Get "Click Happy"

"Click Happy" is a term I use with people to describe my unconscious clicking of everything. I see something, and I must click on it. Sometimes once, other times twice or more. I get this from my use of clicking to select things in Microsoft Word. There are a bunch of shortcuts to select in Word, and most options work in many other application programs as well. Here they are, and happy clicking!

To select this	Click this
A character	Drag across the letter
A word	Double-click
A line	Move the pointer to the left of the line until you see the left-pointing arrow, and then click
A sentence	CTRL–click anywhere in the sentence
A paragraph	Triple-click the paragraph OR Move the pointer to the left of the paragraph until you see the left-pointing arrow and double-click
Multiple paragraphs	Move the pointer to the left of the paragraphs until you see the left-pointing arrow, and then click and drag up or down
A large block of text	Click at the start of the selection, scroll to the end of the selection, and  SHIFT-click
Entire document	Move the pointer to the left of any of the document text until you see the left-pointing arrow, and then triple-click
A vertical block of text	Hold  ALT , and then drag over the text

Let's merge our shapes and form a union

Sometimes you need a specific shape for your presentation. There's nothing quite perfect in the Shapes menu, but if I could combine two or more, it would be perfect. You can do this with Merge Shapes tool.

1. Draw two or more shapes that overlap to form the basic shape you desire.
2. Select all shapes to merge and on the DRAWING TOOLS|FORMAT menu, in the Insert Shapes group, click Merge Shapes and then choose from one of the options.

• Union - merge shapes into one shape and all surface area becomes one
• Combine - merge shape into one shape but keeps distinct areas of overlap
• Fragment - breaks apart so each shape is separate and moveable
• Intersect - keeps the intersecting area only
• Subtract - removes the other shape and its area of overlap

One Day Two Day Red Day Blue Day

Everyone who knows me has heard me say, "if it's not on my calendar, it doesn't happen in my life." I'm a slave to my calendar. Because I have a lot going on, I can't memorize things days in advance. Sometimes, I'm happy to just know what's happening tomorrow, forget about three or four days from now. But, there are times I need to look further ahead than just one day.

You may already be familiar with some of the built-in views for your Outlook calendar:  Day, Work Week, Week, Month and Schedule view.

While all are nice, I want to view only two days. The easiest solution is to switch to Day view. Now press Alt+2. Want three days? Press Alt+3. In case you're wondering, yes, Alt+4 will show four days. You can use this method all the way up to Alt+0 for ten days.

If you leave your calendar view as such, you'll notice that the next day, your current day is always the first day listed in the view and you consistently look forward how ever many days you choose.

Microsoft Office for iPhone

60 Seconds with Pogue.
David Pogue, tech blogger for the NYTimes.com, shares his review on Office for iPhone.

Send out the Search Party

Who doesn't love a party? But like many parties, there can be a lot of things to sort through when it's over.
When creating objects in Access, I often jump between object types. In doing so, I forget if what I created last week was a table or a query. If I have a lot of objects, it can be time consuming to look through everything, especially if I forgot exactly what I called it. Enter the Search bar.
On the Navigation pane, there is drop-down list allowing you to sort your objects by type, date, view, etc. But no option to search. If your right-click the bar, you'll get the option to turn on the Search Bar in the quick menu that appears.

1. Change the view of the Navigation pane using the drop-down menu. Change Navigate To Category to Object Type and Filter By Group to All Access Objects.
2. Click in the search box and as you type, the list of objects will begin to filter. The search will find the object name that either starts with, ends with or contains all or part of the search term you type.

To view all objects again, click the Clear Search String button at the end of the Search... field.

Nice part is, when you close and reopen Access, the Search Bar remains, so you don't have to turn it on every time. Happy searching!

Excel shortcuts for PC and Mac

Sorry to be lazy on this post, but I found this fantastic page from ExcelJet.net. They have popular keyboard shortcuts for the PC and Mac. It's visually easy to read and has BOTH platforms. I hope you can bookmark and use this page to make your work in Excel more efficient. Visit their homepage for many great Excel tutorials.

Some like it Hot

Have I got a HOT topic for you. No, not hot pants. It's hot corners in Windows 8. Yes, I know. I could go on and on with "hot" jokes and I very well may. You've been warned.
You should have heard by now that Windows 8 was designed for touch as well as mouse. If you are a desktop/mouse user, somethings will seem kind of foreign to you. Touch users will find it much more intuitive. This is the point in the conversation where I'd usually say, "sorry Mac lovers, you're out of luck." But not today. Mac users will likely be familiar with hot corners. They will also be thrilled to know that they have made their way into Windows 8.
There are four corners of your screen. Each corner has a function. When you move your mouse to the corner, a thumbnail or the Charms will be visible.

1. Top-right:  Charms (or Win+C). Move your mouse down and select the charm you want.
2. Bottom-right:  Charms (or Win+C). Move your mouse up and select the charm you want.
3. Bottom-left:  Start menu. When the thumbnail appears, do NOT move your mouse to the thumbnail to click. Instead, click the corner that made the thumbnail appear.
4. Top-left:  Recently used and open apps. In Windows 8, applications are those things you see on the left of the Start screen. You know, the live tiles and what not. Also, the desktop (where you have your open programs, folders, etc.) is an application. Again, do NOT move your mouse to the thumbnail to click. Instead, click the corner that made the thumbnail appear. One click will open the most recently used. A second click will open the next, and again for the next. Get the idea? If that's not enough, I have more for you. If the thumbnail is too small, click and drag it to the center of your screen. You'll get a bigger view. If you let go of the mouse, the app will open. If it's not what you're looking for, move the app back to the top-left corner.

For either hot corner on the left side, when you see the thumbnail, move your mouse up/down to the center and a bar will open with thumbnails of your open apps and the Start menu. If you click and drag an app on the side bar to the middle of the bar, it will snap to the left side of your screen, creating a sort of split-screen effect. This allows you to have your Mail app open as you work on your desktop.

Don't forget that there is no "close" button on apps. To close them, place your mouse cursor at the top of your screen. When the pointer turns to a hand, click and drag the app to the bottom of your screen.
Whew! I made it to the end of this article without another "hot" joke.