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WebTools - Tips and Tricks - Archive
MS Word - MS Excel - MS PowerPoint - MS Access - MS Win95/98
If you rely on the right-click method to display shortcut menus, then you'll find that displaying dialog boxes, windows, or other items by double-clicking on certain hotspots is another alternative method to using Word's main menus. For example, to access the Paragraph dialog box, double-click on any indent
marker located on Word's ruler. If you double-click in the empty space to the
left of the ruler indent markers or in the empty space to the right of the ruler
indent markers, Word displays the Page Setup dialog box. If you've set tabs,
just double-click on a tab marker on the ruler and Word opens the Tabs dialog
box. If you want to jump to another page of your document, try double-clicking
on the page or section number located on the status bar at the bottom left of
your screen. This action opens the Go To dialog box. There are more hotspots
hidden within Word. Try double-clicking on Section Breaks or footnote reference
marks and see what you uncover. Word's Bullets And Numbering feature enables you to create numbered lists and outlines by formatting lists for you automatically. You can apply list numbering using the Bullets And Numbering command on the Format menu, the Numbering button on the Formatting toolbar, or the AutoFormat As You Type feature's Automatic Numbered Lists option. Occasionally, you might wish to include an unnumbered line or paragraph between list items. For example, you might want to follow item number 3 in your list with an unnumbered paragraph offering detailed information about that item. To do so, you'd press [Enter] to begin a new line and then turn off Word's automatic list formatting temporarily by toggling the Numbering button. At this point, you can type whatever you want and Word will refrain its automatic numbering. When you're ready to continue your list, press [Enter] to begin a new line and then click the Numbering button to resume the previous list's numbering scheme. Unfortunately, when you interrupt a numbered list with an unnumbered paragraph,
Word assumes you're beginning a new list when you turn the Numbering button
on again. In other words, it would apply the number 1 (or A, a, I, i, etc.)
to the current paragraph when you toggle the Numbering button. If you'd like
to continue the previous list rather than begin a new one, choose Format | Bullets
And Numbering from the menu bar. Select the Continue Previous List option button
and then click OK. When you do, Word resumes the numbering sequence of the previous
list, in addition to the same numbering scheme, without affecting your unnumbered
paragraph. For example, if your previous list contained items numbered 1, 2
and 3, the continued list would begin with item number 4 instead of 1. You can change the appearance of the text buttons, text boxes, and list boxes (regular buttons excluded) located on any of the Word toolbars. If you need to make room for additional buttons, you may want to decrease the size of some of the toolbar boxes, such as the Zoom, Font, or Style boxes. Or, perhaps you'd like to increase the size in order to see the entire entry of each option in a dropdown list. To change the width of a toolbar text button, text box, or list box, choose Tools/Customize to display the Customize dialog box and enable toolbar editing. Next, click on the toolbar box you wish to resize to select it. Then, move your mouse pointer over the right border of the button until the double-headed vertical arrow appears. Now, simply drag the border to the right to increase the width of the box or to the left to decrease it. After you make the changes, close the Customize dialog box Volume 11 If you're creating a new toolbar button in a Microsoft Office application, you can copy toolbar button images from one application to another. For example, if you've created a custom macro button in Word, you can apply one of Excel's built-in button images to it. This way, you're not limited to a single application's button image collection. To copy button images between Office applications, open the Office application that contains the button image you'd like to copy. Choose Tools | Customize from the menu bar and click on the Commands tab. Next, click on the button in the toolbar area you'd like to copy to select it, and then click Modify Selection in the Customize dialog box. As an alternative, simply right-click ([control]-click on the Mac) on the button you'd like to copy. In the resulting shortcut menu, choose Copy Button Image. Now open the target Office application in which you'd like to paste the copied button image. Choose Tools | Customize from the menu bar and then click on the Commands tab. This time, right-click (or [control]-click) on the button to which you wish to apply the copied image, and then choose Paste Button Image. The button image you copied will be applied to the button you selected. Click Close to dismiss the Customize dialog box, and then use your new button as desired. (Note: You can copy and paste button images within the same Office application, as well.) Volume 12 When you're working with a multi-page document layout, it's often helpful to look at it from a birds-eye view. This can help you accurately gauge the layout and length of your document. Viewing multiple pages at the same time also makes it easy to move or copy items from one page to another. You can view multiple pages of your document in Print Preview mode or Print Layout view (Page Layout view in Word 97 and 98). To do so, first switch to Print Preview mode by clicking the Print Preview button in the