly appreciated new feature is the ability to preview your 'paste' options. So essentially, you will be able to preview how a document will look like after you paste some content. The feature works across all programs in Office and displays different paste options when you mouse-over the paste button.

Image Editing
Stopping to open Photoshop in the middle of editing a Powerpoint presentation just to perform minor edits on an image is time consuming and disruptive to your workflow to say the least. Realizing this, Office 2010 now allows you to perform several edits on images including but not limited to cropping, adding effects, background removal and changing image size without closing the program you are using.The image editing options are available in the navigational 'ribbon' anytime you select any image.

Backstage View
One of the biggest and most obvious changes you will encounter the first time you run any Office 2010 program. Backstage View essentially functions as an enhanced File menu with new features and options. New graphical cues and visual guides will also make different Backstage View options clear and helpful to understand. Just like the enhanced 'ribbon,' backstage view brings several related tasks together to create a streamlined editing process.

Additional information about Office 2010 is available at:
http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/cc/documentation/Office/Office2010.pdf
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/getting-started-with-office-2010-fx101822272.aspx

Powerpoint is a great presentation software since it allows the user a multitude of different options to clearly illustrate and present information. A very desirable feature is the ability to change and insert backgrounds of your choice for the slides. You can either assign a general background for all slides or even assign unique backgrounds for each individual slide.

Open Power Point.

Select the slide you wish to edit and right click on the slide. Now select Format Background. You will be presented with a menu that comprises of two main categories, Fill and Picture. You will primarily be using the Fill option to edit and change background settings.

 

Solid Fill:

This option allows you to change the color of the background as well as change the transparency of the color. Transparency basically functions as a tool to change the intensity of the color. Increase the transparency if you wish to set a lighter version of the color as the background.

Gradient Fill:

This option allows you to set a more attractive mixture of colors as the background instead of a single solid color. The effect is a rainbow like collage of gradually changing colors. There are several excellent preset colors that you can select from. You can also edit the type between lineraly changing colors to a radially changing effect to name a few. The available types of effects are:

• linear: the gradient colors flow in lines which can be from preset angles or a precise angle on the slide
• radial: colors flow in a circular fashion from your choice of five different directions
• rectangular: colors flow in a rectangular fashion from your choice of five different directions
• path: colors flow from the center out to form a rectangle
• shade from title: colors flow from the the title out to form a rectangle 

 

You can also make changes to the orientation and direction of these effects.

Picture or Texture Fill

This feature allows you to set different textures or even a custom picture for a texture. A texture works pretty much the same was as a solid gradient except that the design is more eye catching. Always make sure that the text is legible by ensuring suitable contrast between the texture color and text color. Powerpoint has several attractive textures available to be used. You can also insert new textures using the Insert From feature. Powerpoint stretches out any picture to fill in the entire background by default. You might want to click on the tile picture as texture feature so that a small image is used as a tile with multiple such images used to form a texture.

 

You can also utilize the additional offset feature to shift and move the background in any direction.  

There are two more important features present in the menu:

Hide background graphics:

This option allows you to easily hide/view background graphics from your slideshow. You can use the feature to reduce use of valuable color ink while printing and then easily turn it back on while presenting.

Apply to all

You can also choose to apply the background to all slides by clicking on the Apply to All option. Not doing so will ensure that the background you created will only apply to the slide you initially right clicked on to get the background menu.

In this blog post we will present a good feature that may come in handy for writing tens or hundreds of letters of the same kind addressed to different people. This feature is part of Microsoft Word 2007 and is called Mail Merge. Let's suppose we have this scenario: a teacher has 14 students in his/her class and before the end of the semester he/she would like to send them a letter with their average in the class. Obviously, it is easier to use some sort of automation feature to create the 14 letters, rather than having to write 14 letters individually. For this purpose, we are going to use the Mail Merge feature in Microsoft Word 2007 on Windows (the same task can be accomplished similarly on the 2008 version of Word on MAC).

The writing process entails many things, one of which is the review process. This process, traditionally carried out with pen and paper in hand, can be realized in a more efficient manner. There is a way to review assignments electronically, without the pile of papers and without wasting paper. Microsoft Word provides an ingenious and simple way of doing this.

This entry will go over the Track Changes feature in Word that allow you to review/edit an assignment in a legible and organized manner by tracking the changes that you make to it. This will essentially keep a record of any insertions, deletions or comments that you make to the assignment. With this valuable tool, you will be able to review, correct, and comment on any assignment from anywhere that you have computer access.

