Microsoft Office 2013 Tips and Tricks

In this fast-paced world, we always want to get things done faster. If you want burger and fries, just make a drive-thru to McDonald’s and you’ll have it in a few minutes. If you want to go shopping, a few clicks on the Internet will do and order will be delivered in a few days right at your doorstep. Same goes with computing -- We use shortcut keys to complete any data entry in less than 30 seconds or a minute. It will make your work faster thus, saving you time and effort.

As we all know, Microsoft launched Microsoft Office 365 along with Office 2013, which offers a secure access to email and calendars, Office Web Apps, instant messaging, conferencing and file sharing anywhere. It is the first Office suite that allows users to easily share and save files in the cloud.

With the recent update, Excel will now feature a new tool for filtering data in a timeline and the integration of advanced trigonometric functions. Outlook will now have a new visualization for scheduled tasks. In Word, users now have the capability of inserting video and audio online as well as broadcasting it over the Internet. PowerPoint on the other hand, will include more templates than the previous version, as well as an increased number of transitions.

So today, I will be sharing 6 tips and tricks for Microsoft Office 2013.

Open/Create a Document

How:

1. Each version of Office has options to create a new document. One of those options is to create a Blank Document.
2. You can also select Use a Template in Microsoft Office if you don’t want to start from scratch, which will be discussed as you read along.
3. Select Open when the Office program starts.

Tips:

1. To create a new document without closing and re-opening the Office program, just use the shortcut key CTRL + N for Windows.
2. To open an existing document without closing and re-opening the Office program, just use the shortcut key CTRL + O for Windows.

Cut, Copy, and Paste

How:

1. In order to duplicate an item, use the Copy feature. Highlight the text or click the object then select Home + Copy. You may also use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C or right click and select Copy.
2. If you want to get rid of items, use the Cut feature. Highlight the text or click the object then select Home + Cut. You may also use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + X or right click and select Cut.
3. To place the items you have Copied and Cut, use the Paste Feature. Just click on the screen where you want to place the text, and then select Home + Paste. You may also use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + V or right click and select Paste.

Tips:

1. There is a small Paste Options icon that you can select toward the side or bottom of the Pasted item, such as keeping formatting or keeping the text only.

Flash Fill

This is the newest tool of Excel 2013, which can let you do things like concatenating (putting together), merging, or extracting (splitting apart) text in cells without using a single formula. When the rules are too complex, you just need to fill more than 2 cells to complete the entry. According to Microsoft, Flash Fill is like a data assistant that finishes your work for you.

How:

1. Press the Flash Fill button or use the shortcut CTRL + E

Tips:

1. Click on the link to know more about Flash Fill: http://www.excel2013.info/flashfill/

Font and Text Effects

Texts can also be formatted in every Microsoft Office document. This will allow you to put some effects and styles to a document by customizing the font size, spacing, and even the text color.

How:

1. Highlight the text or the entire document (CTRL + A). Make sure the Home tab is shown for you to see the Text Effects Tool.
2. Select the font you wish to apply, which is available under the Font group drop down.
3. By keying CTRL + D, you can use the common Text Effects like superscript, subscript, bold, italics, underline, all caps, small caps, strikethrough, double strikethrough, and hidden effects.

Tips:

1. If you’re not happy with all the formatting you applied, just click on Home + Clear Formatting.

Use Fresh New Templates

Office 2013 or Office 365 now offers a whole new list of templates available for download.

How:

1. You can browse for a template starting with Microsoft’s Template Site: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/
2. Make sure that it will work for your Microsoft Office version.
3.  Download and customize the text or images of the template according to your preference.

Tips:

1. Don't forget to save the template you've downloaded. Downloading the template doesn't mean that it already saved the changes you've made.

Utilize Design Themes

Design Themes allows you to format colors, background, and other styles to create a sophisticated document.

How:

1. Select Design or Page Layout + Design Themes + Select a theme.
2. Design themes is made to let users skip setting each design of a document. If you don’t want to customize the fonts, colors, and effects, you can still find these on the Design or Page Layout menu.

Tips:

1. If you can’t find a theme you like, you can also go to Design or Page Layout + Design Themes + Browse for Themes.

So that’s it for now, guys! Learning is a non-stop process and there are still a lot more to do with Microsoft Office 2013, just feel free to explore its amazing tools and I would be very happy if you share your own tips and tricks for Office 2013. Till next time!

Written By: Lourdgina Dungog - Tech Support Engineer at SUPPORTrix