Create And Customize Charts In PowerPoint With oomfo Add-In

Creating multiple charts in PowerPoint can become quite a task, as you have to practically create an Excel spreadsheet for each chart to plot data. If you need to quickly create presentations in PowerPoint with multiple charts, oomfo is a viable alternative to PowerPoint native Chart tool. It is an addin for PowerPoint with all the necessary tools that are required in creating, designing and customizing different chart elements. It presents a wizard with 9 simple steps for designing stunning charts. All you need is to go through the wizard to insert the chart in selected PowerPoint slide. Furthermore, you can change every bit of the chart, including, axis, gridlines, divisional lines, axis labels, specify chart legend type and transparency, while many chart layout related customizations are provided to make chart look as per your likings.

Before installing the add-in, make sure that PowerPoint is not running in the background. After the installation, open PowerPoint and head over to Insert tab. You will see an oomfo section on ribbon with three 3 options, Insert Chart, Edit Chart, and Export. To begin, open the slide and click Insert Slide and follow the wizard steps.

The first step is to specify type of chart from a long list of chart types. Once done, move to Chart Data to enter data values which you wish to plot on chart. The Chart Cosmetics comprises of slew of features to change default chart layout, and to create and apply new designs. In Data Properties, you can choose how to display data labels and data values. Title for each axis can be specified under Axis and Titles. The Divisional lines refers to setting up horizontal and vertical gridlines.

Once you’ve done designing chart into required form, click Finish to insert chart into current slide.

You can export the chart to image format to give presentation on any system without requiring oomfo. Click Export Chart As Image from Export menu to convert the chart into image format.

oomfo works with PowerPoint 2003, PowerPoint 2007, and PowerPoint 2010.

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Research words, concepts, and even companies right inside of Word

You know that Microsoft Word contains a dictionary, because you've no doubt used it to spellcheck your documents. But did you know you can access full definitions, a thesaurus, online research, and even company profiles - often without leaving Word?

This works both in Word 2007 and Word 2010. Just go to the Review tab and click the Research button:

Now look at the Research pane that appears. You can choose from a variety of services, from simple definitions to translations:

Looking for a different word for productivity? Select the thesaurus:

Need more than just a definition, use Bing or one of the other built-in research services pull up more in-depth encyclopedia-style details:

Or, if you want to find information on a company you're doing business with, you can quickly view its company profile right alongside the document you're working on. If any of the information appears cut off, simply grab the left edge of the pane and expand it until everything is readable.

Depending on how you work, you can leave it open all of the time to quickly look up information or click the xat the top right corner and, poof, it's gone - leaving you to focus on your document until the next time you need it.

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Create Search Folders in Outlook 2010

If you find yourself scouring your Inbox and various Outlook folders for specific types of mails, there is an easier way. You can create Search Folders for all sorts of common tasks, and then they'll just be a click away!
Consider these ideas for useful Search Folders:

• All mails flagged for follow up
• All mails from your boss
• All mails over 1000 KB (which are filling up your mail server)
• All mails with attachments

To get started, just go to the Folder tab and click the New Search Folder button:

This opens a dialog box with a number of popular choices ready to configure and create:

To create a folder that keeps tabs on all mails from specific people, just click Choose and select the person or persons you want to track (might as well put your boss' boss in there too!).
If you want to go off the beaten path, select Create a custom Search Folder at the bottom:

Name it and then click the Criteria button:

This will open up several tabs packed with Search Folder possibilities:

With all of these choices, you can craft very specific sets of criteria to seek out and keep track of only your most valuable mails. For instance, all mails that mention the term "budget" and contain attachments from the last 90 days.
When you're done creating Search Folders, look for them in the Search Folders section at the bottom of your Mailbox in the left pane of Outlook. Right click any Search Folders that you plan to check at least once a day and select Show in Favorites.
It's amazing how much time this feature can save you.

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Filter or remove duplicates from your Excel data

If you're wading through your Excel data and find a lot of redundant entries, you have two options to narrow your focus. You can filter and hide any duplicate rows, or just delete any repeated entries completely. Best of all, these work in both Excel 2007 and Excel 2010.

First, let's look at the less destructive path. In most cases, you want your data intact - you just want to home in on the unique values in your worksheet. Select the columns you want to filter, go to the Data tab, and click the Advanced button in the Sort & Filter section:

Now check Unique records only and, if you like, select a destination to copy your results:

Whether you copy or filter in place, any duplicate records will be hidden - all you need to do is select the full sheet , right-click, and select Unhide to restore it.

