Word Processing Tips - Insert Lines

There are times when we need to create lines across a page and here are some WORD shortcuts to easily create a variety of horizontal lines by typing the following characters three times, followed by Return or Enter:

• Minus (-) produces a thin line
• Underscore (_) produces a thicker line
• Equal sign (=) produces a double line
• Asterisk (*) produces a thick dotted line
• Tilde (~) produces a zigzag line
• Number (#) produces three lines, a thicker middle line between two thin lines

The lines will be the width of your page, or if you are using columns, the width of your column

In WordPerfect the first three shortcuts work in all versions after and including Version 7.

CANCEL PRINT JOB

CANCEL PRINTING REQUESTS
Many printers have a cancel button allowing you to cancel a print job OR

When you give the command to print - the printer icon will appear in the bottom right hand corner in the "system tray" and remain there until your document is about 85% printed.
While the icon is there, you can cancel your print job.

• Double-click the printer icon in the "system tray"
• Choose Open Active Printer to see & cancel documents in que/line.

If you're printing a short document and background printing is turned on, the printer icon may not appear on the status bar long enough for you to click it to cancel printing

If you share a printer you can only cancel a job from the computer that sent the command (so you can't override someone else's print command - unless you are the administrator)

MOUSE SELECTION SHORTCUTS

When you "select or highlight" a word, sentence, phrase, page etc. you are telling the computer that is what you want to work with...

TO SELECT ONE WORD: Place the insertion point in the middle of the word. Double click the left mouse button.

TO SELECT A SENTENCE: Place the insertion point anywhere in the sentence.
Hold down the Ctrl Key and click the left mouse button.

TO SELECT A PARAGRAPH: Place the insertion point anywhere in the paragraph. Triple click the left mouse button.

TO SELECT A LINE OF TEXT: Place the mouse pointer in the left gutter area (the mouse will turn into a right facing arrow). Click the left mouse button once.

TO SELECT A BLOCK OF TEXT: Place the insertion point at the beginning of the block of text you want to select. Hold down the SHIFT Key. Place the I-beam at the end of the block of text and click the left mouse button.

TO SELECT THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT: Click Edit on the menu bar then choose Select All (or simply hold the CTRL + A keys).

TO DESELECT A SELECTION: Click anywhere in the white space of your document.

WORD: SAVE A DOCUMENT TO YOUR FLASH/MEMORY STICK

When you save documents to your Flash/Memory Stick – you need to know which DRIVE your Flash Memory Stick is on - So when you plug it in watch for the "info box" that will appear telling you which drive letter it has been assigned... When you plug it into the USB port, it will tell you

• Word 97-2003: Go to the Menu Bar, File, Save As, My Documents (icon on left bar) is what may appear
• Word 2007: Go to the Office Button, Choose Save As, Choose 97-2003 document, the My Document folder will open (icon also appears on the left bar)
• Now to find your flash drive - use the drop down arrow beside “My Documents” and choose the correct drive for your Flash/Memory Stick (could be Drive E - F – G – H ??)
• Select or create a folder to put your work in
• Name your Document, when you are done typing use the enter key on your keyboard OR left click on the SAVE button

WORD PROCESSING TIPS – MARGINS, PAPER SIZE, LINE SPACING

The following tips are for Word 97-2003 using toolbars and we refer to “the Menu Bar” ; for those of you with Word 2007, then you have a Tab Ribbon Layout (vs toolbars) so go to the Page Layout Tab (3rd) and on that ribbon you will find the page setup & paragraph functions-then follow the steps below..

MARGINS: TO SET/CHANGE: Go to Menu Bar, File, Page Set Up - Choose the “Margin Tab” – Then change your top, bottom, left & right margin. (For preprinted stationary-measure the furthest point & add ¼”) Gutter is routinely left at “0”; and header and footer is routinely set at half of what the top & bottom margin measurement is

PAPER SIZE, TO CHANGE: Go to Menu Bar, File, Page Setup, Choose the “Paper Layout Tab” & make your changes: Portrait or Landscape; Paper Size/style, etc.

TO CHANGE LINE SPACING:

• Select (highlight) text/list you want to change line spacing for
• Click on Format on Menu Bar-Click on “Paragraph”
• Dialog Box will appear
• Choose Line Spacing
• Choosing Multiple allows you to set spacing less than or more than single space (1), such as .9 or 1.3
• Be sure Spacing Before & After Is set at “0” (to left of line spacing)
  

Blessings from St. Patrick

On March 17th people across the world celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. Yes - it's the wearin of the green, the feasting on corned beef and cabbage and irish ale, but how much do most of us actually know about the man we celebrate each year.

