James Gordon

Article / Updated 02-15-2017

From pictures and graphs to SmartArt, you can easily add all sorts of objects to a Word document in Office 2011 for Mac. But after the object is inserted in your Word document, you’ll probably need to control how text wraps around it. You can adjust text wrapping in Print Layout, Notebook Layout, Publishing Layout, and Full Screen views. Using contextual menus to wrap text in Word 2011 The fastest way to get at the Wrap Text options is to right-click an object. This produces a pop-up menu from which you can choose Wrap Text. Wrap text using the Office 2011 Ribbon When you select an object, the Wrap Text button in the Arrange group on the Ribbon’s Format tab becomes available. The Wrap Text button offers the same wrapping options as the Advanced Layout dialog, but you choose them using a pop-up menu, like this: Select an object. The border surrounding the object becomes prominent, usually with dots called handles that you can drag to resize the object. On the Ribbon’s Format Picture tab, find the Arrange group; click Wrap Text and choose a wrapping option from the pop-up menu. Text wraps around your object based on your style choice.

Article / Updated 02-15-2017

PowerPoint 2011 for Mac offers all kinds of visual effects for you to use in your presentations. When you have a placeholder with bulleted text to work with on your PowerPoint 2011 slide, you can apply an Entrance effect to the placeholder. This will introduce the bulleted points one at a time. Here’s how to apply entrance effects to your PowerPoint 2011 slides: Select a text placeholder containing bulleted text. Choose the placeholder — don’t select individual text; just click the edge of the placeholder. Click the Animations tab of the Ribbon. In the Entrance Effects group, click an effect. PowerPoint instantly displays a preview of the effect. Experiment by choosing some other effects. Congratulations! You've successfully added an animation effect. Notice that PowerPoint puts a number to the left of each bullet in the placeholder. The numbers indicate the order in which the text will be animated. As you can see, when the Rise Up effect plays the text appears in two groups, numbered 1 and 2 in the figure. The numbers you see here show how many times you have to click to play all the animations on a slide; for this example, you have to click twice. Click the Play button on the Animations tab of the Ribbon to see a preview of any animation you just added.

Article / Updated 02-15-2017

With Office 2011 for Mac, you can check spelling and grammar in languages other than English. Word 2011 for Mac comes with foreign-language dictionaries such as Czech, French, Russian, and more. The default dictionary determines which language’s proofing tools Word uses for spelling and grammar. You can change Word’s default language dictionary: Choose Tools→Language. The Language dialog opens, and you see a list of languages. Select the new language to use and click the Default button. Click Yes to change Word’s default spelling and grammar checking language to the language you selected. Click OK to close the Language dialog. There may come a time where you want to use a different language for only a portion of your document. You can also use the Language feature to change the language of just the selected text: Select a word or passage in the text. Choose Tools→Language from the menu bar. Select a language to use. Click OK to close the Language dialog. Choose Tools→Spelling and Grammar. The selection will have a different spelling and grammar language applied to them and will be checked against the proofing tools for the language selected using the Language dialog. The rest of the document will be checked against Word’s default spelling and grammar language. Making these modifications to the Language setting doesn’t change the language that’s used for the Office interface. If you want the entire Office interface to be in a particular language, you have to purchase and install an Office version that’s customized for the particular language you want to use.

Article / Updated 06-04-2016

In Excel 2011 for Mac, you can hide entire worksheets or just some columns or rows. And you can unhide them, too. This control over what can be seen or not can be helpful in hiding content such as: Content that needs to be used in a formula, but need not be visible Content that you link from, but you don’t need to show it to everyone Just remember that you can also wind up having secrets that others know how to discover with these methods! Use these options to hide or unhide a complete worksheet: To hide a worksheet: Choose Format→Sheet→Hide. To unhide a worksheet: Choose Format→Sheet→Unhide. You can also right-click any worksheet tab to bring up a menu that has a Hide option. Similarly, right-click any visible worksheet tab to bring up the same menu with an Unhide option. If your workbook has just one unhidden worksheet, or even just one worksheet in the entire workbook, you won’t be able to hide it. To hide a row or rows: Select a complete row or multiple rows. Then choose Format→Row→Hide. Or right-click the row header and choose the Hide option. To hide a column or columns: Select a complete column or multiple columns. Then choose Format→Column→Hide. Or right-click the column header and choose the Hide option. To unhide rows or columns: You must first select the surrounding rows or columns by using the dark arrow cursor in the row number or column heading before you can unhide by choosing Format→Row (or Column)→Unhide. You can also select surrounding rows or columns, right-click the row or column header, and choose the Unhide option in the resultant menu.