Standard toolbar, or switch to Print Layout view (or Page Layout view, as applicable) by clicking its corresponding button in the lower-left corner of the application window. Next choose View | Zoom from the menu bar. In the Zoom dialog box, select the Many Pages option button. Click on the option button's corresponding monitor icon, and then choose the number of pages you'd like to display from the resulting pop-up menu. (To extend the pop-up menu's options, click in the pop-up menu and drag the mouse pointer to display additional pages.) When you've finished, click OK. As an alternative, when Print Preview mode is active you can simply click the Multiple Pages button in the Print Preview toolbar to reveal the page-selection pop-up menu. (Note: By default, you cannot edit document contents in Print Preview mode. To enable document editing in Print Preview mode, click on the Magnifier button in the Print Preview toolbar.) Volume 13 If you're working on a document that can't exceed a certain number of pages, you can use the Shrink To Fit feature to automatically reduce your text fonts until the overflow text fits on the preceding page. However, this isn't the best way to solve overflow problems if you don't want your document's fonts reduced. An alternative technique involves reducing line leading, or the space between lines. You've probably messed around with Word's preset line spacing options, such as double or single spacing; however, you can configure virtually any degree of leading with the Multiple line spacing option. For example, if double spacing is too much but 1.5-line spacing is too little, try 1.75 line spacing. To do so, place the insertion point in the paragraph you'd like to modify, then select Format/Paragraph from the menu bar. On the Indents And Spacing property sheet, select Multiple from the Line Spacing dropdown list, then type 1.75 in the At text box. When you've finished, click OK. The lines in your paragraph now have 1.75 lines of space between them. Volume 14 You can minimize the size of your documents by turning off Word's Allow Fast
Saves feature. When turned on, this feature saves only the changes you progressively
make to your document. This results in a faster saving time since information
that's already been saved once doesn't need to be saved again. However, fast
saves can also result in bloated file sizes. Each time you save a document using
the fast-save process, information about new changes is tacked on to previously
saved information about past changes. To this end, Word might continue to store
information about content you deleted from your document during a previous fast
save. When the Allow Fast Saves feature is enabled, Word automatically consolidates
this information by performing a full save after every 15th save of a document,
when the document's accumulation of fast-save changes reaches a peak, or when
you save a document over a network. Word also performs a full save whenever
you save documents in other formats, such as rich text format (RTF). Saving
or converting your documents to RTF format can be another effective way to minimize
file size. Volume 16
Volume 4 One of the nicest aspects of Excel is that it provides several ways to accomplish
the same task, allowing users to choose the method that suits them best. Here's
a shortcut you can use to replace the process you probably follow to copy and
paste data. First, select the data that you want to copy. Then, move your mouse
pointer to the edge of the selection so that it turns into an arrow. Next, hold
down the [Ctrl] key and you'll notice a small plus sign (+) next to the pointer.
You can now drag and drop with the mouse to create a copy of the data while
leaving the original data in place. If you prefer to move the data completely,
as if you were cutting and pasting, just skip holding down the [Ctrl] key. Volume 8 Often, you'll want to refer to numbers in terms of thousands or millions. However,
if you already have the complete numbers entered in worksheet cells, you may
wonder how to convert them. Fortunately, you don't have to change the entries
at all -- just change the number format. To do so, select the cells you want
to change and then select Format/Cells from the menu bar. For thousands: #.##, For millions: #.##,, Finally, click OK. The numbers will be displayed in terms of thousands or millions,
with two decimal places. As you may know, AutoShapes are pre-defined drawing objects, such as starbursts, circles, and arrows, that you can add to a worksheet to improve its appearance. Most AutoShapes allow you to add text, making them useful for calling attention to particular data. To get the most out of AutoShapes, you can link data from worksheet cells to the shape, so that the information reflected in the AutoShape is always current. To do so, choose View | Toolbars | Drawing from the menu bar to display the Drawing toolbar. Then, choose an appropriate shape from the AutoShapes menu and use your mouse to draw the shape on your worksheet. While the shape is still selected, click in the Formula bar and enter a formula that links to a worksheet cell, such as =A1 to display whatever value is in cell A1. Finally, press [Enter]. You can now
use the formatting options for the AutoShape to control the appearance of the
linked data. If you dislike Office 2000's new menu system, which initially shows only the
most recently used menu items, you can revert to the standard menu behavior
you're used to. To do so, right-click on the menu bar and choose Customize from
the shortcut menu. Then, click on the Options tab of the Customize dialog box,
clear the Menus Show Recently Used Commands First check box, and click Close.
