Monday, February 20, 2006
If you're inserting more than one object on the same page in a Word 2000 document, chances are that the objects will overlap. And when objects are placed next to text, do you want the text to appear in front of the objects, or do you want the objects to cover up the text?
To determine how the objects overlap with one another and with text, you need to know about layers, also known as drawing layers:
Foreground layer: Objects on this layer cover up objects on the text layer and background layer. Only objects, not text, can appear on the foreground layer. When you insert a new object in a document, it appears on the foreground layer.
Text layer: The text you type appears on this layer. No objects can appear on this layer. Text on this layer covers objects on the background layer; however, objects on the foreground layer can cover that text.
Background layer: Only objects can appear on this layer. Objects on the background layer are covered by objects on the foreground layer and by text.
To determine how the objects overlap with one another and with text, you need to know about layers, also known as drawing layers:
Foreground layer: Objects on this layer cover up objects on the text layer and background layer. Only objects, not text, can appear on the foreground layer. When you insert a new object in a document, it appears on the foreground layer.
Text layer: The text you type appears on this layer. No objects can appear on this layer. Text on this layer covers objects on the background layer; however, objects on the foreground layer can cover that text.
Background layer: Only objects can appear on this layer. Objects on the background layer are covered by objects on the foreground layer and by text.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
You use the Help and Support Center when you need help and support, right? Well, yes. Sorta. The Help and Support Center works best when
You want to learn about what functions big pieces of Windows perform, and you aren't overly concerned about solving a specific problem (for example, "What is Windows Media Player"?).
You have a problem that's easy to define ("My printer won't print").
You have a pretty good idea of what you want to do, but you need a little prodding on the mechanics to get the job done ("How do I change my desktop's picture?").
The Help and Support Center won't do much for you if you have only a vague idea of what's ailing your machine, if you want to understand enough details to think your way through a problem, if you're trying to decide on what hardware or software to buy for your computer, or if you want to know where the XP bodies are buried.
If you can't find the help you need in the Help and Support Center, expand your search for enlightenment in this order:
Far and away the best way to get help involves simple bribery. Buttonhole a buddy who knows about this stuff, and get her to lend you a virtual hand. Promise her a beer, a pizza, a night on the town -- whatever it takes. If your friend knows her stuff, it'll be cheaper and faster than the alternatives.
If your buddy is off getting a tan at Patong beach, you may be able to find help elsewhere on the Internet. Just type your question into Google or Yahoo! and see what comes up.
If all else fails, you can try to contact Microsoft by e-mail. You may qualify for free e-mail support using something called Microsoft Online Assisted Support. The best way to find out if you qualify, and connect with a support droid if you do, is to:
Choose Start, Help and Support.
Under the Ask for Assistance list, click Get support, or find information in Windows XP newsgroups.
In the Support box, click Get Help from Microsoft.
You connect to Microsoft's support site on the Internet, and at that point, you have a chance to review what support is available to you and how much it will cost.
As a last resort, you can try to contact Microsoft by telephone. Heaven help ya. Some pundits have observed that you'll probably have more luck with a psychic hotline. Be that as it may, the telephone number for tech support in the USA is (425) 635-3311; in Canada, it's (905) 568-4494.
You want to learn about what functions big pieces of Windows perform, and you aren't overly concerned about solving a specific problem (for example, "What is Windows Media Player"?).
You have a problem that's easy to define ("My printer won't print").
You have a pretty good idea of what you want to do, but you need a little prodding on the mechanics to get the job done ("How do I change my desktop's picture?").
The Help and Support Center won't do much for you if you have only a vague idea of what's ailing your machine, if you want to understand enough details to think your way through a problem, if you're trying to decide on what hardware or software to buy for your computer, or if you want to know where the XP bodies are buried.
If you can't find the help you need in the Help and Support Center, expand your search for enlightenment in this order:
Far and away the best way to get help involves simple bribery. Buttonhole a buddy who knows about this stuff, and get her to lend you a virtual hand. Promise her a beer, a pizza, a night on the town -- whatever it takes. If your friend knows her stuff, it'll be cheaper and faster than the alternatives.
If your buddy is off getting a tan at Patong beach, you may be able to find help elsewhere on the Internet. Just type your question into Google or Yahoo! and see what comes up.
If all else fails, you can try to contact Microsoft by e-mail. You may qualify for free e-mail support using something called Microsoft Online Assisted Support. The best way to find out if you qualify, and connect with a support droid if you do, is to:
Choose Start, Help and Support.
Under the Ask for Assistance list, click Get support, or find information in Windows XP newsgroups.
In the Support box, click Get Help from Microsoft.
