Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2013 All-in-One For Dummies E-Book

Peter Weverka

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 819

Beschreibung

The go-to reference for the new Office Home & Student 2013 The Home & Student version of Microsoft Office targets the home and education markets, covering the four applications most used outside the workplace: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. The minibooks in this essential All-in-One guide include real-world examples and projects that cover the new features and capabilities of Office 2013. Straightforward advice and beneficial projects help you to learn the basics of creating a resume in Word, establishing a home budget in Excel, developing a dynamic school presentation with PowerPoint, and taking notes in OneNote. * Targets home and school users of Office 2013, who primarily use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote * Walks you through how to use Office 2013 for everyday projects, such as creating a cover letter in Word or reusable templates in Excel * Demonstrates how to jazz up a school presentation with PowerPoint * Provides you with straightforward instructions for taking notes in OneNote * Shares common Office 2010 tools and details the basics of the Office ribbon Office Home & Student 2013 All-in-One For Dummies is an easy-to-understand guide to the essentials of Office 2013!

Leseprobe

Office Home & Student 2013 All-in-One For Dummies®

Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013934765

ISBN 978-1-118-51637-9 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-55030-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-855023-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-55019-9 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Peter Weverka is the best-selling author of many For Dummies books, including Office 2013 All-in-One For Dummies, as well as 45 other computer books about various topics. Peter’s humorous articles and stories — none related to computers, thankfully — have appeared in Harper’s, SPY, and other magazines for grown-ups.

Dedication

For Marie Arnoux.

Author’s Acknowledgments

This book owes a lot to many hard-working people at the offices of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Indiana. I would like to thank Steve Hayes for his encouragement and for giving me the opportunity to write this book.

I would also like to thank Susan Christophersen, who has edited many of my books, this one included, and is always a pleasure to work with.

Technical Editor Michelle Krazniak made sure that all the explanations in this book are indeed accurate, and I would like to thank her for her diligence and suggestions for improving this book. I would also like to thank BIM Indexing and Proofreading Services for writing the index.

If you turn this page you will see, on the flip side, the names of all the people who worked on this book. I am grateful to all of them.

Finally, thanks to my family — Sofia, Henry, and Addie — for indulging me during the writing of this book.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions and Editorial

Project and Copy Editor: Susan Christophersen

Executive Editor: Steve Hayes

Technical Editor: Michelle Krazniak

Editorial Manager: Jodi Jensen

Editorial Assistant: Annie Sullivan

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cover Photo: © Silvia Jansen / iStockphoto.com

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery

Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Carrie A. Cesavice, Joyce Haughey

Proofreaders: Jessica Kramer, Tricia Liebig

Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

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Publishing for Consumer Dummies

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Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Office Home & Student 2013 All-in-One For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/officehomestudent2013aio to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

What’s in This Book, Anyway?

