File Extensions - What are they?

The following is a list of some of the most popular "file extensions" you will see on your computer and or receive in an email...  File Extensions tell the computer the specific type of "file" something is...    Note if any file extension has an "x" at the end of it, it is an indication it was done in one of the Office 2007, 2010, 2013 programs... (ie.e docx; xlsx, pptx)
Extension	Example File Type
zip	Zip archive
pdf	PDF Document
mp3	MP3 Audio File
jpg	JPEG Image
exe	Executable file
wmv	Windows Media Video
doc	Microsoft Word Document
ppt	Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
mpg	MPEG-1 Video
tif	Tagged Image File Format
wav	Waveform Audio Format
mov	QuickTime
psd	Photoshop Document
wma	Windows Media Audio
xls	Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
mp4	MPEG-4 Part 14
txt	Plain text file
bmp	Windows bitmap
pps	PowerPoint Show
aif	Audio Interchange File
pub	Microsoft Publisher
gif	GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) Image
qbb	QuickBooks backup file
dat	Data
rm	RealMedia
mdb	Microsoft Access
htm	Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
flv	Flash video
wpd	WordPerfect Document
rtf	Rich Text Format
jpeg	JPEG image
html	Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document
pst	Microsoft Personal STorage
ttf	TrueType font
mswmm	Windows Movie Maker Project File
eml	E-mail message
bat	Batch file
wps	Text document; MS Works

Registration for next series is this Thursday, October 25th-9am

We are pleased to remind you that registration for the next computer class series (#56) at 1000 Southern Artery will be held this coming Thursday morning, October 25^th, 2012 at 9am in the main building – so join us and bring a friend…

This Series #56, will run from Nov. 5^th, 2012 to February 7^th, 2013

No classes will be held for various holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years and Martin Luther King Day.  

Morning classes, designed for those becoming familiar with computers and the various software application programs such as Word & Excel, will be held:

• Beginners held Monday 9am-10:30am & Wednesday, 10:30am-12Noon
• Intermediate 1/Internet are Monday 10:30am-12N and Wednesday, 9am-10:30am
• Intermediate 2/Word & Excel Basics is Tuesday, 9am-10:30am 

Our morning classes cover…

• Beginner classes cover Hardware, Software and an intro to the Internet
• Intermediate 1/Internet classes cover all aspects of the internet, surfing effectively and using your email to the full extent
• Intermediate 2/Intro to Word & Excel classes are an introduction to the two most popular software programs used worldwide-Word is the basis of all email programs, word processing & texting, and Excel is a spreadsheet program for list management and budgets… 

Afternoon classes are designed for those who understand computer, internet and word basics and are anxious to expand their horizons and have a better understanding of the changing technology (and terminology) and all the “new stuff” that’s available, and our afternoon classes will be held:

• Monday & Tuesday at 1pm-2:30pm
• Wednesday & Thursday at 12:30pm-2pm & 2pm-3:30pm  - Winter hours effective 11/5/2012 for these 2 days of classes 

Our afternoon classes this series will focus on the changing technology and all the wonderful things we keep hearing about – if you have any of these devices or are thinking of getting one, or just want to better understand the system you have – then join us, when we will cover:

• Photo Gifts: More than storing them on PC’s, Gift Ideas, Movies, Digital Photo Frames
• Ereaders… Kindles, Nooks & More..
• Tablets, Netbooks, iPads, Laptops
• Cloud Computing – SkyDrive, iCloud and Google Cloud..
• Music –MediaPlayers-Windows, VLC & Itunes
• Getting To Know Apple, Google & Amazon

Registration is this Tuesday, August 7th - 9am

Don't forget - Registration for the next series of computer classes at Southern Artery, Series #55, is this coming Tuesday morning, 9am – August 7th at the Southern Artery North Building..

