Takeaway: Here’s a cool attention-grabber: a countdown to kick off your presentation or lead into a big announcement. Follow these easy steps or download our ready-to-use slides.

A quick countdown — 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 — can add a bit of excitement to the beginning of your presentation or to an announcement at any point in the presentation. Fortunately, it’s an easy effect to create. In 10 steps, you can add five slides that seem to act as one as they count down from 5 to 1. I’ve kept the graphic elements simple, so as not to distract from the technique. Entrance and exit effects and a simple transition work together to build this countdown. There are other ways to achieve the same result, but this method is the simplest. My instructions will apply to PowerPoint 2010, but I’ll supply alternative steps for PowerPoint 2007/2003 where applicable.

Note: This article and our sample countdown slides are available as a download.

1: Create the slide

Insert a new blank slide and set the background color, which should be a strong contrasting or complementary color to the number elements and the enclosing circle. I used a black background and a white circle and numbers in this example. Right-click the slide, choose Format Background (Background in PowerPoint 2003), click Fill in the left pane (skip this step in PowerPoint 2003), and choose Black from the Color drop-down, as shown in Figure A. Click Close (Apply in PowerPoint 2003) to return to the slide.

Figure A

This black background will contrast nicely to the white numbers we’ll add.

2: Add a circle AutoShape

Next, add a circle AutoShape by clicking the Insert tab and clicking the Shapes drop-down in the Illustrations group. Choose Oval in the Basic Shapes section. (In PowerPoint 2003, click Oval on the Drawing toolbar.) As you draw the circle, hold down the [Shift] key to draw a true circle. Make the circle almost as big as the slide and center it. Then, right-click the circle and choose Format Shape (AutoShape in PowerPoint 2003). In the Fill section, choose No Fill. In the Line section, select Solid Line and choose White from the Color drop-down. In the Line Style section, set the Width property to 5 points. Then, click Close to return to the slide.

3: Add 5

A text box will house the numbers in the countdown. Click the Insert tab and click Text Box in the Text group. (In PowerPoint 2003, choose Text Box from the Insert menu.) Draw the text box inside the circle. Enter a 5 and use the Font group on the Home tab to format the number as Arial, 300 point, and White. (In PowerPoint 2003, the font options are on the Formatting toolbar.) If you use a different font, you may need to adjust the font size. Center the text box in the circle.

4: Set the number’s entrance effect

Now you’re ready to add the entrance effect. Select the text box and click the Animations tab. Click Add Animation in the Advanced Animation group and choose Fade from the Entrance section. (In PowerPoint 2007, click Custom Animation in the Animations group. Then, in the Custom Animation pane, click Add Effect, choose Entrance, and select Fade. In PowerPoint 2003, choose Custom Animation from the Slide Show menu, click Add Effect, and choose Entrance and Fade.)

In the Timing group, change the Start property to With Previous. (In PowerPoint 2007/2003, click the Start drop-down and choose With Previous.) PowerPoint will display an animation tag with the number 0 next to the text box.

5: Set the number’s timing

The next step is to specify how long the number should be displayed. In the Timing group, set the Duration to 01.00. (In PowerPoint 2007/2003, choose Fast from the Speed drop-down.) At this point, your slide should resemble the one in Figure B.

Figure B

PowerPoint displays an animation tag next to the text box.

6: Set the number’s exit effect and timing

To set the number’s exit effect, select the text box and click the Animations tab. Click Add Animation and choose Fade from the Exit section. (In PowerPoint 2007, click Add Effect in the Custom Animation pane, then choose Exit and Fade. In PowerPoint 2003, choose Custom Animation from the Slide Show menu, click Add Effect, and choose Exit and Fade.)

In the Timing group, change the Start setting from On Click to After Previous and change the Duration setting to 01.00 second. (In PowerPoint 2007/2003, choose After Previous from the Start drop-down and Fast from the Speed drop-down.)

7: Add a transition

To add the transition, click the Transition tab. In the Advance Slide section of the Timing group, uncheck On Mouse Click and select After. Don’t change the setting though — leave it at 00:00:00. (In PowerPoint 2007, you’ll find the Advance Slide section at the right end of the Transition To This Slide tab. Select the On Mouse Click and Automatically After check boxes. In PowerPoint 2003, choose Slide Transition from the Slide Show menu. The default speed is Fast; you don’t need to change this, but you can.)

8: Make copies of your slide

Click the Slides pane if necessary (it’s the default) and select slide 1. Right-click the slide and choose Copy. Then, right-click the blank area and choose Keep Source Formatting from the Paste Special options. Repeat this three more times. You’ll have five slides. (In PowerPoint 2007, right-click the first slide in the Slides pane, and choose Duplicate Slide. In PowerPoint 2003, select the first slide and choose Duplicate Slide from the Insert menu.)

9: Change the digits

Now, change the 5 in each of the duplicate slides to the remaining countdown numbers — 4, 3, 2, and 1. When you finish, you’ll have five slides with the numbers 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

The Slides pane shows your five countdown slides.

10: Run the presentation

To run the countdown, press [F5]. Each slide will transition into the next automatically. The current settings keep a constant flow of fading one number into the next. You might want to adjust the fade timing, making it a little faster or a little slower.

