Word 2007 Tip - Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts

Word 2007 - Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts

Since we spend most of our time in Word working with fingers on the keyboard, assigning the commands you use often to keyboard shortcuts can be a valuable time saver.

• Click the MS Office Button.
• Click the Word Options (at the bottom of the box).
• Click Customize to display the Customize options.
• Next to Keyboard shortcuts (bottom of screen), click the Customize button.
  
  
  
• Select the Category from the list on the left.
• Select the specific command from the list on the right.
• Type the keys for the shortcut you'd like to assign to the command. To assign CTRL B, for example, hold down your CTRL key and type B. If the shortcut is already assigned to another command, MS Word will notify you.
  
  
  
• Click Assign.
• Once you are done assigning keyboard shortcuts, click Close.
• On the Word Options screen, click OK to return to your document.

For training guaranteed to help you maximize your productivity with MS Word, check out our MS Word 2007 certification prep (21 hours) or MS Word 2007 Advanced course.

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Access 2007 Tip - Adding a Background Picture to a Form

MS Access 2007 Tip - Adding a background picture to a form.

A student in a recent Access class asked, "How do I add a picture  or logo as a background graphic on my form?"

The steps to do this  are simple, and involve accessing the properties of a form.

• Open the form in design view.
• Right-click on the form's name in the navigation pane.
• Select Design View.
  
  
  
• Once the form opens in design view, make sure you've selected the Design tab on your ribbon.
  
  
• In the far right side of the ribbon, click Properties (in the Tools group).
  
  

• Once the properties box opens, click the format tab.
  
  
  
• Click next to the Picture property. Click the button that pops up, and select the picture you would like to have become the background of your form. You can also change the picture tiling, alignment, type and size mode properties to make additional changes to your pictures.

Access Training in Atlanta, GA and Online

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Is it time to upgrade from MS Excel to MS Access?

Excel is an extremely powerful application with database capabilities. While you can use functions to extend the database capabilities of Excel, Access is much better suited to handle databases. A task that takes 3 Excel functions, for example, is accomplished very easily with Access.

Access 2007 Training in Atlanta, GA

Here are 7 signs that it is time to upgrade your Excel spreadsheet to an Access database.

1. Your spreadsheet has several hundred rows. The larger your spreadsheet, the more complicated it becomes to update and analyze.
   
   
2. You'd like to control the kind of data other users enter. With Access, you can limit what users are allowed to enter. You can specify that the data must be of a particular type (ex., numbers only) or length, and more. If someone tries to enter information that doesn't fit, they get an error message.
   
   
3. You'd like to control the values other users enter. In addition to restricting the types of values users can enter, you can also restrict the specific values.
   
   
4. You want to quickly find matches between two sets of data. Excel uses functions to find data matches. In my opinion, the process in Access is much more intuitive.
   
   
5. You want to quickly find which values in one set of data doesn't exist in the other. Again, this is a task you can accomplish using Excel functions. Access has a Find Unmatched query that is simple to create and use.
   
   
6. You want to quickly identify and/or delete duplicates. With Excel 2007, the process of deleting duplicates is easy. Identifying duplicates requires a few more steps: you have to use Conditional formatting. By contrast, Access has a Find Duplicates query that makes identifying duplicates easy.
   
   
7. You want to prevent users from entering duplicate values. In Access 2007, you can set a field to prevent users from entering duplicate values. When they try, they will get an error message and Access will prevent them from adding duplicate data.

As I mentioned earlier, Excel will accomplish some of these tasks – it just takes extra effort. Access, on the other hand, takes care of these tasks easily. Why not do things the simple and straightforward way by upgrading your spreadsheets to Microsoft Access databases?

For Advanced Excel training in Atlanta, check out our classes in Excel Functions & Formulas, Excel PivotTables, and Excel Lookup Functions.

If you are ready to upgrade to Microsoft Access, our Access Comprehensive Course (offered in Atlanta) provides all of the training you need to master Access 2007. The next class starts soon, call 770.498.7333 or click the link for details.