Saint Patrick is known as the patron saint to the Irish people because he is the one who brought Christianity to Ireland. According to legend, he used the Shamrock to teach about God. Since the shamrock has three leaves on each stem, Saint Patrick likened the shamrock to the Holy Trinity. St. Patrick taught that in God there are three divine beings: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The shamrock was sacred to the Druids, so Saint Patrick’s use of it to explain the trinity was very wise

A segment of a poem written by St. Patrick (ca 377):

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

What is Power Point Viewer?

This is a free software application program that allows you to see Power Point Presentation (slide show) even when you don't have Power Point installed on your computer. So you can see the slide who - save it - and then be able to resend it on to someone else - you cannot however create a new presentation or change/modify any presentations you've received or saved.

To download this to your computer you can go to Microsoft.com, choose the download section OR
Left click on the link below which will take you directly to the download page - simply use the download button and follow the wizard... - your computer will put it where it belongs....

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=048dc840-14e1-467d-8dca-19d2a8fd7485

REMEMBER TO CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS...

Set your clocks ahead one hour before going to bed TOMORROW night – Saturday March 13th - Spring's daylight saving time begins Sunday, March 14th at 2 a.m.
We get an extra hour of daylight when we "spring forward" each March and then lose it when we "fall back" in November. But have you ever wondered how DST began? Here are some tidbits about its origins and pros and cons of these time-changing events.
According to lots of sources on the internet, several events led to our modern-day DST:

• Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers, suggested something akin to daylight saving time in a 1784 essay
• During World War I in an effort to conserve fuel needed to produce electric power, Germany and Austria began saving daylight by advancing the hands of the clock one hour from April through October
• A postal clerk from New Zealand was the first to propose modern DST
• Congress first put America's clocks ahead one hour during World War I and (later for WWII)
• Congress enacted the Uniform Time Act of 1966 to eliminate confusion about DST across the country
• Thanks to this act, DST in the United States now begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November

Skype - Free video & voice calls

With Skype you can make free video & voice calls over the Internet to other people anywhere in the world on Skype for as long as you like, wherever you like. Some features of Skype include free Skype-to-Skype calls, free video calls, conference calls, instant messaging, SMS messaging and the ability to forward all calls to your mobile phone when you're offline. Skype to Skype calls are totally free. Yep, absolutely nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

FIRST – GO TO SKYPE.COM AND DOWNLOAD THEIR FREE SOFTWARE –. Go to the Skype website and download the Skype software which is free. Once you have downloaded Skype, double-click on the executable file to install Skype onto your PC.

• Next, create a new username and password to create your free account so you can login to the Skype network.
• Search for your friends and family on Skype by clicking on the "Add" button
• To make a call, simply click on the name in the contact list and press the green phone icon button located at the bottom. You will see a ‘Ringing’ status on the screen until the person answers or picks up the call. On receiving the response, the connection is established; you will see the ‘call duration’ along with time elapsed on the screen; To hang up, click on the red icon
• If your friends are not online, you can send SMS messages or forward your message to their voicemail

USING A HEADSET will improve your call quality. You can make calls via Skype with the in-built speakers and microphones found on most computers but a headset gives better audio quality Headsets can be cordless or plug-in

VIDEO CALLS, LIKE SKYPE-TO-SKYPE CALLS ARE FREE, so you can see your friends & family around the world and it won't cost a thing-you just need a webcam and if your friends & family also have a webcam, you can talk face-to-face

FYI-There is a great video which explains skype “basics” - He shows you - he's actually showing his dad how to use it.. click on the hyperlink below & enjoy

www.viddler.com/explore/JustinBrooke/videos/23/

Word Processing Tips-Graphics

When you work with graphics (word art, photos, clip art, shapes, symbols) in word processing - just a few tips...

