1. Search Folders

As described in previous posts, Search Folders are a powerful, underutilized part of Outlook. A Search Folder is a saved search, which means that you can retrieve results from your Inbox like ‘All emails from James Joyce’ or ‘All emails about Project X’ simply by clicking the Search Folder.

2. Rules

Anytime you find yourself repeating the same organizational steps over and over again in your Inbox, look into programming a Rule. Rules can do things like reply to particular emails with a templated response, or redirect all emails from an important client into a folder for that client.

3. Categories

Categories are a powerful tool in Outlook – right-click any email or meeting, and your categories will appear. Later, you can use categories in one of two potent ways:

– Search Folders: by categorizing your emails as they come in and creating a Search Folder for that category, you remove the necessity to drag-and-drop between different folders in your Inbox. This may not seem important now, but come see me when you’ve got 150 folders you have to maintain.

– Advanced Search: the most important benefit of categories is your ability to apply them to EVERYTHING. Create a category, and soon you’re able to find the meetings, contacts, tasks, AND emails related to that category, with one search.

4. AutoReplace

In Word, AutoReplace is the tool that takes (c) and turns it into the copyright symbol. If harnessed correctly, you can replace any misspelling that you habitually make, or create an autoreplace that takes a code from you and create a long string of text.

5. Fields

If you want to enter today’s date, or create a Table of Contents, or have a page numbering system that can be switched between Roman numerals, Arabic numbering, and lettering, you need Fields. A field is a programmed portion of your page in Word that is responsible for outputting not a set result, but a dynamic value. That means tomorrow, the ‘Today’s Date’ field will pick up the new day. Or that the Table of Contents will pick up the new section you decide to add.

6. MailMerge

One use of fields is the ability to bulk email or create envelopes for everyone in your contact list – MailMerge. Using MailMerge, you’ll be able to simply type a letter and specify “First Name”, and Word will replace it with the first names of everyone you want.

7. AutoFilter

With a large quantity of data, it’s often important to isolate records that meet a certain criteria. In Excel, all you have to do is select the data that you want filtered, apply an AutoFilter, and get to work. You’ll find that there are drop-down arrows for every column, and if you want to show only the employees in IT, you should be able to do exactly that with two clicks.

8. Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

When it’s time to go above and beyond filtering, Pivot Tables will allow you to take that large quantity of data, filter it, then run subtotals, averages, maximums, minimums… the possibilities are endless. And understanding Pivot Tables only takes about 15 minutes!

9. IF Functions

Most people can grasp SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, COUNT, etc. When the time comes for your functions to make decisions, however, like ‘Only add these numbers together if they are both sales from 2008′, then you need the power of an IF. There are many varieties – SUMIF, COUNTIF, and you can nest functions with an IF to make them more powerful.

10. Presentation Shortcuts

When in mid-presentation, sometimes you just need to darken the projected screen for a couple of minutes while a side conversation plays out. Turning the projector on and off is sloppy – try the ‘B’ key on the keyboard. There are a ton of those shortcuts that make your presentation that much more potent.

Over the next several months, these and many other tips will be thoroughly examined in this blog. In the meantime, look over an Excel manual, or take an Outlook class from us, or just start clicking around. You’ll be amazed at what you can pick up just by clicking random options.

To help you through those moments, you may want to use Microsoft’s Command Reference Guides:

• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Outlook

Each of these is a direct translation of your old tools to your new tools. If you’d like an in-person walkthrough of how these work, try out our Office 2007 Tips and Tricks class. If you find that you want more detail, we have three-day courses in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, and two-day courses in Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft PowerPoint. Also, there is a one-day course on Microsoft Visio

First, adding a new reference to a document: instead of typing it directly onto the page, you place information into a running bibliography file, and a document field is inserted at the place you need your reference. Click the References tab, and select Insert Citation. If you’ve already inserted a reference to a document of some kind, you’ll see it listed there. If you need a new reference document, you’ll see Add New Source to create a new listing.

Choose Add New Source, and fill in the information about your reference material.

Once this is complete, you can insert the citation as often as you like.

The interesting thing about this is that all references you create are added to a master list, which you can use to bring in repeated references from earlier documents you create. In fact, you can manage the master list, removing references and bringing them into documents, by clicking Manage Sources in the References ribbon.

Finally, you can add a bibliography – simply by clicking Bibliography, choosing the type of bibliography you’d like to add, and voila!

The killer part of this tool that I absolutely love is this – I always found myself having to go back and use a different style of reference after I’d written my document. If I had chosen MLA style, the request would be for Chicago, and vice versa. It always involved me scrolling through my document slowly and making edits. Now, however, you just have to choose the drop-down menu for Style, and choose the style you like. All your citations are immediately changed to reflect the appropriate style.

Do learn more about Word 2007 and the Citations and Bibliographies group of the References Ribbon, take our Word 2007 course. It’s guaranteed to show you tools you never knew existed – and tools that will make your job easier.