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Microsoft took the beta label off of Office 365 last week, and many consider the cloud-based productivity suite a potshot at Google and Google Apps. Office 365 may offer cloud-based document, storage, and collaboration services that look like Google Apps, but the user experience and price tag are very different. Here’s a look at the major differences between them.

User Experience

The way the user interacts with the application suite may be the biggest difference between Google Apps and Office 365. When you use Google Apps, you live in your Web browser. You edit documents and spreadsheets in Google Docs through your browser, you get your email through Gmail, and you chat with colleagues using Google Talk – all in your browser.

Conversely, Office 365 requires you download a plug-in that will link your desktop with the cloud-based service. You’ll need Microsoft Office installed on your desktop already (to make use of offline and cloud-based features as opposed to webapps,) and you’ll need the .NET framework installed. You’ll also need Lync installed on your system as well if your organization will leverage instant messaging and chat. It’s a hefty list of system requirements you’ll need just to get started, especially compared to Google Apps’ requirements: a supported browser.

Document Collaboration

Microsoft Office documents are the de-facto standard in office environments, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Office 365 has an easier time with advanced formatting in Microsoft Word documents and Excel spreadsheets than Google Apps does. Microsoft has put a lot of time and effort into making sure the polish in Microsoft Office made it to Office 365. Office 365 users get the same templates, formatting features, and tools that desktop users get, and since the two services connect, you can create a slideshow in PowerPoint and upload it to Office 365 for editing later without worrying you’ll lose the formatting or images.

If your organization already makes heavy use of Microsoft Exchange for mail and Microsoft Office for productivity, Office 365 will appeal to those who want a familiar, robust tool. Google Apps, and specifically Google Docs, feels barren and plain by comparison, even if it’s more accessible and open.

Google Docs, on the other hand, does a solid job of importing most Microsoft Office documents, auto-saving them, and giving groups a way to all work in and on the same documents and files at the same time without stepping on each other. It’s definitely more bare-bones than Office 365, but it works seamlessly and without the need for desktop software.

Microsoft rolls in Sharepoint to handle document sharing and management, and depending on your opinion, it can be a good or a bad thing. Sharepoint adds a layer of complexity where Google allows more openness. While you do get the benefit of revision history, check-in/check-out, integration with Microsoft Office on the desktop, and integration with Sharepoint Web services with Office 365, Google Docs offers much of the same and lets you and others work in the same document at the same time and see who’s viewing and who edited last, all without the need for another platform.

Chat and Communication

Office 365’s presence tools, including Lync (formerly known as Office Communication Server) integrates with other Microsoft Office and Office 365 products so you can always see if someone is available for chat or a VoIP call, or who’s editing your document or viewing the same files that you are.

Google, on the other hand, already offers this with Google Talk and Google Voice. They’re not as tightly integrated with Google Docs as Lync is with Office 365, but they’re all there.

The only area where Office 365 and Lync outshine Google Talk and Google Voice is in screen-sharing and white-boarding, which Lync has natively but Google Talk does not. Again, Microsoft has more polish and shine on their applications, but feature-for-feature, they’re largely matched. Google Talk and Google Voice may be more Spartan, but they do have broader reach, especially for users who already have large contact lists.

Price

Google Apps Standard for your domain is free. Google Apps for Business offers two pricing plans: a flexible $5/user per month where you can add or remove users at will and pay the difference, and a $50/user per year plan where you commit for a year to get a discounted rate.

Office 365 requires the initial investment in Microsoft Office on your user desktops (as noted above: for use with some enterprise-level features,) some Microsoft Office Servers and services in your environment (like Active Directory if you plan to use those features,) but after that you’ll pay $6/user per month for the small business plan. If you don’t have Microsoft Office on your users’ desktops, you can pay another $12/user per month to get each one of them a copy of Microsoft Office Professional Plus.

Larger enterprises can choose tiered pricing plans that run from $10/user per month up to $27/user per month depending on how many services that want hosted in the cloud versus in their own environments. There’s no two ways about it: Office 365 will be more expensive for almost every business, but Microsoft thinks they have the feature depth to justify the price.

Which One’s Better?

The jury is still out, and even though Office 365 has been in beta for months, Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do if they want to win back enterprises that are looking for affordable cloud-based collaboration products. The familiarity that almost every business has with Microsoft Office may play a big role going forward, but the price tag will be something else they’ll have to overcome.

Feature-for-feature though, the two services offer the same basic functionality, although it can be said that Office 365 shines with polish and flare where Google Apps offers affordability and accessibility.

 

Google’s long expected second shot at taking on Facebook in the social networking space has arrived in the form of the Google+ Project. It has some interesting twists on the social networking model but is far from a Facebook-killer.

That Name

The terrible name is a bad start. Google+? Google+! I can’t even question or exclaim about the bad name without it looking bad in writing.

Pronounced “Google Plus,” the product is officially written as Google+ — making placing any punctuation after the name fairly awkward.

Seriously, I’m cursing whoever made the final decision to go with Google+ as a name. Wasn’t the Google +1 sharing service bad enough?

Now we have Google+, which in turn allows you to +1 things that you’ve Google+’d. My head hurts from writing that.

In this article, I’ll generally stick with the Google+ name except where Google Plus is more legible, due to punctuation.

