Tips on Microsoft Office Archives

Tips on Microsoft Office

A Bright Tip on PowerPoint

I just finished reading Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint: How to Sell Yourself and Your Ideas, an excellent book by Christopher Witt for those who write and deliver speeches. As with so many books that take a strong stance, the author backtracks in the chapter “When You Must Use… continue reading

Tips on Microsoft Office

Hot Tip on a Microsoft Office Feature

In a Writing Tune-Up I led last week, a manager exclaimed that a tip I had just provided was worth the price of the entire workshop. Here is the tip, and you don’t have to pay me for it: If Microsoft Office is automatically correcting something for… continue reading

Tips on Microsoft Office

A Horror Story in Microsoft Office

In yesterday’s Better Business Writing class in Everett, Washington, a woman told a horror story of a “trick” gone wrong in Microsoft Office. As I remember the story, she had just begun to work on a contract at a large company. When she composed a… continue reading

Microsoft Tips on Grammar, Punctuation, Etc.

People in business writing seminars often ask me this excellent question: How can I know whether the changes suggested by my Microsoft grammar and spelling checker are correct? You can’t, not without understanding the rules of grammar, punctuation, usage, and sentence structure. But one way… continue reading

[Norton AntiSpam] Help!

One of the keys to being an efficient business writer is having tools that work for you. I need help with one of my tools, and I am asking for your advice. Here is the problem: When I get email from clients and others, my… continue reading

Microsoft Turns Mangers Into Managers

Reading an e-newsletter a minute ago, I came across an error I see often. Can you find it in the sentence below? The New Hampshire-based organization surveyed 117 senior executives and mangers around the globe for the survey, whose results were distributed April 26. Yes.… continue reading

Bcc: Use With Caution

People have recently shared some cautionary tales about using Bccs in email. But first, a definition: Bcc stands for "blind courtesy copy." It used to stand for "blind carbon copy." Although carbon paper is rarely used these days to make copies of letters and memos,… continue reading

PowerPoint Tip: Conclude at the Beginning

In a Writing Tune-Up seminar yesterday, a participant named Carl shared some good advice on creating PowerPoint presentations. We were talking about the wisdom of communicating recommendations and conclusions near the beginning of email–not the end–so that people read them. That is when Carl pointed… continue reading

One Way to Spot Spam

Everyone I know is getting hit hard by spam. If you are a small business person without an IT department to help you deflect spam, here is a tip that may help you–if you use Microsoft Outlook. If you use Outlook and you are unsure… continue reading

Formatting User Instructions

Julie, a marketing and communications manager from Atlanta, Georgia, asked me about the formatting I used for commands, menus, and other items in my post Make Microsoft Find Passives. Many of us use technical terms in our writing–especially procedure writing–and I'm glad to provide tips.… continue reading