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Both Word and Excel are powerful programs for creating forms and other “reusable” documents. However, unless you take care to lock these documents down, they can easily be overwritten.

Have you ever opened up an existing document on your computer, meaning to Save As a different file, but after changing a bunch of information, you accidentally hit Save instead, overwriting the original file?

It’s a pain, but it happens, all the time. Even to the best of us. But, you can protect yourself from problems like these by turning your document into a template.

Reasons to Create a Template

• When you are creating a reusable form
• To lock the form down so it can’t be overwritten
• If you want your document to automatically Save As when you hit save

How to Create a Template

Saving Word / Excel Documents as Templates

Creating a template out of a Word or Excel file is extremely easy. All you have to do is change one setting when you’re saving the file.

First setup your form. When you’re ready, go to File > Save As. In the File Name field, type in the name of your template. Then, from the Save As Type dropdown (underneath the File Name field) select Word Template (or Excel Template).

Important Note: Be mindful! Sometimes when you select Template, the Save As location changes, so make sure you are still saving the file in the proper location prior to hitting Save.

How to Edit a Template

Editing Word / Excel Templates

Editing a template is easy, but does require a few extra steps. If you open the document by double clicking on it, it will open a new instance of the document, and when you hit save it will ask you where you want to save the document. This is NOT the same as editing it, and any changes made will not be saved to the main template.

Instead, to edit your template you have to open it slightly differently. Navigate to your template file, and right click on it. Then click on Open (older versions may say Edit). Now you are editing the main template, and any changes made will be saved to the template.

(Note: Changes only apply to future uses, and will not update past forms created with outdated template.)

Creating, editing, and using templates are so easy that once you start to use them, you’ll wonder how you got along without them.

Image Credit: USCPSC

Do you remember when the fax machine first made its appearance? In many ways faxing revolutionized business, allowing contracts and other documents to be quickly transmitted between companies.

A similar revolution occurred when the Internet and email became an active part of business. Instead of faxing a document over the slow telephone lines (and hoping the copy isn’t too grainy for the recipient), documents are now emailed. They can even be signed electronically now, removing the need to ever print anything out on paper.

If the Internet and email changed the way business is done, do you still need a fax machine? Well, yes and no.

Having the capability to fax is still a good idea, especially since not all businesses (or individuals) have the ability to receive files electronically. However, you probably don’t need that old dinosaur of a fax machine taking up space on the desk.

Instead, consider an electronic fax system. Electronic fax bridges the gap between traditional faxing and sending things via email.

While all electronic fax systems are slightly different, they’re all similar as well. To send a fax though one of these systems, typically you send an email with the documents attached to a specified email address (generally [[email protected]]), and then the system converts it, and faxes it to where it’s going.

And that’s one of the benefits of using an electronic fax system, it’s as quick and easy as sending an email. However, other benefits include:

• Receive faxes electronically – typically in PDF format
• Less work – no need to scan documents, just save PDF
• Smaller file sizes (typically)
• Higher resolution files – no more losing quality because of transmission
• Higher quality files – no need to print documents on low quality fax machine, further degrading the quality

So if you’d like to reclaim desk space and finally get rid of that clunky old fax machine, consider an electronic fax service.

If you have questions, or would like help determining the best service for your business, give us a call. We have experience with quite a few of the solutions available, and can help determine the best system to use for your needs.

One of the greatest things about technology is that it has enabled us to do just about everything more quickly, including conducting business. Signing contracts and other documents 20+ years ago involved mailing the items, or a trip to wherever to sign them in person, but now we can just fax or email the documents, and print, sign, scan, and return them just as quickly.

However, even that process is still a bit clumsy. Did you know there was a better way?

Setup your signature as a stamp in Adobe, and forget about printing and rescanning your document. Instead, sign them digitally, and save yourself some hassle.

Creating a Signature Stamp in Adobe Acrobat

Here’s what you’ll need to turn your signature into a digital stamp:

• Adobe Acrobat Pro
• Paper – Blank and unlined
• Pen – Black ink preferred
• Scanner
• Photo editing software

In order to use the stamp function, you must have the full version of Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer. One way to quickly tell is to look for the word PRO in the title. If you see it, you have the full version.

Grab the paper and pen, and sign the paper. Practice your signature in a few different places so that you can use the one that looks the best. Make sure to space out your signatures, so that you have enough “white space” to adequately crop it later.

If you initial a lot of documents, make a stamp out of your initials using the same procedure outlined above. You can even write the two on the same paper.