If you like the personalized menus, but find that too many infrequently accessed
menu commands are being displayed, you can restore the menus to the state they
were in when Excel was originally installed. You should be aware, however, that
resetting the menus also resets Excel's toolbars to their original states. To
reset the menus and toolbars, display the Customize dialog box and click the
Reset My Usage Data button on the Options sheet. Finally, confirm that you want
to reset the data and click Close. Volume 11 To copy formatting from one worksheet range to another, you probably use Excel's Format Painter tool. However, there's sometimes a quicker way. If the cells are adjacent to each other, select the cell containing the formatting you want to copy. Then, right-click ([Ctrl]-click on the Mac) and drag the fill handle (the small square in the lower right corner of the cell) to the cells you want to format. When you release the mouse button, select Fill Formats from the shortcut menu. If the cells aren't adjacent, select the formatted cell, right-click on its border ([Ctrl]-click on the Mac) and drag it to the target cell. When the shortcut menu appears, select Copy Here As Formats Only from the shortcut menu. Volume 12 Using shortcut keys, you can quickly move your cell selector to opposite corners of a worksheet. To move to cell A1, press [Ctrl][Home]. To move to the last cell, as defined by the intersection of the rightmost used column and bottom-most used row, press [Ctrl][End]. Volume 13 If you've ever worked with reports printed on greenbar paper, you know that this simple formatting technique can greatly improve the readability of your data. Now that line feed printers are all but extinct, it's unlikely that you come across reports printed this way anymore. However, you can easily reproduce the effect within your Excel worksheets, using the Format Painter. To show you how, we'll create alternating bands of color that are two rows tall. First, select range A1:J2 in a workbook. Next, fill the range with a color from the Fill Color palette that won't overwhelm the worksheet, such as light gray or light green. Now, you must select the range you previously highlighted, as well as enough blank rows beneath it to double its size. For our example, select range A1:J4. At this point, click the Format Painter button on the Standard toolbar. Finally, select range A5:J5 and drag your mouse pointer down to highlight as many cells as desired. Volume 14
You can use the shortcut command [Ctrl]P ([c]P on the Mac) to access the Pen
tool during a slide show. Click your mouse and drag to use the Pen tool to draw
during your slide show. To erase everything you've drawn, press the E key. To create a clickable hyperlink between an object and a WAV file in PowerPoint, first select a clipart image, AutoShape, or text object on your slide. Next, choose Slide Show | Action Settings to open the Action Settings dialog box. Make sure the Mouse Click property sheet is visible, and select the Play Sound check box located at the bottom. Next, choose Other Sound from the Play Sound dropdown list. When the Add Sound dialog box appears, locate the sound file you want to insert and click OK. When you do, you'll hear a sample of the sound file you chose. At this point, select the Highlight Click check box at the bottom of the Mouse
Over property sheet. By selecting this option, in Slide Show view your image
will light up for a brief second each time you click on your linked image, indicating
that the hyperlink is being activated. Finally, click OK to exit the Action
Settings dialog box. To test your hyperlink, choose Slide Show | View Show.
