Have you had a document that is too large to work with? Slow to load and try and make a change anywhere but the beginning and forget it you might as well rewrite the entire thing. You need master document.

A few versions ago it was merged with Outline View, before then it had its own view, now it has its own section of the toolbar or ribbon. But what does it do…

You create a skeleton document, the title page, table of contents and headers/footers then for each section or chapter you create a new document and link that in using the master document section of the toolbar or ribbon. The attributes of the main document are used, such as paper size and header/footers.  Section breaks are used so that each new document starts on the next new page unless you change this using odd and even section breaks.

When you open a master document the sub documents are not opened they are shown as links. You can use the buttons on the master document toolbar or ribbon section to expand the document that you want to work on.

I tend to write each document separately then create the master document and do the final touch ups, such as paginating and checking all the formatting. The subdocuments will use the styles from the master document when you are in the master document so formatting should not be too much of an issue.

Next time you need to write a long document try master document, might make it easier.

I spend a lot of time writing documents, not as much as some people, but a lot of long training manuals.  Here are the top things I find that makes a document larger:

• Pictures
• Graphics
• Objects
• A lot of text

Pictures is the number one, especially if you have a fancy camera with a lot of pixels and the picture is already huge.  Newer versions of Word will allow you to compress pictures, problem is if you compress too much the picture does not look great but there are several settings, including printer. Compress the picture to suite a printer should make it print ok.

Graphics, these are charts and items that you might get from another program such as Microsoft Excel. Depending on how they are added to the document they can take a large amount of room. You can link charts for those docs that are not going to be sent via email or travel around but are meant for internal use.  The chart does not take up much room because it is in another document.

Objects are drawing tools, like arrows and boxes that you can add within Word. These do take up file room. Worse is if you add three lines to make an arrow (I have seen it done and very recently) instead of using one drawing object.

Lastly if you have a lot of text your document will be larger.  Is all the text necessary?  If you are writing a 5000 word essay, it kinda has to be 5000 words so yes, but if you are writing a memo does it have to be 10 pages long?

By watching what goes into your document you can cut down the size, try not to use large pictures or imbed graphics. I took one document that was over 15mb and brought it down to 5mb in size so it can be done to some documents but a 500 page report with charts, pictures and diagrams will be large then you need to make it manageable. There are tools that can help and Master document is one, we will look at that in another post.

To find out a percentage value of a number it is a simple multiply.  For example if you want to find out what 10% of 35 is the  calculation would be:

= 35 * 10%

When you use the percent symbol Excel knows what you are inputting. 10% is 0.1 and because you are multiplying by less than 1 the answer is a smaller number than the original.

If you want to find out what an increase of 10% is to 35 then the calculation would be:

= 35 * 10% + 35

This takes the original 10% value and adds it to the original amount of 35.

You can also calculate what percentage an amount is compared to another amount.  If we look at the example of our budget is 5000, so far this year we have reached 4799, what percent have we reached?

= ( 4799 * 100 / 5000 ) * 0.1

Do you have a calculation you use for percentage?

You can see from the picture that there are quite a few choices.  From Organisational charts (hierarchy) to Cycle and lists, you can enhance how information appears.

Instead of describing lists or people why not have an org chart or a list, you can even have pictures for each item. They can be 3 dimentional looking objects or flat, multi coloured or plain.

These are available not only in PowerPoint but also Word and Excel. I saw a presentation that did not use any clip art, just text and smart art, it was professional looking and got the message across.

These are available not only in PowerPoint but also Word and Excel. I saw a presentation that did not use any clip art, just text and smart art, it was professional looking and got the message across.

This smart art is nicer than a slide for each department talking about the benefits of a new IT system.

Imagine how you can transform your documents and slides.

If you are using Word 2007 and 2010 then this should already be installed and you can save your document, then save as and change the file type to PDF. If you have Word 2007 but save as PDF is not installed you can download it at office.microsoft.com

In older versions of Word you need to use an addon. Install software that allows you to save as a PDF. Some are free and some cost, for example Adobe has one which is does cost, allows you to go to the print screen and select the “printer” adobe PDF.  Most plugins do this, you do not save as but print to the PDF software it then pops up with the save as window and creates a new file.

One to look at is cute PDF.

Where you find envelope and labels depends on the version you are using. In Word 2003 this is in Letters and mailings.  You can then select whether you would like a letter or envelope. In Word 2007 or 2010 envelopes and labels can be found on the Mailings tab, a button for envelopes and another for labels.

For any version you will need to know the size of the label or envelope. Something to check before you start is to see if your printer will print on envelopes and labels.

Anytime I have seen the time not working it has been because of the format.  The are a group of settings called regional settings which determines how your computer displays and treats different things, like dates.  In the US they like mm/dd/yyyy but in the UK they like dd/mm/yyyy. If the regional settings are set to the wrong country then you will have to enter information differently.

You can change your regional settings on your home computer but you may not be able to change the settings on a company computer, best to ask the help desk.

For time the most common way of entering time that does not work is 7.30 having a dot instead of a colon : this is a European way of entering dates and times but if your regional settings are not set to accept the for at then it takes 7.30 as a number rather than time. If the dot does not work try 7:30 instead.

In Excel 2007 and above you can save as a PDF file.  This is quick and useful. In previous versions you need to install new software.  There are so many options out there, some are free and others you have to pay for.

Excel 2007 has a free addon that will allow you to save as a PDF, in 2010 this has already been added.  This is not the print to PDF that Adobe and other external programs allow but saving as and selecting the file type

There are a few ways to start blogging, one is to add a blog to your website then add blogs on a regular basis. For most people this is where they fall down. The first week or two is great, then they run out of ideas. Sound familiar?

Another way is a bit less scary With a lot less pressure. Why not write for someone else’s blog? One you can contribute on a regular basis but to start it is say once or twice a month, 12 a year sounds manageable.

I hear you say, why should I write for someone else’s blog when I could write for my own?

There are a couple of reasons and to ignore them is to shoot yourself in your Foot.

These other sites have a different readership then your site so your posts/articles would be seen by people Who may not ever think of searching for your site. It takes time to build up readership and older sites have done this and may come up higher is Google searches. The business blogging net work is one that for most contributors the network site will rank higher on searches, page 1, then the contributors individual website.

Each post you publish as a contributor should contain author information. This isa short paragraph about you with links back to your site. So all those people who read your post but have never beard of you can read Who you are and visit your site.

The link back to your site is extremely important. Search engines, google included, count the number and quality of these links. It you have links on a regular basis from a variety of sites then your page ranking will improve, meaning your site will more closer to page 1, item 1 on searches.

By expanding your readership and your search engine ranking you are increasing your visibility and You look like an expert in your field.

Consistency is the Key, once you start you need to continue to keep your ranking high. Once you stop the search engines start to view your site as dormant or abandoned. Start today with 1 guest blog.

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If you have never made a dime from your site then you should not be Spending a lot on it .l Know several people who have started a business, paid over £1,000 for a website and did not get anything from their website. Who told them to spend a lot? Web designers, graphic artists and the IT person hosting the site.

Why not start with an inexpensive but professional looking site that does not cost a fortune, less than £200, then when it starts making money spend more money on it. Hire someone to keep it updated, create a template, design graphics, but you will be letting the site Pay for itself.

In the beginning you need to ensure you have hosting, a domain name, but check that free software Will work with the hosting and select a professional looking template. Free software like WordPress Joomla and Mambo have plug ins to expand the soft Ware and some are free.

It you need a little help setting it up, this should cost significantly less than someone doing your whole site or you can attend a course which will allow you to set up your website during the course.

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