What Makes This Book Different

Easy-to-look-up information

A task-oriented approach

Meaningful screen shots

Foolish Assumptions

Conventions Used in This Book

Icons Used in This Book

Book I: Common Office Tasks

Book I: Chapter 1: Office Nuts and Bolts

A Survey of Office Applications

Starting an Office Program

Starting an Office program in Windows 7 and Vista

Starting an Office program in Windows 8

Finding Your Way Around the Office Interface

The File tab and Backstage

The Quick Access toolbar

The Ribbon and its tabs

Context-sensitive tabs

The anatomy of a tab

Live previewing

Mini-toolbars and shortcut menus

Office 2013 for keyboard lovers

Saving Your Files

Saving a file

Saving a file for the first time

Declaring where you like to save files

Saving AutoRecovery information

Navigating the Save As and Open Windows

Opening and Closing Files

Opening a file

Closing a file

Reading and Recording File Properties

Locking a File with a Password

Password-protecting a file

Removing a password from a file

Book I: Chapter 2: Wrestling with the Text

Manipulating the Text

Selecting text

Moving and copying text

Taking advantage of the Clipboard task pane

Deleting text

Changing the Look of Text

Choosing fonts for text

Changing the font size of text

Applying font styles to text

Applying text effects to text

Underlining text

Changing the color of text

Quick Ways to Handle Case, or Capitalization

Entering Symbols and Foreign Characters

Creating Hyperlinks

Linking a hyperlink to a web page

Creating a hyperlink to another place in your file

Creating an e-mail hyperlink

Repairing and removing hyperlinks

Book I: Chapter 3: Speed Techniques Worth Knowing About

Undoing and Repeating Commands

Undoing a mistake

Repeating an action — and quicker this time

Zooming In, Zooming Out

Viewing a File Through More Than One Window

Correcting Typos on the Fly

Entering Text Quickly with the AutoCorrect Command

Book II: Word 2013

Book II: Chapter 1: Speed Techniques for Using Word

Introducing the Word Screen

Creating a New Document

Getting a Better Look at Your Documents

Viewing documents in different ways

Splitting the screen

Selecting Text in Speedy Ways

Moving Around Quickly in Documents

Keys for getting around quickly

Navigating from page to page or heading to heading

Going there fast with the Go To command

Bookmarks for hopping around

Inserting a Whole File into a Document

Entering Information Quickly in a Computerized Form

Creating a computerized form

Entering data in the form

Book II: Chapter 2: Laying Out Text and Pages

Paragraphs and Formatting

Inserting a Section Break for Formatting Purposes

Breaking a Line

Starting a New Page

Setting Up and Changing the Margins

Indenting Paragraphs and First Lines

Clicking an Indent button (for left-indents)

