Microsoft Office File Names

If you can no longer open documents that were created in a previous version of Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, it’s probably because of the file name. It may be too long or, it contains a slash or other no-longer-acceptable characters.

To change the name of a file:

1. Click once on the item

2. Press the Return key to highlight the file name

3. Type a new name. If you press the left or right arrow key it will move the cursor to the beginning or end of the text

4. Press the Return key when done

Now try opening the file and it will probably work!

iPad Tip of the Week

All About Sounds

You can control what sounds play when different things happen. Maybe you don’t like the sound when you unlock your device. Maybe you prefer NOT to hear a sound every time you receive or send an email or when someone sends you a text or leaves a voicemail.

It’s easy to choose which sounds and alerts you want to hear.

1. Tap Settings
2. Tap Sounds
3. Scroll through the list, choosing which you want on and which you want off

This is also where you can choose a different ringtone and make the Vibrate feature silent.

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Latest Update for Mountain Lion

If you are running OS 10.8, Mountain Lion, Apple just released an update to fix several bugs and issues in the software. Version 10.8.5 is available as a free download in the App Store. Under the Apple menu, choose Software Update. Install the OS 10.5.8 and any other updates that are available.

iPad Tip of the Week

Getting Ready For The New iOS7

Apple’s new iOS7 for iPhones and iPads is packed with a new look and lots of new features.

As with any upgrade, you may want to wait until they iron out some of the bugs before you jump in. Andbefore you rush to upgrade, you’ll want to do a little housecleaning first.

1. Confirm that your device will work with iOS7. It is compatible with:

• iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s
• iPod touch 5th gen
• iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini

NOTE:

OSXDAILY highly recommends WAITING to update iPad2 and iPad 3,iPad4 and iPad mini as well as iPhone 4, iPhone 4S

2. Back up to iCloud:

• Tap Settings
• Tap iCloud
• Tap Storage and Backup
• Tap Backup Now

3. Delete any apps you don’t use:

• Tap and hold on any app to get them wiggling
• Tap the X to delete
• Tap the Home button when done to stop the wiggling

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Make Your Cursor Bigger

The bigger your screen, the smaller the cursor. But you can make it bigger so you can find it more easily.

In Mountain Lion

1. Under the Apple menu, open System Preferences

2. Click on Accessibility in the bottom right

3. Click on Display

4. Move the slider to adjust the Cursor Size

In Snow Leopard:

1. Under the Apple menu, open System Preferences

2. Click on Accessibility in the bottom right

3. Click on Mouse

4. Move the slider to adjust the Cursor Size

iPad Tip of the Week

Make the Text Bigger

You have a lot of control over the size of text and other items on your iPad and iPhone

1. Tap Settings
2. Tap General
3. Scroll down and tap Accessibility
4. ZOOM gives you choices for finger gestures to enlarge entire screens
5. LARGER TEXT allows you to choice a more readable font size

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Importing Contacts From Excel

Mountain Lion finally allows you to easily import lists of names from an Excel spreadsheet into Contacts.

1. In the Excel spreadsheet, from the File menu, choose Save As
2. Title the document
3. From the Format menu, choose Comma Separated Values (.csv)
4. Be sure to save the document where you can easily find it
5. Quit Excel. If you get a warning that the file may not be compatible, just say OK
6. Open Contacts
7. From the File menu, choose Import
8. Locate the .csv file you just saved and Open
9. In this window, match up the fields from Excel with the Contacts fields that you want to import by clicking on each one you want to import
10. Choose to Ignore the First Card since it contains the label names of the fields
11. Use the arrows on the screen to move through your data to confirm that things are in the correct fields
12. Click OK
13. You can now delete the .csv file you saved

iPad Tip of the Week

Importing Videos From iPhone and iPad to Your Mac

Perhaps you’ve noticed that photos that you take on your mobile device appear on your Mac via Photo Stream, but videos do not.

As my Apple Genius friend reminded me, it’s called Photo Stream, not Video Stream.

The easiest way to transfer your movies from your device to your computer is to email them to yourself, then drag the attachment from the email onto the iPhoto icon on your Mac.

To email a video:

1. On your device, tap Photos
2. Tap Albums to get to the Camera Roll
3. Because videos are large files, I recommend emailing them one at a time
4. Find the video. It will have a movie camera icon and the length time of the video
5. Tap the Share icon, the forward-facing arrow
5. Choose Mail
6. Address it to yourself
7. Send

 

Count Your Words

If you write articles or have to submit your bio for something, they often suggest a limit to how many words you can use. NO, you don’t have to count them by hand. Built into Microsoft Word and Pages is a word count tool.

In Word, click on the Tools menu and choose Word Count

In Pages, click on the Inspector, click on the left icon for information about the document and click on the Info tab.

iPad Tip of the Week

Are You Missing Your Bookmarks Bar?

By default, Safari does NOT show the Bookmarks Bar, but, if you’re like me, it’s where all of your frequently visited website are, and you’d like to be able to access them from your iPad and iPhone too.