Article / Updated 06-04-2016

When you start typing in a cell in Excel in Office 2011 for Mac, the border gets a nice, soft shadow and seems to be closer to you than the rest of the sheet. The blinking insertion cursor displays inside the cell so you can see and control where text will appear as you type or paste. When you type in a cell, you’re performing what’s called in-cell editing. What you type in a cell appears simultaneously in the Formula bar, and vice versa. When you're done editing in a cell, the cell displays the calculation result, and the Formula bar displays the cell's formula. Excel doesn’t know when you’re done typing in a cell unless you take specific action to let Excel know you’re no longer working with a cell. When you’re done editing in a cell or the Formula bar, take any of the following actions to let Excel know you’ve finished: Press Return or Enter. Press an arrow key. Press the Tab key. Click the Enter button beside the cell address box. Click the Cancel button beside the cell address box. Click a different cell. After you select something other than the cell you’re editing, the cell you were editing returns to its normal appearance. Double-click any nonempty cell to return to in-cell editing. Excel displays the insertion cursor in the cell, and you can resume editing the cell’s contents. Want to get rid of something inside a cell? All you have to do is click that cell and press the Delete key. That’s handy for a single cell, but if you select a range of cells and press the Delete key, only the contents of the first cell in the range will be deleted. To clear a range of cells, select the range of cells and then hold down the Command key down while you press the Delete key. (On some Macs, you may need to press the Function key as well for this to work.) Using the Delete key method deletes cell content, but not formatting or comments. You can clear formats, contents, or comments by using this method: Select the cell range you want to clear. Select by dragging the mouse or entering the name of the cell range into the Name box. Choose Edit→Clear from the menu bar. Alternatively, click the Ribbon’s Home tab, and in the Edit group, click Clear. Either way, you get to a submenu with several options. Choose one of the following: All: Clears contents, formats, and comments. Formats: Clears formats without disturbing contents or comments. Contents: Clears contents without disturbing formats or comments. Comments: Clears comments without disturbing contents or formats. Hyperlinks: Clears hyperlinks without disturbing contents or formats. If there are no hyperlinks in the cell(s) you selected, this option is grayed out.

Article / Updated 06-04-2016

In Office 2011 for Mac, Excel can try to load tables from a Web page directly from the Internet via a Web query process. A Web query is simple: It’s just a Web-page address saved as a text file, using the .iqy, rather than .txt, file extension. You use Word to save a text file that contains just a hyperlink and has a .iqy file extension. Excel reads that file and performs a Web query on the URL that is within the .iqy text file and then displays the query results. You can easily make Web queries for Microsoft Excel in Microsoft Word. Follow these steps: Go to a Web page that has the Web tables that you want to put in Excel. Highlight the Web address in the address field and choose Edit→Copy. Switch to Microsoft Word and open a new document. Launch Word if it's not open already. Choose Edit→Paste. The URL is pasted into the Word document. In Word, choose File→Save As. The Save As dialog appears. Click Format and choose Plain Text (.txt) from the pop-up menu that appears. Type a filename, replacing .txt with .iqy as the file extension. Don’t use the .txt extension. The .iqy file extension signifies that the file is a Web query for Microsoft Excel. If you encounter the File Conversion dialog, select the MS_DOS radio button, and then click OK. Select the Documents folder. Click the Save button. After you save your Web query, follow these steps to run the Web query: Open Excel. Choose Data→Get External Data→Run Saved Query. Open the .iqy file you saved in Word. Excel attempts to open the Web page for you, which creates a query range formatted as a table. Web queries work with HTML tables, not pictures of tables, Adobe Flash, PDF, or other formats. The fancy Web query browser found in Excel for Windows is not available in Excel for Mac. You can refresh a Web query quickly by first positioning the selection cursor anywhere in the data table and then choosing Data→Refresh Data.

Article / Updated 06-04-2016

In Office 2011 for Mac, Excel’s simple Paste option handles most of your ordinary pasting requirements, but it's a one-shot deal — you can choose only a single option. On the other hand, the Paste Special feature in Excel 2011 for Mac lets you pick and choose exactly what individual or combination of attributes you want to paste. Select the cell or cell range to copy and choose Edit→Copy. Click in the cell where you want to paste and then choose Edit→Paste Special. In the Paste section of the dialog, select the option that you need. Click OK. The Paste Link button becomes active depending on what you copied and which paste option you chose in the Paste Special dialog. The Paste Link button pastes a cell formula that refers to the cell you’re copying. Turning rows into columns with Paste Special in Excel 2011 for Mac Many times, you may wish you could easily change the layout of data from horizontal to vertical, or vice versa. Fortunately, Excel’s Paste Special Transpose option does exactly that. To change columns into rows quickly, follow these steps: Select a cell range and choose Edit→Copy. Select a destination cell. Choose Edit→Paste Special. Select the Transpose check box and then click OK. Using Paste Special with objects in Excel 2011 for Mac If you copy an object, rather than a cell or cell range, the Paste Special dialog offers paste options appropriate to the kind of object you are pasting. Charts, tables, and pictures all have unique Paste Special options, each described within the description portion of the Paste Special dialog. You can use the Paste Special feature in Excel by using content that you copied from another open application, such as Word, PowerPoint, or even a Web browser. Options in the Paste Special dialog change depending on what you’ve copied to the Clipboard. Copying as a picture in the first place You can easily copy a picture of an object, a cell, or a cell range, but you have to know about the secret Edit menu. Follow these steps to use the modified Edit menu: Select a cell, a range of cells, or an object on a worksheet. Hold down the Shift key and click the Edit menu. Here’s the secret! When you hold down the Shift key, the Edit menu offers Copy Picture and Paste Picture options. Choose Edit→Copy Picture. Click one of the choices: As Shown on Screen: What you see is what you get. As Shown When Printed: The picture is formatted based on your current selections in Page Setup. Now, you have a picture on the Clipboard that you can use in Excel or any other application that can paste pictures. You can also hold Shift and choose Edit→Paste Picture to paste the Clipboard contents as a picture, regardless of its origin.