“Eyeballing it” with the ruler

Indenting in the Paragraph dialog box

Numbering the Pages

Numbering with page numbers only

Including a page number in a header or footer

Changing page number formats

Putting Headers and Footers on Pages

Creating, editing, and removing headers and footers

Fine-tuning a header or footer

Adjusting the Space between Lines

Adjusting the Space Between Paragraphs

Creating Numbered and Bulleted Lists

Simple numbered and bulleted lists

Constructing lists of your own

Managing a multilevel list

Working with Tabs

Hyphenating Text

Automatically and manually hyphenating a document

Unhyphenating and other hyphenation tasks

Book II: Chapter 3: Word Styles

All About Styles

Styles and templates

Types of styles

Applying Styles to Text and Paragraphs

Applying a style

Experimenting with style sets

Choosing which style names appear on the Style menus

Creating a New Style

Creating a style from a paragraph

Creating a style from the ground up

Modifying a Style

Creating and Managing Templates

Creating a new template

Opening a template so that you can modify it

Modifying, deleting, and renaming styles in templates

Book II: Chapter 4: Constructing the Perfect Table

Talking Table Jargon

Creating a Table

Entering the Text and Numbers

Selecting Different Parts of a Table

Laying Out Your Table

Changing the size of a table, columns, and rows

Adjusting column and row size

Inserting columns and rows

Deleting columns and rows

Moving columns and rows

Aligning Text in Columns and Rows

Merging and Splitting Cells

Repeating Header Rows on Subsequent Pages

Formatting Your Table

Designing a table with a table style

Calling attention to different rows and columns

Decorating your table with borders and colors

Using Math Formulas in Tables

Neat Table Tricks

Changing the direction of header row text

Wrapping text around a table

Using a picture as the table background

Drawing diagonal lines on tables

Drawing on a table

Book II: Chapter 5: Taking Advantage of the Proofing Tools

Correcting Your Spelling Errors

Correcting misspellings one at a time

Running a spell-check

Preventing text from being spell checked

Checking for Grammatical Errors in Word

Getting a Word Definition

Finding and Replacing Text

The basics: Finding stray words and phrases

Narrowing your search

Conducting a find-and-replace operation

Researching a Topic Inside Word

Finding the Right Word with the Thesaurus

Proofing Text Written in a Foreign Language

Telling Office which languages you will use

Marking text as foreign language text

Translating Foreign Language Text

Book II: Chapter 6: Desktop Publishing with Word

Experimenting with Themes

Sprucing Up Your Pages

Decorating a page with a border

Putting a background color on pages

Getting Word’s help with cover letters

Making Use of Charts, Diagrams, Shapes, Clip Art, and Photos

Working with the Drawing Canvas

Positioning and Wrapping Objects Relative to the Page and Text

Wrapping text around an object

Positioning an object on a page

Working with Text Boxes

Inserting a text box

Making text flow from text box to text box

Dropping In a Drop Cap

Watermarking for the Elegant Effect

Putting Newspaper-Style Columns in a Document

Doing the preliminary work

Running text into columns

Landscape Documents

Printing on Different Size Paper

Showing Online Video in a Document

Book II: Chapter 7: Getting Word’s Help with Office Chores

Highlighting Parts of a Document

Commenting on a Document

Entering a comment

Viewing and displaying comments

Caring for and feeding comments

Tracking Changes to Documents

Telling Word to start marking changes

Reading and reviewing a document with change marks

Marking changes when you forgot to turn on change marks

Accepting and rejecting changes to a document

Printing an Address on an Envelope

Printing a Single Address Label (Or a Page of the Same Label)

Churning Out Letters, Envelopes, and Labels for Mass Mailings

Preparing the source file

Merging the document with the source file

Printing form letters, envelopes, and labels

Book II: Chapter 8: Tools for Reports and Scholarly Papers

Alphabetizing a List

Outlines for Organizing Your Work

Viewing the outline in different ways

Rearranging document sections in Outline view

Collapsing and Expanding Parts of a Document

Generating a Table of Contents

Creating a TOC

Updating and removing a TOC

Customizing a TOC

Changing the structure of a TOC

Indexing a Document

Marking index items in the document

Generating the index

Editing an index

Putting Cross-References in a Document

Putting Footnotes and Endnotes in Documents

Entering a footnote or endnote

Choosing the numbering scheme and position of notes

Deleting, moving, and editing notes

Compiling a Bibliography

Inserting a citation for your bibliography

Editing a citation

Changing how citations appear in text

Generating the bibliography

Book III: Excel 2013

Book III: Chapter 1: Up and Running with Excel

Creating a New Excel Workbook

Getting Acquainted with Excel

Rows, columns, and cell addresses

Workbooks and worksheets

Entering Data in a Worksheet

The basics of entering data

Entering text labels

Entering numeric values

Entering date and time values

Quickly Entering Lists and Serial Data with the AutoFill Command

Formatting Numbers, Dates, and Time Values

Conditional Formats for Calling Attention to Data

Establishing Data-Validation Rules

Book III: Chapter 2: Refining Your Worksheet

Editing Worksheet Data

Moving Around in a Worksheet

Getting a Better Look at the Worksheet

Introduction

T

Book I

Common Office Tasks

Visit www.dummies.com for great Dummies content online.

Contents at a Glance

Chapter 1: Office Nuts and Bolts

Chapter 2: Wrestling with the Text

Chapter 3: Speed Techniques Worth Knowing About

Chapter 1: Office Nuts and Bolts

In This Chapter

Introducing the Office applications

Running an Office application

Exploring the Office interface

Saving and auto-recovering your files

Opening and closing an Office file

Recording a file’s document properties

Clamping a password on a file

Chapter 1 is where you get your feet wet with Office 2013. Walk right to the shore and sink your toes in the water. Don’t worry; I won’t push you from behind.

In this chapter, you meet the Office applications and discover speed techniques for opening applications and files. I show you around the Ribbon, Quick Access toolbar, and other Office landmarks. I also show you how to open files, save files, and clamp a password on a file.

A Survey of Office Applications

Office 2013, sometimes called the Microsoft Office Suite, is a collection of computer applications. Why is it called Office? I think because the people who invented it wanted to make software for completing tasks that need doing in a typical office. When you hear someone talk about “Office” or “Office software,” they’re talking about several different applications. Table 1-1 describes the Office applications.

Table 1-1 Office Applications

Application

Description

Word

A word processor for writing letters, reports, and so on. A Word file is called a document (see Book II).

Excel

A number cruncher for performing numerical analyses. An Excel file is called a workbook (see Book III).

PowerPoint

A means of creating slide presentations to give in front of audiences. A PowerPoint file is called a presentation, or sometimes a slide show (see Book IV).

OneNote

A way to take notes and organize your ideas (see Book V).

Outlook

A personal information manager, scheduler, and e-mailer (not available in the Home & Student edition).

Access

A database management application (not available in the Home & Student edition).

