Extra Topics (Joe’s Blog Site)

The following are keyboard shortcuts for the Open, Insert Picture, and Save As dialog boxes in Microsoft Office. Only few people know that these keyboard shortcuts exist.

• Alt+1 - Go to the previous folder
• Alt+2 - Up One Level button: open the folder up one level above the open folder
• Alt+3 - Search the Web button: close the dialog box and open your Web search page
• Alt+4 - Delete button: delete the selected folder or file
• Alt+5 - Create New Folder button: create a new folder
• Alt+6 - Views button: switch among available folder views
• Alt+7 or Alt+L - Tools button: show the Tools menu
• Shift+F10 - Display a shortcut menu for a selected item such as a folder or file
• Tab - Move between options or areas in the dialog box
• F4 or Alt+I - Open the Look in list
• F5 - Refresh the file list

In almost all cases, it’s very convenient to use simple keyboard shortcuts to apply formatting, insert table rows, save a document, find a text and any action on your Microsoft Office. It’s also a lot quicker to perform these actions with a few keyboard combinations than by using your mouse to click an icon on a toolbar.

However, remembering these key combinations would be a bit of a hassle so it would be a big help if we could always see the assigned keyboard shortcuts to different actions on your toolbar as shown below.

Enable showing of keyboard shortcuts in screen tips

1. Go to Tools - Customize menu item
2. Go to Options tab
3. Check Show shortcut keys in ScreenTips
4. Click Close.

Note: This option is not available in Microsoft Excel.

You may have noticed that whenever you open “My Computer” to browse files, there is a slight delay. That is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers each time you open Windows Explorer. You can significantly increase browsing speed by doing the following:

1. Double-click on My Computer
2. Click the Tools menu
3. Select Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers
6. Click OK

Microsoft PowerPoint remains the unrivaled software for making business presentations. There are tons of more powerful software available, but PowerPoint’s ease of use clearly sets it apart as the choice for busy executives, managers and other honchos who don’t have the time to learn more flashy programs (oops, did I make a hint there, he he).

However, the problem with many users doesn’t root so much from lack of knowledge in using the program, but with how they create their presentations. So, without further ado, here are some useful hints when it comes to organizing your business presentation.
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Check out this tiny application from Microsoft. It’s a task switcher which allows you to see the preview of the application you are switching to. This helps if you have multiple session of an open application. Just use the usual Alt-Tab key to use this tool.

Click the link below to download this neat application.

Download: Taskswitch.exe (534 KB)