Category: Other Topics

Do you ever accidentally close a tab in Firefox, then want to get back to a website that you were exploring in that tab?

It happens to me a couple of times every day – I click on a link, and when I’m finished reading that page, I close the tab. Oops! That link hadn’t opened in a new tab, and now I’ve lost the original page that I was reading.

Re-open a Closed Tab From the History Menu

Fortunately, Firefox remembers what you’ve had open, and stores those tabs in its History.

To re-open a closed tab:

1. Click the History Menu
2. Click Recently Closed Tabs, to see a list of web page names.
3. Click the name of the web page that you want to re-open.

Re-open the Last Closed Tab From the Shortcut Menu

You can also re-open the last closed tab by using a shortcut menu:

1. Double-click in an empty area of the tab strip, for example, to the right of the last tab.
2. In the shortcut menu that appears, click Undo Close Tab.

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Recently, I’ve made some progress in clearing out my office, and organizing my files and bookshelves. This week, after I was stabbed by a push pin, while trying to dig out a paper clip, I realized that my desk drawer could use some improvement.

At some point, I had good intentions, because you can see the boxes and clear container with storage compartments, that were meant to organize things. Somewhere, though, things got off track.

• Buried under the top layer are the paper clips, in assorted sizes, that I need occasionally.
• The glue sticks and Scotch tape are easily accessible, but I don’t use them too often.
• Stamps, that I use about once a month, are easy to find.
• A nice eraser, for those paper-based mistakes
• Hand cream and nail clippers, because good grooming is important
• The rest of it, I should toss out, or at least move to a different part of the office, so I can find those paper clips when I need them.

That desk drawer is prime office real estate, and I’m cleaning it up.
How about you?

Is your desk drawer better organized than mine? Or are you risking injury every time you reach for a paper clip?
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Ever since I started my blog, I’ve subscribed to the RSS feed. That lets me know if everything is working as expected with the feed, and I can investigate any problems as early as possible.

It’s also a good check when I upload an article with a delayed posting time. Sometimes I forget to set the posting time as AM, instead of PM, so the delay is much longer than I intended.

If I notice that the feed hasn’t been updated, I can go to the blog and change the publishing time.

Subscribe By Email Too

However, I also have an email subscription option on my blog, and hadn’t tested that.

I finally subscribed last week, which gave me the chance to see how the subscription process works (seemed pretty easy).

Now I get an email every morning, with the latest Contextures blog entry, and can follow up if there’s any problem with that delivery method.
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While viewing a Word document in the Print Preview window, you might notice a typo, or something else that you’d like to fix quickly, before printing.

However, the pointer is a magnifying glass, and when you click on the page you just zoom in or out.

To edit the document, you can turn off the magnifier:

In Excel 2007, remove the check mark from Magnifier in the Ribbon, to turn it off.

In Excel 2003, click the Magnifier button on the toolbar, to turn it off.

After you turn off the Magnifier, the pointer will change to an I-beam, and you can click on the document and edit it.

I’ve been using Microsoft Word since 1985, starting with Word for Mac and eventually moving to the Windows version for Word 6.0. As with other Office programs, some great new features have been added, and other features, that were working just fine, have been removed or changed. Don’t get me started on Word’s numbering.

Most of my Word documents are currently in Word 2003, but I’m experimenting with Word 2007, in case some of my clients decide to switch. One of the new features that I’ve discovered is the automatic Cover Sheet.

Insert a Cover Page

To automatically add a cover page to the front of the Word document:

• On Word’s Ribbon, click the Inert tab.
• Click the Cover Page command, to open the list of cover page options.

• Click on one of the options to select it.

Add Details to the Cover Page

On the cover page that’s inserted, there are fields that you can customize with your name, document title, and other information.

Click on a field (indicated with square brackets), and the name of the field will appear, such as Subtitle.

Type the text you want in that field.

Change the Cover Page

Many of the cover pages use fonts or colours from the documents Theme. You can:

• select an element and change its font, colour or other properties.
• select a different Theme, and those fonts and colours will replace the existing Theme’s fonts and colours.
• select a different cover page from the drop down list (maybe not this one!)

Remove the Cover Page

If you change your mind, and no longer want a cover page, click the Cover Page command on the Ribbon.

Then click Remove Current Cover Page.

The cover page is deleted immediately, with no confirmation message. However, you could click Undo to restore it.

Or, insert a cover page later, and the data that you entered previously (Title, Subtitle, etc.) should appear in the new cover.

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Over the weekend I did a backup of my RSS feeds, and created backup files for my WordPress blog.

How often do I do this? Not often enough.

So, I’ve added both items to my monthly task list, and that might help me remember to keep the backup files up to date.

I also have a Maxtor external hard drive on both my computers, and they do an automatic overnight backup.

How about you? Did you do a backup recently?
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I’ve been reviewing Word documents recently, and sometimes I’m halfway down the document and have to check on something that was in an earlier part of the file.

I could scroll up, to check the text, then scroll back down to the current spot, but that’s not too efficient.

It’s easier, and more efficient, to split the Word window, so I can see two sections at the same time.

To split the window, you can choose Window|Split, then click where you want the split.

Another way to create a split it to point to the Split marker, at the top of the Vertical Scroll Bar, and drag it to the position you want.

Remove the Split

To remove the Split marker, double-click on it.

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What’s on your desktop bookshelf? I only have a few inches of space on the bookshelf above my computer, and it holds the books that I refer to most often. From left to right, they are:

• Roget’s Thesaurus
• French/English Dictionary
• Notebook
• Excel 2007 PivotTables Recipes
• Beginning Pivot Tables in Excel 2007
• Excel Pivot Tables Recipe Book
• Manual of Style for Technical Publications
• Oxford Canadian Dictionary
• Binder with Contextures Procedures

The thesaurus is about 100 years old, or at least looks that old. I’ve had it since university days, and like it much better than the newer style.

Microsoft Word has a built in thesaurus feature, which I use occasionally, but it’s no substitute for Roget’s version.

My books are there because I do lots of work with pivot tables and can’t remember all the obscure issues and workarounds that I covered in the books.

The binder doesn’t have too much in it yet, but I’m trying to add more checklists and procedures, to make monthly tasks a bit easier.

I’d have room for more books if I removed the CD storage rack that’s to the right. It holds music CDs and I can’t remember the last time that I listened to one on the computer.

Everything that I want to hear is in an MP3 file, so maybe these should go out to the car, or down to the stereo system.
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At the right of the Outlook 2007 you can display a To-Do Bar that shows a navigation calendar, a list of upcoming appointments and a task list. Very handy!

When I open Outlook to check my email, I can see my calendar and tasks at a quick glance. Here’s what the top of the To-Do Bar looks like.

Unfortunately, it’s not as useful as I first thought, since the To-Do Bar doesn’t show all day events. So, if you’ve added a conference that will span a few days, or entered the birthdays for your friends and family members, those won’t show up.

Fortunately, my mom’s birthday is in February, so I noticed this problem just in time! And if you didn’t get a birthday card from me, it’s Outlook’s fault.

Show Outlook Today

I’ll keep using the To-Do Bar, because I have a wide monitor, and the To-Do Bar is useful for the non-event items and tasks. However, I decided to change my Outlook settings to show Outlook Today upon opening.

That sounded like an easy thing to do, but I couldn’t find a switch to turn it back on. Outlook Help said to go to the Outlook Today view, and customize the settings there.

Great advice, but how do I get to the Outlook Today view? Outlook Help said to look in the Navigation Pane.

Well, I couldn’t see that icon with the others, at the bottom of the Navigation Pane.

I hunted through the menus, checked Help again, and searched in Google, but couldn’t find any help on restoring my missing Outlook Today icon.

Then, I accidentally clicked on the top folder in my folder list, and Outlook Today miraculously appeared!

Oh, that icon. Maybe the Outlook Help could have mentioned the Folder list when describing where to look for the icon.

Outlook Today Icon on the Advanced Toolbar

Update: Thanks to Jon Frank, who commented that the Outlook Today icon is also on Outlook’s Advanced Toolbar. To show that toolbar, click the View menu, then click Toolbars, and click Advanced.

Change the Outlook Today Startup Setting

After that frustrating exercise, the rest of the process was easy. At the top left of the Outlook Today view, I clicked the Customize Outlook Today button.

Then I added a check mark to When starting, go directly to Outlook Today, then clicked Save Changes.

Now, when Outlook opens, I can see all my upcoming appointments and events.

It would be ever better if you could specify that you only wanted to see this the first time you open Outlook each day, but maybe they’ll add that to the next version.
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