Publisher

A means of creating desktop-publishing files — pamphlets, notices, newsletters, and the like (not available in the Home & Student edition).

Table 1-2 describes the different Office 2013 editions. The Office Web Apps are free, abridged versions of Office software that were designed to help people collaborate online (Book VIII describes how to use them). Office 365 is a subscription service. For a monthly fee, subscribers to Office 365 can download and use Office software.

Table 1-2 Office 2013 Editions

Edition

Applications

Office 2013 Home & Student

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote

Office 2013 Professional

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Publisher

Office 365

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Publisher

Office 2013 Home & Business

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook

Office Web Apps

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote

If you’re new to Office, don’t be daunted by the prospect of having to study so many different applications. The applications have much in common, with the same commands showing up throughout. For example, the method of choosing fonts is the same in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. Master one Office program and you’re well on your way to mastering the next.

Starting an Office Program

Unless you start an Office program, you can’t create a document, construct a worksheet, or create a PowerPoint presentation. Many have tried to undertake these tasks with mud and papier-mâché without starting a program first, but all have failed.

How you start an Office program depends on which version of the Windows operating system is on your computer. Read on.

Starting an Office program in Windows 7 and Vista

Here are the various ways to start an Office program on computers that run Windows 7 and Windows Vista:

The old-fashioned way: Click the Start button, choose All Programs⇒Microsoft Office 2013, and then choose the program’s name on the submenu.

The Start menu: Click the program’s name on the Start menu, as shown in Figure 1-1. The Start menu is the menu you see when you click the Start button. By placing a program’s name on the Start menu, you can open the program simply by clicking the Start button and then clicking the program’s name. To place an Office program on the Start menu:

1. Click the Start button and choose All Programs⇒Microsoft Office 2013.

2. Move the pointer over the program’s name on the submenu, but don’t click to select the program’s name.

3. Right-click the program’s name and choose Pin to Start Menu on the shortcut menu that appears.

To remove a program’s name from the Start menu, right-click the name and choose Remove from This List.

Desktop shortcut icon: Double-click the program’s shortcut icon (see Figure 1-1). A shortcut icon is an icon you can double-click to do something in a hurry. By creating a shortcut icon on the Windows desktop, you can double-click the icon and immediately start an Office program. To place an Office shortcut icon on the desktop:

1. Click the Start button and choose All Programs⇒Microsoft Office 2013.

2. Move the pointer over the program’s name on the submenu, but don’t click the program’s name.

Figure 1-1: Two of several ways to start an Office program in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

3. Right-click the program’s name and choose Send To⇒Desktop (Create Shortcut) on the shortcut menu that appears.

To remove a desktop shortcut icon from the Windows desktop, right-click it, choose Delete, and click Yes in the Delete Shortcut dialog box. Don’t worry about deleting a program when you delete its shortcut icon. All you do when you choose Delete is remove the program’s shortcut icon from the desktop and make your desktop a little less crowded.

Taskbar (Windows 7 only): Click the program’s icon on the Taskbar. To place a program’s icon on the Taskbar, right-click its name on the Start menu or All Programs menu and choose Pin to Taskbar. To remove a program’s icon from the Taskbar, right-click it and choose Unpin This Program from Taskbar.

Starting an Office program in Windows 8

Here are the various ways to start an Office program on computers that run Windows 8:

The conventional way: Right-click a blank area on the screen and click All Apps (located in the lower-right corner of the screen). Then scroll to the Office application you want to open and click its name.

The Start menu: Click the application’s tile on the Start screen, as shown in Figure 1-2. To place an Office application tile on the Start screen:

1. Right-click a blank area of the screen.

2. Choose All Apps (located in the lower-right corner of the screen).

3. Scroll to the Office application that needs a tile on the Start screen.

4. Right-click the application’s name.

5. Click Pin to Start.

You can find this command at the bottom of the screen.

Figure 1-2: Starting an Office program in Windows 8.

Desktop shortcut icon: Double-click the program’s shortcut icon. To place an Office shortcut icon on the Windows 8 desktop:

1. In the Start window, right-click a blank area on the screen.

2. Click All Apps on the Windows toolbar.

3. In the Apps window, scroll to the right until you see the Office application tiles (Word 2013, Excel 2013, and so on).