The Google+ Project

What about the product itself? Google dubs Google+ as a “project” rather than a product, stressing it’s part of making Google itself more social rather than being a standalone social network to take on Facebook.

“It’s ‘Plus’ because it takes products from Google and makes them better and ‘project’ because it’s an ongoing set of products,” said Vic Gundotra, the senior vice president who oversees Google’s social products.

But is it Facebook competitor, I asked in a follow-up question. Google emailed back:

No. We realize that today people are increasingly connecting with one another on the web. But the ways in which we connect online are limited and don’t mimic our real-life relationships. The Google+ project is our attempt to make online sharing even better. We aren’t trying to replace what’s currently available, we just want to introduce a new way to connect online with the people that matter to you.

OK, but as the saying goes, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. And Google+ looks like and quacks like Facebook in several ways.

Circles

Most important, Google+ is a social network of your friends, family and other contacts, a way to connect to these people, just like Facebook.

Unlike Facebook, Google+ is built from the ground up around the concept of sharing material with groups of people, called “Circles.” Here’s an example of how they look:

The idea is that you can easily drag-and-drop people into different types of Circles, which you can then use for sharing different types of things.

For example, you can create a “Family” circle where you might chose to share things only with family members in it, while another “Work” circle might contain work colleagues who only see what you share to that.

Google+ Circles Vs Facebook Lists & Groups

While Facebook might not have been built from the beginning with a Circles-like sharing concept, Facebook does currently have two features that are similar: Friend Lists & Groups.

Added in December 2007, Friend Lists allow you to share some of your Facebook information with specific groups of friends (or other selected contacts) that you create. They’re also supposed to allow you to group message people in a list, though I couldn’t get this to work, when I tested it today.

Friend Lists don’t allow for selective sharing. But the updated Facebook Groups feature that came out last October does provide this, a way to share what you want with whom you want.

How does Circles weight up against these? I can’t say first hand. The Google+ product wasn’t live for me to test when I wrote this (our hands-on review will come later today).

Friend Lists are nice in that if you pick one person, such as below where I selected Facebook communications chief Elliott Schrage, you get relevant suggestions that appear (other Facebook execs who’ve friended me on Facebook):

But that list can’t be used, as best I can tell, to start an associated group to share just to these people. Instead, when I tested today, I was still forced to make a group, then pick people individually to add to that.

So, the drag-and-drop interface of Circles looks appealing. Then again, if you have hundreds of “friends,” it still might turn into too much organization. Maybe people will use it to create some select groups that they really want (family, close friends, those in a club, etc.). But if it turns into a wonderful tool, it’s hard to imagine that Facebook couldn’t easily match it.

Who’s In Your Circle?

There’s no limit to the number of circles you can create. But where do the people come from who will be in your circles?

First, any contacts you’ve stored through the Google Contacts service will be available. If you have no contacts, you can import them through the CSV format, which many contact services will export out to.

Google also said that it is looking into ways to directly important contacts from Yahoo and Microsoft. Facebook wasn’t mentioned.

That’s not surprising. Facebook hasn’t allowed the export of friends’ email addresses, except to … Yahoo and Microsoft.

What’s all this mean in practical terms? Everyone in Google+ will effectively be starting from scratch.

If you already use things like Gmail, you probably have Google Contacts that give you email addresses of your social network. If you don’t, you can import — and Yahoo and Microsoft may serve as go-betweens to help you bring information from Facebook into Google Plus.

From Email To Virtual Person

The bigger issue is that your contacts — be that from within Google or imported from Facebook — are basically just email addresses. The won’t have any social connection information with them.

Google Contacts won’t know that a particular person whose email address you have is friends with other people you know. A Facebook import won’t turn email addresses gathered from there into links with other people who use Facebook.

Instead, what will really jump start Google+ is if a significant number of people come into the system and start claiming profiles within it, effectively turning those email addresses into virtual people who have connections within Google Plus.

That’s a big if. If you’re already happy using Facebook, you may have no more incentive to use Google’s new social network than someone already happy using Google has to switch over to Bing. What you’re using is doing the job just fine.

Buzz Off Google Buzz

When people do get into the system, that does open up another way to add contacts. You’ll be able to search through other members who have registered.

But here’s the crazy thing. Those connections you may have already formed using Google Buzz? Remember, Google’s last attempt to take on Facebook from February 2010? None of that is being used for Google Plus. The two products are being kept completely separate.

I suspect Google’s trying to be as cautious as possible, in the wake of its settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (see Google Settles FTC Charges Over Buzz, Agrees To 20 Years Of Privacy Audits). Buzz seems tainted, so keeping Google+ isolated from that may be deemed the most prudent course.

And what’s the future for Buzz, with Google+ coming out? Google told me in a follow-up email:

The short answer is it won’t have any major impact on Buzz at launch. Buzz users will still see a Buzz tab on their Google profile, and Buzz will continue working as it always has. Google+ users can also be Buzz users or can decide to just share their content using one of the products. Over time, we’ll determine what makes the most sense in terms of integrating the products.

Google+ Stream

Now let’s talk about how you see what’s being shared by those in your network, as well as what you can specifically share.