TEXT WRAPPING:
Once a new GRAPHIC is on your page, left click on the art work, then left click on the "dog/text wrapping icon" on the clip art/picture/word-art toolbar" (in Word 2007 this icon will appear in the format ribbon).
When you choose/click on the icon - an action list appears - initially while you are working with your document, choose "THROUGH" so you can work with it more easily.
Add more clip art to your computer files anytime online from MS Office Clip Art, or find other clip art sites

SIZING HANDLES:
If sizing handles disappear, just left click on the word art, clip art or auto shapes and they’ll reappear so you can now work with it
You will also see the appropriate toolbars appear OR add the word art, picture & clip art toolbars - Right click on the gray toolbar area at the top of your page and add the ones you want to stay active..
In Word 2007, the format ribbon appears when you are working with graphics-clip art, word art, photos, symbols, shapes etc

What is Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is video creating/editing software that is included free in versions of Microsoft Windows XP & Vista; it’s fun & easy to learn to use, to enhance your photos and share them in a different way by combining photos, music, text slides and much more... It is not included in Windows 7 but we recommend going to Microsoft and downloading an earlier version used on Vista or XP, NOT the new Windows Live Movie Maker, which has none of the favorite features which allow us full editing ability…

The LAYOUT consists of a STORYBOARD VIEW and a TIMELINE VIEW, collections for organizing imported video, and a PREVIEW screen. These are the areas where you create and edit your project is displayed in two views, the storyboard and the timeline. You can switch between these two views when making a movie. All versions use “DRAG & DROP” for the effects or transitions, and titles and credits can be added as stand alone titles or overlaying them on the clip by adding them onto the selected clip.

• STORYBOARD: Where you will drag your video or pictures to, creating a project. When in STORYBOARD VIEW, the video project appears as a film strip showing each scene in clips

• TIMELINE: Shows your project & where you add your music/audio to and the TIMELINE VIEW consists of:

• one 'Video' (with accompanying 'Audio' bar)
• one 'Music/Audio' bar, and
• one 'Titles/Credits' bar

EFFECTS, TRANSITIONS, TITLES & CREDITS
Versions 2+ include a wide variety of effects, transitions, titles and credits you can easily use to add professional touches and visual interest to your movies …
• Windows XP has 60 transitions, 37 effects, 34 title and 9 credits animations-Windows VISTA has even more.

ABOUT THE MOVIE TASKS PANE
The Movie Tasks pane lists the common tasks to perform and guides you thru the process step-by-step..

1. Capture Video. options to begin a movie (capture video, import video, pictures, or audio).
2. Edit Movie. options for making a movie (view existing video, pictures, audio & add effects, titles etc.
3. Finish Movie. options to save your final movie, ie to your PC. CD, DVD, email attachment or the web
4. Movie Making Tips. Provides help for the common Movie Maker tasks.

BE SURE YOUR PICTURES, VIDEO’S AND/OR MUSIC ARE IN THE APPROPRIATE FILES SO YOU CAN FIND THEM QUICKLY & EASILY - As always, organizing your work “before you begin a project” is very important… Personally I create a project folder in each category and then sub-folders for specific projects so it is easier to find what I am looking for – in those I put “copies” of hat I am going to use, so that originals stay in their original folder…

• All editing of photos - cropping, lighting, whatever – must be done before you begin this project
• Be sure any music you might want to use is copied (ripped) from the CD and saved on your computer in a file you recognize, so that you can access them easily when you want to bring them over to the project

What's Craigs List, eBay or PayPal?

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ONLINE AUCTION SITES & CRAIGS LIST?
• Craig’s list is more like a listing service where the seller or hopeful buyer can list the specifics of what they want to buy or sell including price and other information
• On line auction sites, such as eBay – list items for a set period of time (typically 7 days) and then bidders can bid on the item sometimes far above value – EBay now also offers pricing as “Buy Now” to avoid bidding

POPULAR ONLINE AUCTION SITES: just a few or check out www.nettop20.com
• Ebay.Com
• Ebid.Com
• Epier.Com
• Onlineauction.Com
• Overstock.Com
• Oztion.Com
• Amazon.com
• Shopgoodwill.Com
• Ubid.Com
• Webidz.Com

Buying & selling items on online auctions should be fun, easy and safe and online auction sites should be easy to navigate, provide a wide selection of categories and subcategories, several custom selling options and a straightforward feedback forum. These issues are important to most of us when we consider on line auction sites…

1. User Base
2. Selling
3. Buying
4. Reliability/Security
5. Help/Support

HOW TO GET STARTED USING eBay.. It's easy and free! Registration is required in order to buy or sell on eBay. As a registered eBay member, you can shop on eBay and participate in the world's largest online community of buyers and sellers. EBay has a complete and very easy to understand Learning Center..

WHO IS PAY PAL? PayPal is eBay's preferred way to pay. It is a system that lets anyone with an email address securely send and receive online payments using their credit card or bank account. eBay members can use PayPal to quickly and easily pay for items on eBay – set up your pay pal account before you begin to shop to make buying easier. (go to www.paypal.com)