You connect to Microsoft's support site on the Internet, and at that point, you have a chance to review what support is available to you and how much it will cost.
As a last resort, you can try to contact Microsoft by telephone. Heaven help ya. Some pundits have observed that you'll probably have more luck with a psychic hotline. Be that as it may, the telephone number for tech support in the USA is (425) 635-3311; in Canada, it's (905) 568-4494.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
PDFMaker 5.0 for Windows makes it ridiculously easy to turn any Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document you create or edit with the Office 2000 or Office XP (2002) editions of these programs into the latest and greatest versions of PDF documents — all you have to do is click the Convert to Adobe PDF button on the PDFMaker 5.0 toolbar (automatically added when you install Acrobat 5.0 for Windows on your computer). But before you touch that button, take a gander at these commandments for making perfect PDF conversions.
Check for consistent use of heading styles
Click the Document Map button on the Standard toolbar to display the headings and their hierarchical relationship in the Document Map pane in Word. Because PDFMaker can automatically convert all Word document headings into bookmarks in the resulting PDF document, you should make sure that all the headings in your document use the appropriate Heading style. Word 2002 users can display the Styles and Formatting task pane (choose View --> Task Pane and then click Styles and Formatting on the Task Pane pop-up menu) to check and, if necessary, reapply the Heading styles.
Check the paging of Excel worksheets
Choose View --> Page Break Preview on the Excel menus. Because PDFMaker uses the current paging of the Excel worksheet in constructing the pages in the resulting PDF document, you will want to verify the page breaks before doing the conversion. Remedy bad page breaks that separate columns and rows of data that should appear together on a page by dragging the page break markers in the Page Break Preview mode.
Verify which type of PDF document you're creating
You do this by checking the name that appears in the Conversion Settings combo box on the Settings tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings). When selecting among these presets, keep in mind the major use of the final PDF document: Select eBook for online viewing, Press for professional printing, Print for in-house printing, and Screen for fast downloading and viewing on the Web. Also, keep in mind that you can customize any of these presets by selecting it in the Conversion Settings combo box and then clicking the Edit Conversion Settings button.
Confirm that all Word document headings and styles will be converted into bookmarks
Verify which settings are selected on the Bookmarks tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings) in Word. Click the Convert Word Headings to Bookmarks check box to convert all Heading paragraph styles used in the document into bookmarks in the resulting PDF file. Click the Convert Word Styles to Bookmarks check box to convert all the other paragraph styles used in the document to bookmarks as well. To omit certain levels of headings or particular styles from bookmark conversion, click their individual check boxes that appear in the list box below.
Verify which Word features are marked for conversion in the PDF document
Verify which Word Features settings are selected on the Office tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings) in Word. To convert document comments to hidden notes in the PDF document, select the Comments --> Notes check box. To add text boxes to the adjoining text using the PDF Articles feature, select the Text Boxes --> Article Threads check box. To retain the page numbers used in the Word document, select the Page Numbers check box. To convert all cross-references and any table of contents generated in the Word document into links in the PDF document, select the Cross References & TOC Links check box. To convert all footnotes and endnotes added to the Word document into links in the resulting PDF file, select the Footnote & Endnote Links check box.
Make sure that you're creating a tagged PDF file
Verify that the Embed Tags in PDF (Accessibility, Reflow) check box option on the Office tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings) has a check mark in it.
Confirm how the converted PDF document is set to open in Acrobat
Verify the Document Open options on the Display Options tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings). To open the PDF document without displaying the Bookmarks palette in the Navigation pane, click the Page Only radio button. To display a page other than the first page upon opening, enter the page number in the Page Number field. To open the page at a set magnification, click the percentage (200, 400, 800, or 1600) or preset view (Fit in Window, Fit Width, or Fit Visible) in the Open Magnification pop-up menu.
Check for consistent use of heading styles
Click the Document Map button on the Standard toolbar to display the headings and their hierarchical relationship in the Document Map pane in Word. Because PDFMaker can automatically convert all Word document headings into bookmarks in the resulting PDF document, you should make sure that all the headings in your document use the appropriate Heading style. Word 2002 users can display the Styles and Formatting task pane (choose View --> Task Pane and then click Styles and Formatting on the Task Pane pop-up menu) to check and, if necessary, reapply the Heading styles.
Check the paging of Excel worksheets
Choose View --> Page Break Preview on the Excel menus. Because PDFMaker uses the current paging of the Excel worksheet in constructing the pages in the resulting PDF document, you will want to verify the page breaks before doing the conversion. Remedy bad page breaks that separate columns and rows of data that should appear together on a page by dragging the page break markers in the Page Break Preview mode.
