Announcements

Ohh, do we have an AWESOME deal this Issue!!

I Love This Program!

We have Microsoft Picture It Publishing (Gold edition) on sale for only $19.97 - with FREE US SHIPPING! This retails for $59.95, so you save over 66%!!

Now, you know I've looked at a lot of different desktop publishing packages over the years, and this 6 CD set is one of the best by far. It's super-easy to use and you can create about anything your heart desires. In case you can't tell, YES, I'm really excited about this one!

You can create greeting cards, e-mail cards, calendars, newsletters, web pages, invitations, announcements, labels, animated greetings, business cards, flyers, signs, stationary, T-shirts, stickers, web photo albums, party sets, recipe cards, awards, certificates, banners, and tons more. (whew) The thing includes over 12,000 different templates!

You can use your own photos or choose from over 150,000 different clipart images that are included with the package! You don't need to worry about finding that perfect image anymore!

This also includes powerful photo editing tools. Remove red-eye, cut people out of photos and put them somewhere else (very cool feature), adjust brightness / contrast, add frames to your photos, turn color to B&W, and choose from 150 different special effects that turn your photos into fine art prints! Oh, you can even print multiple photos on a single page (we've had a lot of requests for that).

Putting a project together couldn't be easier. Just choose the type of project you want, then follow the prompts. You're guided through step by step. Of course, you can also go into "do it yourself mode" and create projects from scratch if you prefer.

One of the coolest features this program has is helpful little movies that show you how to do basic operations. Regular help files are good, but learning by watching is best!

I could go on and on about this one, but since the web site has so much info, I'm just going to encourage you to go check it out. Here's the link:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/pictureitpublishing-MST.htm

Don't miss out - we think this is going to be a very hot seller! Remember, we have our 30 day satisfaction guarantee - if you don't agree it's as good as I say it is, you can return it (even opened) for a prompt and courteous refund! You have nothing to lose!

MS Office 101

Since it seems like we're on the idea of changing defaults this week I'd like to direct you to another handy place to change MS Word defaults. I mean as long as we're getting things set up all cozy and comfy we might as well take care of as much as possible :-)

While in MS Word go to File menu, Page Setup.

A new window will open with four tabs at the top allowing you to Adjust Margins, Paper Size, Paper Source and Layout.

In this window you can adjust any of the items you wish (usually for default settings my biggest item to adjust is margins, but you may find others to adjust).

Once everything has been changed as you desire, then click on the Default button in the bottom left corner.

You will be asked to confirm your choices and that's it. Every time you open the template (blank documents are the normal template) these choices will be in place.

Now that you've moved in and are comfortable, allow me to be the first to say welcome to the neighborhood.

Office Tip of the Day

AutoCorrect

Do you have a typo that you always make? How about a word you consistently spell wrong? Here's another idea, what about a long company name or phrase that you frequently type? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to put in an abbreviation and have the machine do all the work?

Well… you can.

There's a neat little feature in some of the MS applications that not everyone realizes exist. Some of you may not have even noticed that it was working while you've been working, but it's there, doing its job behind the scenes and basically cleaning up some of our messes.

I'm talking about the AutoCorrect feature.

This handy little invention performs some very cool tricks. Its function is to monitor what you're typing and then, should you make a mistake that's included in its list, automatically correct the problem for you.

For example, many of us will be typing along and type "teh" for "the". It's a pretty common typo. Once you press the space bar after typing "teh" the program automatically corrects the mistake to read "the". It does this with many common typos and spelling mistakes.

The true questions are how does it know to do this? What is currently in the list? And can I change the list?

The answers are easy enough to find. (Of course you can change the list, wouldn't that be the point of the tip?)

To find AutoCorrect you need to go to the Tools menu and select AutoCorrect. We're looking for the AutoCorrect tab (some applications have other tabs as well).

AutoCorrect has a list of formatting corrections it is capable of making at the top. These are pretty self-explanatory and simply uncheck anything you do not wish to have the program alter for you.

The bottom half of the screen applies to the choice "Replace text as you type". When this is checked, everything listed at the bottom is monitored and corrected.

Here's how it works. The list on the left is what you may type and the list on the right is what each item will be replaced with. There are a few symbols that can quickly be inserted using the keystrokes listed on the left. Look them over and try a few, they work!

Should you not like something on the default list then highlight it and select the delete button in the bottom right of the tab page.

It's the line just above the default list that we're really interested in. Here's where you can edit the list and add all the things that you know will help you the most.

First, type the word you want to replace in the "Replace" box. Then, type its replacement in the "With" box. Click the Add button and your custom replacement will be added to the list below.

To use this feature with long phrases or company names simply make a small abbreviation to represent your phrase. (Something you'll easily remember.) Put the phrase or company name on the right side, as you want it to appear in the document, and then add it to the list. For example, I might add to the list mst to be replaced with my newsletter name MS Office Tips & Tricks. Huge time saver right there!

I should caution you to be careful not to enter a word on the left that may need to be used as-is. Once it's in the list the only way to get the program to leave it in a document is to put it in quotes, turn off the AutoCorrect feature (uncheck the box next to the phrase "Replace text as you type") or to delete that entry from the list.

Happy auto-correcting!