Information appears in your “Stream,” which is akin to Facebook’s news feed. At the top of your stream is a sharing box. Actually, two sharing boxes:

In the new black navigation bar that began showing up for some people this week, there’s a “Share” area to the right side. That bar, by the way, has been dubbed the “One Google” bar, Google told me. No matter where you are on Google, you’ll have the ability to share something out to Google Plus.

In the Stream itself, there’s a longer box, where you can enter a status update or use icons to upload and share photo and videos. You can also share links or your location, if you’ve allowed Google to track that for you. On mobile devices, you can select from a drop-down of nearby places to check-in.

The check-in feature also raises questions about Google Latitude — does it get absorbed into Google+ eventually? What about HotPot?

What do you see from others? Here’s an example:

In this screenshot, the person is viewing what’s been shared only by people in their “Bike Geeks” groups, as highlighted on the left side. By selecting another circle that’s listed, they would see only information being shared by that group.

Friends, Followers & Off-Network Friends

As with Twitter (or with Facebook, when it comes to fan pages), it’s possible with Google+ to follow other people on the network, even if they don’t reciprocate and follow you or friend you back.

Google says that if you follow someone this way, you’ll only see what they choose to share with everyone publicly. If they share some things more restrictively, with particular circles, for example, those outside of those circles won’t see that.

Somewhat related, you can be friends with people who aren’t formally part of Google Plus. If they’re an email-only contact and never formally join the service, you can still add them to circles and share with them.

When you do this, they’ll apparently be sent an email with whatever you wanted to share, a picture, an update and so on.

The downside is that if they’re not on Google Plus, they’ll get a notification anytime you share anything. So if you’re a big sharer, potentially you might hit some of your friends with a lot of email.

Where’s +1?

In the stream example above, there was a +1 button at the bottom of the photo. Yes, anything you like within Google+ can be +1?d, in the way that anything you like on Facebook can be liked with Facebook Like buttons.

If you do that, do your friends on Google+ see that action, in the way that friends on Facebook may see what you like? Nope. Not to my understanding,

Further more, all those Google +1 buttons that are now starting to appear on Google search worldwide? Those Google +1 buttons that publishers have diligently been adding to their sites since they were released earlier this month? Nothing from those button clicks flows back into Google Plus.

It’s crazy. It makes no sense. It’s as if Facebook launched its Like buttons but forgot to hook them up to flow information back into Facebook.

Right now, it remains the case that if you want to see what someone has +1?d, then you have to remember to go to their Google Profile page on a regular basis, then hope they’ve enabled the +1 tab on that profile, then rinse and repeat for other people.

Google told me that it would be “logical” to see +1 flow into Google+ and that “one could guess eventually” it will happen. So, I’m pretty sure we will see this happen. But when it will launch is unclear, and it really feels like an incredible mistake that it’s not part of the launch.

Google Sparks: Tips On What To Share

Time for more features. What if you started a social network and no one knew what to share? That’s a problem that Google Sparks is intended to solve.

Think of it like Google Alerts made to flow into Google Plus. Google Sparks lets you follow topics of interest:

You can browse suggestions or set up your own keyword-based searches. Then when you select a “Sparks” link, you’ll get a feed of search results that you might wish to share. Here’s an example of what Sparks might show for a fashion topic:

The relevancy is supposed to be tweaked to find especially sharable content that people are already clicking on, things that are very visual with photo and pictures.

I got a brief demo trying two searches, and the results didn’t thrill me. They were OK, but they didn’t feel particularly shareable. Still, the feature will probably be useful to some, and I can’t really assess the relevancy either way on such limited testing.

Hangouts: Group Video Chat

Google seems to be hanging most of its hopes that Google+ will attract people from Facebook on two main features, I’d say. One is the aforementioned Circles sharing feature. The other is the Hangout video chat feature.

With Hangouts, up to 10 people at a time can all interact through video:

The demo I saw of the system was compelling. As one participant spoke, the main image automatically changed to that person. You can also play video that everyone watches.

Gundotra spent some time talking with me about how Google has examined the social dynamics of video chat, to get people more comfortable participating. The key is to get several people all involved casually, rather than to barge in with a solitary invite.

He used a “talking to your neighbor” analogy to explain more. You’re probably are hesitant to knock a neighbor’s door and disturb them just because you want to talk. But if you saw them outside on their porch, Gundotra said, you’d probably feel better saying “Hi” when passing by. If two neighbors were sitting and talking, you’d probably feel rude not also stopping and chatting.

Hence the Hangouts name. When someone launches a Hangout, this shows up on the feed that goes out to their friends. As more people join, the notifications get updated to show the number participating. As that number rises, Google says even more people are compelled to take part.

The party ends at 10, however. No more can participate for scale reasons and also because the group dynamics get too hard, Gundotra said. If someone leaves, others can come in.

The puzzling thing to me is that Google’s not made it possible for anyone to stream the chat out to non-participants. If you have a group of friends, and not all can take part at once, others might be interested just to listen in.

Beyond that, Hangouts seems like a pretty awesome tool for those who wanted to record video shows. But there’s no way to save what happens.

Huddle: Group Text Chat

Somewhat related to Hangouts is Huddle, a group text chat service. I can’t really tell you more than that. Google didn’t cover this during my talk with them about Google Plus last week, so I’ve only got a screenshot for you and a promise will cover it more in our coming hands-on piece:

Huddle is for Android 2.0+ phones, iPhone 4.0+ phones and SMS, Google tells me.

