Minimize the Ribbon

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If that pesky Microsoft Office Ribbon is taking up too much space on screen, don’t fret, just hide all the formatting options out of the way for a while. To do this, follow these simple steps:

Click on the Minimize Ribbon icon above the Ribbon on the right, or press Ctrl+F1.Minimize Ribbon

Note: you still have access to the formatting options by clicking on the Tab you want. To hide the formatting options again click on the Pin icon above the Ribbon on the right.Pin Icon

To reinstate all the formatting options click on the Expand the Ribbon icon  or Ctrl+F1.Expand Ribbon

Image editing software

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Ever wondered what software to use for editing images you want to use in your presentations or reports? Why not give Microsoft Picture Manager a try! To help you familiarise yourself with the features it offers we have produced a basic guide to MS Picture Manager.
Picture Manager

Picture Manager

 When you are ready to start editing take a look at our post on Editing images for the Web and MS Office.

Photocopying – Emergency stop!

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Have you ever started photocopying something and then realised half way through it’s the wrong thing or contains an obvious mistake? It’s bad enough that you’ve already wasted a load of paper, you don’t want to waste any more!

Fear not for our photocopiers come with a big red Stop button to safely halt the production of unwanted copies.

When is the best time to save your new document?

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Short answer: Immediately!

Long answer: When you create a new document (be it Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) it is always best to save it as soon as possible to an appropriate location. By doing this it not only means you know where the document is but also this greatly reduces the risk of losing any future additions or amendments to the file.

Print preview

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Where has the print preview option gone in Office 2010? It is actually much easier to preview your document in Office 2010 than it was in Office 2007. Simply click on the File tab and select Print. This gives you access to printer options and previews your document. Use the options at the bottom of the preview window to navigate your document and to zoom in/put.

To navigate use the left right arrows or type in a page number in the box provided.Page Navigation

To zoom in/out or reset the page use the -, + or Zoom to Page options.Page Zoom

When to attach?

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When should you attach a file to your email and when not? This is usually dependant on how many people you are emailing and whether they are internal to the University or external. The below table provides some basic guidelines:

1-3 recipients 4+ recipients
Internal audience Yes No*
External audience Yes Yes

*In such cases it is always better to put the file on the staff filestore (i.e. Y drive) under the appropriate folder (e.g. “store – interim”) and then email people saying where they can find it.

How to keep applications on your taskbar or start menu

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If you have a set of programs you use regularly then you can make their icons stay on the taskbar or at the top of the start menu for easy access by pinning them.

To pin the application to your taskbar right click on the applications icon and select “Pin to Taskbar” and to pin it to your start menu select “Pin to Start Menu” instead.

As well as being able to quickly start any application that you have pinned to your taskbar you can also right click on its icon and be presented with a number of options specific to that application (e.g. a list of documents you have recently been editing in it).

To remove and application that has been pinned to the taskbar or start menu you just need to right click on its icon and select the “unpin this program from taskbar” or “Unpin from Start Menu” option.

Scan to Email

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When using the staff printer/copier to scan documents the default “email To” option is yourself. Whilst this can be changed (so as to email the scan directly to someone else) this isn’t recommended because:

  • It’s always a good idea to check the scanned image is readable before forwarding it to someone else, otherwise they will only contact you back to have the document re-scanned
  • Emailing it to yourself then forwarding it on means a copy of the document will be in your sent box in outlook just in case you need to refer to it (e.g. to resend in case the other person has deleted the email)

What job to print?

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If you log in to one of the printer/copies and choose the Pull Print option you may be accosted by a list of jobs you sent to print. If you only want to print some of these but can’t remember which ones, then a good tip is to click on the Info button on the bottom right-hand side of the touchscreen.

The will then give you some additional information, such as the number of pages and when you sent the document to print, that may help to decide if it is the right job to print.