In order to review papers electronically, you will of course, have to have the assignment file. This entry will assume that all files are .docx format (although electronic reviews can be carried out with almost any file type using Adobe Acrobat Pro).

The following instructions are for Windows Word 2007 Users:

Once you have the assignment that you would like to review, you will click on the Review tab found at the top toolbar of Microsoft Word. From here you will select Track Changes in order for your corrections to appear in the document. This will track all your changes, from deletions to insertions, in an easy to distinguish red ink.

There are, of course, two distinct ways in which you can track your changes. The first is in what Word calls Balloons. The second is what is called Inline. The Balloon method will track your changes (Deletions and Comments) in "balloons" on the margins of the document. Any additions that you make will be visible within the main body of the document. The Inline method will track all your changes (insertions, deletions, and comments) within the document itself. Both methods are convenient and it is ultimately up to the reviewer to decide which one suits his/her needs best. Below you will find an image of both methods: the inline method is located on the bottom, while the balloon method is located on the top.

To change the way in which you can track your changes, simply click on the Balloons tab and select either Show Revisions in Balloons or Show All Revisions Inline.

You can add comments within the document by selecting New Comment. This command will add a comment to where your cursor is located.

Another possible feature that you could use in reviewing assignments is the convenient Accept/Reject feature included in Word. This feature gives you, as well as students, the ability to accept or reject any changes that have been made to their document. You can access this feature by selecting the Previous/Next buttons in the Comments section of the Review toolbar. By clicking these buttons, you will rotate through all your comments and changes in the document and you will have the ability to accept or reject them. The Accept/Reject buttons are located to the right of the Track Changes button.

When a change is accepted, Word will automatically incorporate that change into the document. When a change is rejected, word will automatically reject the change and remove it from the document.

Word also allows you to see different versions of the same file. In the first drop-down menu of the new Track Changes toolbar, there are four different viewing options.

Final Showing Markup: this will let you see the current edition, with markups of the file.

Final: this view lets you see the final document will all edits automatically included

Original Showing Markup: this view lets you see the original document with markups. All deletions will appear as strikethroughs, while comments will remain in the margin.

Original: this view lets you see the original document before being edited.

Once you have reviewed the assignment and made all necessary comments and corrections, you can easily write a final comment to the student, along with their final grade. You can do so by adding text (which will already be in red ink) at the end of the document.

Another feature that can aid in the writing process is Words Capability to distinguish different users and their edits. For example, if you were to send your student an edited Word file with, he or she could make further edits, which would be in a different color and under a different user name (provided that the student made the edits under a different name than the original edit) and return the document for you to re-edit. In this way you could quickly and effectively help a student's writing process with those longer projects or thesis.

Once you are done reviewing you can easily save the document and send a copy to your students. In this way, your students will have access to all your revisions and can easily edit their own work. If, however, you would like for your editions to not be tampered with, you can also save the edited word file as a PDF. Please look over the following entry by Dobromir-Save Anything in PDF! or my previous entry - PDF Files to review the process.

If you would like an example of what the final edited assignment would look like, please view the following file: Lorem.pdf

***

The following instructions are for Mac Word 2008 Users:

Once you have the assignment that you would like to review, you will click on the Tools dropdown menu. From here you will select Track Changes and then Highlight Changes in order for your corrections to appear in the document.

Once you have selected this option a Highlight Changes window will appear prompting you to select your changes options. It is recommended that you select all of the options, and in order for your edits to be visible, you must select the option: Track changes while editing. This will track all your changes, from deletions to insertions, in an easy to distinguish red ink. At this time a new toolbar, containing all the commands for editing, will appear.

There are, of course, two distinct ways in which you can track your changes. The first is in what Word calls Balloons. The second is what is called Inline. The Balloon method will track your changes (Deletions and Comments) in "balloons" on the margins of the document. Any additions that you make will be visible within the main body of the document. The Inline method will track all your changes (insertions, deletions, and comments) within the document itself. Both methods are convenient and it is ultimately up to the reviewer to decide which one suits his/her needs best. Below you will find an image of both methods: the inline method is located on the bottom, while the balloon method is located on the top.

To change the way in which you can track your changes, simply click on the Show tab and select Preferences. A new window will open.

In this new window locate the Balloons section and select Use Balloons to Display Changes if you want your edits to be recorded in the margins, or deselect this option if you want your edits to be visible in the inline method.

You can add comments within the document by selecting New Comment. This command will add a comment to where your cursor is located.