The series itself, begins the week of Monday, August 20^th and continues thru November 1^st…No classes will be held on Monday, September 3 for the Labor Day Holiday or on Monday, October 8^th for the Columbus Day Holiday

Special note – we have combined our Intro to Word & Excel classes held in the morning as requested by many students… so you will spend half the series working with Word Basics and the second half learning Excel basics… - This has also allowed us to add another Beginner or Internet class as needed…

Times & Topics for our Morning Beginner/Intermediate Classes:

·         Monday 9am: Beginner 1-Computer Basics (Hardware, Software & Intro to Internet)

·         Monday, 10:30am: Intermediate 1/Internet Basics (All about the internet, web & using email)

·         Tuesday, 9am: Intermediate 1/Internet Basics (All about the internet, web & using email)

·         Tuesday, 10:30am: Beginner 1-Computer Basics (Hardware, Software & Intro to Internet)

·         Wednesday, 9am: – Intermediate 2/Word & Excel Basics (Word Processing basics and then intro to basics of spreadsheets to manage lists and numbers)

·         Wednesday, 10:30am: Beginner 1-Computer Basics (Hardware, Software & Intro to Internet)

Times & Topics for our Afternoon Advanced Classes:

• Monday & Tuesday: 1pm-2:30pm
• Wednesday & Thursday: 1pm-2:30pm and 2:30pm-4pm.

During this new series, Afternoon students, will continue to focus on Word Skills in Word Email & Power Point: We will spend the first few weeks with Word Tables creating create a medial information form; we will then review some of the new features offered by email services, then work with organizing photos on our computers and flash drives; learning more about new features offered by Picasa for photo editing – including easily uploading Picasa photos to Walgreen’s & Facebook; and finish out the series spending several weeks creating slide show presentations with Power Point…

Remember, all afternoon students, who have completed the morning Beginner & Internet classes, are welcome to sign up (and pay) for a 2nd class, in the morning such as the combined Word/Excel class, or to refresh their skills on computer and internet basics... Requests for the 2nd class will be granted/honored on a first come first serve basis and students coming up from the Morning Internet Class have priority on the Word/Excel Class openings..

As always, consider registering with a friend so that you have someone to motivate you to use your new skills and if you have ideas or suggestions for topics that you would like to see us teaching – be sure to let us know… 

These are your classes and we want to be sure you are learning the skills important to you…And as always we welcome your comments and suggestions about what it is you want to learn during these classes, not only about application software – such as Word, Excel, Picasa and others, but all of this technology that is changing continually… 

How to Disable Background Printing in Word and on the Internet..

If you have applied background to your Word document but you do not want to show that in the printed copy of document – then disable the commands before you print.  And remember background printing uses additional system memory so to speed up printing, clear the Background printing check box.

To Disable background print in Word 97-2003

·         Go to Menu Bar, Tools, then click Options

·         Now click the Print Tab

·         Under printing options, select or clear the Background printing check box

·         When Background printing is on, you can continue to work in Word while you print,

To Disable background print in Word 2007

·         Click “Office” button > “Word Options”

·         Select “Advanced” tab

·         Then in right panel deselect check box for the option “Print in background” under Print section

·         Now click “OK”

To Disable background print in Word 2010

·         Click the File Tab, then choose options

·         Click on “Advanced” from left panel

·         Then in right panel deselect the check box followed by “Print in background” option under Print section and click “OK”

  

When you are on the Internet many websites have background colors or images that you might not want to print.  So, as with word, you may want  to disable the background printing..

To Disable background print when printing from a website on the Internet:

How to print from the Internet without backgrounds or images

·         Open a website that you to want to print out

·         In the Menu Bar go to Tools, then choose Internet Option

·         The Internet Options Dialog Box will now open

·         Click the advanced tab

·         Scroll Down and Find Printing section

·         Uncheck “Print background colors and images box

·         Hit OK or Apply button

Go to File, Print, Click Print (or simply use the Print icon on the toolbar)

Changing the default settings in your Office Programs

Default simply means “Standard” – the way in which a program will work each and every time you use it and you can change/modify many of the “default” settings on computer programs that we use daily, including our browsers and office programs…

This is a personal choice – certainly you can continue to use the default settings established by the provider that are built into the program.  But, changing the way your Browser or Office Programs work can make life so much easier.