When done, scan the paper. Then, open the scanned copy in your favorite photo editing software. (I like Photoshop, but you could use any software that can crop photos.) Crop your favorite signature, and save it as a .JPG file. Do the same thing for your initials, if needed.

Now, open Adobe

Acrobat. On the bar across the top, at the far right are the words “Tools,” “Comments,” and “Share.” Click on Comments, go to Add a Stamp > Custom Stamps, and click on Manage Stamps.

The Select Image for Custom Stamp window will appear. Click on the Browse button, and locate the JPG file of your signature. Once selected, a preview of your image will appear. If it is the image you want to use, click OK, otherwise, click Browse and locate a better image. Click OK when done.

Then, the Create Custom Stamp window appears. From the Category drop down, select “Sign Here.” Give your stamp a nickname by typing a name into the Name Field. By default, “down sample stamp to reduce file size” is checked, leave it check and click OK. Repeat the process for any additional stamps you need to create.

How to Use a Stamp in Adobe Acrobat

To use your stamp, open a PDF. Go to Comment, in the top right, and click on the drop down next to the stamp tool. On the menu, go to Sign Here, and your recently created signature will appear at the bottom.

Click on your signature, then click on signature line of the PDF. Your signature will appear. Resize as necessary to fit the document.

Important Tip!: It’s not enough to save your document after it’s signed. You flatten the image prior to saving, so that the recipient cannot change the document, or move or copy your signature.

To flatten the document prior to saving, go to Layers (located on the right, under the paperclip). If Layers is not shown, go to View (at the top), Show / Hide, Navigation Pane, Layers. Then, click Layers on the right to access the menu.

From the Layers menu, select Flatten Image, then save your document. Now it’s ready to send to whomever you’d like.

Image Credit: Ivanpw

The problem with social media is that it’s designed to trip all of our social conditioning to hook us, getting us addicted. And it’s not entirely social media’s fault – as humans we’re hardwired to be social, it’s inherent to our genetic makeup.

However, now that we have access to social outlets almost 24/7, we’re finding it hard to give up, no matter where we’re at, including at the office. All this socializing is affecting business, to the tune of $650 billion dollars each year.

So what can you do to take back control, helping to funnel that wasted energy into something productive for the company? Well you have a few options.

Option 1: Block or Monitor Social Media

When faced with loss of revenue due to low productivity, many companies opt to simply block social media all together. Others choose to install monitoring software to view employees web surfing habits, allowing them to counsel and/or terminate employees as needed.

However, there are a few big problems with either scenario. First, blocking social media actually has a detrimental effect in the office. People need to be social, we’re wired that way, and cutting off this ability to socialize can be akin to cutting off an arm to some people.

Additionally, blocks and monitoring software can be easily circumvented these days because of smart phones. Knowing their being watched, employees will find other ways to access their social media, including playing on their phone which isn’t on the corporate network.

Option 2: Create an In-House Social Network

However, studies are finding there’s a much better way to handle this drive to be social – by harnessing it in a corporate setting. Instead of blocking the sites we crave, many companies are simply converting this behavior into something more appropriate, by providing in-house social media outlets.

Studies find that companies with an in-house, private social network not only increase morale, but productivity as well. Employees that socialize have better interactions and work together more effectively.

Additionally, an in-house social network has been known to foster a sense of corporate community, a win-win for any company.

So the next time you’re concerned about your employees spending too much time online, consider doing something that will help boost morale, productivity, and ultimately your company, rather than squash it.

Julie Strier is a freelance writer who likes to help you boost your employee productivity without sacrificing morale. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.mybusinesswriter.com.

Image Credit: Microsoft Corporation

When purchasing software, do you ever think about the end-of-life cycle for that particular program? If you’re like everyone else, you probably don’t.

The thing is, all software has a cycle – a period of time when the company will support that particular version of the software.

So what you purchase today won’t always be supported.

Typically software is no longer supported when there are several newer versions out, or when the software is so outdated that it no longer functions properly on newer computers, whichever comes first.

In early April, 2013, Microsoft announced its plans to phase out support for a few of their older software, a change that could leave businesses (and individuals) in the lurch.

Microsoft’s determination for phasing out software is fairly clear cut – they promise to support their products for a minimum of 10 years, with 5 years of mainstream support, and 5 years of extended support.

And next year, on April 8, 2014, Microsoft is phasing out support on a few (still) popular products:

• Windows XP
• Office 2003
• Office 2008 – Mac Version – support ends April 9, 2014

So what does this change mean for businesses? Well, nothing and everything.