You'll notice that your pointer changes to a hand as soon as it touches the
linked image. When you click on the selection, the sound file plays and your
image appears as a negative. Volume 8 To save a presentation as a self-running show, open a regular presentation
file, preferably one that contains five or more slides. Once you've done this,
choose File | Save As from the main menu. If necessary, enter a name for your
presentation in the File Name box. Next, select PowerPoint Show (*.pps) from
the Save As Type dropdown list and click the Save button. When If you'd like to insert a motion clip onto a PowerPoint slide, you may want to search Microsoft's Clip Gallery Live. To do this, first choose Insert | Movies and Sounds | Movie from Gallery and then click the Clips Online button when PowerPoint displays the Insert Movie dialog box. If PowerPoint displays an informational message about accessing the Web, click OK, but remember, you must have Internet service to download from a Web site. First-time visitors to the Clip Gallery will need to click the Accept button before proceeding. Clicking the Accept button launches the Clip Gallery's home page. You'll notice that there are four controls located along the left side of the Clip Gallery Live Web page. At this point, enter a word or phrase in the first control and then select Motion from the 3rd control's dropdown list. Click Go (to the right of the first control) and the gallery will return appropriate motion clips. Select the check box located next to the clip you like, click the Download 1 Clip link, and then click the Download Now link in the resulting window. The Clip Gallery will download the file to your local gallery. If you end up with two Insert Movie dialogs on your Taskbar, close the current
one, which is the result of the download task. (You must save the downloaded
clip to a particular gallery category if you want to permanently save the clip
to the gallery.) Now, return to the original Insert Movie dialog, click the
motion clip icon, and choose Insert Clip (the first option) from the resulting
shortcut menu to insert the clip on your slide. If you want to use more than one template in a presentation, it looks like you're in luck. To do this, open a presentation using a template and save the first slide in this presentation as a JPEG Interchange Format. Now, open a new presentation with a different template and insert the JPEG file you saved as a picture. You can resize this JPEG to cover your slide and act as an actual template. Any new slides you add to this presentation will use the template you selected when you opened the presentation. Volume 11Link two presentations together for continuous playback (97,98,2000) To link two presentations together for continuous playback, first save both presentations you'd like to loop in a folder. Next, choose one of your presentations (either one will do) and double-click on the last slide. With the last slide visible, choose Insert | Object to open the Insert Object dialog box. Select the Create From File option button and then click the Browse button to open the Browse dialog box. Locate the folder containing your two presentations and select the other presentation you'd like to link to. Click OK. Next, select the Link check box (this option isn't available in PowerPoint 98) and the Display As Icon check. Click OK to insert the link. You'll notice that the link now appears as an icon on your slide. Drag this icon off the side of your slide. Now you need to tell PowerPoint when to display the linked presentation. To do this, right-click ([control]-click on the Mac) on the icon and choose Custom Animation. If the Effects tab isn't already visible, select it. Next, change No Effect in the Entry Animation And Sound area to Appear. Then, click on the Multimedia Settings tab (Play Settings tab in PowerPoint 97 and 98) and select Show from the Object Action dropdown list. Finally, click on the Order & Timing tab (Timing tab in PowerPoint 97 and 98) and select the Automatically option button. The default time of 00:00 seconds is fine. Click OK to apply the changes. Now set up your slide transitions. Next, choose Slide Show | Set Up Show to open the Set Up Show dialog box. In the Show Type area, select the Loop Continuously Until 'Esc' check box. Volume 12Navigating through PowerPoint's menus Do you know how to navigate PowerPoint's menus without using the mouse? If you don't like using the mouse to move through a menu, you can access a menu simply by pressing the [Alt] key in conjunction with the first letter of the menu you'd like to open. For example, if you press [Alt]F, the File menu opens. Once you open a menu, you can use the arrow keys to navigate further. To go up and down in a menu, press the up and down arrow keys. You can use the right and left arrow keys to open submenus or to move right and left through the standard toolbar menus. Volume 13Put old templates to work in PowerPoint If you're getting sick of the same old templates, use