Portable Word/Reader Questions*

One of my more popular articles discussed using a thumb drive to run applications (to read it, click here), and my two previous articles discussed Microsoft Word (click on "MS Word" in the Tag Cloud), which led to two reader questions which I think are worth posting -- in the Q's and their A's format.

Q: Is there a version of Word I can run on my U3 thumb drive?
A: There are tremendous advantages to running programs from a thumb drive (particularly when using someone-elses' computer), and there are many programs already developed that are designed to do this, which are called "portable".
The answer to this question is: no... and yes. Microsoft has not released a portable version of any of the programs in the Office suite, and I have not read of any plans to do so in the future. However, that doesn't mean you cannot find warez and hacks out there. Loyal friends and true of this blog know that I would never advocate advocate the use of this kind of software; aside from the question of legality, the security risks are simply too great.

That is not to say you cannot run a word processor from your thumb drive. If you have loaded your thumb drive with the Portable Apps suite, (wildly popular, and previously recommended here) you already have the free Open Source suite of programs called Open Office which includes a "clone" of Word called Write. This works so much like Word that there's practically a zero learning-curve.

Users of the U3 system of thumb drives need to download Open Office to add it to the installed programs. To do this manually, visit http://software.u3.com/, which will show you all of the U3 programs available-- listed by category. But the easiest way is to plug in your thumb drive and launch the U3 "Launchpad" from the System Tray, and click on the "Add programs>>" link.

You might also want to consider using MS Works, which is Word compatible. For more on that, click here.

Q: Can I use portable Write to read Word documents?
A: The two main portable word processors (and there are others, if you're the experimental sort) -- Open Office's Write, and the platform-independent AbiWord-- allow you to open, and edit MS Word documents. They also allow you to save to HTML, PDF, and Word formats (this step is taken in the Save As menu) which allows you to send your documents to anyone.

Today's free link(s): You needn't put these word processors on a thumb drive to use them (and get to know and love them). Click the links in the paragraph above to get free word processing power for your regular computer as well.

* Original posting 10/19/07

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Word Trick Makes Letters Merrier

It is the Holiday time of year. (Is it just me, or did 2008 pass-by rather quickly?) Today I'm going to demonstrate some tricks to make your Season's Greetings letters more joyous, and your docs more visually interesting.

Tip of the day: Add some festivity to your documents with fonts and color. MS Word has a lot of features and options built into it that allows for some very creative elements to be added to your correspondence, and is not at all limited to cold, "professional" documents. I'll use Word for this demo, but you can do this in most text editors, and e-mail composers.

Today I'm going to use a hypothetical holiday greeting letter to show how to add some fun. By default, Word sets the font to Times New Roman at 12 "points" in height. I have typed in my text, to get things started, and will demonstrate using this letter's "opener". As it is a header, I have "centered" the text. As you can see, this font and text does not quite convey the joy and cheer and "best wishes" I am hoping to express. In fact, this may as well say, "Memo from Giganti Corp." Yawn! So first thing I'm going to do is 'tweak' the font style, and make some word bigger (louder), to express a less formal tone. I "highlighted" Season's Greetings, and used the Font drop-down arrow and selected a cursive font-- Lucida Handwriting (explore Words various fonts, and find the one you like best). I set the point size to 36. I repeated the process on the second sentence, but set the type smaller.. only 18. I think you'll agree, this is much more "friendly" than the default's look. But this is just not Festive enough! Let's use some color and improve things some more. I have again "highlighted" season's greetings to select this font, and then clicked the Font Color button on the Formatting toolbar (If this is not showing, click here to read how to customize your toolbars). I then clicked on the little red box in the color-picker. Now season's greetings is red. I want to alternate letters in green, so I hold down the Ctrl key and use my mouse to "select" every other letter. I didn't really like the greens available on the color-picker, so I clicked on "More Colors".... ... and selected a green that contrasted nicely with the red-- as the box in the lower right corner shows. This is the result of these steps. Much more jolly! But, something's missing... Let's add one more thing-- a picture of a candy cane. I went on the Internet and found a Royalty-free graphic (though a piece of Clip Art would do just as nicely) and...Voila!I could 'go crazy', and get carried away with adding things here... but I hope you will be able to see by this little demonstration -- using only two of Word's functions -- that you are limited only by your own creativity, and that it's easy to personalize and 'spice up' your documents.Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Quick Tip: Restore Word's Default Settings

Today's "quick tip" is in response to a reader question, and I think it is one of those that can be helpful to 'everyone'.

Q: I created a newsletter using Word. I used Segoe Script sized to 16. Now whenever I want to write a new Word document, it is stuck on that setting, and I have to tell it to use Times New Roman, and change the size each time.
It never used to do that. How do I make it like it was before?

A: The answer lies in the fact that when you create a new Word document (File > New > Blank document), Word uses its default "style template"-- which is known as Normal.dot (note the "t", for "template".
This "normal" template has the predefined settings we've all come to know and love: Times New Roman (font), 12 (pts), Left (Align), etc.

Somehow, the reader has Saved the style they used in the newsletter to the Normal.dot (maybe they selected "Save As", and then "Template"?), or Normal.dot has just gotten corrupted.