4. Right-click the name of an Office 2013 program and choose Send To⇒Desktop (Create Shortcut) on the shortcut menu.

To remove a desktop shortcut icon from the Windows desktop, right-click it, choose Delete, and click Yes in the Delete Shortcut dialog box.

Finding Your Way Around the Office Interface

Interface, also called the user interface, is a computer term that describes how a software program presents itself to the people who use it (and you probably thought interface meant two people kissing). Figure 1-3 shows the Word interface. You will be glad to know that the interface of all the Office programs is pretty much the same.

These pages give you a quick tour of the Office interface and explain what the various parts of the interface are. Click along with me as I describe the interface and you’ll know what’s what by the time you finish reading these pages.

Figure 1-3: The File tab, Quick Access toolbar, and Ribbon.

The File tab and Backstage

  In the upper-left corner of the window is the File tab (see Figure 1-3). Clicking the File tab opens the Backstage (Microsoft’s word, not mine). As shown in Figure 1-4, the Backstage offers commands for creating, opening, and saving files, as well as performing other file-management tasks. Notice the Options command on the Backstage. You can choose Options to open the Options dialog box and tell the application you are working in how you want it to work.

To leave the Backstage and return to the application window, click the Back button. This button is located in the upper-left corner of the Backstage.

Figure 1-4: The Backstage in (clock-wise from upper left) Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

The Quick Access toolbar

No matter where you travel in an Office program, you see the Quick Access toolbar in the upper-left corner of the screen (refer to Figure 1-3). This toolbar offers three necessary buttons: the all-important Save button, the trusty Undo button, and the convenient Repeat button. You can place more buttons on the Quick Access toolbar as well as move the toolbar lower in the window. I explain how to customize the Quick Access toolbar in Book VII, Chapter 1.

Collapsing and showing the Ribbon

To get more room to view items on-screen, consider collapsing the Ribbon. When the Ribbon is collapsed, only tab names on the Ribbon appear; the buttons and galleries are hidden from view.

Use these techniques to collapse the Ribbon:

Click the Collapse the Ribbon button (located to the right of the Ribbon).

Press Ctrl+F1.

Right-click a tab on the Ribbon and select Collapse the Ribbon on the shortcut menu.

Double-click a tab on the Ribbon.

Click the Ribbon Display options button and choose Show Tabs.

Use these techniques to show the Ribbon when it is collapsed:

Click a tab to display the Ribbon and then click the Pin the Ribbon button.

Press Ctrl+F1.

Right-click a tab and deselect Collapse the Ribbon.

Double-click a tab on the Ribbon.

Click the Ribbon Display options button and choose Show Tabs and Commands.

Want to hide the Ribbon altogether? Click the Ribbon Display Options button and choose Auto-Hide Ribbon on the drop-down list. To see the Ribbon again, click the top of the application.

The Ribbon and its tabs

Across the top of the screen is the Ribbon, an assortment of different tabs (see Figure 1-3); click a tab to view a different set of commands and undertake a task. For example, click the Home tab to format text; click the Insert tab to insert a table or chart. Each tab offers a different set of buttons, menus, and galleries.

Context-sensitive tabs

To keep the Ribbon from getting too crowded with tabs, Microsoft has arranged for some tabs to appear only in context — that is, they appear on the Ribbon after you insert or click something. These tabs are called context-sensitive tabs.

In Figure 1-5, for example, I inserted a table, and two additional tabs — the Design and the Layout tab — appear on the Ribbon under the Table Tools heading. These context-sensitive tabs offer commands for designing and laying out tables. The idea behind context-sensitive tabs is to direct you to the commands you need and exclude all other commands.

Figure 1-5: After you insert or select an item, context-sensitive tabs appear on the Ribbon.

If you can’t find a tab on the Ribbon, the tab is probably context-sensitive. You have to insert or select an item to make some tabs appear on the Ribbon. Context-sensitive tabs always appear on the right side of the Ribbon under a heading with the word Tools in its name.

