Turn ordinary data into compelling graphics

When I was parenting children, one difficult challenge was getting those finicky rugrats to eat their meals. I learned rather quickly that simply piling vegetables onto their plates didn't work. I had to find a more attractive way of presenting the food to them.

In the same way, business shouldn't hand customers a plate full of information and expect them to eat it. Not even spoon feeding raw data will help clients appreciate the business more.

The key is to make inside technical information both understandable and interesting to laymen on the outside.

I'm a visual learner. Actually, most of us are. Studies have shown that as many as two-thirds of the human population processes information through what they see.

Ordinary data just looks like a bunch of numbers and words to me. But put that information into an attractive graphic and all of sudden, the lights come on, the stars align and everything is right with the world.

Microsoft Office can help you turn plain, old boring data into thoughtful and insightful graphic presentations that not only help clients understand your business, but also appreciate it a lot more, too.

Two very effective tools are Charts and Smart Art.

Charts take table data and convert that information into visual displays of columns, bars, pie and more.

The chart tool is located on the insert ribbon of your Office document. In Word, all you have to do is click on charts and select the type of chart you want.

The chart then appears in your Word document and an Excel spreadsheet will open simultaneously, allowing you to input your data.

The cool thing about this tool is that as you input data into the spreadsheet, the information is instantly reflected in your chart graphic, too.

This way, you never have to update the chart separately, because Office creates an automatic link between that and the spreadsheet.

Creating a chart graphic is just as easy in Excel as it is in Word. Simply click anywhere in your table, or select the data cells that you want in your chart.

Then select the type of chart you want and... voila!

But the fun doesn't stop there. Once the chart is created in your document, there are three new chart tools ribbon tabs that also appear at the top of the document: Design, Layout and Format.

These special tools allow you to make structural changes to a chart without compromising the data in it. In Excel, you can even move the chart onto another sheet in the workbook.

Now that's pretty cool, and hard to beat.

But wait until you check out Smart Art, once the avante garde of turning plain text into a stunning visual masterpiece.

Sometimes there just aren't any easy words to explain how something works. That's where Smart Art can help by taking complex ideas and making them more understandable for layman readers like me.

Suppose you've made a list of bullet points about your idea. Text alone doesn't show how the process works or the relationship between concepts.

First, select the text that you want to convert into Smart Art. Then go to the insert ribbon and click on Smart Art. The next window gives you a plethora of information graphics to choose from: Processes, Hierarchies, Cycles, Relationships, Matrixes and more.

You can copy and paste text into the Smart Art graphic or just input it manually. Either way, you'll turn bland information into attractive eye candy for your audience in a snap.

Once the Smart Art graphic appears in your document, two new Smart Art Tools ribbon tabs will also show up: Design and Format.

Like the Chart options, these extra tools allow you to make structural changes to your Smart Art graphic without affecting the data.

Before you know it, you'll be communicating more effectively with clientele by giving them information that not only looks good, but can be digested much easier, too.

If only preparing vegetables for picky little eaters was as easy.

Keyboard shortcuts improve productivity, support ergonomics

During World War II, German intelligence officers learned to spot American spies from cues as simple as their eating habits.

Westerners commonly used the same hand for the fork as they did the knife, putting one down to pick up the other. Nazi agents observed this subtle behavior, often tipping them off to American spies.

Not only did this habit put Americans and their mission in jeopardy, but in its own small way, the table manner was counter-productive to the war effort.

In similar fashion, the computer mouse is used like an utensil at the table. We interrupt our typing to stop, reach for the mouse to move and click it here or there. We then move our hands back over the keyboard, so that we may resume typing until it's time to point and click again. This cyclical process gets repeated over and over.

For those whose job performance is based upon computer productivity — and that's really most of us these days — this is a rather inefficient way to work.

Over an eight-hour period, imagine how much time gets cumulatively lost simply trying to type, point and click at the same time; none of which is reasonably practical to do all at once.

The answer is to learn keyboard shortcuts; key stroke combinations that complete many of the same functions as pointing and clicking with the mouse.

From a function as simple as saving to one as more complex as selecting multiple items on the screen, there are key command shortcuts that can accomplish what you need to get done in a single stroke instead of multiple steps.

The process of transitioning your hand from the typing surface to the mouse, using that device, and finally moving back to the keyboard can prove a laborious task over time.