Verify which type of PDF document you're creating
You do this by checking the name that appears in the Conversion Settings combo box on the Settings tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings). When selecting among these presets, keep in mind the major use of the final PDF document: Select eBook for online viewing, Press for professional printing, Print for in-house printing, and Screen for fast downloading and viewing on the Web. Also, keep in mind that you can customize any of these presets by selecting it in the Conversion Settings combo box and then clicking the Edit Conversion Settings button.
Confirm that all Word document headings and styles will be converted into bookmarks
Verify which settings are selected on the Bookmarks tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings) in Word. Click the Convert Word Headings to Bookmarks check box to convert all Heading paragraph styles used in the document into bookmarks in the resulting PDF file. Click the Convert Word Styles to Bookmarks check box to convert all the other paragraph styles used in the document to bookmarks as well. To omit certain levels of headings or particular styles from bookmark conversion, click their individual check boxes that appear in the list box below.
Verify which Word features are marked for conversion in the PDF document
Verify which Word Features settings are selected on the Office tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings) in Word. To convert document comments to hidden notes in the PDF document, select the Comments --> Notes check box. To add text boxes to the adjoining text using the PDF Articles feature, select the Text Boxes --> Article Threads check box. To retain the page numbers used in the Word document, select the Page Numbers check box. To convert all cross-references and any table of contents generated in the Word document into links in the PDF document, select the Cross References & TOC Links check box. To convert all footnotes and endnotes added to the Word document into links in the resulting PDF file, select the Footnote & Endnote Links check box.
Make sure that you're creating a tagged PDF file
Verify that the Embed Tags in PDF (Accessibility, Reflow) check box option on the Office tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings) has a check mark in it.
Confirm how the converted PDF document is set to open in Acrobat
Verify the Document Open options on the Display Options tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings). To open the PDF document without displaying the Bookmarks palette in the Navigation pane, click the Page Only radio button. To display a page other than the first page upon opening, enter the page number in the Page Number field. To open the page at a set magnification, click the percentage (200, 400, 800, or 1600) or preset view (Fit in Window, Fit Width, or Fit Visible) in the Open Magnification pop-up menu.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Sometimes, you may want to protect an Excel workbook by preventing users from adding or deleting sheets. Or, you may want to ensure that the workbook's window size or position is not changed. Here's how:
Choose the Tools, Protection, Protect Workbook command to display the following dialog box.
Choose the appropriate option and click OK.
Structure prevents any of the following changes to a workbook: Adding a sheet, deleting a sheet, moving a sheet, renaming a sheet, hiding a sheet, or unhiding a sheet.
Windows protects the workbook window from being moved or resized.
You can supply a password or not, depending on the level of protection you need.
To remove protection from a protected workbook, choose the Tools, Protection, Unprotect Workbook command.
Choose the Tools, Protection, Protect Workbook command to display the following dialog box.
Choose the appropriate option and click OK.
Structure prevents any of the following changes to a workbook: Adding a sheet, deleting a sheet, moving a sheet, renaming a sheet, hiding a sheet, or unhiding a sheet.
Windows protects the workbook window from being moved or resized.
You can supply a password or not, depending on the level of protection you need.
To remove protection from a protected workbook, choose the Tools, Protection, Unprotect Workbook command.
When you choose Start, Help and Support Center, Windows XP presents you with a wide array of choices. Many of the top-level choices "drill down" to the same bits of information; by giving you many different ways to get to that information, Microsoft hopes to make finding what you need easier for you, even if you don't know the answer to your question in advance.
Windows Help morsels fall into several categories:
Overviews, articles, and tutorials: Explanatory pieces aimed at giving you an idea of what is going on, as opposed to solving a specific problem.
Tasks: Step-by-step procedures for solving a single problem or changing a single setting.
Walkthroughs: Marketing demos . . . uh, multimedia demonstrations of capabilities that tend to be, uh, light on details and heavy on splash.
Troubleshooters: Take you through a series of (frequently complex) steps to help you identify and resolve problems.
Microsoft has tried hard to enable you to solve your own problems. At the same time, Microsoft has made it pretty difficult to figure out how to pick up the phone and chat with somebody in Product Support Services.
Few Dummies will want to jigger with the Search Options. The Help and Support Center already looks in all the places it can; your only options are to cut off certain types of searches entirely.
Live, one-on-one support from Microsoft is notoriously uneven. One day you get a support rep who can solve your problem in the blink of an eye. The next day you spend hours on hold, only to be told that you need to reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows.