The anatomy of a tab

All tabs are different in terms of the commands they offer, but all are the same insofar as how they present commands. On every tab, commands are organized in groups. On every tab, you find group buttons, buttons, and galleries. Group buttons, buttons, galleries — what’s up with that?

Groups and group buttons

Commands on each tab are organized into groups. The names of these groups appear below the buttons and galleries on tabs. For example, the Home tab in Excel is organized into several groups, including the Clipboard, Font, Alignment, and Number group, as shown in Figure 1-6.

Figure 1-6: Each tab is organized into groups; some groups offer group buttons.

Groups tell you what the buttons and galleries above their names are used for. On the Home tab in Excel, for example, the buttons in the Font group are for formatting text. Read group names to help find the command you need.

Many groups have a group button that you can click to open a dialog box or task pane (officially, Microsoft calls these little buttons dialog box launchers, but let’s act like grownups, shall we?). Group buttons are found to the right of group names. Move the pointer over a group button to open a pop-up help box with a description of the dialog box or task pane that appears when the button is clicked (refer to Figure 1-6).

Buttons and galleries

Go to any tab and you find buttons of all shapes and sizes. What matters isn’t a button’s shape or size, but whether a down-pointing arrow appears on its face. Click a button with an arrow and you get a drop-down list with options you can choose.

You can find out what clicking a button does by moving the pointer over it, which makes a pop-up description of the button appear.

Built in to some tabs are galleries. A gallery presents you with visual options for changing an item. When you move the pointer over a gallery choice, the item on your page or slide — the table, chart, or diagram, for example — changes appearance. In galleries, you can preview different choices before you click to select the choice you want.

Live previewing

Thanks to live previewing, you can see the results of a menu or gallery choice before actually making the choice. Here’s how live previewing works: Move the pointer over an option in a gallery or drop-down list and glance at your page or slide. You can see the results of selecting the option. For example, you see a different font or shape color. You can judge whether choosing the option is worthwhile without choosing the option first.

Mini-toolbars and shortcut menus

A mini-toolbar is a toolbar that appears on-screen to help you do a task, as shown in Figure 1-7. You can select an option from a drop-down list or click a button on the mini-toolbar to complete a task. Mini-toolbars are very convenient. They save you the trouble of going to a different tab to complete a task.

Figure 1-7: A mini-toolbar (top) and shortcut menu (bottom).

Similar to mini-toolbars are the shortcut menus you get when you right-click, as shown in Figure 1-7. Right-click means to click the right, not the left, mouse button. Right-click just about anywhere and you get a shortcut menu of some kind.

In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, you see a mini-toolbar and a shortcut menu when you right-click text.

Office 2013 for keyboard lovers

People who like to give commands by pressing keyboard shortcuts will be glad to know that Office offers Alt+key shortcuts. Press the Alt key, and letters called KeyTips appear on tab names, as shown in Figure 1-8. After you press the Alt key, follow these instructions to make use of KeyTips:

Go to a tab: Press a KeyTip on a tab to visit a tab.

Make KeyTips appear on menu items: Press a KeyTip on a button or gallery to make KeyTips appear on menu items.

Figure 1-8: Press the Alt key to see KeyTips.

Saving Your Files

Soon after you create a new file, be sure to save it. And save your file from time to time while you work on it as well. Until you save your work, it rests in the computer’s electronic memory (RAM), a precarious location. If a power outage occurs or your computer stalls, you lose all the work you did since the last time you saved your file. Make it a habit to save files every ten minutes or so, or when you complete an important task.

These pages explain how to save a file, declare where you want to save files by default, and handle files that were saved automatically after a computer failure.

Saving a file

To save a file:

  Click the Save button (you’ll find it on the Quick Access toolbar).

Press Ctrl+S.

  Go to the File tab and choose Save.

Saving a file for the first time

The first time you save a presentation, the Save As dialog box opens. It invites you to give the file a name and choose a folder in which to store it. Enter a descriptive name in the File Name text box. To locate a folder for storing your presentation, see “Navigating the Save As and Open Windows,” later in this chapter.

Converting Office 97–2010 files to 2013

When you open a file made in an earlier version of Office, the program switches to compatibility mode. Features that weren’t part of earlier versions of the program are shut down. You can tell when a file is in compatibility mode because the words Compatibility Mode appear in the title bar next to the file’s name.

