Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

Here are some great keyboard shortcuts to use in excel you can use to save some time.

• Ctrl + 2: Bold
• Ctrl + 3: Italic
• Ctrl + 4: Underline
• Ctrl + 5: Strikethrough
• Shift + Ctrl + F: Font dropdown list
• Ctrl + 9: Hide rows
• Ctrl + 0: Hide columns
• Ctrl + Shift + (: Unhide rows
• Ctrl + Shift +): Unhide columns
• Shift + Space: Select entire row
• Ctrl + Space: Select entire column

Developing Ideas and Design Concepts with Craig Smallish- Lynda.com

"Sketching design concepts is a natural way to develop creative ideas, but translating a rough sketch into a polished design can be a challenge even for the most seasoned designer. In Developing Ideas and Design Concepts, Craig Smallish explores ways to efficiently capture and iterate your design concepts—from brainstorming through refinement."

Welcome

Developing Ideas and Design Concepts | by Craig Smallish

Inserting Text on Multiple Lines within a Single Cell in Microsoft Excel 2010

If you are typing text into a cell and you want to have your line breaks in a specific place just press ALT+ENTER when you are ready and you will be typing on a new line but still within the same cell.  While you can also use text wrapping, this tip allows you to be very specific as to where you would like to wrap your text within a cell. 

5 Keys to Customer Loyalty

Great article about customer loyalty which is a result of customer satisfaction. Enjoy!

5 Keys to Customer Loyalty

Voting Options with Microsoft Outlook 2010

This is a great tool to use if you need to track answers from a large group of people.  When you open a new email or email that you would like to forward, click on the Options tab, look in the Tracking group, and click Use Voting Buttons.  Then select which voting options you would like to use, or click Custom to customize your voting responses.  You will not see actual buttons on your email, it will show on the top information bar in your email that you have added this option.  Also, it is important to note that this tool works best if recipients open your email within Outlook, as the option to vote will also appear in the information bar of the email.  To see all the answers that you have received, you will open the email that you originally sent with the voting buttons and click the Message tab and look in the Show group and click Tracking so that you can see your results, but know that you will not see this option until at least one person has voted.  

Manage Your Time- Lynda.com

"In this weekly series, Todd Dewett, PhD, shares the tips respected and motivated managers use to improve rapport, navigate tricky situations, build better relationships, and drive the business forward. Each week, we'll release two tips ranging from avoiding the dreaded micromanagement to managing a multigenerational workforce, cultivating better listening skills, and developing an understanding of your organization's politics. Check back every Wednesday for moreManagement Tips."

Hiding Rows and Columns in Microsoft Excel 2010

There are many reasons that we may need to hide different rows or columns especially for printing and distributing, but we also need to preserve the data that they contain.  It’s quite easy to do, just highlight the entire row(s) or column(s) that you would like to hide by clicking on the headings (1,2,3 or A,B,C). Now right click within the highlighted section and click Hide.  This will hide your selection until you Unhide it. To Unhide, look in the headings and place your cursor between the columns or rows that are hidden and right click, this time click Unhide.  

Social Media and Mobile Phone Usage Statistics

Here are some important statistics from a Constant Contact article about social media and mobile phone usage.

• According to a new report from eMarketer, 28 million Americans will use Twitter on their mobile phones at least monthly this year. That’s up 22 percent over 2012.
•  EMarketer also projected that nearly 100 million Americans will access Facebook via a mobile device at least monthly in 2013. That number is expected to increase 50 percent by 2017.
• Today, nearly all mobile social network users will use Facebook on their mobile device.
• 75 percent of smartphone owners are “highly likely” to delete emails they can’t read on their phone

A new Constant Contact survey, done in conjunction with  research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey, provides further evidence for why brands need to be thinking about mobile when designing their marketing emails.

Possibly the most revealing piece of data collected from a survey which included responses from 1,497 smartphone users, is that 75 percent of users say they are “highly likely” to delete an email that does not display well on mobile.

It should come as no surprise that 80 percent of participants also reported it is extremely important to be able to read emails on their mobile device.

The survey also provides a closer look at the role of mobile for different age groups:

• For respondents ages 18 to 30 years, 88 percent open email  on a mobile device, with more than half confirming their smartphone is their primary device for opening emails.
• For respondents ages 30 to 39, 85 percent open emails on their mobile device with nearly half – 48 percent – claiming their smartphone is their primary device for email.
• For respondents ages 40 to 49,  74 percent confirmed they read emails on their devices, but only 35 percent of this age demographic said that their smartphone was their primary device for reading emails.

Regardless of the size of your business, the industry you work in, or the audience you serve — mobile is already influencing your email marketing and will have an even greater influence in the years to come.

That’s good news for small businesses and organizations, says Jim Garretson, mobile product manager at Constant Contact.

“The fact of the matter is that consumers are opening emails on their phones first with increasing regularity,” Jim explains. “The great thing about mobile emails is that shorter content and fewer calls to action actually perform better than complicated and dense messaging. By simplifying email marketing campaigns, marketers can take an essential and effective step towards becoming mobile-friendly.”

