Tag Archives: Word

Stripping Formatting in WordPerfect and Word

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A reader recently submitted a question about formatting that is worthy of posting:

Any advice on stripping the formatting in a WordPerfect document, Beverly, to start over? (I’m into it to the tune of +500 MB, and suddenly it’s forgetting things it was doing for me, at the start.)

If you have a suggestion, I’m all ears. Thanks!

Plain Text is Your New Best Friend

The easiest solution is to use paste as plain text. Follow these steps:

  1. Make a copy of your original document by navigating to the folder where the document resides, selecting it with your mouse, right-clicking, choosing copy, then pasting to the same folder. Call it “document name” COPY 2022 01 08. This clearly identifies it as a copy of your original made on this date. “Document name” is whatever you called the file in the first place. Yes, I know there are time and date stamps, but they are fluid and will change when a document is edited. Let’s just give it today’s date. Also, I realize it is possible to open the document and do a File > Save As; however, since the document may be corrupting the less we open it the better.
  2. Close the copy and leave it be for now. Your backup routine should capture the original and the copy. If not, ensure that it does before proceeding.
  3. Open the original document.  Choose Edit > Select All, then Edit > Copy.
  4. Open a NEW document, choose Edit > Paste Unformatted Text. 
  5. Save the NEW document. Perhaps “document name” PLAIN TXT 2022 01 08.
  6. Backup the NEW document.
  7. Consider splitting the NEW document into two – see my cautionary words below.
  8. Keep the original for now – just in case. You can discard the copy if you are confident you’ve created a new plain text version that works for you.

Why It Works

The maneuver of pasting as plain text strips all formatting.  It works the same way in Microsoft Word and is handy when you want to copy and paste text from a web page, but don’t want a weird font or other website formatting. 

Tips

  • To be safe, choose Edit > Paste Unformatted Text from the *menu* drop-down or enter CTRL ALT V. The more familiar CTRL V will merge formatting, which is not what we want.
  • Use Edit > Select All, then Edit > Copy *not* Select All > Cut. If anything goes wrong this will give you more than one chance to paste the text into a new document. For Word users, paste plain text by selecting Paste > Keep Text Only.

Cautionary Words about File Size

Best practice is to assume that WordPerfect files have a finite size and may corrupt when the file becomes too large. Therefore, it may be wise to split up a document of this size.

Really? WordPerfect Files Have a Maximum Size?

Some say yes. Some say no, including the WP Universe users forum.  Some acknowledge that file corruption exists, but place the blame on other culprits – the user’s operating system, limited hard drive space, lack of RAM, etc.

Experience tells me that corruption does occur. In the old days, it happened most frequently when users converted documents from WordPerfect 5.1 to Microsoft Word. However, I’ve also observed corruption which appeared to be based solely on document size.

You be the judge. My risk management background tells me to err on the side of caution.

What if I’m a Word User?

Microsoft Word acknowledges a finite file size of 512 MB.

eCourt Reminder

And of course, if a document the size of the one described should ever become part of a court proceeding it would have to be split under eCourt filing rules.

Happy New Year!

All Rights Reserved 2022 Beverly Michaelis

Should You Be Using Grammarly?

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Do you rely on Microsoft Word’s grammar check to clean up your writing? You may want to make the switch to Grammarly, the online writing assistant.

Grammarly promises to help you write mistake-free in Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and any other app you use including text messages, your browser, and Microsoft Word. The basic version is free, with premium plans starting at $11.66 per month.

Security and Client Confidentiality

Grammarly data is encrypted and stored in the United States on a private, secure network. As to data access and client confidentiality:

Grammarly has a set of policies and technical controls that prevent employees from accessing customer data that is stored or processed by Grammarly systems. Where appropriate, Grammarly uses private keys and restricts network access to particular employees.

While Grammarly may track anonymized, aggregate statistics by website domain, Grammarly doesn’t collect browsing history from specific users while they browse the web. Information such as web server access logs or IP addresses is collected only for a limited time and only to provide specific services to the user, such as fraud prevention.

How Does Grammarly Work?

To learn how Grammarly works, we turn to Ayesha Siddiqua from Blogging Filter. Ayesha’s post covers all the details, including features, benefits, platforms, and plan specifics.

‘To err is human,‘ and that’s where the need for grammar checker tool emerges. I have curated this review post to let you know all about Grammarly, …

Grammarly Review: Is It the Best Grammar Checker Tool

All Rights Reserved 2020 Beverly Michaelis

MS Ignite 2016: New Ideas, New Features for OneDrive, Office 365, and More

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September 26-30 marked Microsoft’s second annual technology conference known as #MSIgnite. With over 22,000 attendees, the conference set Twitter afire with a long list of product enhancements – some available now, others coming before year-end.

