Announcements

Here's A Handy One!

Have you ever needed to type up a professional letter? Sure, you know what you want to say, but it needs to be done in a professional manner.

So, what do you do? Spend half the day typing and re-typing it? And then what if you have a glaring mistake somewhere or forget an important piece of information? Is there any hope?

Yup, sure is. I found the coolest piece of software yesterday. It's called the Top 500 Essential Business Letters and it's a must have for everyone and anyone in business. We can sell it to you for only $8.97 (retail is $29.95) and that price includes US Shipping!

It has letters for everything - The items below show just the main categories:

Banking
Customer Relations
Human Resources
Legal (I really liked these)
Marketing
Personal Relations
Supplier Relations

And TONS More (500 in all, ya know)

Let me put it this way - if you can think of a business letter, this thing probably includes it. Just look through the categories, select the letter you need, and a double-click opens it up in Word or WordPerfect. From there, just fill in the areas for your company info and print.

Just think - no more headaches trying to figure out what to say. These letters are very professionally written and will make you look like a pro (and in only a fraction of the time it would take to come up with them yourself ;-).

I was also surprised at the number of letters I found that I would not have never thought of but now am going to start using. Just browsing through the letter list can improve your company's communications!

In short, I think this is great. If you're at all involved in any aspect of business, you've gotta grab this CD. We were thrilled to find it and will be using it quite a bit here at WorldStart.

Again, it's only $8.97 and shipping is FREE if you live in the US. Similar products go for $30.00 - $75.00, so to say it's a heck of a deal is a huge understatement.

OK, enough talk'. Here's the link for it:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/500businessletters-MST.htm

This was a one time deal and we bought the supplier out. So, if we run out, we are not going to be able to get more. If you're interested, get to the site ASAP or you may miss out.

MS Office 101

Ever notice that when you're copying a formula in MS Excel the cell references in the formula will change?

I'm sure you have. They do this because a formula uses the cell addresses as relative cell references. The cell names are "directions" for the cells to use in the formula. The cell containing the formula is the starting point for the "directions".

This is awesome, and many times it's exactly what you need to happen. However, sometimes you need a cell reference to stay constant when it's pasted.

Can this be done? Of course - one or two extra characters in the original formula will keep the cell reference constant no matter how many times it's copied and pasted.

To keep a cell reference constant simply add a $ in front of the column letter and row number.

For example, to use cell B2 in a formula and prevent the cell reference from being changed during a copy/paste, simply change the cell reference to $B$2. Now you can copy and paste to your heart's content without having the reference to B2 changed.

I would also like to note that you can use the $ on just the column letter or just the row number if keeping just one of them constant is necessary.

Consistency that's versatile. Who ever thought we'd find that in the world?

Office Tip of the Day

Ever notice how some people always seem to have documents that are a little more eye-catching? You know what I mean; the people who always seem to have a little something extra on the page that gives it the perfect touch.

There's a whole bag of tricks you can use to make your document look just right. One of the best is called WordArt. This little feature of MS Office transforms boring old documents into spectacular, mind blowing eye-candy (OK, maybe that's a bit much, but it does make them look snappier).

There are several ways to start the WordArt feature. One of them is through the Insert menu, Picture, then WordArt from the sub menu that pops up.

Other ways to start WordArt would include a WordArt button on the Drawing toolbar or by putting a button for WordArt on your existing toolbars using the Tools menu, Customize choice.

Once you locate and start WordArt you should see this window:

This first window is called the WordArt Gallery. You should select a style for your text and click OK.

The next window will allow you to type in your text and to select the font type, size and choose bold or italic.

When you've completed your text and made your choices click on OK.

You will be taken back into your document and you will find your WordArt is in the document. You should also find that you have a floating WordArt toolbar.

The toolbar contains buttons that will take you back to any of the steps you used to create WordArt. Should you find something is not to your liking you don't have to start all over, simply use the buttons to get back to the needed step so you can adjust your WordArt.

There are also buttons for a lot of creative editing of the WordArt's appearance. Give them a try. They're easy to use and can generate some impressive results.

Should you click off the WordArt you'll find that the toolbar disappears, but don't worry. Click on the WordArt again and it will pop back up.

Moving WordArt within a document is easy. When the WordArt is selected and you hover the mouse over it, you should see a 4-directional arrow. Click and hold while you have the arrows and you'll be able to drag it around the document.

(I recommend you type the document first, then insert the WordArt. It is easier to position WordArt once a document is done.)

Enlarging or reducing a WordArt's size is easy. When the WordArt object is selected, just grab the white boxes and drag. You'll see horizontal dotted lines letting you know how large your text will be when you release the mouse button. (And remember if you don't like the change just hit the undo button. If only my life came with and undo button!)

Remember the wrapping tip from the last newsletter? That trick works with WordArt too! You can access the window to set wrapping either through a right click or through the Format WordArt button on the WordArt toolbar.

To delete the WordArt simply select it and tap either the Backspace key or the Delete key.

That's pretty much it. Now you too can be one of the people with the oh-so-clever-looking documents!