Article / Updated 06-04-2016

In a Word form in Office 2011 for Mac, a combo field is a pretty neat thing. Use a combo when you want the user to choose an entry from a list of choices. The Combo Box field is also referred to as a Drop-Down Form field. Follow these steps to create a combo box: Click in your document at the position to insert the form field. On the Developer tab of the Ribbon, click the Combo Box button. A small gray box appears. Click the Form Fields Options button on the Developer tab of the Ribbon. The Drop-Down Form Field Options dialog opens. The top half of this dialog lets you build the list of choices that will appear when the Drop-Down button is clicked in your finished, protected form. Drop-Down Item: Type an item to appear in the drop-down list. Add: Adds your typed Drop-Down item to the Items in Drop-Down List. Remove: Removes a selected item from the Items in the Drop-Down List. Items in Drop-Down List: These items appear in the drop-down list of choices that appears when the Drop-Down button is clicked in your finished, protected form. Move: Select an item in Items in Drop-Down List. Click an arrow to move it up or down in the list. Field Settings: Here are the field settings: Bookmark: Give the drop-down list a name ending with a number. The numbers you assign should be sequential. Calculate on Exit: If you use calculations, you can select this check box to cause Word to perform the calculations after the control is used. Drop-down Enabled: When selected when the user clicks a button in the form field, a pop-up menu displays showing the items in the drop-down list. When you’re done setting up the combo box and you select it within the form, it works like a regular pop-up menu.

Article / Updated 06-04-2016

Making a form in Word 2011 for Mac is as simple as choosing appropriate form controls from the Developer tab of the Ribbon in Office 2011 for Mac, placing them in your Word document, and then enabling your form by turning protection on. Sometimes you don’t need a text field for a response, and a check box is enough. Adding a check box to a form is a piece of cake! Follow these steps: Click at the point in your document where you want this form control to be located. Click the Check Box Form Field button on the Developer tab of the Ribbon. A little square appears. Click the Form Fields Options button on the Developer tab of the Ribbon. The Check Box Form Field Options dialog opens. The following options in this dialog are Check Box Size: You have two choices here: Auto: Let Word decide. Exactly: Type a value or use the increase/decrease control. Default Value: Select Checked or Not Checked. Run Macro On: If you have macros available to this document, you can choose one to be triggered as the form field is clicked into or exited. Field Settings: Three options exist in this area: Bookmark Field: Give the check box a name ending with a number. Calculate on Exit: If you use calculations, you can select this box to cause Word to perform the calculations after the control is used. Check Box Enabled: Deselect to disable this check box.

Article / Updated 06-04-2016

You can use an Excel workbook as your Word 2011 mail merge data source in Office 2011 for Mac. Get ready by preparing an Excel workbook with a data range or table that’s set up as a mailing list and a new, blank document in Word. To make labels from Excel or another database, take the following steps: In the Mail Merge Manager, click Select Document Type and then choose Create New→Labels. From the Label Products pop-up menu, choose the product. From the Product Number list, select the correct number for your labels. Click OK to close the Label Options dialog. A table appears. Don’t make any adjustments to the table or click in the table. The insertion cursor should be blinking in the upper-leftmost cell, which will be the only empty cell in the table. You may have to drag the bottom scroll bar to see the blinking cursor. Section 1 of Mail Merge Manager now displays the name of the Main Document and which type of merge you’re performing. In the Mail Merge Manager, click Select Recipients List and then choose Get List→Open Data Source. Navigate to the Excel (.xlsx) workbook you’re using as the data source and click Open. Select the worksheet or range that has the names and addresses for the data source, and then click OK. Your Word mail merge document is now linked to the worksheet or data range data source in the Excel workbook. The Edit Labels dialog appears. In the Mail Merge Manager, click Edit Labels. When the Edit Labels dialog opens, you see an empty Sample Label with a blinking insertion cursor. Click the Insert Merge Field pop-up menu and choose the field that will be on the left of the top row of the label. To add more lines to your label, press Return or Enter and then select another field from the Insert Merge Field pop-up menu. Do not click the Insert Postal Bar Code button. The U.S. Post Office changed how it generates postal bar codes, and Word doesn’t conform to the new specification. Click OK to close the Edit Labels dialog. You return to your Word document, and your table grid is now filled with a whole bunch of field names in chevrons. Step 3 of Mail Merge Manager opens, but don’t use anything from Mail Merge Manager Step 3 because the Edit Labels dialog takes care of inserting placeholders when making mail merge labels. Step 2 of Mail Merge Manager now shows the filename of the data source document. (Optional) In the Mail Merge Manager, click Filter Recipients. Filter data and order records. In the Mail Merge Manager, click Preview Results. In the Mail Merge Manager, click Complete Merge. You’re done!