Once you have reviewed the assignment and made all necessary comments and corrections, you can easily write a final comment to the student, along with their final grade. You can do so by adding text (which will already be in red ink) at the end of the document.

Another possible feature that you could use in reviewing assignments is the convenient Accept/Reject feature included in Word. This feature gives you, as well as students, the ability to accept or reject any changes that have been made to their document. You can access this feature by selecting the Previous/Next buttons in the Comments section of the Review toolbar. By clicking these buttons, you will rotate through all your comments and changes in the document and you will have the ability to accept or reject them. The Accept/Reject buttons are located to the left of the New Comments button.

When a change is accepted, Word will automatically incorporate that change into the document. When a change is rejected, word will automatically reject the change and remove it from the document.

Another feature that can aid in the writing process is Words Capability to distinguish different users and their edits. For example, if you were to send your student an edited Word file with, he or she could make further edits, which would be in a different color and under a different user name (provided that the student made the edits under a different name than the original edit) and return the document for you to re-edit. In this way you could quickly and effectively help a student's writing process with those longer projects or thesis.

Word also allows you to see different versions of the same file. In the first drop-down menu of the new Track Changes toolbar, there are four different viewing options.

Final Showing Markup: this will let you see the current edition, with markups of the file.

Final: this view lets you see the final document will all edits automatically included

Original Showing Markup: this view lets you see the original document with markups. All deletions will appear as strikethroughs, while comments will remain in the margin.

Original: this view lets you see the original document before being edited.

Once you are done reviewing you can easily save the document and send a copy to your students. In this way, your students will have access to all your revisions and can easily edit their own work. If, however, you would like for your editions to not be tampered with, you can also save the edited word file as a PDF. Please look over the following entry by Dobromir-Save Anything in PDF! or my previous entry - PDF Files to review the process.

If you would like an example of what the final edited assignment would look like, please view the following file: Lorem.pdf

***

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please feel free to call the STA Office at extension x2589 or come and speak with one of our Student Technology Assistants during our normal business hours. Thank you.

Embedding a YouTube video in your PowerPoint presentation will save you the hassle of interrupting your slideshow to go and play a video on YouTube.com. By having the video embedded on a slide of your choice, you can simply click the "PLAY" button on the video and it will start streaming from YouTube.com. Embedding a video is an excellent idea, because not only does it make your presentation look more organized, but it saves you time and keeps the viewer focused on the material.

How to embed a YouTube video in PowerPoint?

Step 1) You need to add the Developer tab to the Ribbon. To do that, go to the main MS Office button, located in the upper left corner (arrow 1). From the menu, select PowerPoint Options (arrow 2).

Step 2) From the Options screen that pops-up, select the "Show Developer tab in the Ribbon" . Then, press "OK".

The Developer tab is now included in the Ribbon. The button will be helpful for embedding a YouTube video in the slideshow.

Step 3) Go to the slide in which you want to embed the video. Then, go to the Developer tab and click on the "More Controls" tab (the icon represents two crossed instruments).

 

From the prompted menu, select a "Shockwave Flash Object", and then click "OK".

Step 4) Your mouse pointer is now a drawing tool. Draw a rectangular shape on the slide. It does not matter how big the rectangle would be, because you can further adjust it later.

Step 5) With the mouse, go over the rectangle and click the right button. From the menu, select "Properties" and leave the Properties screen open.

Step 6) Now, go to YouTube and find the video that you want to embed. Copy the URL address for the video.

Step 7) Go back to PowerPoint and the Properties screen. At the Properties screen, you will see many different fields. We need to look at three of them only.

*A) The "Movie" field. In the blank field next to "Movie", paste the copied URL address of the YouTube video. The pasted URL address should look something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyvw6G9Max0

Now, you need to make two adjustments to the pasted URL address.
-delete "watch?"
-change "=" to "/"
So, the changed URL address should look like: http://www.youtube.com/v/kyvw6G9Max0

*B) The "Loop" field. By default, the field is set to "True". When it shows "True", it means that the video is set on auto repeat and it will play over and over again. To disable that, click on "True" and then you will be able to choose "False".

*C) The "Playing" field. By default, the field is set to "True". When it shows "True", it means that the video is set to start automatically. To cancel that, click on "True" and then you will be able to choose "False".

When you have finished with adjusting the properties, click on the "X" at the upper-right corner of the Properties screen.