This widely practiced work habit not only eats up the clock on a time-sensitive project, but in the end, it can cause additional stress to your hands, wrists and fingers.

I'm as guilty as the next person of routinely using the point-and-click work method. Consequently, I developed severe bilateral Carpal Tunnel Syndrome followed by Tendinitis.

The diagnoses forced me to look for ways that streamline my computer work activities, cutting out unnecessary steps that require my hands to move too frequently.

Utilizing the key command shortcuts can do that for me, because I then complete the action without having to move my hands off the keyboard.

I can keep a steady work pace, too. What takes one stroke of the keys can take several steps transitioning from keyboard to mouse and back again.

There's an oft-used business idiom that goes, "work smarter, not harder."

The folks at Microsoft have given us many tools to do just that on our Windows computers. But it's up to us to learn how to use them so that they become a new work habit.

You can find a full list of keyboard shortcuts on both the Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office software support web sites to help you accomplish your work goals.

Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Office software programs can also be found on the ribbon. Simply hover your mouse over each tool or function. If there's a shortcut, you'll see a message bubble pop up that will tell you what it is.

Of course, not all functions have a keyboard shortcut. But many do.

Read the lists, learn and practice them. Before long, you, too, can be working smarter, not harder. That's good for the bottom line and your well-being.

Office makes it easy to secure your documents

Document protection is more important than ever these days with virus threats seemingly omnipresent in cyberspace, the online world of the Internet and Worldwide Web.

Microsoft Office features tools that help protect you from documents that may contain hidden viruses and allow you to preserve the integrity of documents you create.

If you use Macros often or receive documents with Macros, consider changing your Office program preferences in file options, the backstage controls of your Office documents.

Scroll down to and select Trust Center options, then select Trust Center Settings on the right side of the dialogue box. From here you will see a list of Macro Settings options.

The recommended setting is to disable all Macros with notification. This means Macros from received documents will be automatically disabled by your Office program until or unless you select the "enable" button that appears just above the ribbon.

Office settings should be defaulted on this option, but select it anyway to be sure it's activated.

Never enable Macros from a source you do not know or are unfamiliar with. This is a pretty standard rule that goes for any attachment you receive via email, text or through social media messaging.

A virus can be written into the code of a Macro command relatively easily by someone who knows even the basics of computer programming. If you enable Macros that have a virus written within just a single Macro command, you can release it into your computer system and end up with a world of trouble on your hands.

Before you select "enable macros," be sure you know where the document came from. Verify, if you need to, that the document is legitimate and that the sender is a trustworthy source.

When you are the source of a document that you want to share with others, protecting what you create from unwanted use is equally important.

Backstage under the file tab of an Office program, locate the "info" link and select it. Then click the drop down arrow on the document protection button to see your document security options.

In Microsoft Word, you can encrypt your document with a password, which keeps unwanted hands out of it. Only those you share the password with will be able to access and open the document.

But be sure to use a clever enough password that would be difficult for a hacker to guess. The same rule applies with any other password-protected security, from online banking and commerce to email, health care portals and other private accounts containing confidential information.

A Word document can also restrict editing in general or selectively by users. This helps you maintain the integrity of your data and prevent it from being changed or potentially encrypted with virus code.

Microsoft Excel offers the same security features as Word, including edit restrictions. The spreadsheet program also features both general workbook and single worksheet security with password encryption. You can even lock a single cell from being changed, too.

Take advantage of the security features available in Microsoft Office programs to avoid being taken advantage of by unscrupulous users who lurk in the shadows of cyberspace.

PDF offers better document sharing, file preservation

When my sister and I were in college, we often had difficulty sharing information by computer. I worked on an Apple Macintosh, while she used an International Business Machines (IBM) unit with a Microsoft Windows operating system.

Not only did that time period precede widespread public use of the Internet and Worldwide Web, but it was also before Macintosh and IBM began working better together for users.

The two personal computer platforms were, well, like comparing apples to oranges. Thankfully, we still had our corded landline telephones with which we used to call another.

Then, beginning in 1993, a new file format called Portable Document Format (PDF) was introduced. The idea was to create a file type that could be shared across different computer platforms.

Neither me nor my sister would benefit from this format for a few more years until we upgraded our computers to newer machines that featured Adobe PDF Reader software on them.

But once we did, sharing documents and files got easier.

Today you don't even need Adobe Reader to create a PDF formatted file, because it became an open standard in 2008 no longer under proprietary control.