To see the Bookmarks Bar in Safari

1. Tap Settings.

2. In the left column tap Safari.

3. In the top section on the right, next to Always Show Bookmarks Bar, slide to On.

4. This is also where you can control whether Safari opens New Tabs in the Background.

5. If you’re not sure what this does, turn it on, open some pages in Safari, and you’ll see that each page stays opened as a tab that you can X to close or tap back onto to reopen.

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4 Ways to Highlight Text

Dragging across a word or a sentence or paragraph is one way to highlight the text so that you can delete it, copy it or cut it.

But here are several alternatives, depending on what you are selecting:

~ To highlight a single word: double click in the word

~ To highlight an entire paragraph, triple click on any word

~ To select a long section of text, click at the beginning of the section, hold down the Shift key and click at the end. Everything between the two clicks will be highlighted

~ In Microsoft Word (not Pages, sorry) you can select two unconnected blocks of text to copy and paste! Highlight one sentence, then hold down the Command key while highlighting the second sentence. Both will be selected. You can copy or cut them and when you paste them, they will appear together, as two separate paragraphs.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Apps to Help You See Better

iMagnifier: iMagnifier is just one of several free apps that magnifies text, making it easier to read menus and other printed materials.

Use the Search feature of the App store to see all of the choices and compare their different features and user ratings.

Combine the magnifier with a free Flashlight app, and you can really see better.

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File Names with Microsoft Office 2011

If you can no longer open documents that were created in a previous version of Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, it’s probably because of the file name. It may be too long or, it contains a slash or other no-longer-acceptable characters.

To change the name of a file:

1. Click once on the item

2. Press the Return key to highlight the file name

3. Type a new name. If you press the left or right arrow key it will move the cursor to the beginning or end of the text

4. Press the Return key when done

Now try opening the file and it will probably work!

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

All About Sounds

You can control what sounds play when different things happen. Maybe you don’t like the sound when you unlock your device. Maybe you prefer NOT to hear a sound every time you receive or send an email or when someone sends you a text or leaves a voicemail.

It’s easy to choose which sounds and alerts you want to hear.

1. Click on Settings.
2. Click on Sounds.
3. Scroll through the list, choosing which you want on and which you want off.

This is also where you can choose a different ringtone and make the Vibrate feature silent.

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Important Tips for Gmail Users

If you send and receive your Gmail mail using Apple Mail’s postage stamp, there are a few settings you need to check.

1. In Mail, under the Mail menu, choose Preferences

2. Click on the Accounts Tab

3. Click on the Gmail account in the left column

4. Click on the Account Information tab to determine if this is a POP account or an IMAP account

~ If it’s IMAP account

1. click on the the Mailbox Behaviors tab and

2. Remove the check mark so that:

3. you DO NOT store Drafts on the server

4. you DO NOT store Sent messages on the server

5. you DO NOT store Junk messages on the server

6. you DO NOT store deleted messages on the server

~ If it’s a POP account

1. click on the Advanced tab

2. Put a check mark next to Remove copy from server and choose When moved from Inbox in the pull down menu. This will help minimize the emails that you delete on one device from appearing on other devices if you haven’t recently checked mail on them.

5. Close the Preferences window and Save your changes

6. You might also want to log into your Gmail account via the internet and be sure that you don’t have a large number of old emails in the Trash there… If you do, take the time to delte them all.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Split the Keyboard

If you find the keyboard on the iPad to be too cramped, you can split it, separating it so that it fits your typing hands better. This works in both portrait and landscape modes.

1. From the Home screen, tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Scroll down to Keyboard and tap

4. Turn ON Split Keyboard

To use the split keyboard,

1. Tap any APP that requires typing

2. When the keyboard appears, use two fingers on the keyboard and pinch it open

3. Pinch it closed again to return to the standard keyboard

To move the keyboard around so that it isn’t covering your text

1. Tap and HOLD and drag on the Keyboard Toggle button in the bottom right corner of the keyboard

2. If you hold it too long before dragging, you’ll get the choice to Dock and Merge, meaning put the keyboard back together at the bottom of the screen

 

 

Are You Missing Emails?
Losing Emails You Thought You Saved?

Many of my clients are telling me that they aren’t getting emails. Or that when they delete one email, suddenly many are gone.

There is a feature in Apple Mail that automatically groups emails together that are related, part of the same “conversation.” In Snow Leopard, this is called THREADS. In Lion it’s called CONVERSATIONS.

Some people like to see all related emails grouped together. But for many of us, it’s an extra step that is causing confusion.

To turn this feature OFF, in Mail, click on the View menu and choose Organize by Thread or Organize by Conversation to remove the checkmark.

Now all of your emails will appear individually, in the order that they were received.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Missing Emails?
Losing Emails You Thought You Saved?

This same Threading feature is available on your iPhone and iPad.

To turn it OFF

1. Click on Settings

2. Click on Mail, Contacts, Calendars

3. Scroll all the way down, almost to the bottom

4. Next to Organize By Thread, slide the switch to OFF

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Sharing Google Maps and Directions

If you’ve ever tried to send someone directions from Google maps using the Mail Link to this Page, you’ve probably discovered that the recipient gets a blank page.