Now if you want duplicate data removed entirely, look in the next section on the Data tab for Remove Duplicates:

This opens up a dialog box that lets you choose which columns to include. Pick your targets and permanently delete any redundant data:

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Compress Media Files in PowerPoint 2010

PowerPoint 2010 has better video integration but that doesn’t mean you need to worry about the size of presentation blowing out with huge media files.

There is option to compress the media files to a suitable quality level and make it compact. This feature will not only help you in improving the video/audio playback performance but will also save disk space.

For this open the presentation that contains the video/audio file. Click on File | Info | Media Size and Performance.

Here you have three options to compress the media file:

• Presentation Quality - This helps in saving space while at the same time maintaining the overall audio and video quality.
• Internet Quality - Here the quality of the video after compression will be comparable to the video which is streamed over the internet.
• Low Quality - This option as the name suggests produces video of low quality hence can be used when file size is more important than video quality.

You also have the option to revert back to the original file after compressing it. For this click on "Undo" option.

While Undo is handy, we suggest you keep the original full resolution video/presentation and compress a copy.

The compression options will not only reduce the quality of video it will also remove any cropped/edited parts of the video.

When you choose any one of the above mentioned compression options, “Compress Media” window pops open which will show the status of the compression in progress.

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Change default dictionary in Microsoft Office 2010

If you click Add to Dictionary when you run the spelling checker on your document, Word adds the new word to the default custom dictionary. To change the default dictionary to the one that you added, follow these steps:

1. In Word 2003 and in earlier versions of Word, click Options on the Tools menu.

    In Word 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.

    In Word 2010, click File, and then click Options.

2. In Word 2003 and in earlier versions of Word, click the Spelling & Grammar tab, and then click Custom Dictionaries.

    In Word 2007 and Word 2010, click Proofing, and then click Custom Dictionariesunder When correcting spelling in Microsoft Office programs.

3. Click the name of the dictionary that you want to set as the default, and then clickChange Default.

    Note The default dictionary is positioned at the top of the list. Additionally, its name is listed in bold characters.

4. Click OK two times.

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How to add a custom dictionary in Microsoft Office 2010?

To create an additional custom dictionary, follow these steps:

1. Start Word.

2. In Microsoft Office Word 2003 and in earlier versions of Word, click Options on theTools menu.

    In Microsoft Office Word 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.

     In Microsoft Office Word 2010, click File, and then click Options.

3. In Word 2003 and in earlier versions of Word, click Custom Dictionaries on theSpelling & Grammar tab.

    In Word 2007 and Word 2010, click Proofing, and then click Custom Dictionaries under When correcting spelling in Microsoft Office programs.

4. Click New to create a new custom dictionary.

5. In the File name box, type a name for the new custom dictionary, and then click Save.

6. In the Custom Dictionaries dialog box, click OK, and then click OK in the Optionsdialog box.

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Using Screenshot in Office 2010

Screenshot -- a new feature in Office 2010 -- allows you to capture images from your screen.

	Click the document that you want to add the screenshot to
	Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
	In the Illustrations group, click Screenshot

	To add the whole window, click the thumbnail in the Available Windows gallery
	To add part of the window, click Screen Clipping, and when the pointer becomes a cross, press and hold the left mouse button to select the area of your screen that you want to capture
	If you have multiple windows open, click the window you want to clip from before clicking Screen Clipping. When you click Screen Clipping, the program you are working in is minimized and only the window behind it is available for clipping
	After adding a screenshot, you can use the tools on the Picture Tools tab to edit and enhance the screenshot

You can use Screenshot in Word 2010, PowerPoint 2010 and Excel 2010.

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New Resource Center for Outlook 2010

Are you an IT Professional wondering what key topics you should review for your Outlook 2010 deployment? Check out the new Outlook 2010 Resource Center (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/office/gg513879.aspx).  It includes a collection of the popular Outlook 2010 topics like changes between the versions, system requirements, add-in compatibility considerations, deployment planning and configuration topics, training resources for your end users and more. 

More application specific Resource Centers are coming soon.  You can find all the available application IT Pro Resource Centers by clicking Applications in the top grey bar on the TechNet Microsoft Office 2010 home page (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ee263913).

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