Tips and Tricks

Charting in Excel 2007

To quickly create a chart on its own sheet in a Microsoft Office Excel workbook, select the chart data, and then press the F11 key. This action generates a chart using your default chart type, originally set as a clustered column chart.

To change your default chart type: On the Insert tab, at the bottom-right corner of the Charts section, click the dialog box launch icon to open the Insert Chart dialog box. Select your preferred chart type, and then click “Set as Default Chart.” You can then click “Cancel” to close the dialog box without generating a chart. Though nothing will appear to have changed, the next time you generate a chart by pressing the F11 key, you will automatically generate the new default chart type.

After you have created a chart, you can still change the chart type. To change the chart type for only the active chart, on the Chart Tools Design tab, in the Type section, click “Change Chart Type.”

Change Default Document Formatting in Word 2007

When you created your first new document in Microsoft Office Word 2007, you may have noticed that default text formatting (the formatting of the Normal paragraph style) is different from the previous version. For example, the new default font is Calibri, line spacing is expanded, and space is automatically added after each paragraph.

To change font and paragraph formatting defaults for the active document or all new documents based on the active template, do the following:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S to open the Styles pane (or click the dialog box launch icon in the Styles section on the Home tab).
2. Click the Manage Styles icon (looks like two A’s with a pencil) at the bottom of the pane to open the Manage Styles dialog box.
3. On the Set Defaults tab of the dialog box, change font and paragraph formatting as needed. Then, at the bottom of the dialog box, click the option to apply settings either to this document only or to new documents based on the active template.

Excel 2007: Fit a Printout onto a Set Number of Worksheet Pages

1. Click the Page Layout tab on the Ribbon.

2. In the Scale to Fit section, in the Width box, type or select the number of pages you want the printout to span horizontally.

3. In the Height box in the same section, type or select the number of pages you want the printout to span vertically.

Group Schedules in Outlook 2007

Checking schedule availability for your team in Outlook 2003 means opening a fake meeting request, entering everyone's names, and then navigating the blue bars for an open slot of time. In Outlook 2007, you can create group schedules to view availability for multiple people and resources, such as conference rooms. To do so:

1. In Outlook 2007, click on the Calendar icon in the left-hand pane.
2. Click the Actions menu, and then click “View Group Schedules.”
3. Click “New,” type a name for the new group schedule, and click “OK.”
4. Enter the names of the people and resources whose schedules you want to view.
5. Click “Save and Close.”

To schedule a meeting or send an email message to the group or to an individual, open the group schedule, and then select an option from the Make Meeting drop-down list.

Keyboard Shortcuts in Office 2007

If you press and hold the “Alt” key, tooltips appear above the commands at the top of the page in all Office 2007 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, etc.). You can then press the appropriate letter for a simple keyboard shortcut to each command.

Prioritize with Note Tags in Microsoft Office OneNote 2007

Note tags in OneNote can help you know and find what is important in your notes (such as ideas or actions), indicate each item’s level of priority or type, and recall these items easily.  Names and icons associated with note tags can be customized to meet your needs.

To add a note tag:

1. Click the content that you want to tag.
2. On the Insert menu, click “Tag.”
3. Choose from the list of note tags.