Follow these steps to convert a 97–2010 file for use in an Office 2013 program:

1. Go to the File tab.

2. Choose Info.

3. Click the Convert button.

A dialog box informs you what converting means. If you don’t see the Convert option, your file has been converted already.

4. Click OK.

Declaring where you like to save files

When you attempt to save a file for the first time in the Save As dialog box, Office shows you the contents of the Documents folder on the assumption that you keep most of your files in that folder. The Documents folder is the center of the universe as far as Office is concerned, but perhaps you keep the majority of your files in a different folder. How would you like to see it first in the Save As and Open dialog boxes?

To direct Office to the folder you like best and make it appear first in the Save As and Open dialog boxes, follow these steps:

1. In Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, go to the File tab and choose Options.

You see the Options dialog box.

2. Select the Save category.

Figure 1-9 shows the topmost options in this category.

3. In the Default File Location text box, enter the address of the folder where you prefer to keep your files.

For example, if you’re fond of keeping files in the My Stuff folder on the C drive of your computer, enter C:\My Stuff or click the Browse button and select the My Stuff folder in the Modify Location dialog box.

4. Click OK.

Figure 1-9: The Save options in the Options dialog box.

Saving AutoRecovery information

To ensure against data loss owing to computer and power failures, Office saves files on its own every ten minutes. These files are saved in an AutoRecovery file. After your computer fails, you can try to recover some of the work you lost by getting it from the AutoRecovery file (see the “When disaster strikes!” sidebar).

When disaster strikes!

After your computer fails and you restart an Office program, you see the Document Recovery task pane with a list of files that were open when the failure occurred:

AutoSave files are files that Office saves as part of its AutoRecovery procedure (see “Saving AutoRecovery information”).

Original files are files that you save by clicking the Save button.

The Document Recovery task pane tells you when each file was saved. By studying the time listings, you can tell which version of a file — the AutoRecovery file or the file you saved — is most up to date.

Open the drop-down list for a file and select one of these options:

Open/View: Opens the file so that you can examine and work on it. If you want to keep it, click the Save button.

Save As: Opens the Save As dialog box so that you can save the file under a different name. Choose this command to keep a copy of the recovered file on hand in case you need it.

Delete: Deletes the AutoRecovery file.

Show Repairs: Shows repairs made to the file.

Office saves AutoRecovery files every ten minutes, but if you want the program to save the files more or less frequently, you can change the AutoRecovery setting. Auto-recovering taxes a computer’s memory. If your computer is sluggish, consider making AutoRecovery files at intervals longer than ten minutes; if your computer fails often and you’re worried about losing data, make AutoRecovery files more frequently.

Follow these steps to tell Office how often to save data in an AutoRecovery file:

1. On the File tab, choose Options.

The Options dialog box appears.

2. Select the Save category (refer to Figure 1-9).

3. Enter a Minutes setting in the Save AutoRecover Information Every box.

4. Click OK.

Navigating the Save As and Open Windows

The Open window and Save As window offer a bunch of different ways to locate a file you want to open or locate the folder where you want to save a file. Figure 1-10 shows the Open and Save As windows. To open these windows, click the File tab and choose Open or Save As.

Follow these steps to open a file or save a file for the first time (or save a file under a different name or in a different location):

1. Click the File tab.

2. Choose Open or Save As.

The Open or Save As window opens (refer to Figure 1-10).

On the Recent list, the Open window lists files you recently opened. You can open a file on this list by clicking its name. To list files you open frequently at the top of the Recent list, click the Pin This Item button. You see this button when you move the pointer over a filename on the list.

3. Select the location where you expect to find or want to save the file (select Computer, most likely).

Select Computer to rummage in folders on your computer. You can also list network and SkyDrive locations in the Open and Save As windows. (I explain SkyDrive in Book VIII.)

Figure 1-10: The Open window (top) and Save As window (bottom) work much the same way.

4. Select the folder where you expect to find or want to save the file.

The window provides a couple of shortcuts for finding that folder:

• Current Folder: Click the name of the folder you most recently opened.

• Recent Folders: Click the name of a folder you opened recently.

