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Microsoft Office 2010 Tips & Tricks
GENERAL:
 Use the Office Clipboard, which holds up to 24 items at a time. Go to the Home tab, find the Clipboard panel at
the far left and click on the dialog launcher (the diagonal arrow at the lower right of the panel). The Office
Clipboard pane opens and anything you copy to the clipboard gets saved in the pane. You can select any item,
right-click on it, and select Paste or Delete.
 Pin Recently-used Files: Click ―File‖ and ―Recent‖ and click the pin icon in the upper right corner across from
any document. This forces the document to stay in your list of recent files for easy access.
 Use templates. Did you know Microsoft has a huge gallery of templates for all of their products? Click ―File‖ and
―New‖ and choose from the office.com templates. Find even more at
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/
 Create a customized tab by right-clicking on the ribbon and selecting
―Customize the Ribbon.‖ A customization screen opens with many options.
You can add other commands to the current tabs or you can click ―New
Tab‖ to create another tab or ―New Group‖ to add a group of commands to
current ribbon. Just drag the commands you want over to the right column.
 Use Screenshot to capture images from your screen. Click ―Insert‖ tab and
click the drop-down arrow under ―Screenshot.‖ You can choose to insert an image of any window you have open
into your document or you can choose ―Screen Clipping,‖ then press and hold the left mouse button to draw a box
on your screen of what you want to capture.
 [Ctrl] and [<] or [>] increase / decrease the size of selected type.
WORD:
 Click View tab and check the ―Navigation Pane‖ checkbox to add a bar on the left side of the window that
displays thumbnails of each page in your document. You can easily move from page to page using these
thumbnails.
 Use Word‘s multiple paste options to get exactly what you need. Copy the text from your
source, such as, another document or web page and then right-click in your word document, where
you want the text pasted. Moving from left to right the icons represent: Keep Source Formatting,
Merge Formatting, and Keep Text Only. You should be able to see what the pasted material will
look like in your document as you move your cursor over the three icons.
Reset Your Copy and Paste Options
If you do a lot of cutting and pasting in Word, you might find yourself struggling to reset the text to match the
formatting of your current document. To bypass this hassle, Click on the File tab. Next, select Word Options and
Advanced. Under the Cut Copy and Paste heading, you can choose your new default setting for format pasting.
 Use the built-in thesaurus. To find a related word, follow these steps. First position the cursor on the word you
wish to check then press [Shift]+[F7]
 Remove formatting. If text has been formatted and you change your mind about how it should appear, click the
word in question, or select a section of text, and press [Ctrl]+[Space] simultaneously. If the formatting has been
applied with a style, press [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[N] and it will then revert to the default style.

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 Highlight any section of type and in the Styles section of the Home ribbon, click the down arrow in the bottom
right-hand corner. Click ―Save Selection‖ as a ―New Quick Style‖. A pop-up window will be displayed where you
need to enter the name of the new style. A preview of that style will also be shown in case you decide you want to
change it. Click OK to save your changes.
 Create filler text in word by typing ―=rand().‖ You can vary the number of sentences per paragraph, as well as the
number of paragraphs, by using the format =rand(p,s). Replace ‗p‘ with the number of paragraphs you want, and
‗s‘ with the number of sentences you want in each paragraph. For example, if you wanted 5 paragraphs of 6
sentences each, you would enter the following into a blank paragraph: =rand(5,6).
 You can insert horizontal lines in Word by typing a few characters. Just type 3 dashes — and hit ‗Enter‘
immediately after. Three asterisks***, three underscores___, three equal signs ===, three pound signs ###, and
three tildes ~~~ create different styles of lines.
 By default, Word saves files in (My) Documents. If you prefer a different default location, here is how to change it:
1. Click the File tab.
2. Click the "Options.‖
3. Click the "Save" entry.
4. In the line labeled "Default file location", enter or browse to the desired folder.
5. Click "OK" Now when you save a Word file, the default will be your designated folder.
POWERPOINT:
 Combine Shapes Tools. Join two or more shapes with either the Shape Union or
Shape Combine tools, and even cut shapes using the Shape Intersect or Shape
Subtract tools.