As technology has advanced over the years, the usefulness of PDF file formatting has also expanded.

I share more Microsoft Office documents in PDF format than I do their default file types, because PDF files are so much simpler to transmit through the Internet and share over the Worldwide Web.

Complex page elements — such as graphics, themes, colors, font sizes, paragraph and spreadsheet formatting — are not only preserved using the PDF option, but they can also be compressed for easier portability.

If you are using Microsoft Office 2007, you'll have difficulty even opening a Microsoft Office 2016 document because the newer program is not compatible with the older operating system or software platform. Too many essential updates have been made between them.

Likewise, if you use Microsoft Office 2016 to open an older version of the program, the contents may not look exactly as they were intended to because of software updates made to the programs over the years.

One way to mitigate these technology gaps is to save files in PDF format, which maintains the integrity of the original document for the benefit of whoever you are sharing it with.

PDF format also restricts editing by others, further preserving your file the way you created it.

Not everyone has the same document creation software programs on their computer systems, so mass emailing out a Microsoft Word or Excel document isn't the most effective way of sharing your files. Someone who doesn't have Microsoft Office to begin with won't be able to open a Microsoft Office document in the first place.

There are a couple of ways to save your file in PDF format.

First, go to the colored file tab and scroll down to the "save and send" tool. Select it and scroll to "Create PDF/XPS Document." Then click the button that says "Create PDF/XPS Document."

That's the long way around.

A shorter method is to select the "save as" tool under the color file tab, click on the "save as file type" drop down menu and select PDF from the list of formats.

Within the PDF format window, you can change file compression size for optimization and even select the parts of a document you want to convert to PDF format using the "options" button.

Utilizing the PDF format allows users to share their files regardless of document origin. Whether users have Mac or older versions of the Windows operating system makes little difference with PDF format.

All one really needs to do is double click on the file, and one will be able to see what you see.

Sending a file as PDF avoids having to ask other users if they can open your document, because reader software is now standardized these days.

Better yet, you won't get this embarrassing response: "Can't open. Don't have Microsoft Office 2016."

Oops.

Paste only what you want, not what you don't

I recently helped a person figure out how to copy text from a web page onto a Microsoft Office document without all of the Internet hitch hikers along for the ride.

Every time the person copied and pasted text from the Web onto a Word document, everything from advertisements to the web page's background design followed.

All she wanted was the text, but she was miffed about how to paste only the elements from the web page she wanted while leaving everything else behind.

The problem is that when you copy from the Web, you are taking data that has been embedded onto the page using hypertext markup language; otherwise known as HTML, the language of the Internet.

Here's how to get around pasting everything that gets copied from a web page or web site:

Use the Paste Special tool.

On the home ribbon of a Microsoft Office document, locate the paste function in the clipboard group at the far left-hand side of the ribbon.

But don't just press the paste button. This is where many people get lost.

Instead, select the little drop-down arrow below the paste icon. There you will find pasting options, such as "keep source formatting," which is the Microsoft Office default setting.

If you just press paste, then the clipboard will place everything from the copied source onto your document; text, background graphics and all.

To avoid this, simply select another paste option, namely "keep text only," which will just paste the text copied from the source. It will leave out all other background formatting.

You can even change the software default in paste options by selecting "set default paste." This way, you can set "text only" as your program default. Then you can just press the paste button to your heart's content and not be concerned about all of the extras that might get copied onto the clipboard.

There is a merge formatting paste option, too, if your goal is to combine the formatting from the copied source with that of your destination document.

The bottom line is that you have options to regulate how copied content gets pasted onto a Microsoft Office document.

You don't have to accept the software default setting, and that's the whole point of Microsoft Office.

Make it your own. Don't be afraid to customize, change defaults, and help make your work a little easier to manage.

Work effectively around redundancy with Macros

There are few work practices as inefficient and costly to a business as redundancy. Reinventing the wheel on every project only makes work harder, not easier.

Much to the worker's chagrin, duplication is some times part of an organization's standard operating procedures and policies.

Microsoft Office features a tool to help users reduce the inefficiencies of redundant work activity.

Located typically at the end of the View ribbon, Macros can make repetitive computer work feel like a walk in the park.

If you have to type a laborious legal disclaimer on every piece of office correspondence, use Macros to create the item once and then reuse it as many times as you need.

Macros can also work well when producing letterhead, tables, and pretty much anything else you know you will reuse countless times in your work.