• Browse button: Click the Browse button, and in the Open or Save As dialog box, locate and select a folder.

The Open or Save As dialog box appears.

5. Open or save the file.

At last, the moment of truth:

• Open the file: Select the filename and click the Open button (or double-click the filename).

• Save the file: Enter a descriptive name for the file and click the Save button.

Opening and Closing Files

To get to work on a file, you have to open it first. And, of course, you close a file when you’re finished working on it and want to stop and smell the roses.

Opening a file

Follow these steps to open a file:

1. On the File tab, choose Open (or press Ctrl+O).

You see the Open window. It lists files you recently opened (and files you pinned to the Recent list).

2. If the name of the file you want to open is on the Recent list, click the name to open the file.

If the name isn’t on the list, go to Step 3.

3. Click the location — Computer, SkyDrive, a network folder — where the file is located.

Click Computer if the file is located on your computer. The Open window shows the following (see Figure 1-10):

• Current Folder. The folder where the file you opened most recently is stored.

• Recent Folders. Folders where files you opened recently are stored.

4. Click the folder where the file you want to open is stored; if the folder isn’t listed in the Open window, click the Browse button and select the folder in the Open dialog box.

The Open dialog box appears.

5. Select the file.

6. Click the Open button.

Your file opens. You can also double-click a filename in the Open dialog box to open a file.

The fastest way to open a file is to locate it in Windows Explorer (Windows 7 and Windows Vista) or File Explorer (Windows 8) and double-click its name.

Closing a file

Closing a file is certainly easier than opening one. To close a file, save your file and use one of these techniques:

On the File tab, choose Close. The program remains open although the file is closed.

Click the Close button — the X in the upper-right corner of the window (or press Alt+F4).

Click the program icon (in the upper-left corner of the screen) and choose Close.

Reading and Recording File Properties

Properties are a means of describing a file. If you manage two dozen or more files, you owe it to yourself to record properties. You can use them later to identify files.

  To read property descriptions, go to the File tab, choose Info, and examine the Info window. Property descriptions are found on the right side of the window, as shown in Figure 1-11.

To record even more descriptions, click the Properties button and choose one of these commands on the drop-down list:

Show Document Panel: The Document Properties panel appears so that you can enter more descriptions and comments.

Advanced Properties: The Properties dialog box appears. Enter information about your file on the Summary and Custom tab.

Figure 1-11: View and enter properties in the Info window.

You can read a file’s properties without opening a file. In Windows Explorer, File Explorer, or the Open dialog box, right-click a file’s name and choose Properties. You see the Properties dialog box. Go to the Details tab to see descriptions you entered.

Locking a File with a Password

Perhaps you want to submit your file to others for critical review but you don’t want any Tom, Dick, or Harry to look at your file. In that case, lock your file with a password and give out the password only to people whose opinions you trust. These pages explain how to password-protect a file, open a file that is locked with a password, and remove the password from a file.

Password-protecting a file

Follow these steps to clamp a password on a file, such that others need a password to open and perhaps also edit it:

1. Go to the File tab and choose Info.

2. In the Info window, click the Protect Document (or Workbook or Presentation) button, and choose Encrypt with Password on the drop-down list.

The Encrypt dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 1-12.

Figure 1-12: Enter passwords for the file in this dialog box.

3. Enter a password in the Password text box and click OK.

Others will need the password you enter to open the file. No ifs, ands, or buts. They have to enter the password.

Passwords are case-sensitive. In other words, you have to enter the correct combination of upper- and lowercase letters to successfully enter the password. If the password is Valparaiso (with an uppercase V), entering valparaiso (with a lowercase v) is deemed the wrong password and doesn’t open the file.

4. In the Confirm Password dialog box, enter the password again.

Figure 1-12 shows the Confirm Password dialog box.

5. Click OK.

The Info window informs you that a password is required to open the file.

Removing a password from a file

Follow these steps to remove a password from a file:

1. Open the file that needs its password removed.

2. Go to the File tab and choose Info to open the Information window.

3. Click the Protect Document button, and choose Encrypt with Password.

The Encrypt Document dialog box appears (refer to Figure 1-12).

4. Delete the password and click OK.