DocSyncer for Google docs

Somebody had to come up with a way to synchronize the documents you edit in Microsoft Office so they are available in Google Docs.

Try the free service at DocSyncer to migrate files to Google.

Excel 2007 shortcuts

PC Magazine (June 200 has a list of “11 Killer Excel 2007 Shortcuts”:

Ctrl-Shift-&	Apply the outline border to the selected cells
Ctrl-Shift-#	Apply the Date format with day, month and year
Ctrl-Shift-@	Apply the Time format: hour, minute, AM or PM
Ctrl-Shift-:	(colon) Enter current time
Ctrl-;	(semi-colon) Enter date
Ctrl-O	Hide selected columns
Ctrl-’	(single quote) alternate: cell values/formulas
Ctrl-H	Find and replace
Ctrl-F2	Print Preview
Ctrl-F6	next workbook
Alt-F8	macro dialog box

Microsoft Office 2007 without a mouse

Okay, some of us keyboard-oriented types hate to take our hands off the keyboard to use a mouse to navigate. It’s hard on the ol’ carpal tunnel problem.

Office 2007 has a neat little trick to help: press the Alt key while in any Office 2007 program, and the ribbon with the menus instantly has a batch of little labels with the keystroke to use.  You can then use H for Home, and N for Insert, etc.

Recommended by PC Magazine, June 2008.

Best academic discounts for students, faculty & staff

Windows Secrets had instructions on how to get Microsoft Windows software at an academic discount for students, faculty & staff.  Requirements on what they want differ from vendor to vendor.  This article was dated April 12, 2007 so check current prices starting with these sites, and then perhaps elsewhere.

Where to shop for academic discounts

“Using your favorite search engine, you should have no difficulty finding software retailers that offer academic discounts. The ones I’ve found that have the best prices and selection are, in alphabetical order:”

• Academic Superstore
  Campus Tech
  Creation Engine
  CCV Software
  JourneyEd
  School World
  VioSoftware
  

Here’s looking at you, Office

Microsoft Office viewers are available if you don’t have Microsoft Office programs. Click here for the download page for viewers for all MS Office products, Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook, Access, and Visio.

Remember: you can see the files with these viewers, but you cannot edit them in any way.

You can also use OpenOffice (freeware compatible with MS Office Suite before 2007) to view Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Access files (before 2007) as well as edit and save them to MS Office formats such as 97-2003 formats.

Remember: you must not use 2007 formats (ending in “x” such as “.docx“) if you want to use other programs such as OpenOffice, WordPerfect, etc. to view or edit them reliably.

Office 2007 tutorials

Access Librarian Joni Stine recommends the Office 2007 tutorials at Microsoft Online.

Saving money on Microsoft products

Windows Secrets has advice and links on how to save money on Microsoft Windows and other products. Use at your own risk.

WARNING: Student/Faculty, aka “Academic” versions of Microsoft products, may NOT qualify you for cheaper “upgrade” versions later.
For example, the Office Suite’s academic version for 2003 may not be eligible for the discounted upgrade to the 2007 version, even if it
says “all versions” on the box. You may need to buy another complete academic version instead.

Microsoft Word 2003 to 2007 cheat sheet

USC Marshall has a cheat sheet for Word 2003 commands in 2007.

Beginning PowerPoint 2007

What beginners need to know about PowerPoint 2007 and PowerPoint 2007 Tutorials for Beginners from PresentationSoft at About.com .

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 manuals

USC Marshall tutorials on PowerPoint 2007 (copies of these PDFs are posted in the Library too — they’re very good).

Microsoft Excel 2007 - dealing with the bugs

Windows Secrets has a section on the bugs in Excel 2007 and how to deal with them.

Microsoft Excel 2003 cheat sheets for 2007

USC Marshall has some excellent cheat sheets for Excel 2007 giving the equivalents for Excel 2003.

Office 2007 add-ons

Download Free Office 2007 Software from Microsoft is a list of freeware to enhance MS Office 2007.

Office 2007 converters

A converter for 2007 to 2003 is here. Use at your own risk — this has not been tested by Library staff. This site seems to be very slow to load.

NW DocX Converter will convert Word 2007 and OpenOffice swx and odt files to RTF format. Be warned — this will lose a lot of your Office formatting, so expect to only keep the actual text, and not the way it looks on the page. Use at your own risk — this has not been tested.

Microsoft Office 2007 for older versions of Office

Office 2007 Formats

Office 2007 uses a new format for Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx) and PowerPoint (.pptx) files. In order to use these with older versions of MS Office, you will need a “compatibility pack” from Microsoft which works with Office 2000, 2002 (XP), and 2003.

If you don’t want to do that, you must remember to save as an older version format, such as “97-2003″, so your older version can still read it. Office 2007, of course, can still read older formats, but older versions of Office can’t read the newer formats without help.

The following instructions only work if you already have a licensed older version of Microsoft Office.

The Microsoft Knowledge Base article for this is 924074. Remember that Microsoft may change the location of these files, or the wording, but they should have them somewhere on their site.

1. FIRST download the 2003 viewers for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and install them. Several versions may be offered, but you want the 2003 viewers.
2. Then install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats for older Office software (2000, 2002, 2003).

REMEMBER: Office versions older than 2007 currently used on campus cannot read the new formats, so save in an older format if you want to be able to read it without Office 2007.
Be sure to get the free 2003 viewers and install them FIRST before the compatibility pack! They are essential for the compatibility pack to function.
This is NOT for use with other programs such as OpenOffice, WordPerfect, or other software.

Microsoft Office 2007 help

USC Marshall School of Business has some excellent how-to manuals for Office 2007 here.
Copies of some of these are available for use in-library by the 2nd floor computers.