Announcements

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

You'll Love This One! 

It's One Of My Favorites!

We have a price drop on Microsoft PictureIt Publishing Platinum Edition! It's on sale for only $18.97 - with FREE US SHIPPING! This retails for $69.95 (and we normally sell it for $24.97), so you save a ton!

Special Note - It seems like every time we run MS PictureIt we sell out - sometimes in a matter of hours. For days after, we receive phone calls and e-mails asking when we are getting more. In addition, we receive tons of e-mail from people telling us how much they liked the software and how pleased they were with their purchase. So, if you want in on this, get to the site ASAP!!

Now, you know I've looked at a lot of different desktop publishing packages over the years, and this 5 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)

It also includes over 15,000 different templates, 200 font styles, 3500 sentiments, 1500+ animated greetings, 2800 sounds, and over 5000 quotes!

You can use your own photos or choose from over 250,000 different clipart images (designed by over 200 artists)! 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.htm

Don't miss out - this will be a very hot seller and quantities are limited. 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 only lose if you wait!!

MS Office 101

What Was That Function Again?

Ever find yourself working in MS Excel and realize that the function you're looking for is right on the tip of your tongue - or fingers in this case?

So... here you go again, you've got to open the Paste Function window. You're probably taking your hands off the keyboard and back to the dreaded mouse to get to the Insert menu, Function choice. Or maybe you're using the Function button. Either way - it's time consuming and annoying.

Want a keyboard shortcut to the Paste Function window?

Yes?

I thought you might. We can all use a time-saver here and there.

Next time you need to look up an Excel function try Shift + F3.

The Paste Function window will immediately pop open and you're quickly on your quest for that elusive function.

Office Tip of the Day

Turn Many Into One

"E pluribus unum" was the original motto of the United States—since it is National Flag Week, I thought I might mention that in light of today's tip.

Here's the scenario: you're working on a table of data in MS Excel and you're trying to put a title over the entire table.

What do you do?

I've watched a lot of people cope with this situation, and while their solutions were creative (putting extra spaces before the title, enlarging the title until it was over the entire chart, etc...), they certainly weren't very efficient—or editor friendly.

So, if methods like that are your usual "thing" then you'll want to know about a wonderful little thing known as "merging cells".

To merge cells is to have Excel turn several cells into just one.

Basically it lets you turn this

into this

with just one click of a button.

Next time you're trying to center something across several cells skip all the time-consuming stuff and remember to give it a simple one, two.

ONE: Highlight the cells you need to merge.

TWO: On the Formatting toolbar click the Merge and Center button.

And... E pluribus unum!

Many cells are now one.

If you type your title in this cell you'll find it centered perfectly over your data—no extra spacing while you try to "eyeball" it to center, no off-centered titles.

Oh but wait—I can hear the gears in your mind turning right now.

Let me see...

You're wondering how to reverse the merging process.

In fact, some of you may have tried to click the Merge and Center button in an attempt to separate the cells.

Didn't work, did it?

Now that we know that's not the answer to the problem, how do we separate the cells?

Well, this one's a couple more steps—but still not bad.

First you'll need to highlight the cell to be un-merged.

Next you need to open the Format Cells window. (Format menu, Cells choice or Ctrl + 1.)

On the Alignment tab you're looking to uncheck the Merge Cells box.

Click OK.

Voila!

The one cell is now back to many.

Too bad I don't have one of these little merge buttons when I break a glass or dish or something. It'd be so cool to press a button and make everything perfect again. The ultimate crazy glue!

~ April