the Slide Master to create new templates from existing ones. In Slide Master view, you can select images that make up each template and move, rotate, or resize them to create a new template. You can also copy the separate parts of a template and paste them to create unique-looking templates. For example, you can resize the notebook paper in the Portrait Notebook template, make a copy, and then paste it to add a second notebook page to your template. You could position one notebook page on one half of the template and the other notebook page on the other to create two columns. The possibilities are endless. Volume 14PowerPoint 97's 3-D Rotation add-in (97 only) There's an add-in available for PowerPoint 97 that lets you rotate a 3-D object in 1-degree increments. If you're looking for precision, this add-in is the key. You can download the 3-D Rotation add-in by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp? This takes you to the Download Center page. From the Product Name dropdown list, select PowerPoint 97 For Windows 95. Next, select your operating system from the Operating System dropdown list and click Find It. The search will generate a list of downloads. In the Title list, click on the PowerPoint 97 Add-in: 3-D Rotation link and then follow the instructions to download the add-in. Once the 3Drotate.exe file appears on your desktop, double-click it to begin the installation process. After you install the add-in, you need to load it. To do this, launch PowerPoint and open a new presentation with a blank slide. Next, choose Tools | Add-Ins to open the Add-Ins dialog box. Any add-ins that are currently loaded will appear in the Available Add-Ins list. Click the Add New button. This opens the Add New PowerPoint Add-In dialog box. Locate the Three.ppa file in the Add-Ins folder and select it. When you do, a preview image will appear in the Preview window. Click OK and a warning dialog box will appear. Click Enable Macros to ignore the warning. When you do, THREED will appear in the Available Add-Ins list. Click Close to exit the Add-Ins dialog box. Choose Tools | 3-D Rotation to use the 3-D add-in. Volume 15 PowerPoint 2000's Custom Soundtrack feature (2000) It turns out that a lot of PowerPoint 2000 users receive the message "PowerPoint couldn't open the Visual Basic for Applications project in presentation C\:Program Files\Microsoft Office\Officeppmusic.ppa." There's a legitimate reason for this error. When you install Office 2000 over Office 97, any add-ins that you installed or created in PowerPoint 97 may not be compatible with PowerPoint 2000. One of these features happens to be the Custom Soundtrack add-in. To fix this problem so that the error message doesn't appear each time you launch PowerPoint, you can install the PowerPoint 2000 Custom Soundtrack add-in. To do this, first download the Custom Soundtrack add-in by going to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp Next, select PowerPoint 2000 from the Product Name dropdown list and select your operating system from the Operating System dropdown list. Click Find It and the search engine will generate a list of PowerPoint 2000 downloads. Click on the PowerPoint 2000 Updated Custom Soundtrack Add-in (Pp2kmus.exe) located in the download list. Finally, click the file name Pp2kmus.exe on the resulting page and save the file to your desktop. Once you download the EXE file, you have to replace the current Ppmusic.ppa file with the updated 2000 Ppmusic.ppa file. Locate the old ppmusic.ppa file and double-click the Pp2mus.exe file on your desktop to install the program. Accept the license agreement and then enter the location of the old Ppmusic file in the PowerPoint 2000 Custom Soundtrack Add-in dialog box. Click OK and another dialog box will appear asking you if you want to overwrite the pre-existing Ppmusic file. Click Yes to overwrite the file. Volume 16 Using your own sound effects in PowerPoint (97/98/2000) If you have a WAV file available on your computer, you can use it as an animation sound effect in PowerPoint. To do this, first launch PowerPoint and open an existing presentation that contains animation. Next, navigate to a slide that has several animated objects and choose Slide Show | Custom Animation to open the Custom Animation dialog box. You can also right-click ([control]-click on the Mac, and select Custom Animation from the resulting shortcut menu. At this point, click on the Effects tab and select Other Sound from the Entry Animation And Sound dropdown list. In the Add Sound dialog box, locate a WAV file and click OK to return to the Custom Animation dialog box. If you need to change any animation effects in the Custom Animation dialog box, do so at this time. If you're satisfied with your changes, click OK. To test your sound effect, choose Slide Show | View Show or click the Slide Show view button to launch your presentation. Next, cycle through your slide animations. When you reach the object that you applied a sound effect to, the sound will play.