Of course you can continue to use your outdated products, as technically they will still work just like they did before. However, problems requiring support through Microsoft won’t be fixable, and over time you could see even bigger issues.

The larger reality is that if you’re still using these older operating systems and office products, you could probably stand for an update. Newer operating systems, though they require a small learning curve, run faster and help you produce more than their older counterparts. Additionally, newer software boasts better features, and increased security through patches, bug fixes, and software updates.

Though it would require a bit of an initial investment, upgrading your office, particularly if you are still using any of these programs, will end up saving you in the long run in time and money made back due to increased productivity.

If your business is still using these outdated software products, give us a call today. We can help you evaluate which newer versions are right for your business, and help get them implemented and installed so that you aren’t affected by this change.

Julie Strier is a freelance writer who likes to help you navigate through changes in your software. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.mybusinesswriter.com.

Image Credit: Sean MacEntee

If you’ve had your email address for any length of time, you’ve probably used it to sign up for all sorts of services – newsletters, coupons, store savings cards, and more. And while it’s helpful to receive information like this in our email, it creates its own sets of problems – like a cluttered inbox.

As time goes one, there will eventually come a time where you’ll want to unsubscribe from everything, or simply create a new email address to avoid dealing with all this extra email.

However, the problem with manually unsubscribing is that it is time consuming, often requiring multiple clicks and accessing different webpages, to take yourself off a mailing list. And creating a new email address isn’t much better, because of the time it takes to educate your important contacts on the change.

So what do you do when you need to mass unsubscribe from emails? Depending on your email address, you have a few options.

Use a Service

Unwanted email from mailing lists is now such a large problem that services are being created to help you easily and quickly manage everything. Generally, all you have to do is sign up with a service, follow a few prompts, and they’ll manage the rest.

Currently these types of services are only available for web-based email accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, etc. Check the particulars of each service to determine which service interfaces with which email.

Services that handle unsubscribing include:

Swizzle

Unlistr – for iPhone / iPad only

UnsubscribeDeals

Unroll.me

Use Your Email Program’s Filtering Options

Many email programs will allow you to filter your inbox just by searching. To quickly and easily sort your mass mailings and newsletters, try searching for the term “unsubscribe” to pull up a list of all emails with an unsubscribe link.

Of course, you will still have to manually unsubscribe from each mailing list, still making the task a little time consuming.

These are just a few ways you can easily unsubscribe from mass emails. Do you have a favorite way to easily unsubscribe from services? Leave us a comment to let us know your tricks.

Julie Strier is a freelance writer who wants to help make your email easier to find. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.mybusinesswriter.com.

Image Credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Do you make a lot of presentations in PowerPoint? Then this post is for you. Here’s a bunch of our favorite keyboard shortcuts, guaranteed to help you navigate the program more easily.

* Denotes a common program command

CTRL + B: Bold*

CTRL +C: Copy*

CTRL + I: Italic*

CTRL + E: Center Paragraph

CTRL + J: Justified Paragraph

CTRL + K: Create Hyperlink

CTRL + L: Let-Aligned Paragraph

CTRL + R: Right-Aligned Paragraph

CTRL + U: Underline*

CTRL + V: Paste*

CTRL + X: Cut*

CTRL + Z: Undo*

CTRL + Drag (the mouse): Create a copy of the selected text.

CTRL + Shift + F, then use up / down arrows to select font, press Enter when done – Change Font Size

CTRL + Shift + P: Change Point Size

CTRL + Shift + Z: Plain Text

CTRL + Shift + >: Increase Font Size

CTRL + Shift +<: Decrease Font Size

Shift + F3: Toggles selection through lower case, upper case, and initial caps

F5: Start a presentation from the beginning

F7: Spellchecker

<Number> + Enter: Go to slide <number>

PowerPoint Shortcuts to Use During Presentations

F5: Start presentation from the beginning

A or Equals Sign (=): Show / hide arrow pointer

B or Period (.): Display blank black slide / return to the presentation from a blank black slide

E: Erase on-screen annotations

H: Go to the next hidden slide.