Simply click on the Macros drop-down arrow and select "Record Macro." A dialogue box will pop up and ask you to name the Macro.

You can then select whether to apply the Macro just to the document you are working on or to all Office documents. If choosing the latter, the Macro will be saved in a general Macro library that can be accessed when working in other Office documents.

When ready, click "OK" and the Macro will begin recording every keystroke or mouse click made. Be sure you know what you want to do ahead of time before clicking "record," or else the Macro could end up becoming a pretty long shortcut.

There is also a pause button to press in the event you get interrupted during the Macro recording. What office worker isn't asked to multi-task, after all?

If you don't select the pause recording, then anything else you are doing on the computer unrelated to the Macro project is going to get recorded into the Macro. So, the "pause" function is your friend.

Once you are done creating your Macro, select "stop recording." This saves the Macro into a library for future use. Then when you want to use it again, you need only to click on the Macro drop-down and select "View Macros." From there, select the Macro you want to insert into your document and, presto, it appears.

There's nothing else to it, unless a Macro recording needs to be edited. In which case, you can select the Macro to be changed from the "View Macro" list and click on the "edit" feature.

I've worked in state government for several years, and one agency I worked for used canned text routinely in its public correspondence. I used Macros frequently to create new canned text that could be used over and over again with no extra typing.

If you suffer from severe bilateral Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Tendinitis like I have, then you know how important it is to have as many finger-saving shortcuts as you can get.

Macros is one those.

But the tool won't just save your fingers, it will save you time and, in the long run, money.

Work smarter, not harder. Use Macros.

Fitting it all on one page

Growing up in Oregon's Willamette Valley, I had become accustomed to the occasional paper plant along the Interstate 5 corridor between Eugene and Portland.

The long, straight, boring car ride did get interesting at times. I would always perk up when I knew we were approaching the exit to Albany, because a massive paper plant was situated, quite literally, right along the freeway.

Once I spied it, I'd count down from 10 or 20 and get ready. Just when the tingle of an odor hit my nose, I held my breath until we had safely passed the spires billowing out their stinking steam and smoke.

That odorous plant left a lasting impression me, because to this day, I am somewhat obsessive-compulsive about conserving paper.

Not that I have any real power to save a 4.5 billion year-old planet, but the more paper I can conserve, the less that's required to churn out of smelly, old paper plants.

As an office professional, I'm often looking for ways to save paper. Costs of packaged paper can add up quickly, after all.

Microsoft Office offers some tools to avoid using excess paper when printing documents.

From the colored file tab in the upper left hand corner of MS Word or Excel programs, scroll down to the print function. You can select a number of options that meet your printing needs and fit contents on as few sheets of paper as possible.

There is the two-sided print function, selected from a drop-down when clicking on the one-sided default. That way, document contents will print on just half the sheets required of one-sided print jobs.

Sometimes simply changing page orientation can fit all of your data on one page. This works particularly well for MS Excel spreadsheets.

Another trick is to adjust your document's margins. The industry default is about one-inch on all sides of a print area. Consider narrowing these margins. This increases the print area of a document, so more contents will fit on a page.

If that doesn't work, then consider condensing the spacing between characters. This will cause text to squeeze together more and reduce the area it takes up on a page.

You can find spacing options by clicking the "more" square located in the lower right hand corner of the fonts group on the home ribbon. From the fonts window, select the "advanced" tab and go to character spacing.

There you can select "condense" under spacing and adjust by point size. Or, you can select scaling and narrow the width of characters by percentage.

If you are printing rough drafts for review, consider thumbnails instead of full size drafts. At the bottom of MS Word's print menu, you will see a default that says "one page per sheet." Click this and select up to 16 pages per sheet of standard business 8.5 by 11 paper.

Admittedly, that might be hard to read. But perhaps fitting 2-4 pages on one sheet will still allow its contents to be reviewed while saving paper.

Finally, the scaling function in the print menu of MS Excel is an effective way to fit tables of data on one standard sheet of paper that are normally too wide, too deep or both.

Scaling means to decrease or increase size by percentage. The Microsoft default is 100 percent, so if you have one column or row too many to fit on a standard sheet of paper, try reducing the scale just a little to squeeze that last bit of data into the print area.

Whether you endeavor to save the environment or the olfactory sense of others traveling near a paper plant, I encourage you to find ways that use less paper in your work. Wise paper management reduces waste and is more cost-effective to business.