Instant Upload

The last major feature of Google+ is called “Instant Upload.”

For those with Android phones, you can have any picture you take be uploaded to a centralized — and private — photo album area.

Google tells me they hope to bring it to other phones, as well.

Getting Google+

Want to try the service? Right now, it’s strictly invite only. Some press are being allowed in, along with others that Google hand picks. There’s no ETA on when wider invites will be available.

Unusually, this isn’t being called a beta test or an experiment but rather a “field trial” that’s meant to finally gather some feedback from outside Google itself.

The limited test is probably wise. It’ll give Google more time to discover things it might not have anticipated being problems, as was the case with Buzz.

As for a wider release, and possible success, it’s anyone’s guess. As I said earlier, if you’re happy using Facebook, there seems relatively little to make you want to switch over to Google Plus, at the moment.

Perhaps with further Google +1 integration, that might change. Perhaps if there are people who want a Facebook alternative, Google’s now got a core to build on for them. At least the guessing about what Google might be doing is over.

Takeaway: Searching for ways to increase your Word productivity may get in the way of your productivity. So here are a few tricks you don’t need to go looking for. Efficient, simple to use, easy to remember.

Most of us don’t have time to discover all the ins and outs of the software we use on a daily basis. We learn on the fly, we occasionally pick up a tip or shortcut, and we grudgingly plow through the Help system when we absolutely have to.

But sometimes, just a few little tricks can make a big difference. Turning off an annoying feature, learning a keyboard trick that bypasses three dialog boxes, or taking advantage of an obscure option can save you a few headaches and a lot of time. Will they really change your life? Well that might be a stretch. But they could. Try these tips on for size and let me know.

1: Make vertical text selections

Usually, we select text horizontally — a word, a series of words, a paragraph — from left to right or vice versa. But sometimes the selection has to be vertical. For instance, suppose you wanted to delete the leading characters in Figure A.

Figure A

To make a vertical selection, hold down [Alt] as you drag down through the text you want to highlight. Figure B shows the column of unwanted characters selected using this technique. Hit [Delete] and bam, they’re gone.

Figure B

 

Although we selected text at the beginning of the lines in this example, you can make vertical selections anywhere on the page.

Note: Some users have reported that the Research pane appears when they try this selection technique. Here’s the secret: Release the [Alt] key before you let up on the mouse button. Word should retain the selection. If you hold down [Alt] but release the mouse button, Word may think “[Alt]-click” and open the Research pane in response.

2: Undo automatic changes you don’t want

By default, Word imposes lots of changes on the text you enter in a document. For example, it might convert a Web address to a hyperlink, replace straight apostrophes and quotation marks with their curly counterparts, or turn a pair of hyphens into an em dash. If that’s a welcome convenience, you’re in good shape. If you want to suppress those types of changes, you can disable them. See 10 annoying Word features (and how to turn them off) for details. But if you want to prevent those changes only from time to time, reach for the Undo command — [Ctrl]Z. Undo isn’t just for reversing something you’ve done; it also undoes some of the actions Word takes. Don’t want that em dash? When Word inserts it, hit [Ctrl]Z and change it back to the hyphens you intended to enter.

3: Get rid of a persistent border

This forehead-smacking solution earned considerable gratitude from stymied TechRepublic readers when Susan Harkins first provided it. Word offers a sometimes-handy option that lets you insert a border automatically. Type three hyphens on a blank line and press [Enter]. If the option is enabled, Word will replace the hyphens with a horizontal line. You can get rid of it if you press [Ctrl]Z after Word inserts it (see above). But if you try to select the border and delete it, you’re out of luck. You’re not dealing with a line object here. Word has applied the Bottom Border format to the paragraph.

To remove that format in Word 2003, click in the paragraph and choose No Border from the Borders drop-down list on the Formatting menu. In Word 2007/2010, click in the paragraph and then click the Border button in the Paragraph group of the Home tab. Just select No Border from the drop-down list (Figure C).

Figure C

If you like the automatic border feature, here’s a bonus tip: In addition to typing three hyphens to apply a bottom border (3/4-point), you can trigger different border styles. Typing:

• Three tilde characters (~) will create a wavy line.
• Three underscore characters (_) will create a 1.5-point line.
• Three asterisks (*) will create a dotted line.
• Three equal signs (=) will create a double line.
• Three pound signs (#) will produce a “thin thick thin” line.

4: Move selected text up or down

This tip is probably most useful when you’re working in a table, although you can use it to reorder paragraphs outside a table, too. Let’s say you decide you want the third row of a table to be the top row. Just click within the third row, hold down [Alt][Shift] and press the up arrow key twice. Each time you press the arrow key, Word will move the row up one. You can select multiple contiguous rows to move them as a block, and you can use the down arrow key if you want to move text down instead of up.

Using this shortcut gets a little tricky if you’re moving big pieces of text outside a table. It’s easy to lose track of what’s being relocated where, and you might find it easier to take a standard cut-and-paste approach in those situations. But when the text is small and manageable, the shortcut is great. For example, if you need to move an item up or down within a bulleted or numbered list, you can just click in the item’s paragraph and use the [Alt][Shift] and arrow key combo to move the item to the desired spot.