Shortcut to Viewing Your Selection in Microsoft Excel 2010

When working in an excel spreadsheet it can be rather frustrating when you have made a selection of cells and then accidentally scroll away from your selection.  I have done this many of times by accidentally touching the track pad on my laptop, then trying to carefully scroll back without undoing my selection.  This shortcut will make that mistake much easier to recover.  Simply press CTRL+BACKSPACE and your selection will be back in view! 

Excel 2013: Charts in Depth with Dennis Taylor - Lynda.com

Charts allow you to communicate information visually, in a way that's more impactful than raw data, and they happen to be one of the most powerful and easy-to-use features in Microsoft Excel. Let Dennis Taylor show you how to create different kinds of Excel charts, from column, bar, and line charts to exploded pies, and decide which type works best for your data. Plus, learn how to fine-tune your chart's color and style; add titles, labels, and legends; insert shapes, pictures, and text boxes; and pull data from multiple sources.

Conversation Clean up in Microsoft Outlook 2010

When you have a long conversation going through email, you can right click on your email, click Clean up Conversation and then Ok.  This will delete any repetitive emails in your conversation that have been sent through replies.  Also, if you would prefer that the duplicate emails do not go into the trash, you can click on the File tab, then Options and scroll to Conversation Clean Up.  Here you can select a specific folder for these duplicate messages to go into until you are ready to delete them.

LinkedIn for Business- Lynda.com

Leverage LinkedIn to promote your business, foster community in your field, and attract talent. Learn how in this course with business strategist Richard Colback. Richard begins with a look at setting up a basic business profile and then walks you through promotion activities, group creation, and best practices for recruiting and hiring talent.

He also shares smart strategies you can employ to keep your company profile up to date and how to implement a LinkedIn use policy that works for you and your employees. The course wraps with a look at integrating with other platforms and accessing the application on the go.

Welcome

LinkedIn for Business | by Richard Colback

View this entire LinkedIn for Business course and more in the lynda.com library.

Translator in Microsoft Office2010

You can use the translator in Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Publisher. If it is just a couple words that you need translated into another language, just make a selection by highlighting, right click and then click translate. This will open up your research pane where you can select the language you would like to translate to.  Also, if you need a whole document translated you can click the Review Tab, in the Language group click Translate, and lastly select Translate Document.  Now a popup window will appear asking for permission to send your document as an HTML file over the internet to be translated.  Once you have selected OK your file will open up in your internet browser in the language you have selected.  As always with translation services, it is best to have someone who is fluent in that language look over the document to check for any translation errors.  

Up and Running with LinkedIn- Lynda.com

Join author Richard Colback as he shows you how to get started with the world's largest professional networking site, LinkedIn. The course demonstrates how to build a profile that will get the attention of employers, recruiters, fellow professionals, and potential clients. Richard walks you through creating an account, adding pertinent information such as skills and work experience, making connections and joining groups, accessing LinkedIn from apps, and monitoring your stats to continuously build a better profile. Along the way, learn to grow your personal brand and become a more visible community member by participating in group discussions, asking and answering questions, and engaging in other ways that add to your profile's integrity.

Welcome

Up and Running with LinkedIn | by Richard Colback

View this entire Up and Running with LinkedIn course and more in the lynda.com library.

Using Microsoft Word 2010 to Edit Photos

Many of us do not have photo-editing software on our computers, but have the occasional need to do some basic editing.  Well as I learned this week, when I found myself in this situation, you can use Word to help.  First insert the picture or pictures that you need to edit into a Word document, and edit your pictures to your liking.  Then right click on your edited picture and click copy.  Now open up your Paint program and Paste your picture, and finally click Save As.  Make sure to select JPEG in the drop down list labeled “Save Type as.”   Now you have a new picture with the edits you wanted!

App for a Traveler – Google Translate (iPhone & Android)

Both versions allow you to type or speak a phrase in English that Google Translate will then convert into any one of the 43 languages it works with. The Android version goes an extra step to give you a translation of a sign you aim your phone at.

Download Android App

Download iPhone App

Pointer Options in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010

Did you know that you can easily illustrate your PowerPoint presentations? When you are in presenting mode, if you right click and scroll down to Pointer Options you can change your pointer to a pen or highlighter to easily emphasize on a certain aspect of your presentation.

Google Calendar Essential Training with Jess Stratton - Lynda.com

"Manage your personal and professional schedules better with Google Calendar. This course shows you how to get started scheduling events, keeping track of your to-dos, and accessing it all on the go. Author Jess Stratton first shows you how to change the way the calendar looks and acts to make it better suit your needs, and then moves straight into creating single or repeating events, inviting guests, and adding rooms and resources to an event. Then learn how to respond to invitations and the ins and outs of pop-up reminders and email notifications. You'll learn how to create an additional calendar and share your calendar with others, as well as create a task list where you can assign tasks to others. The last chapter of this course covers Google Labs as well as accessing your Google Calendar on your phone or tablet."