Office

Control Word Document Layout With Text Boxes

Submitted by schwarz on

If you've ever struggled to get Microsoft Word to position important text exactly where you want it, try creating a Text Box.

A text box is a special type of shape designed to place text in your Word 2007 document without regard to the normal page margins. A text box gives you the flexibility to add text wherever you want it.

Add a text box...

  • To position and align text exactly where you want it to be
  • In margins to highlight key points
  • Above or below images to create a caption
  • To create a "pull quote" (a floating text box that highlights a quote from the document) or a sidebar (a block of supplementary material)

A text box is easy to insert, and with Microsoft Word's built-in text box styles and templates they're a breeze to create & customize. Or if you want more control, you can creating your own text box from scratch.

To learn how to insert a text box and how to format it in various ways — including resizing & moving it, and changing the text box shape, color, and outline — use these  instructions:

Thrifty Tip: Change Margins in Word Documents to Print Fewer Pages

Submitted by schwarz on

When you're preparing a document to be printed but find that just a few lines spill over onto the last page, you can save paper by optimizing your document to fit on the fewest pages possible. 

One way to do this is to reduce the font size of the text, but print that's too small can be too hard to read.

Instead, try adjusting the margins (either left & right or top & bottom) to reduce the white space surrounding the text. 

Watch one of these short demos to see how easy it is to be thrifty:

Convert PDFs to Editable Word, Excel, or PowerPoint Documents

Submitted by schwarz on

When someone shares a document with you that's in PDF format but you need to edit it, try the free online PDFConverter. It'll convert a PDF to PowerPoint (PPT), Word (DOC) or Excel (XLS), and you don't need to download any software to use it.

Just select the type of conversion, upload your file, enter your email address, and receive an email with a link to your converted file.

Make Short Work of Common Tasks: Use Excel's Paste Special Command

Submitted by schwarz on

paste special command in ExcelIn Excel, when you want to copy information into a new column, the column’s width doesn’t automatically adjust to accommodate the new data. But if you use Excel's "Paste Special" option, you can copy the source column’s width to the target column.

In Excel 2007 and 2010, Paste Special is in the Clipboard group on the Home tab. In Excel 2003, Paste Special is on the Edit menu.

Here's how to do it:

Excel Tip: Add a Comment to a Cell in Your Spreadsheet

Submitted by schwarz on

You can add a comment to any cell to make your Excel spreadsheet easier to understand.  This is handy any time you're sharing a spreadsheet with someone, to indicate how a complex formula works, or just to jot a note to yourself.

It's an unobtrusive way to add comments, that doesn't clutter up your spreadsheet.

Here's how to add a comment to a cell:

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Office