5: Save changes to all open Word documents at one time

This simple technique comes in handy when you’re working in multiple documents and want to make sure you’ve saved your changes to all of them. I actually use it most often when I’ve made a change to a template and want a quick way to save that change on the fly (before I’ve had a chance to forget I made a change I want to keep).

In Word 2003 and earlier, just press the [Shift] key and pull down the File menu. Word will display the Save All command on the menu, above the Save As command. Choose Save All and Word will prompt you to save each document (or template) that has any unsaved changes. This is more efficient than having to navigate to each document individually and click Save.

If you use Word 2007/2010, this won’t work. But you can add the Save All command to your Quick Access Toolbar:

1. Click the Office button (File in 2010) and click Word Options (Options in 2010).
2. Click Customize in the left-hand column (Quick Access Toolbar in 2010).
3. Select Commands Not In The Ribbon from the Choose Commands From drop-down list.
4. Scroll down and select Save All.
5. Click the Add button and then click OK.

 

1. Save face with MailtipsHave you ever hit “Reply All” to an email when you didn’t mean to? Or sent important information to someone and never gotten a response, only to learn later their email address was invalid? Microsoft Exchange 2010 and MailTips, a new Microsoft Outlook 2010 feature, can help prevent embarrassing mistakes, save you time, and alleviate frustration.Learn more: Turn on or off MailTips
2. Share your scheduleYou can share your calendar with others on a Microsoft Exchange Server—with permission, of course. Or you can publish your default Outlook 2010 to the web, which can allow more people to view it. If you publish your calendar to the web, you don’t have to have an Exchange account, and anyone can see it, even if they don’t have an Exchange account, either.Learn more: Introduction to calendar sharing
3. Stop repeating yourselfDo you do a lot of the same things over and over with emails? Like frequently move messages to a specific folder that you’ve set up? Or often forward messages to your team? Quick Steps in Outlook 2010 can help by turning commands and procedures that you use most often into one click actions.Learn more: Automate common or repetitive tasks with Quick Steps
4. Get in on the conversation—and manage itAt work you may often have conversations over email, where several people are weighing in on important issues. Have you ever missed someone’s response in one of these email conversations? Now you can see your email within the context of the conversation, with Conversation View. See the overall conversation, including your responses, find the most recent response, and easily figure out the message that is most important to you.Learn more: View email messages by conversation
5. Get in on the conversation—and ignore itMaybe you are no longer needed in an ongoing email conversation—or maybe the subject matter is no longer important to you. Whatever the reason, you can prevent additional responses from appearing in your inbox. The Ignore command moves the whole conversation and any future messages that arrive in the conversation to the Deleted Items folder.Learn more: Ignore all email messages in a conversation
6. Let colleagues know when you aren’t aroundIf you’re going to be heading out on vacation or even just away for the day, you can let your colleagues know your schedule and when they can expect to hear from you again. Customize automatic responses to emails you receive whenever you are unavailable.Learn more: Automatically reply to email messages with an Exchange account.
7. Protect what you sendIt’s easy to communicate with pretty much anyone via email. But there are times when you don’t want email you send to be forwarded to others, or printed out, or copied. You can use Information Rights Management (IRM) to help prevent sensitive email from being read, printed, forwarded, or copied by unauthorized people.Learn more: Introduction to IRM for email messages
8. Have it all in one place—and hear it, tooWith Unified Messaging (UM), you can receive email, voice, and fax messages in your Outlook Inbox. If you have an Exchange Server 2010 account, you can get Voice Mail Preview, which delivers both a recording and text that’s been created from the voice recording using automatic speech recognition.Learn more: Introduction to Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging
9. Contact info is at your fingertipsThanks to the Microsoft Outlook Global Address List (GAL), you no longer have to keep your contacts’ information stored on your computer–where it takes up space and gets out of date before you can manually update it. The Global Address List (GAL) tracks it all for you: phone numbers, building location, email addresses, and more.
10. Make sure they get itNeed to make sure your boss reads an email that you send her? Want to get your team to vote on their favorite restaurant for your team outing? You can add many different types of tracking to your email messages, including delivery and read receipts, voting buttons and follow-up actions.Learn more: Add tracking to email messages
11. Meet anywhere, anytimeGrab them for a meeting–just once or every week–find a meeting room, and even schedule meetings in a different time zone. Clicking the New Meeting button gives you access to everything you need to set up meetings with one or many.Learn more: Schedule a meeting with other people
12. Let someone else mind your calendarYou need to hand over your scheduling responsibilities to someone else—for just a bit, or for a good while. Or maybe you need to manage someone else’s schedule. The Delegate Access feature in Outlook lets meeting requests be received, accepted, and even sent for you by someone else.Learn more: Delegate access: Let someone else mind your calendar
13. Check email from any computerDon’t worry about dragging your laptop with you everywhere you go anymore: You can access your email from any computer connected to the Internet using any major web browser—even if it doesn’t have Microsoft Outlook on it. Outlook Web App (OWA) is a web-based version of Outlook that lets you access and send email, manage your calendar, and more.Learn more: Outlook Web App in Exchange 2010
14. It’s on your phone!Did we say forget about dragging your laptop with you? Well, forget about even needing to have a computer—Windows Phone 7 automatically comes with Office Mobile so you can check and send email, update your calendar, and keep on top of all that you need to.Learn more: Office Mobile site
15. No more extra gearIt used to be that when you were outside of your organization’s firewall, like when you were working from home or traveling, you’d need to log in to Outlook using a virtual private network (VPN) connection, which often required a smartcard or special tokens. Now Outlook offers Outlook Anywhere, an alternative to VPN connections that lets you use Outlook just as you normally do at your organization, without the need for special connections or hardware.Learn more: Use Outlook Anywhere to connect to your Exchange Server without a VPN