Customizing your Office programs can impact the way in which documents print, how they are saved, the way they appear on the page, margins, paper layout/orientation – such as portrait or landscape, the font you use, whether the red & green squiggle lines appear as you type indicating spelling & grammatical errors - these are just a few of the many ways in which you can “customize” the way in which your Office Programs work for you.  Decide for yourself – making each program easier for you to use can be done as often as you’d like – some compare it to adjusting the seat position and rear view mirrors when you get into a car…

In Word 97-2003:

Click TOOLS, Then Click OPTIONS

You will see various options available for you to be able to modify to your liking

Click SAVE (set at 1 minutes – doesn’t affect your work, simply saves in the background)

Click SPELL (whichever options you’d like & Auto Text Entries and many others)

In Word 2007-2010:

Click on the Office Button or File Tab

At the bottom of the dialog box/page that opens, left click on “WORD OPTIONS”

This opens the Control/Dialog Box, which lists on the left various categories which allow you to “customize” the software you are using to your own liking..

Special Note for anyone using 2007-2010 Office Programs it is very important to save everything you do as “97-2003 compatible” so that you can share your documents with others who may not have the newest of these software programs.  You can do this as you save each and every document, or do it once when you are in your Options Settings, under the Save category..

What is a “Template” and how can you use them?

Basically "templates" are pre-designed layouts for various items you might want to create on your computer using the various Microsoft Office Programs...

Using TEMPLATES in Word, Excel, Power Point and other programs allows you to open a pre-designed document in these and other various programs.  You can then use the pre-designed layout which is stored in the “Template Folders”.  Some templates are built into your Office Program, and if you can’t find what you need, you can go to Microsoft online for even more templates, just as we do with clip art.  

This means you don’t have to create the entire document, form, spreadsheet/budget or other, power point presentation - much of the design work is already done for you.  Once you find a “template” you want to use, you save it in whatever folder you choose, you can modify it to your own needs and use it however you would like…It is yours.

In 1997-2003 Word/Excel/PowerPoint:

• Go to the Menu Bar, choose "New" and the Template Dialog Box will Open, which has multiple tab categories across the top
• Select the category you want, and you will see various template choices to choose from
• Select the template you want and it will be on  your screen
• Now save the template as your own, finding or creating a folder to save it in and giving it a name that works for you.
• Now you can modify it anyway you would like.

In 2007-2010 Word/Excel/PowerPoint:

• Go to the Office Button in 2007 or File Tab in 2010, Choose "New"
• You will now see the various templates available
• Select the template you want, and "download it"
• Select the template you want and it will be on your screen
• Now save the template as your own, finding or creating a folder to save it in and giving it a name that works for you

Now you can modify it anyway you would like.

Word Processing-Tips to Create a Flyer or Invitation

BEFORE YOU BEGIN a new FLYER OR INVITATION

Be sure you have listed all information you need in your flyer and or invitation - It is too easy to forget something when you get busy “creating” so jot down the “5” W’s: 

Who - What - When - Where - Why

AS YOU BEGIN YOUR New Document:

Be sure to set your margins – If you are using paper with preprinted borders, measure the pre-printed area, so that you can set your margins allowing enough room so your typing doesn’t go into the printed border area (known as the gutter)

Once your margins (top, bottom, left & right) are set, then be sure to choose & set paper layout/orientation to either portrait or landscape

Name your NEW document:

Once margins & paper layout/orientation are set - now Name Your Document Immediately

·        When you open a document in Word, it will have a Document Number

·        The more “new documents you open” during the day the higher the numbers go

·        You want to name your document, so you can find it

·        In Word 97-2003, to the Menu Bar, File, Save As

·        In Word 2007, open the Office Button (Office Button replaced File in the upper left corner of monitor) and then choose Save As

·        In Word 2010, open File, Save As

*Note in Word 2007 & 2010 you want to be sure that you save all documents as 97-2003 compatible so that no matter what version of Word your friends or associates use, they will be open documents you send them and work with them…

Once you have chosen “Save As” the computer will open the “My Documents” folder in Word 97-2003, or in Word 2007/2010 it will open the Library First and then the Document master folder..