When Troubleshooters work, they work well, but they cover only the most basic problems and the most direct solutions.
Although Remote Assistance is a great idea, in practice the idea has plenty of problems: Both you and your assistant have to be connected to the Internet (or to the same local network) and if firewalls exist between you, Remote Assistance might not work at all.
Windows newsgroups on the Internet are unmoderated, which means anybody can post anything. Many well-meaning support group participants dole out utterly terrible advice.
Sometimes Windows Updates are worse than the problem they're supposed to fix. Wait for an update to be in general circulation for at least a week before you apply it to your machine. That way, Microsoft has a chance to withdraw or reissue problematic updates (of which there are many).
The Hardware and Software Compatibility lists leave much to be desired. If a piece of hardware or software that you want to buy appears on the list, it's probably at least a little bit compatible. If it isn't on the list, you can't really draw much of a conclusion.
Windows Help morsels fall into several categories:
Overviews, articles, and tutorials: Explanatory pieces aimed at giving you an idea of what is going on, as opposed to solving a specific problem.
Tasks: Step-by-step procedures for solving a single problem or changing a single setting.
Walkthroughs: Marketing demos . . . uh, multimedia demonstrations of capabilities that tend to be, uh, light on details and heavy on splash.
Troubleshooters: Take you through a series of (frequently complex) steps to help you identify and resolve problems.
Microsoft has tried hard to enable you to solve your own problems. At the same time, Microsoft has made it pretty difficult to figure out how to pick up the phone and chat with somebody in Product Support Services.
Few Dummies will want to jigger with the Search Options. The Help and Support Center already looks in all the places it can; your only options are to cut off certain types of searches entirely.
Live, one-on-one support from Microsoft is notoriously uneven. One day you get a support rep who can solve your problem in the blink of an eye. The next day you spend hours on hold, only to be told that you need to reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows.
When Troubleshooters work, they work well, but they cover only the most basic problems and the most direct solutions.
Although Remote Assistance is a great idea, in practice the idea has plenty of problems: Both you and your assistant have to be connected to the Internet (or to the same local network) and if firewalls exist between you, Remote Assistance might not work at all.
Windows newsgroups on the Internet are unmoderated, which means anybody can post anything. Many well-meaning support group participants dole out utterly terrible advice.
Sometimes Windows Updates are worse than the problem they're supposed to fix. Wait for an update to be in general circulation for at least a week before you apply it to your machine. That way, Microsoft has a chance to withdraw or reissue problematic updates (of which there are many).
The Hardware and Software Compatibility lists leave much to be desired. If a piece of hardware or software that you want to buy appears on the list, it's probably at least a little bit compatible. If it isn't on the list, you can't really draw much of a conclusion.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Preset actions are actions that have been created by the kind folks at Adobe for Photoshop. You can also get other preset actions from Adobe's Web site, as well as third-party vendors.
Photoshop's present actions are located in a series of files in the Actions folder. The default actions are loaded by, um, default when you first open Photoshop. However, other present actions are available for you to open and use. They include Frames (for putting frames around your images), Text Effects (for enhancing your text), and Image Effects (where you can give you image the appearance of being aged or neon, for example).
Follow these steps to load preset actions:
In the Actions palette, click the palette pop-up menu arrow and choose Load Actions.
Select one of the action sets.
Click the Load button.
Photoshop's additional actions presets also appear at the bottom of the Actions palette pop-up menu. You can add any of them to your current list of actions by choosing the set's name.
The new actions presets appear in the Actions palette, appended after the default actions that are already there. You can show or hide the actions in the Default Actions or Image Effects sets by clicking the expand/collapse arrow in the third column.
You can also make actions available or unavailable for an entire set by clicking the first column in the Actions palette next to the action set's folder icon.
Photoshop's present actions are located in a series of files in the Actions folder. The default actions are loaded by, um, default when you first open Photoshop. However, other present actions are available for you to open and use. They include Frames (for putting frames around your images), Text Effects (for enhancing your text), and Image Effects (where you can give you image the appearance of being aged or neon, for example).
Follow these steps to load preset actions:
In the Actions palette, click the palette pop-up menu arrow and choose Load Actions.
Select one of the action sets.
Click the Load button.
Photoshop's additional actions presets also appear at the bottom of the Actions palette pop-up menu. You can add any of them to your current list of actions by choosing the set's name.
The new actions presets appear in the Actions palette, appended after the default actions that are already there. You can show or hide the actions in the Default Actions or Image Effects sets by clicking the expand/collapse arrow in the third column.
You can also make actions available or unavailable for an entire set by clicking the first column in the Actions palette next to the action set's folder icon.