Protecting your identity is important and with Wi-Fi networks popping up nearly everywhere, many consumers don’t realize the dangers that come with using a Wi-Fi connection that is not their own. According to a recent poll conducted by Wakefield Research and Wi-Fi Alliance, 32 percent of respondents said they have tried to get on a Wi-Fi network that was not their own, a startling 18 percent more than a December 2008 poll. The Better Business Bureau, along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urges consumers to think ahead before surfing the Web on a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Wi-Fi hotpots like coffee shops, libraries, airports, hotels and universities are all breeding grounds for hackers. According to the FTC, new hacking tools—available for free online—make hacking easy, even for users with limited technical know-how.

Consumers should be cautious before using a non-secure wireless network and before sending personal information via unencrypted websites. When surfing on a non-secure Internet connection, an individual’s personal information, private documents, contacts, photos and even login information can be up for grabs as other users on the network have the capability of seeing what is being sent.

Steve Cox, President and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, warns consumers against two popular security scams that can be associated with using an unsecure Internet connection. “Many consumers don’t realize the repercussions that come from using a Wi-Fi hotspot. Phishing, a popular e-mailing scam, and smishing, a SMS texting scam, grow exponentially when hackers obtain access to personal information on the Web via an unsecure Wi-Fi network.” BBB urges consumers to protect themselves from such scams by securing their Internet surfing.

In order to confirm that an Internet connection is secure, BBB advises consumers to follow the FTC’s top Wi-Fi tips:

• Make sure the connection is protected by a unique password. If a Wi-Fi hotspot doesn’t ask for a password, the Internet connection is not secure. If a hotspot asks for a password just to grant access, consumers should proceed as if the connection were unsecured. Only trust home and work internet connections that are protected by a customized user password. Wi-Fi hotspot connections with generic passwords are vulnerable to hackers.

• Transmitted information should be encrypted. When sending personal information like addresses, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers over the Internet, make sure the website is fully encrypted and the network is secure. Look for https (the “s” stands for secure) at the beginning of the URL address to confirm its security.

• Don’t stay permanently logged-in to wireless hotspots. Never leave your Internet connection running while your computer is unattended and make sure to log-off after every use.

• Change your passwords frequently. When creating new accounts, make sure you use different passwords. Do not use the same password for different sites. If one password is hacked, the chances of other accounts being hacked becomes greater with repeated passwords.

For more advice on security scams, visit www.bbb.org or to learn more about protecting your privacy online and what to do if your information is compromised, visit www.OnGuardOnline.gov and http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/02/wireless.shtm

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Protect Your Data. Stay Connected. Save Time and Money.

Get ready to take your business to the next level. With Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard (SBS 2011 Standard) you can get business done faster, be more productive, and stay better connected. For a greater business capacity and a new competitive edge, the time for upgrading to Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard is now.

Top Ten Reasons to Upgrade

Enjoy updated component technologies, increased data protection, and new tools to help you grow your business capacity.

1. Get a Comprehensive, All-in-One Solution:

Get the newest releases of all the SBS 2011 Standard technology components that are designed to deliver an optimal experience for small businesses in an affordable all-in-one solution. The solution suite includes Windows Server® 2008 R2 technologies, Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010 SP1, Microsoft SharePoint® Foundation 2010, and Windows Software Update Services. Also, Premium Add-on includes Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 for Small Business.

2. Simplify IT Management:

Manage common IT tasks and address technology issues before they occur with a unified view of the health and security of your computers and servers in the network from one administrative console.

3. Run Line of Business Applications:

Get access to the large Windows Server 2008 R2 ecosystem of applications as the SBS 2011 Standard is built on Windows Server 2008 R2 code base.

4. Stay Connected to the Business:

Provide your users the freedom to securely access all of their communications—e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, and more—from virtually any platform, Web-browser, or device to get more done wherever they are with the integrated Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft Outlook® Web Access (OWA) capabilities.

5. Access Business Information from Virtually Anywhere, Anytime:

Get direct, secure access to your files, calendars, tasks, and contacts through any common browser, from virtually anywhere.

6. Built-in document collaboration:

SBS 2011 Standard features Microsoft SharePoint® Foundation Services 2010 – the newest version of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services. It powers exciting new features and capabilities that help you collaborate securely online—no matter where you are.

7. Simplify IT Management:

Reduce the cost of deploying and maintaining your network with streamlined setup and deployment for both the server and clients

8. Easy Migration:

Easily migrate to the new platform with enhanced migration tools, extensive pre-migration checks, and prescriptive guidance.

