Gigantic Pictures

You take pictures with your digital camera and then send them to someone. The person says, "This picture is gigantic! Can't you send something smaller? I don't know what to do with this!"

Of course you can! The first way is to re-size the picture on your computer and then email it. There's are really fast way, really simple software, and it takes a second. It's Paint.

1. Right-click on the picture.
2. Select Open With.
3. Select Paint.
4. You'll probably see 1/4 of the picture, if you're lucky. 
5. No big deal at all.
6. You see the default setting - percentage - is already selected.
7. The horizontal and vertical values are both 100 - meaning 100%.
8. Highlight the first 100, next to Horizontal. Enter a number, perhaps 50.
9. For now, just to see what's happened, hit TAB.
10. You'll see that the Vertical value also changed to 50.
11. Your picture will now be resized 50% along the horizontal axis and 50% along the vertical axis. It will be 1/4 of the original size.
12. Click OK.
13. DON'T click the save button! You will overwrite your original picture!
14. Click File Save As.
15. When the box opens, name the file something that makes sense to you. Whenever I save a picture as a smaller version, I put Sm after the actual name. For example, if the filename is Beach, then I name it BeachSm.

Excel - Export to Word

Create the Table

1. From the Menu - click Table (older versions) or Insert Table (newer versions)
2. Select the number of columns and number of rows.
3. Click OK.
4. Enter your data.

Export the Table to Word

1. Select the entire table.
2. Click Copy.
3. Open Word.
4. Click in the document.
5. Click Paste.

Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcuts
Ctrl-C Copy	Ctrl-X Cut	Ctrl-V Paste
Ctrl-O Open	Ctrl-S Save	Ctrl-P Print
Ctrl-I Italic	Ctrl-B Bold	Ctrl-U Underline
Ctrl-A Select ALL	Ctrl-'(apostrophe) Copies contents of cell above	Ctrl-"(quote) Inserts Current Date
Ctrl-Z Undo

Disaster HowTo's

Recover A File Open Windows Explorer. Hold down the Shift key and double-click the file. This will keep automatic Visual Basic code from running, as well as other automatic commands that may be the cause of the error.

Problem With Word Files If you can open the file, but the contents are unreadable, use the Show/Hide button to reveal the formatting of the document. Start at the very beginning of the document and select (highlight) everything EXCEPT the last paragraph marker, and any other empty paragraph markers at the end of the document. Click Copy. Open a new document and Click Paste.

Problem With Excel Files If the Excel file has only one sheet in it, it is often possible to open it with Word. In Word: Click Open. Note the Files of Type section at the bottom of the dialog box. Select All Files. Then select the Excel file that you are having a problem with. You can also select Recover Text From Any File within the same File Types section.

Problem With PowerPoint Files Be careful working with PowerPoint files. They tend to become corrupted easily and it is difficult to recover them. Try Insert-Slides in a new blank PowerPoint file and import the slides from the corrupt file.

Problem With Access Files The best way to recover Access databases is not to lose them in the first place.  Real life tends to happen to us, and despite all of our careful work, the day comes when we open the database and receive some kind of disturbing message from the system. Use Compact and Repair Database. This is found under Utilities and has helped me tremendously. I use this feature regularly, and I have had considerably fewer problems with Access. Copy your database to another medium each time you use it. Copy to your network or to your flash drive every day.

Tech Tips From Helen Starts Up

I used to have a How-Tos section on my website. When people asked questions, I'd create a new page and upload it. Finally, I'm moving those tips into their own blog. Much easier for all of us!

There will be several posts for this first day, and I'll be posting regularly after that. Submit your questions! That's how the blog will grow.