ITS Technology Tips

If you’ve recently upgraded to Office 2007, then you are most likely aware of the learning curve involved to adapt to the new version. If you are still learning the ropes or are planning on making the switch, it’s helpful to know that Microsoft offers free tutorials to help you with the transition. 

Guides to the New Office 2007 Interface are incredibly useful for learning where Office 2003 commands are located in the new interface. You can view the interactive tutorials directly from the Web page or download them to watch anytime. 

Also check out the Office 2007 System Training Courses , where you can find in-depth instructional tutorials on using Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Word and more.

There is an incredibly helpful collaboration feature built into Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 that many people aren’t even aware of.  In both versions you can share an Excel workbook so that multiple users can make modifications at the same time.  If you store Excel files on Loyola’s shared network you can share your file with a colleague so you can both add data simultaneously.  You can also prevent portions of the spreadsheet from being modified by protecting the document and locking specific cells.  

To share a workbook in Excel 2007:

1. Open your Excel workbook.
2. On the Review tab, in the Changes group, click Share Workbook.
3. On the Editing tab, place a check beside the option: Allow changes by more than one user at the same time.
4. Click OK.

Protecting your workbook:

1. If you would like allow users to edit particular cells, highlight the cells that you would like give users write access to, then select Allow Users to Edit Ranges in the Changes group. 
2. Click New to display the range you selected, then click OK.
3. Next you will need to protect the rest of the worksheet.
4. Click on the Review tab and select Protect Sheet.
5. In the Protect Sheet dialog box, verify that the Protect Worksheet and Contents of Locked Cells check box is selected.
6. Then enter a password to use in order to unprotect the sheet. Keep in mind that this password is worksheet specific.
7. Check the appropriate boxes to assign permissions to other users then click OK.

Why be satisfied with that old PowerPoint, newsletter, fax, or memo design, when you can get an exciting new one for free from Microsoft!  You can find templates for brochures, calendars, greeting cards, labels, memos, invitations…even floorplans, paper folding projects and tournament brackets! 

Just go to the templates page of Microsoft Office’s Website and look under “Browse Templates.”

Click on the category you are interested in and you will get a list of templates with descriptive information, including which application and version of Office the template is compatible with.   Once you find the template you want and click the Download Now button, the template will open in the corresponding Office application. 

You can find templates for Microsoft Office for Mac at the Mactopia Template Gallery.