Once the Document master folder is open, choose or create the folder you want to save your work in; or if you intend to save yr work onto a flash or portable drive, go to My Computer, find the drive you are using, then open the Document master folder and then find or create the correct folder for your work to be saved in

Once you are in the specific folder you want your work stored in (Always look up to the top of the address bar in the Save As Dialog Box that your work will be saved in the correct folder you have chosen or created for it) you will now name your document

When you finish typing the document name, just use the enter key on your keyboard or you can left click on SAVE in the bottom right corner of the Save As Dialog Box

Tips:

• Type in all the information you will need on your flyer/invitation – do the formatting once the typing is done so you know how much data you have to work with
• Before printing the document on your pre-printed paper, print one on plain white paper & hold it against your paper to the light to be sure it is inside the border
• Have someone else read it, before your pint, so that you are totally sure you have included all of the information needed

Word Processing Basics - Highlighting & Fonts

As requested, for the next few posts we are going to review some WORD PROCESSING BASICS:

SELECT TO EFFECT (highlight)

When you want to edit/change text (add Bold, Italic, Underline, Delete, change color, cut, copy, past, change font size or style and lots of other "formatting options") remember to "select the text first/highlight it" and then click the button of your choice..  

TIP: To highlight everything in a document, whether 1 page or 100 pages: use SELECT ALL or CTRL + A (keyboard shortcut)

BASIC SCREEN: Insertion Point “I” vs. Work Bar, Title Bar, Menu Bar, Toolbars, Ruler, Scroll Bars (right & bottom), Status Bar & Task Bar

BOLD, ITALIC, UNDERLINE: B – I – U Highlight text, use icon on formatting toolbar OR Menu Bar, Format, Font

DON'T PANIC WHEN YOU MAKE A MISTAKE - Use your "Undo" & "Redo" buttons

FONT STYLE:  The design of your characters – letters – numbers

FONT SIZE: the size of your characters – letters – numbers

STANDARD  BUSINESS FONT & SIZES

Commonly used in business:

Times New Roman, 12pt.

Arial, 14 pt.

STANDARD INTERNET/WEB PAGE FONT STYLE & SIZES:

Verdana or Tahoma – 8 pt, 9 pt or 10 pt.  (smaller than normal business prints)

What do DIFFERENT font sizes mean?

A 72 pt. Is always equal to 1" inch high Upper Case Letters

so a 36 pt = to 1/2" inch high; 9 pt = 1/8" inch high 

How to design & print calendars

A question I’m asked quite often is where can I get FREE calendars that I can modify and or print??

One way, if you have WORD on your computer, is to use one of the Microsoft office templates – simply go to your File Menu or Button, and choose “New” depending on the version of Word that you will have you will see a variety of templates – check them out, download them and once downloaded save them in a folder with a name you give them…

OR

There are numerous websites that offer free printable calendars, a personal favorite of mine is

www.eprintablecalendars.com

How to easily enlarge what you are looking at in a document

If you zoom in and out of your documents quite a bit, you may get tired of using the pull-down zoom control on the toolbar or ribbon.

If you have a mouse that has the wheel between the two buttons, you can do a neat trick. All you need to do is hold down the Ctrl key as you turn the small wheel.

Each click of the wheel, up or down, increases or decreases the zoom factor by 10%.

Remember the zoom does not impact/change the actual font size - it simply changes the magnification of what you are zooming up and or down on...This is true anywhere in any application or browser software (word, excel, PowerPoint, etc) that you use on your computer...

How to replace an "X" in your document with a "check mark"

Q: How can I replace an X throughout my document with a Check Mark?

A: It’s easier than you think to replace any word, number, phrase or character in a document without doing it one at a time.  You can do it quickly and easily by using your Find and Replace Dialog Box.  In this case you will be finding the capital X in your document and replacing it with a check mark character.

ü                     Note: you can find the check mark character " ü "   that I used in the Wingdings font.

There are several ways you can go about the task, but they all follow these general steps:

1. Press Ctrl+H to display the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
2. Click the More button, if it is available and  the Find and Replace dialog box will appear.
3. In the Find What box enter an uppercase X.
4. Make sure the Match Case check box is selected.
5. Place the insertion point in the Replace With box.
6. Click the Format button and then choose Font. Word displays the Font dialog box.
7. In the Font list, select the Wingdings font.
8. Click OK to close the Font dialog box. The insertion point should still be in the Replace With box, and the font specification you made should appear just under the box.
9. Type the character you want to use for your check mark. (More on this in a moment.)
10. Use the control buttons in the dialog box (Find Next, Replace, or Replace All) as desired to make your replacements.