New Functionality for OneDrive Users

If you’re a OneDrive user, you’ll be thrilled to hear about these new features:

  • Ability to sync SharePoint Online document libraries and OneDrive folders
  • One-stop shopping for browsing and editing SharePoint Online and OneDrive files using the OneDrive browser client
  • Ability to download multiple documents as a .zip file
  • Improvements to the Android OneDrive App – support for SharePoint Online files and multi-page scan enhancements
  • Notifications to your mobile device when someone shares a OneDrive file with you
  • Ability to see over time how many people have discovered and viewed your files in OneDrive for iOS

See the full list of OneDrive updates here.

Enhancements to the Outlook Mobile App

  • The new, improved calendar app on iOS and Android devices now offers event icons, simpler scheduling, and on-the-fly editing of recurring meetings
  • Use the “smart location” feature on the mobile app to easily add maps and directions to event details.  Next time you create an event, just start typing a location.  Choose one of the suggestions and Outlook will include a map with your event details.
  • Use the @ symbol to get someone’s attention: typing the @ symbol followed by a person’s name in the body of an email message or a meeting invite will automatically add the person to the To line of the email or meeting invite.
  • Coming soon: meeting invites will support real-time availability checks with a slide-bar interface – via @thevarnish
  • Outlook for iOS and Android is now powered by the Microsoft Cloud for Office 365. All your data is now fully delivered through Microsoft’s secure servers (no third party vendor, no mailbox data cached outside Office 365).
  • New assistive technology has been added for reading email, scheduling meetings, and adding a signature

Improvements to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Word

  • Use Researcher to find credible sources and content: “Researcher is a new service in Word that helps you find and incorporate reliable sources and content for your paper in fewer steps. Right within your Word document you can explore material related to your topic and add it—and its properly-formatted citation—in one click. Researcher uses the Bing Knowledge Graph to pull in the appropriate content from the web and provide structured, safe and credible information.”
  • Improve your writing with the new digital writing assistant known as Editor, a cloud-based service that uses machine learning, natural language processing, and input from linguists to improve writing through advanced proofing and editing. [Caveat: not suitable for confidential content.]
  • Write or draw with your finger, a pen, or a stylus in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint mobile apps (known as “inking.”)

Excel

PowerPoint

  • Use Designer to instantly turn a bulleted process list into a SmartArt graphic
  • Get an “instant slide makeover” any time by selecting the “Design” tab in the ribbon.  Choose “Design Ideas” (far right of the Design toolbar) to preview new slide designs.
  • Use the Recording tab to create a presentation that includes recorded slides, screen recordings, narrations, and videos. Embed quizzes and other apps in your presentation to make it more interactive for your audience.
  • Use QuickStarter to find outlines for any topic, including recommendations on information to include, categories to consider and associated images tagged with Creative Commons licenses.

Making Skype Better

Skype for Business is already the number one meeting app, so how can it get any better? Consider these improvements announced at #MSIgnite 2016:

  • Skype for Business for Mac will be available in October, with hi-def audio and video, one-click join for meetings, and video and desktop sharing
  • Also coming in October: enhancements to the iPhone app: Skype for Business calls will work just like a cellular call on your iPhone. You can accept a call via the lock screen or put a Skype for Business call on hold to take a cellular phone call—it works just like a phone.
  • Real-time transcription and translation in 50 languages will come to Skype Meeting Broadcast by year-end

Migrating to Windows 10

If you haven’t migrated to Windows 10, check out this free migration assessment tool from VMWare.  Announced at #MSIgnite, the new tool is designed to assess:

  • Windows 10 readiness;
  • End-user behavior;
  • Device inventory and configurations;
  • Software dependency and usage information; and
  • Web and network usage patterns.

If this sounds like tech-speak, it is.  But the goals are simple: (1) identify potential problems transitioning from your current operating system to Windows 10; (2) Optimize your use of Windows 10.

Still not sure?  Contact your computer consultant.

Key Microsoft Security Improvements

There are two kinds of big companies: those who have been hacked
and those who don’t know they’ve been hacked. 

@JPvR_NL

Protecting Browser Sessions

Most cyber attacks start at the browser level, making browser security critically important. Windows Defender App Guard for Microsoft Edge protects against browser-based security incursions:

Unlike other browsers that use software-based sandboxes, which still provide a pathway for malware and vulnerability exploits, Microsoft Edge’s use of Application Guard isolates the browser and employee activity using a hardware-based container to prevent malicious code from impacting the device and moving across the enterprise network.

Once enabled, enterprise administrators can configure a trusted network site list policy and distribute the group policy to any devices it wishes to protect with Application Guard. Even if an untrusted site successfully loads malware, the malware is unable to reach beyond the isolated container to steal data or permanently compromise devices or the network. Once the employee exits their Microsoft Edge browsing session, any malware is erased, preventing further attacks.