There's two ways (at least) to repair this behavior-- the manual way and the automatic way.
1) Create a new default template:
* Open a new blank document.
* Change each setting to how you want your Word docs to look each time (such as Times, 12, Left, etc.).
* Now click "Save As". Select "Document Template" in the File type box, and type "Normal" (no quotes) in the File name box.
* If warned that Normal already exists, do you want to overwrite the file?, answer "Yes".
Now, whatever options you've selected will be what Word uses when creating a new blank document.
[note: this is how you get rid of Times New Roman for good, if you're a sans serif type.]

2) Automatic replace Normal.dot:
* Use the Search tool to find the Normal.dot file on your drive. (Start >Search >Files and Folders)
* In the Results pane, right-click on Normal.dot and select "Rename". Rename it to anything other than Normal.
* Close, and then restart Word (in some cases, a computer reboot was required)

Word will discover that there is now no Normal.dot, and it will create a new "factory fresh" one for you automatically.

Today's free download: Foxit Reader (Ditch Adobe Reader)
" Incredibly small:  Breezing-fast: Annotation tool: Foxit Reader allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes and then print out or save the annotated document. Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

Shortcuts for Word (repost)

Today is simply turning in to one of those days and demands on my time require that I re-post a prior article. This article describes some time-saving shortcuts that can make working with your word processor go more quickly and easily--

Shortcuts save time and effort. By using keyboard shortcuts when I'm writing (I should say typing) I almost make up for the fact that I never learned to type properly -- I do not 'touch type'; I use a hunt-and-peck style all my own. My bizarre "style" allows me to type at about 35 words-per-minute (when I'm really cooking), and I have to look at the keyboard too frequently.. but I make it work.
I envy those of you who can zap out 60+ wpm without ever looking at your fingers.

Tip of the day: Use Word shortcuts to be a faster typist. In spite of my typing handicap, I manage to produce my documents quite quickly, and I do so by making extensive use of keyboard shortcuts. Shortcuts are key combinations that replace using menus or your mouse to do commands or actions. (It is a symbol of Geek skill to go as long as possible without touching your mouse.)It has been years since I have used my mouse to open the "Edit" menu and clicked on the "Copy" option. I always use Ctrl+C, which I learned in Word but is a universal shortcut (it works in [almost] every program). "Ctrl+C" is the same thing as Edit >Copy -- and "Ctrl+V" equals "Edit >Paste". A lesser known/used Edit is "Ctrl+X" ("Cut") which combined with Ctrl+V allows me to 'snip' a sentence out of its current position and paste it in another.
And Ctrl+P and "Enter" (the "Print" command) saves me several mouse clicks when my document is finished. These are probably the most common and well-known shortcuts, and are "universal".And don't forget to Ctrl+S ("Save") your work as you go along.
[Note to Mac users:substitute the "Apple" key for "Ctrl".]

Basic edits: Ctrl+C = Copy Ctrl+X = Cut Ctrl+V = Paste

Advanced edits: Ctrl+I = Italics Ctrl+U = Underscore Ctrl+B = Bold Ctrl+L = align, Left Ctrl+E = align, Center {"C" is already taken for the Copy command} Ctrl+R = align, Right Ctrl+J = align, Justify.Less frequently used are: Ctrl+1 = single space Ctrl+2 = double space Ctrl+5 = 1.5 space,and rarer still, Ctrl+W = double underscore Ctrl+T = hanging Indent Ctrl+Shift+W = underscores words, but not spaces

Selecting text: Of course, before you can Copy, or Cut text in your document, you must 'select' ("highlight") it. You do not need to use a mouse to do this, and often a mouse is not the best tool for the job anyway. The selecting shortcut I use most often is "Ctrl+A", the "Select all" command.

The keyboard method for moving your cursor is to use the arrow keys. Normally the arrow key will move you one 'space', or character, (left, right) or one 'line' (up, down). This is fine and dandy for fine-tuning selections, but more realistically, you'll want to select whole words, sentences, or paragraphs and doing it a space at a time is no time-saver! Again, it is the Ctrl key to the rescue.

Moving the cursor: Ctrl+left arrow = move to beginning of the word (cursor jumps left) Ctrl+rt. arrow = move to end of word (moves to the right) Ctrl+up arrow = move to beginning of the paragraph Ctrl+down arrow = ...well, I'm sure you've guessed by now... Ctrl+Home = jump to beginning of document Ctrl+End = jump to last word entered

I use these a lot:Ctrl+Backspace = delete last word (left) Ctrl+Del = delete next word (right) Ctrl+Z = undo last action

To select sections of text, simply add the "Shift" key to shortcuts above. Ctrl+Shift+left arrow will select the word you just typed, for example.

That's enough for today. If you would like to see a more complete listing of Word shortcuts, click on the "Help" menu and enter the word "shortcuts". You will find many, many more. With a little practice, you will soon be using these shortcuts as second nature, and saving yourself a lot of wasted motion in the process.

Today's free link: If you would like to have your own website -- for a small side-business, or you're just getting started -- and you're on a limited budget, the free Microsoft Office Live Basic is, IMHO, your best bet (It does not put ads on your site, for one thing). Templates make it easy for folks with no previous experience to get up and running.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

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