The confusion sometimes occur in Step 9, so there are several ways you can specify the check mark character.

One way is to copy the check mark to the Clipboard before you start the steps. Just type the check mark into the document, as desired, and then use Ctrl+C to copy it to the Clipboard. Then, in step 9, you can either press Ctrl+V to paste it into the Replace With box or you can use the ^c characters to tell Word you want to use the contents of the Clipboard as your replacement.

Or remember that all characters, such as the check mark or any style bullet have specific "character codes" in Word, Word Perfect and other Word Processing programs..  If you can find out the character code for the check mark (it is available in the Symbol dialog box if you use that method of creating the check mark), then you can use the code in the Find and Replace dialog box. 

The character code for a check mark ü  is 252, which must be entered using four characters and a carat mark, like this ^0252 in the Replace With box. When you do the replacement, you'll see the check mark (which corresponds to the character code) appear in your document.

Dealing With Error Messages

From time to time, we all have error messages appear on our monitor that we don’t know what they mean. Next time this happens this tip will help:

First:
I always save the error message in word for future reference. To do that easily:

· Use your CTRL Key – Print Screen Key together (this will take a copy of the error message & all that is on your monitor at the time)

· Now open your WP software (Word, Works, Word Pad) and use your PASTE command-now the error message is on a clean piece of paper-Now Save it so once you know what this means, you can type the answer on the same page for future reference

· And print the message so you can see it easily

Next:

· Type the error message into Google Search.

· You are not the first (and won’t be the last) to get this error message.

· Personally I read a few answers, to be sure I am getting an answer I understand and resolution I can work with

Last:
Once I have the explanation and resolution I need, I use my copy and paste skills:

· Highlight the information

· Activate your copy command

· Open the document that has the error message copy on it

· Put my cursor on that document and activate the paste command, which adds the answer and resolution

· And save it once again

Now in the future if the error message comes back up, I have my answer.

Registration for next Series is Tuesday, 9am-October 25th

Don't forget - Registration for the next series of computer classes at Southern Artery, Series #52, will be held this Tuesday morning, 9am - October 25th at the Southern Artery North Building in Classroom #1.

The series itself, begins the week of Monday, October 31st and continues thru January… For those of you heading to Florida after the holidays, don't miss this series - You will have time to attend most of it and then we will continue to send you the handouts via email when you are away to be sure you don't miss anything!!

Times & Topics for our Morning Beginner/Intermediate Classes:
Monday 9am – Beginner 1 - Basics (Hardware, Software & Intro to Internet)
Monday, 10:30am – Intermediate 1 - Internet Basics (All about the internet, web & using email)

Tuesday, 9am – Intermediate 2 - Word Basics (Word Processing basics – a great class for everyone)
Tuesday, 10:30am – Intermediate 3 - Excel Basics (basics of spreadsheet software to manage lists & numbers)

Wednesday, 9am – Intermediate 1 - Internet Basics (All about the internet, web & using email)
Wednesday, 10:30am - Beginner 1 - Basics (Hardware, Software & Intro to Internet)

Times & Topics for our Afternoon Advanced Classes:
Monday & Tuesday: 1pm-2:30pm
Wednesday & Thursday: 12:30pm-2pm and 2pm-3:30pm (these are our winter hours for both classes, so that anyone driving to/from class, can be home before it get’s dark)

Afternoon students will focus on a variety of subjects including Updates on Internet/Email, using our class and other blogs; Word Processing – review, creating labels and tables & more; using Flash Drives & organizing what’s on your computer; Social Networking including Facebook and in January, always a favorite topic: tips on using your new holiday toys..

Afternoon students, who have completed the morning Beginner & Internet classes, are welcome to sign up (and pay) for a 2nd class, in the morning such as Word and/or Excel, or to refresh their skills on computer and internet basics... Requests for the 2nd class will be granted/honored on a first come first serve basis and students coming up from the Morning Internet Class have priority on the Word Class openings..

As always, consider registering with a friend so that you have someone to motivate you to use your new skills and if you have ideas or suggestions for topics that you would like to see us teaching – be sure to let us know…

These are your classes and we want to be sure you are learning the skills important to you…