Volume 2
Volume 5 By default, Access has the AutoCorrect turned on. Unfortunately, that setting
could cause a few problems during data entry. For example, suppose you have
a customer database, and you have a record with a customer code of BCAK. The
AutoCorrect feature will automatically change it to BACK as soon as you enter
it into your table. To turn off the feature, choose Tools | AutoCorrect from
the menu bar, clear the Replace Text As You Type checkbox and click OK. When you're working with a table in Datasheet view that has many fields, navigating
between columns can be a pain. Fortunately, there's an easy way to move to a
particular column. Simply choose the name of the field you want to move to from
the Go To Field dropdown list on the Formatting (Datasheet) toolbar. The focus
will move to the appropriate field within the current record. Access's confirmation dialog boxes often prevent user errors that would have
dire effects on data or an application by putting the brakes on potentially
risky actions. Hopefully, the intrusion of the dialog box slows the process
down enough so that users don't accidentally delete a needed database object
or record. Likewise, confirmation dialog boxes are displayed before executing
action queries, providing users with an out before committing irreversible changes
to the database. Although you probably want these confirmation dialog boxes
in place for end-users, you may find that they slow your work down too much--and
you may click through the dialog boxes so quickly out of habit that they're
essentially ineffective. If you're willing to live with the risk, you can prevent
Access from displaying confirmation dialog boxes. To do so, choose Tools | Options
from the Chances are that you take for granted how your direction arrow and [Enter]
keys behave in Access. Typically, when you press [Enter] the focus moves to
the next field and the contents of the field are selected. Likewise, when you
press the direction arrow keys, the focus moves to the next field in the appropriate
direction. You aren't forced to accept these behaviors. If you'd like, you can
set up the arrow keys to move from one character to the next in the current
field, rather than moving focus to the next field. You can also configure the
[Enter] key to move to the next record when it's pressed or configure it to
do nothing at all. When you do move focus to another field, you have the option
to place the insertion point at the beginning or end of the field, rather than
selecting the field's entire contents. To modify these settings, choose Tools
| Options from the menu bar and Volume 11 It's good practice to always use the Option Explicit statement that appears in the beginning of your code modules to ensure that all variables are explicitly declared in your procedures. With this procedure in place, you'll receive a "Variable not defined" error if you try to execute code containing undeclared variables. Without this statement, it's possible to mistype variable names, which would be interpreted as new Variant type variables. This could severely impact the results of your code, and you might not ever know it. If you do find a problem, tracking down where the error is can be a chore. In Access 97, new modules contain the Option Explicit statement by default. However, this isn't the case in Access 2000. Although you can manually type the statement into your modules, changing a setting in Access can ensure that the statement is always added to new modules. In Access 2000, open a module and then choose Tools | Options from the menu bar. Then, on the Editor sheet of the Options dialog box, select the Require Variable Declaration check box in the Code Settings panel. Finally, click OK. Although the setting should already be set in Access 97, you can access it by choosing Tools | Options from the menu bar, regardless of whether or not you're working in a module, and switching to the Module sheet. You'll then find the option in the Coding Options panel. Volume 12 When you're working with a recordset in Datasheet View, you can easily hide columns containing data that you don't need to immediately work with. To do so, select any field in the column and choose Format | Hide Columns from the menu bar. As an alternative, right-click on the column's field name and select Hide Columns from the shortcut menu. To redisplay hidden columns, select Format | Unhide Columns from the menu bar. Then, select the check boxes next to the field names of any columns you want displayed and click OK. Note that you can select the Unhide Columns command even if no columns are hidden, allowing you to easily hide multiple columns by clearing the appropriate check boxes. Volume 13 Entering text can be difficult when the size of the text box you're working with is smaller than the text you need to enter. Fortunately, you can zoom in on form controls, table fields, cells in the QBE grid, and other text entry cells. To do so, press [Shift][F2] to display the Zoom dialog box. This feature is available throughout Access, and can also be used with property sheets and table and macro design grid cells. Volume 14 In such a case, only the last variable, strTitle, is actually declared as a
String type. The first two variables are created as Variant data types. To correctly
declare the three variables, you would use the statement Dim strFirstName As
String, strLastName As String, strTitle As String Volume 16
However, if you need to make more than one copy of a disk, the utility forces you to copy the original each time it makes a duplicate. In contrast, DOS's Diskcopy command lets you make multiple copies of the same disk without having to recopy it over and over again. Therefore, if you want several copies of a disk, you'll save time by using Diskcopy instead of Copy Disk. To do so, simply open an MS-DOS Prompt window and type the command Diskcopy A: A: Volume 2 Most of us know that Alt+Tab allows you to switch between open Applications
(in Windows). But did you know that Alt + Shift +Tab (which works in the
same way) allows you to cycle through the applications in reverse order.