9. Simplified Back-up for Business Data:

Help protect your vital business information from loss with automatic backups and recover accidentally deleted files in the event of disaster. With easy-to-use interfaces and backup capabilities, you or your IT consultant can gain better control of your data, PCs, and network.

10. Keep your Network Healthy and Up-to-Date:

Help ensure the health of your network and keep your PCs and servers current with easy-to-read “green check” reports that give you a quick view of PC and server status, antivirus status, Microsoft software updates, and backup progress.

Takeaway: The key to collaborating effectively is to find tools that make working with others easy and efficient. Jack Wallen shares a list of tools that have greatly improved the collaborative process for his projects.

You might notice that not all tools listed were actually designed specifically for the task of collaboration. Some are communication tools, whereas others serve a much broader purpose. No matter their original purpose, each one makes collaboration much easier. In the end, all that matters is that you can work with your collaborators without having to leave town, host a face-to-face meeting, or run up your phone bill.

1: Google Docs
That’s right. The mighty Google has finally added a level of collaboration to its documents. Google documents now have a discussion feature, which allows the creator of a document to invite participants to collaborate (discuss) on it. What’s nice about this feature is that it is in real time and can be saved for later reference. Google docs are gaining ground, people!

2: Track Changes
In both Microsoft Office and LibreOffice, anyone who is collaborating on a document can take advantage of track changes. If you’re collaborating on a document in either of these office suites and you aren’t using track changes, you have no idea what you are missing. The ability to show what has been changed (and by whom), as well as to easily accept or reject those changes, goes a long way toward streamlining the collaboration process. The only downfall to track changes is that it is not in real time. But not many tools allow you to collaborate in real time on documents.

3: Comments
Another collaboration feature in both Microsoft Office and LibreOffice is the ability to insert comments into text. This is often used in conjunction with track changes to explain a change or ask a question. Anyone who plans on collaborating must have this feature in their toolbox. If you don’t use comments, you wind up sticking notes inline — which often ends badly when the comments are not removed before publication.

4: Gobby/Kobby
Gobby and Kobby offer the same function — real-time collaboration on text documents in Linux. These tools serve as a sort of chat client with a built-in text editor. The primary audience for both Gobby and Kobby is the developer, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be used for ordinary document collaboration. The downfall? Neither one supports the most popular word processor formats (such as .doc, .rtf, .and odt).

5: Instant messaging
I know, I know. IM isn’t technically a collaboration tool. But if you really think about it, how is it not? You can fire up your document, log on to your instant messaging client, and start chatting with your collaborators in real time about the work. No, you do not see changes as they are made, and any updates to the document are not made for all to see. But the truth of the matter is, the primary function of collaboration is communication, and using an instant messaging tool is a fantastic way to communicate.

6: Zoho
Zoho is an incredible Web-based collaboration tool. With Zoho, you can collaborate via chats, discussions, email, meetings, projects, wikis, and more. There are so many ways that Zoho helps you to collaborate, it would be serious feat to actually use them all for a single project. Although Zoho has a free plan for its service, you get only 1 GB of space for files. But its premium service is only $5 per month, so if you are a frequent collaborator and you’re looking for a great Web-based tool to facilitate collaboration, Zoho might be the perfect fit.

7: Campfire
Campfire is another Web-based collaboration tool, but it’s aimed at the corporate or enterprise-level crowds. With plans that reach all the way to 100 chatters and 25 GB of storage (a plan that costs $99 per month), Campfire can enable collaboration in larger settings or even classrooms. Campfire also packs in other enterprise-friendly features, such as searchability and an iPhone app for mobile collaboration. An extra benefit of the pricier plans is that they incorporated SSL for higher security.

8: MindMeister
MindMeister is a Web-based mind-mapping tool. Not all collaborators are familiar with (or comfortable with) mind-mapping tools. But for those who are, there is no better way to brainstorm an idea than a mind-mapping tool. Having a tool for mind-mapping available online is a brilliant way to get those ideas out of your head and into reality. MindMeister has three plans: Free (three maps), Premium — $59 per year (unlimited maps, enhanced security, upload files), and Business — $9 per month (unlimited maps, edit maps offline, branded subdomain, auto backups). MindMeister also has an app for iPhone and iPad.

9: TextFlow
TextFlow is an online document comparison tool. It allows you to generate change reports from Word and PDF documents. You can compare up to seven documents at once, see the changes in context, view the changes in a summary report, and even view the change history. Although the layout of the changes can take a bit of acclimation, the benefits of using such a tool far outweigh the somewhat awkward layout.

10: Kablink
Kablink is a set of open source, online collaboration tools. The set consists of Teaming, iFolder, and Conferencing. Teaming includes document management, workflow, expertise location, federated search, and a custom Web form generator. ifolder is a secure storage solution similar to that of Dropbox, but it also allows you to invite other iFolder users to share your folders. Conferencing is a real-time meeting solution that allows application sharing, whiteboards, presentations, and more. All three of the Kablink tools are cross platform.

Other tools?
If you try out the tools on this list, you should be able to find a collaboration solution that meets your needs. Although you may have to use a combination of tools, you should be able to find everything you need to get your collaboration up and running with very little effort.

Have you worked successfully with some of these tools? What other solutions would you add to the list?

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