The YouTube video is now embedded on the slide. You can proceed with adding more information to your slideshow, finalize it and save it. PLEASE REMEMBER that the content of the YouTube video is not downloaded and stored with the presentation. You MUST HAVE an internet connection during your presentation in order to stream the video.

In this tutorial we will briefly go over on how to use formulas in Excel 2007 on Windows. Suppose that you have a table full of data and you want to calculate the sum of all the rows, the average, the standard deviation, or any other formula for that matter. In order to do this, we will be using the formulas provided by Excel.

This tutorial will explain the process of embedding a video file in PowerPoint 2007. In this case, by embedding I mean incorporating the video file in the PowerPoint presentation such that when you movie the presentation itself you still get to play the video. In other words, the video file is not just linked, it becomes part of the presentation file.

Adding sound files to your PowerPoint presentation does not necessarily embed the sounds in it. Most of the time, the sounds are just being linked to the audio files on the computer you are using. The difference between embedding and linking is that when files are embedded, they travel with the presentation. Embedding the audio files is usually the better option, if you plan on distributing the slideshow on Blackboard, Moodle, through e-mail, or other means. Students or viewers will be able to play the audio files without any hassle.

To embed files in PowerPoint:

Step  1. It is crucial that the format of your audio files is .WAV    *.MP3, .WMA, and other audio file types will not work.

Step 2. Make a new folder and place in it all of the audio files you want to embed as well as your slideshow. If you do not do that, there is the risk that embedding might not work successfully.

Step 3. Click on the Insert tab that is located on the ribbon at the very top.

Then go to Sound, and select from the drop-down menu Sound from File.

Locate the file that you want to insert from the new folder that you have created in Step 2.
Step 4. Click on the speaker icon on your slide. Above the ribbon, now, there should be a Sound Tools tab. Click on Sound Tools tab and then click on the Options tab right underneath.

 
The options that show should look similar to the one above. You need to change the Max Sound File Size. By default it is set to 100. Erase 100 and put 50000.

Step 5. After inserting all of the audio files that you want to insert, save the presentation. The presentation and the audio files will play on both Windows and Mac platforms. 

*Keep in mind that a presentation with embedded files would tend to be larger in size. The more audio files you embed, the slower the presentation will be. If many audio files are embedded, the presentation might be even difficult to open on older computers.

This blog post is an extension to Andres' blog post that explains how to save MS Office documents in PDF. Here you will find out how to save anything that you see on your screen as a PDF file without too much hassle!

If you wonder what a PDF file is and what is good about it, I would encourage you to take a look at Andres' post, titled "PDF Files".

1) Obtain a free copy of PrimoPDF from: http://www.primopdf.com/index.aspx
2) Install the product on your machine.
The next few steps will guide you on using the software. PrimoPDF allows anything that you see on your computer screen, and has the option of being printed, to be saved as a PDF File. All you need to do is go to File>Print.
3) Go to File>Print. Select for printer name PrimoPDF and then click OK.

4) A new window will open - PrimoPDF program. Click on the "Create PDF" button. It will then ask you where you would like to save the PDF File. Give the location and enjoy your newly created PDF file.

The only problem that you may encounter with PrimoPDF is that sometimes it does not convert images in a high resolution. If you have questions on how to save particular files in PDF and none of the suggestions on the Blog work for you, please contact the STA office for further assistance.

Adding visual effects to slides can sometimes make PowerPoint presentations be more interesting. Keeping a reasonable amount of effects per slide can usually aid the comprehension of the material and make it easier to memorize.
To add visual effects to text, images, charts, and other objects, first go to the top menu in PowerPoint and click on the "Animations" tab.

 
Following, click on the "Custom Animation" button, located right next to the "Preview" button on the very left side. 

With the click on "Custom Animation", a new menu opens up on the right side. It enables you to add effects to the objects in your PowerPoint presentation.

 
To add an effect to a particular object in your presentation, first select the object by clicking on it. The top button "Add Effect" will now become active and you can choose from a wide variety of effects.

 
Once you have selected the effect, you can further adjust the settings of the effect:

 
   a) You can adjust the start of the effect
           -if you want the effect to start with a click, then select "On Click" (this is the default setting).
           -if you want the effect to start automatically after the previous one, then select "After previous" from the drop-down menu.
           -if you want the effect to start automatically with the previous one, then select "With previous".
   b) For some effects, you can adjust the direction of the effect.
   c) You can adjust the speed of the effect:  very slow, slow, medium, fast, very fast. For most effects, fast is the best option.
 
You can add different effects to different objects by using the methods described above.