You‘ll have to manually add this command to either your Quick Access Toolbar or
to a custom tab on your ribbon. You can find Combine Shapes in the section
―Commands not in the ribbon‖ from your PowerPoint Options screen (File →
Options → Quick Access Toolbar → Choose commands from: | Commands Not in
the Ribbon).
Remove the background from an image. Make sure your image is selected. Under Picture
Tools, on the Format tab, in the Adjust group, click Background
Removal. Click one of the handles on the marquee lines and then drag
the line so that it contains the portion of the picture that you wish to keep and excludes most of the areas
you wish to remove. You may have to use the Mark Areas to Keep and Mark Areas to Remove buttons
to adjust the image correctly.
 Use Sections to organize your slides. On the Home Ribbon, click the Sections drop-
down. You can add, edit and remove sections by using the Sections menu in
PowerPoint 2010.
OUTLOOK:
 Create folders to organize your email. In the Navigation panel of your folder list, right-click and choose ―New
Folder.‖ The ―Create New Folder‖ window will appear. Enter a Name. Confirm that the appropriate parent folder is
selected and click OK.
 You can set conversation view by folder. Select a folder and click the View Ribbon and click the Show as
Conversation check box. You can choose ―This folder” to apply the setting to only the selected folder.
 Use Status flag on your messages to organize email that needs action. Selecting the flag follow up time will create
a ―to do‖ task in outlook.

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OUTLOOK:
 Create a rule. Select an email on which you want to create a base rule. Click the Rules button on the Home
Ribbon and select ―Create Rule‖. In the ―Create Rule‖ window choose your settings. For example, Click the
―From‖ and choose ―Move the Item to folder‖ under the ―Do the Following‖ options. This will create a rule in
outlook that all messages from that particular person will be put directly in a specific folder.
 Create a Signature (signatures don‘t travel with your email account, they are related to the computer at which they
were created) Click the File tab, then select the Options icon. Click Mail and click the Signatures button. In the
Compose message section, click the Signature button and click the New button. Give the signature a name and
create the signature. Click OK to finish. You can have multiple signatures for different purposes.
 Easily capture and modify the text of a message by sending the message to One Note. If you are an Evernote
user, you can download an add-on for Outlook that allows you easily send the email to Evernote.
EXCEL:
 Display Formulas instead of results. Click [Ctrl] + tilde (~) to display formulas in the spreadsheet rather than the
results. Click a particular cell in this display mode and Excel will outline other cells referenced in the formula.
Press [Ctrl] + tilde (~) to go back to normal display.
 In the formula you want to find out about, select the cell addresses, and press F9. The highlighted addresses are
replaced by the values of all the cells referenced in the formula. Press Esc to return to normal display.
 Highlight all cells referenced by a formula. Highlight the cell and press Ctrl-[ (that's Ctrl-open-square-bracket).
Excel highlights all the cells referenced by the formula, and moves the current selection to the first of the
referenced cells. Press Enter, and the selection moves to the next referenced cell.
SOURCES:
 http://blogs.office.com/
 http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-excel/
 www.gcflearnfree.org/office
 http://www.online-tech-tips.com/category/ms-office-tips/
 http://pcunleashed.com/word/
 http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com
 http://www.addictivetips.com/category/windows-tips/
 http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-outlook/
 http://icc.edu/innovation/resources/microsoft/
 Atomic Learning
 Microsoft ELearning
 2013 Quick Start Guides: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/office-2013-quick-start-guides-
HA103673669.aspx
 Microsoft Home Use Purchase Agreement: Contact tlc@icc.edu for more information
 Windows Essentials 2012/Live Tools: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/essentials - requires
Windows 7 or 8 – Photo Gallery and Movie Maker do not come pre-installed but can be installed for free
 Find extra Themes, Wallpapers and Gadgets for Windows 7 & 8
 Windows SkyDrive: 7GB of cloud storage: