Ready to learn from the best? This year's Microsoft Office champions share their tips and tricks.
Today's students have been using computers as part of their learning since day one. As such, they've had enough time to learn all sorts of Office tips and tricks. 10 Easy Excel Times Savers You Might Have Forgotten 10 Easy Excel Times Savers You Might Have Forgotten. These ten tips are sure to minimize your time on small Excel tasks and increase your spreadsheet productivity. Read More
Microsoft is well aware of this fact. That's why the company hosts the US National Microsoft Office Championships, an opportunity for the most talented students to showcase their expertise in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
LifeHacker asked this year's champions what their best techniques were, and their answers are sure to come in handy. Here's how to use Microsoft Office like a specialist student.
Almost everyone uses Word, but not all users can be considered experts. However, these two tricks will help you get one step closer to mastering the program.
Forrest Liu, who was named the 2013 Word Champion, offered this helpful tip on text selection. If you hold down Ctrl by highlighting text, you can select two completely separate sections at the same time.
On a similar note, if you hold down Ctrl and then click anywhere in the text, it will select that sentence only.
The quick access bar in the upper left corner of the Word user interface is equipped with shortcuts for Save, Undo, and Redo by default, but it becomes very powerful when you customize it.
Use the dropdown menu and select More commands to see a full list of ways you can customize the toolbar.
If you're really feeling adventurous then you can even add your own macros. 5 Resources for Excel macros to automate your spreadsheets. 5 Resources for Excel macros to automate your spreadsheets. Looking for Excel macros? Here are five sites that have what you're looking for. Read More
However, Word 2016 Champion Joshua Garrelts, who contributed this tip, likes to go with a couple more traditional options. The quick access bar for it features a spell check shortcut and a button that shares the current document in an email.
Both Excel 2013 Champion Anirudh Narayanan and Excel 2016 Champion John Dumoulin took the same advice to get the most out of the program. Unsurprisingly, it's one of the most powerful features found in the software.
Conditional Formatting Automatically format data in Excel spreadsheets with Conditional Formatting Automatically format data in Excel spreadsheets with conditional formatting Excel's conditional formatting feature allows you to format individual cells in an Excel spreadsheet based on its value. We show you how to use this for various daily tasks. Read More
The first step is to make sure that you are working with data that will benefit from the technique. I've compiled a table of IMDb user ratings for individual episodes of The Simpsons , as you can see below.
There's a lot of information in a small amount of space, but it's not particularly easy to see which episodes are highly rated and which aren't at a glance. Conditional formatting can help remedy that.
It would be easy enough to just highlight our data and use one of the pre-built options in the Conditional Formatting dropdown menu in the Styles House ribbon section tab.
However, that is not the way of a Microsoft Office champion. Narayanan recommends adapting the result of it using the New Rule option you can see above.
This screen allows us to adjust our format to meet our exact specifications. I'm going to change to a three color scale using the Format style Dropdown menu. I'm also going to change both Type fields to Number , and set the Value of each manually. This is because I don't want an episode with ratings in the low 7 to turn red, as that's still a relatively high rating.
Once you're happy with your settings, click OK .
You should end up with something like the image above. Now it's easy to get a general idea of what our data is conveying just by looking at the format.
When it comes to the Microsoft Office suite, PowerPoint is often underestimated. A novice user might be able to produce simple slideshows, but in the hands of an expert it is very powerful. 9 PowerPoint Mistakes to Avoid for Perfect Presentations 9 PowerPoint Mistakes to Avoid for Perfect Presentations It's easy to screw up your PowerPoint presentation. Let's take a look at the mistakes you're likely to make when presenting your slideshow and how to fix them. Read more . Here are some quick tips on how to get the most out of the software.
Using Custom Fonts How to Change the Size of Text and Fonts in Windows 10 How to Change the Size of Text and Fonts in Windows 10 Is the default Windows 10 font size too small for you? We'll show you how to adjust your system text size to your liking, along with how to change the default Windows font. Read More Fortunately, PowerPoint 2016 champion Dheya Madhani has the solution.
Go to File> Options , then go to the Save menu section.
Check the box marked Embed fonts in the file . This will ensure that the fonts are saved as part of the document, making the presentation truly portable.
Madhani has another tip that simplifies the process of distributing content on her slides. I have added several images to my presentation by going to Insert> Illustrations> Icons . Unfortunately, I added them all at once, so they've coagulated into one big mess.
I could click random parts of the blob until I grab the individual icon I want. Alternatively, I can take advantage of the selection panel.
Double click on any icon to open the Layout tab.
Click Selection Panel and it will open on the right side of the screen.
You can use this menu to select individual items, which you can then move around as normal. You can even use Change or Ctrl to select multiple items at once.
I can use the Selection Pane to make my slide look exactly the way I want it to.
Madhani has one last piece of advice, and it's sure to be particularly helpful to students. Imagine that you have just spent an hour writing notes on a particular topic and then discover that you will have to present your findings to the class. Wouldn't it be great to produce a PowerPoint presentation from the work you already have on hand?
It may sound too good to be true, but it is possible. To get started, first prepare your notes in Word.
PowerPoint will do its best with what you give it, but in general, it's best to use heading styles to give the software a helping hand. As you can see, I used the multiple text section selection method we reviewed earlier to speed up the process.
Then head over to PowerPoint. From the Home tab, click New Slide and then select Outline Slides .
Go to the document that contains your notes and click Insert .
You should get some pre-made slides based on your notes. Now you just need to make some visual adjustments and voila, your presentation is ready!
Dominic Allain, the 2013 PowerPoint Champion, had a more theoretical suggestion for anyone embarking on a PowerPoint project. He advises users to try to illustrate their point to their audience using visuals, rather than just the written word..
This is an important aspect of PowerPoint that many people miss. PowerPoint's greatest strength is its ability to pull together all sorts of different images. Make a Table 6 New Excel Tables and How to Use Them 6 New Excel Tables and How to Use Them Need more from your Excel tables? Here's a complete guide to some of the new charts introduced in the latest version of Excel. Learn More (How to Create a Pie Chart How to Create a Pie Chart in Microsoft Excel How to Create a Pie Chart in Microsoft Excel Anyone can create a simple pie chart. But can you format it just right? We'll walk you through the process, step by step. at a time. Read more). Add a diagram. Embed a YouTube video. You can pack your slides with text, but that doesn't mean no one will read it. And if they do, they won't listen to you. Instead, play to the strengths of the format.
Most users would think that the Office suite is pretty basic software. 10 Little-Known Microsoft Office Features You Should Know 10 Little-Known Microsoft Office Features You Should Know Sometimes the smallest things make the biggest differences. We uncover the forgotten features of Microsoft Office and show you how they could improve your workflow. Read More There is always something new to learn, so always look for ways to improve your game.
The Office champions in this article didn't become experts by accident—they learned every program backwards 60 Essential Microsoft Office Keyboard Shortcuts for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 60 Essential Microsoft Office Keyboard Shortcuts for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Hundreds of Keyboard shortcuts are available in Office, but these are the most important ones to know because they will save you a lot of time. Read more . Don't rest on your laurels! Whether you're creating a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet 9 Tips for Formatting an Excel Chart in Microsoft Office 9 Tips for Formatting an Excel Chart in Microsoft Office First impressions matter. Don't let an ugly Excel chart scare off your audience. Here's everything you need to know to make your charts beautiful and engaging in Excel 2016. For more information or a PowerPoint presentation, ask yourself if you could be getting more from Office.
Do you have a championship-worthy tip you want to share with other readers? Or are you looking for help with one of the techniques listed in this article? Either way, why not join the conversation in the comments section below?