M: Use mouse-click to advance while rehearsing

N, Enter, Page Down, Right Arrow, Down Arrow, or Spacebar (choose one): Advance to next slide / perform next animation

O: Use original timings while rehearsing

P, Page Up, Left Arrow, Up Arrow, or Backspace (choose one): Return to previous slide / perform previous animation

R: Re-record slide narration and timing

S: Stop / start automatic presentation

T: Set new timings while rehearsing

W or Comma (,): Display blank white slide / return to the presentation from a blank white slide

<Number> + Enter: Go to slide <number>

ATL + Q: Stop media playback

ALT + P: Play / pause

ALT + U: Mute

ALT + Down: Decrease volume

ALT + END: Next bookmark

ALT + HOME: Previous bookmark

ALT + Up: Increase volume

ALT + SHIFT + Page Down: Seek forward

ALT + Shift + Page Up: Seek backward

CTRL + A: Change pointer to an arrow

CTRL+E: Change pointer to an eraser

CTRL + H: Hide pointer and navigation button immediately

CTRL + M: Show / hide ink markup

CTRL + S: View the All Slides dialogue box

CTRL + T: View computer task bar

CTRL + U: Hide pointer and navigation button in 15 seconds

SHIFT + F10: Display shortcut menu

SHIFT + TAB: Go to last / previous hyperlink on slide

TAB: Go to first / next hyperlink on slide

We have posted similar articles about Excel, Outlook, and Word. Did you miss one? Follow the links below.

• Excel: https://blog.techquility.net/10-excel-shortcuts/
• Outlook: https://blog.techquility.net/microsoft-outlook-shortcut-keys/
• Windows 7: https://blog.techquility.net/windows-7-shortcuts/
• Windows 8: https://blog.techquility.net/windows-8-shortcuts/
• Word: https://blog.techquility.net/microsoft-word-shortcut-keys/

Julie Strier is a freelance writer who wants to help you use your software more efficiently. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.mybusinesswriter.com.

Screenshot of In-House File Transfer Service – sensitive information redacted.

You and your team worked hard on a project, and now you’re ready to deliver it to the client. But the deliverables include several large files that are too big to send via email. What do you do?

If you are like many businesses, you’ll probably turn to a file transfer service, like Drop Box, SkyDrive, or Google Drive to share the files. However, there are a ton of inherent problems with going this route, most of which involve lack of security and control on a third-party system.

But did you know that there is a better way to transfer files? You could host your own large file transfer service in-house and remove many of the issues involved with third-party services.

Here are just a few of the many advantages to running your own file transfer service.

Faster Service

When large file transfer service software runs in-house, transferring files is much faster for you and your staff.

With a service of this type everything remains in-house, which means whether you’re delivering files to a client, or downloading files a client sent to you, the files are already on your network.

Instead of you having to wait on a service and the slow speed of the internet to access your files, simply access the large file transfer service and grab what you need quickly, over the faster speeds of your internal network.

However, this is a benefit for in-company users only, as employees or clients logged into the service remotely will still be limited by their internet speed.

Share Larger Files

While the third-party file transfer services work in a pinch, there are usually stipulations on the amount of data you can send for free. Most services give you about 2 gigs of storage space before charging you.

However, 2 gigs doesn’t go far when you’ve got large files to send somewhere. Instead of paying the third-party provider to increase your tier level to allow you to send larger files, why not setup an in-house system?

Typically, hosting your system in-house is cheaper than what you would spend with the third-party providers, and you won’t ever have to worry about which tier your account is on, and how much data you can send.

With an in-house large file transfer service, you can send up to 35 gigs at one time without paying any extra. And, there are no reoccurring monthly fees outside of your normal network maintenance costs.

Increased Security

By hosting your file transfer service in-house, you’ll also gain some extra security features.

Remove Worry

With third-party systems, your information and files live on someone else’s servers, and you don’t have control or say so over what they do with their computers. Sure, they may have everything outlined nicely in their Terms of Service (TOS), but when it comes down to it, how much of a guarantee is there really that your data is safe?

Instead, keep your data on your network and you’ll never have to worry about what’s going on with your files.

Security Through Obscurity

If a hacker wants to attack a file sharing system, who are they going to target? Your company, or someone big like Microsoft (who runs Sky Drive)? You guessed it, they’ll go after the big guys every time.

In this way because you’re a small fish in a very large pond, you won’t have to worry about being attacked the same way the big guys do. Oddly enough, it’s because of your obscurity that your security is increased. You’re simply not on their radar.

However, in the event that someone does try to attack, your files are protected behind your firewall, safe from intrusion.

These are just a few of the reasons why we prefer an in-house large file transfer system to a third party alternative.

Do you have concerns about hosting a file transfer system on your network? Give us a call today. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Julie Strier is a freelance writer who likes to help make large file transferring easier. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.mybusinesswriter.com.