The article this month will not deal so much with accessing the internet as with some shortcuts you can use in you programs and ways to maximize using your computer.

The first quickie is a keyboard combination that will allow you to move from one program to another without closing each program screen before moving to another. This is the Alt + Tab key combination.

Often, while working online, I want to copy and paste information from the internet to my word processing program. In order to save time, I make sure that my word processing program is open and a blank page is on the screen. Then I log on to the internet and find the information I want to copy. After selecting the information and copying it to the clipboard, I then hold down the Alt key and then press the tab key one time to move to my word processing program. (My internet connection is still there and Explorer (or Netscape) is still running). I pass the information I need on to the word processing page and then hold down the Alt key and the Tab key to move back to the internet pages.

This keystroke combination can be used anytime when two OR MORE programs are running, not just two. When you press the ALT key, just press the Tab key as many times as you need in order to move you to the program you need to see on your screen.

The next quickie will show you how to use the Print Screen key, which is totally misnamed. The Print Screen key allows you to take a "snapshot" (for the Macintosh it is the Ctrl+Shift+3 key combination) of whatever is on your screen. For example, the tiny calendars below were taken from the Calendar Creator program with the Print Screen key and pasted into this document. Then I cropped the picture to only include the tiny calendars and I have a small calendar reference to insert in my newsletters or other documents.

What are other ways you might use the Print Screen key? Well, let’s say you are using PrintShop and you want a friend’s advice on the document you have created –but that person does NOT have a copy of PrintShop. You could pull up the document in PrintShop, press the Print Screen key and then paste it into your word processing program, which your friend also has. Then you can send it to your friend through e-mail or copy it onto a disk to take to him to view.

So now, you have received a document either through the internet e-mail or on another disk which contains a VERY important document you MUST view and edit. If you have fairly current software you stand a very good chance of being able to read the document THROUGH YOUR CURRENT SOFTWARE PROGRAM. Here is how it is done:

• Place the diskette with the document you want to read into your disk drive (A:)
• Open your word processing program and select File to Open (I will be using Microsoft WORD 97 as screen examples. If you are using WORKS, your screen will NOT be identical, but it will be VERY similar.)
• You will notice a screen similar to the one below:

• Regardless of your screen’s appearance, you should find some wording that reads: Files of type. On the example above, the words "Word Documents" is in the white box to the right of those words. Moving on to the right of these words is a triangle. Click on the triangle and you should see an example similar to the next example below:
• You will see your choices on the drop-down menu. I usually select ALL FILES to make sure I maximize my options.
• Once you have selected All Files your document "should" appear in the window above. What if it does not? Well, there are two possibilities:
  1. Your word processing version is OLDER than the version of the document you are trying to read. And since your version is older, it was not "aware" that the newer version of the document you are trying to read exists. In this case, you need to contact your friend and have him save his document in an older format (More about that in the next issue)
  2. You might be trying to read a desktop publishing document in a word processing program. It simply cannot be done. This would be like trying to speak Dutch to a room full of English students. The students would be aware that the Dutch person existed, but they could not understand the words.

When would this come in handy for you? Well, a prime example is at the DTDA Virtual notebook. Most of the word processing documents are in Word Format, and many of the DTDA Members might not have the cash to purchase Microsoft Word, but can easily afford Works. Well, if you have an up-to-date version of Works, you can download the Word document, and, using the steps above, you can save read them and save them in your Works program. YOU JUST HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A VERY NEW VERSION OF WORKS THAT READS WORD 97 DOCUMENTS.

AND…If you are a Macintosh user, you are doubly lucky. Macintoshes have the ability to read PC disks and documents created on the PC WITHOUT the need for translating software ! ! !

This is something fun to do to customize your documents and make them a bit more personal.

For the third tip I just showed you above, I used the bullets option to make my bullet exactly like I wanted.

You have hundreds of options for your bullet choice; you are only limited (at this time) by the number of fonts you have. In order to change your bullets to something more creative (again using Microsoft WORD as our example) go though the following steps:

• Click on the word Format and select Bullets and Numbering. You will see this screen:
• Your selections will probably be different, but that does not matter. Select one of your choices and click on the Customize… button. You will see this screen:

• Click on the Bullet… and here is where the fun begins. The example below is using the Wingdings choices, but you can select any of the other choices and have as many choices as you want for bullets.
• I selected the bullet of an open book (as you can see on the left) for my new bullet. You can select whatever you want and make changes as often as you want.

So, there you go. Here are four quickies for you to use on your computer to help you be more productive and efficient and to add a bit of fun to your long hours in front of the computer.

What do you want to see on these pages? E-mail me at kldartt@sig.net and let me know what you would like to know how to do on your computer. Till the next issue, keep logging on to the DTDA Website and accessing the Virtual Notebook. I look forward to seeing all of you at convention. If you happen to see me there, give me a "Hey, Kathy!"