In addition to using Windows 98's taskbar to switch among running applications,
you can use the Cool Switch. So named in the Windows 3.x days when it was the
only way to switch among running applications, the Cool Switch still exists
in Windows 98. To use it, press [Alt][Tab]. When you do, you'll see a window
in the center of your screen showing all the applications currently running
on your system. If you press [Alt][Tab] while the window is open, you'll advance
to the next application in the list. When you release the keys, the program
that was selected will come to the foreground. If you press [Shift][Alt][Tab]
while the window is open you can move backwards in the list. When you drag a file to the Recycle Bin, Windows 95 always displays the Confirm File Delete dialog box and requires you to click Yes before the file is moved to the Recycle Bin. However, since you can easily retrieve a file from the Recycle Bin, this extra
step could be considered overkill. Fortunately, you can disable this confirmation
dialog box. To do so, right-click the Recycle Bin icon and select Properties
from the shortcut menu. When the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box appears,
select the Display Delete Confirmation Dialog check box to disable this feature.
Then click OK. In the old days, if you ever wanted to print the contents of your screen, you
pressed the [Print Screen] key on your keyboard and your printer would begin
printing. However, Windows 95 redirects the destination of the [Print Screen]
key to the Clipboard. This means that if you want to print the contents of your
screen after pressing [Print Screen], you have to open Paint or another application,
open the Edit menu, and select the Paste command. Then, choose File | Print
to send it to the printer. If you only want a printed copy of the active window
or dialog box on your screen, press [Alt][Print Screen] and then paste the contents
of the Clipboard into a document. To quickly access Windows 95's Find utility without going through the Start
menu maze, simply click once in a blank spot on your taskbar and then press
[F3]. When you do, you'll immediately see the Find window and can quickly initiate
your search. Volume 11 In the Windows Explorer window, you're probably used to seeing the Address Bar just under the Standard Buttons toolbar. (If you don't have it displayed, just choose View | Toolbars | Address Bar.) When you see the word Address you might think it's only used for navigating to Web sites. But you can also use it to traverse your directory tree via the keyboard. Just place the insertion point in the Address text box by clicking in it or pressing [Alt]D, and then start typing the name of the folder you want. If you start with a drive letter such as C:\, you get a dropdown list of the folders at that level. If you select a file, such as a text file, that's saved at the root of the C: drive, when you select the filename and press [Enter], the contents appear in a Notepad window. Actually, you can get away with just typing the back slash (\) to get a list
of all the folders and files off the root of the C: drive. Then just start typing
the folder name. As you do, the list only includes those folders with the characters
you're typing. Now use your mouse to select the folder name from the drop-down
list and the folder opens in Windows Explorer. If you want to open a text file
that's saved at the root of the C: drive, just type the back slash and select
the filename, and then the contents appear in the right pane of Windows Explorer. Volume 12 If you want to be able to quickly and easily delete files, you can create a shortcut to the Recycle Bin and then move it to the SendTo folder. To do so, right-click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and select the Create Shortcut command from the shortcut menu. Now, open either My Computer or Windows Explorer and locate the \Windows\SendTo folder. Then, move the shortcut to the Recycle Bin from the desktop to the \Windows\SendTo folder. For consistency, you may want to rename the shortcut by eliminating the words "Shortcut to." Now, you can easily delete any file by right-clicking on it and selecting the SendTo\Recycle Bin command. Volume 13 When working in Windows Explorer or the My Computer window, you might need to perform the same action on more than one file in a folder. For example, you might need to copy a group of files to another location. You might think you have to copy each file individually, but you don't. Just select all the files at one time and then copy (or delete) them together. To select a group of files that are listed together in the folder window (contiguously), select the first filename, hold the [Shift] key, and click on the last file you want to affect. This technique selects all the filenames between the first and last files. To select noncontiguous files, select the first file, hold the [Ctrl] key, and click on the other files you want to affect. To deselect a file, hold the [Ctrl] key and click on the selected file. Then use the keyboard or right-click on one of the selected files to complete your action with the shortcut menu. Volume 14
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