Detecting and Responding to Cyber Attacks

Security features and cyber threat intelligence gathered from WDATP (Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection) and Office 365 ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) are now combined to allow enterprises to detect, investigate, and respond to advanced attacks on their networks, Windows 10, and Office 365.

Now, IT can identify and follow the complete chain of an attack from an email – to across the network – with detailed timelines and analysis. This real-time access and product integration converts the time to investigate an incident from days or weeks to mere hours. And the comprehensive security intelligence from Microsoft and our industry partners, including FireEye iSight threat intelligence, puts all the information needed to investigate and respond in an easy, simplified interface with clear steps for remediation. It’s the most comprehensive and robust security solution available today.

Interesting Stats from the Keynotes and Other Presentations

  • There are 70 million Office 365 users and over 400 million Windows 10 users
  • The Department of Defense is targeting to have Windows 10 on more than 4 million devices
  • Office 365 has an uptime of 99.98%
  • The average person uses 3 mobile devices at work (expected to increase)
  • Skype for Business is the most-used meeting app: Microsoft manages over 13,000 meeting rooms; 38% of all international calling uses Skype; the Skype app has been downloaded 1.1 billion times on iOS and Android devices
  • 58% of workers admit to sending data to the wrong person
  • Microsoft scans 200 billion emails every month for malware
  • 50% of cloud-era millennials will be in the workforce by 2020

Other News from #MSIgnite

  • You may have heard of Azure – Microsoft’s integrated cloud service platform. #MSIgnite 2016 included a number of Azure upgrades of interest to developers and IT professionals.  Read more here.
  • Many SharePoint improvements were announced at #MSIgnite 2016.  For all the details, check out this post.  Also see this summary from Microsoft.
  • Over 150 on-demand video sessions are available at no charge from the 5 day conference. Check out the list here.

All Rights Reserved 2016 Beverly Michaelis

Opening or Converting Old Forms – Tips for Mac Users

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As Mac users know, not all legal forms are Mac-friendly (especially older forms).  For untitledexample, what if a colleague sends you a document created in Microsoft Word 97/Windows?

If you have Pages, you should be able to open a Word 97 document without a file converter. Try these steps.

If you have Microsoft Office for Mac, you can search the Download Center for a file converter, but the only one I could spot was the Microsoft Word 97, 98, and 2000 Converter for the Macintosh.  Office for Mac 2011 users report there is no converter for newer versions of office and old files created on the Windows platform do not open.  If you’re an Office user, what should you do?

  • Open the old form in Pages first, then resave it.
  • Try the Insert > File or Insert > Object > Text from File… command.  Launch Word, select Insert > File or Insert > Object > Text from File… browse and find the old form, click Insert.  Inserting a text file into a blank document in Word strips out formatting.  It often works better than using File > Open to access a document created in a non-compatible word processing program.
  • Ask the colleague who provided the form if he or she can resave it for you.  Options include: a newer version of Word for Windows, Word for the Mac, Rich text format (.rtf file), or PDF.  If a PDF is created electronically or scanned then OCRd, you should be able to copy and paste text from the body of the PDF into Word 2011 for the Mac or Pages.  You can also save a PDF as a Word document in Acrobat.
  • Try an online file converter, such as Zamzar, Online-Convert, Cloud Convert, or Convert Files.

Final Words of Wisdom

Old forms may be “old” and not converted to a newer platform or software version for a reason – they are old and shouldn’t be used.  Before going to all this effort, be certain this is a form worth converting, meaning it is valid and still legally viable.

All Rights Reserved [2014] Beverly Michaelis

 

 

Taming AutoCorrect in Microsoft Office

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14526236790_b44b8d57ba_zIs AutoCorrect in Microsoft Office driving you batty?  Don’t despair.  Like most features in Office, the settings are completely within your control.

By choosing File > Options in Microsoft Office, you can:

Changes made to AutoCorrect in any Office program are global.  For example, if you delete the AutoCorrect entry in Outlook which converts tm to the superscript ™ trademark symbol, this change will apply in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  acNOTE:  This does not mean the trademark symbol is forever lost, only that Office will stop autocorrecting tm when typed with parentheses.  You can still insert the superscript version at will by choosing Insert > Symbol.

To add, delete, modify, or rename AutoCorrect entries in Office 2010 or 2013, follow these steps.  In Office 2007, launch Word, select the Office Button > Word Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options:

ac optionsAs noted above, changes made to AutoCorrect options in Word will apply throughout Office.  It isn’t necessary to open each program individually to modify AutoCorrect entries.

All Rights Reserved [2014] Beverly Michaelis