To share a map or driving directions:

1. Map out the route on your computer

2. Under the File menu, chose Print

3. In the Print window, click on the PDF choice in the bottom left

4. Choose Mail PDF

5. A new email message will appear with an image of the map already attached.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

With more than 200 new features in the new iOS 5, it was hard to choose just ONE to share. this is one of my new favorites.

Quick Scroll To The Top

When you reach the bottom of an article, or an email or the news feed in FaceBook, instead of scrolling all the way back to the top, just tap in the very top black horizontal menu space where the time and battery are displayed and you’ll zip right up to the top of the screen.

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Resizing dpi of Photos

If you’re an artist you may need to resize your photos to certain parameters for submissions.

iPhoto does not include a feature to do this but you can resize your images in Preview.

1. Drag the photo to the Desktop

2. Drag the photo from the Desktop on top of the Preview icon in the Dock. If you don’t have it there, from the Go menu, choose Applications, find Preview and drag it onto your Dock

3. In Preview, from the Tools menu choose Adjust Size

4. Make your desired changes, either in inches or pixels (dpi means dots or pixels per inch)

5. You’ll see that the file size changes as you make adjustments

6. Click OK when done

7. From the File menu, choose either Save As (Snow Leopard) or Duplicate (Lion)

8. Title the new version

9. Click Save

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Setting Picture Frame Preferences

When your iPad is asleep and locked you can still view Photos. this is called Picture Frame mode. It’s different than the Slide Show mode when you are in your Photos

To set your preferences for Picture Frame:

1. Click Settings

2. Click Picture Frame

3. Choose your Transition

4. Choose how long it shows each photo, whether to Zoom in on faces, and if you want them Shuffled, in a random order

5. Choose which photos and albums to show

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Adjusting the Brightness

Does your computer screen seem dim? Does the screen get dark if you don’t touch it for a while?

One way to brighten the screen is by pressing the key on your keyboard above the number 2 with the picture of the sun on it.

To change the setting that automatically dims the screen:

1. Under the Apple menu, choose System Preferences

2. Click on Energy Saver. It looks like a light bulb

3. Adjust the time settings for the Display Sleep

4. Remove the check mark next to Automatically reduce brightness before display goes to sleep

IPAD and IPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Turn Off the Clicking Sound When You Type

If you find the clicking sound annoying or disruptive, it’s easy to turn off.

1. Tap the Settings icon

2. Tap General

3. Tap Sounds

4. Slide the button next to Keyboard Clicks to OFF

This is also where you can turn off the sounds for New Mail and more.

 

Mastering the Keypad

One of the biggest changes that users are experiencing with Lion is how much you can do with the Trackpad, whether it’s the built-in trackpad on your laptop or the stand alone bluetooth Magic Trackpad that you can purchase for $69.00 from Apple.
Even with Snow Leopard, the trackpad can be set to do all kinds of things, from rotating photos to enlarging text.

To customize the Trackpad:

1. Under the Apple menu choose System Preferences

2. Click on the Trackpad icon

Depending on the age of the computer you’re using, you’ll see a variety of options. On newer Macs you’ll also see video demonstrations of each of the option.

For a complete description of all of the Trackpad options, click on the question mark in the bottom right corner of the Trackpad window.

It takes a little practice to learn where to click and how many fingers to use, but if you try one new technique at a time, you’ll soon be a trackpad master.

 

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Be Sure to Update

Even if you do all of your syncing with MobileMe, it’s important to connect your iPhone and iPad to your Mac regularly so that it can check for updates.

You always want to update to the latest versions of the software so that you can take advantage of all of the newest features. Mark it on your calendar to update once a month.

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Before Upgrading to Lion:

Apple released Lion today, the newest version of the Mac OS. But before you rush to upgrade, you’ll want to be sure that you have what you need, and that everything you use will still run with the new OS.

Lion requires an Intel Core 2 Duo processor
and recommended 4 GB RAM

You can check your system by clicking on the Apple menu in the top left corner and choosing About This Mac.

There are several popular programs that will no longer work once you upgrade, including Quicken, Appleworks, Microsoft Office X and many older games.

Click here for a great article that offers the essential steps before upgrading, including backing up and checking to see what applications you have that will no longer work.

If you’re not sure, or not ready, hold off on upgrading to Lion. But do upgrade to 10.6.8, the latest version of Snow Leopard.

If you have any questions, or need help, send me an email!

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Searching in mail

If you have a lot of emails in your Inbox, it can be pretty tedious to scroll up and down, looking for a particular email.

In the top right corner there is a search box. Type in what you are looking for. (If you don’t see it, make your window wider.)

Now, just below the icons of the toolbar, you’ll also see that you can limit the search criteria: where you are searching, and whether you are looking for that text in the Entire Message, From, To or Subject.

 

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Numbers and Punctuation

If you press the 123 key, the keyboard layout switches to numbers and punctuation. Then you have to press ABC again to get back to the letter keyboard.

Shortcut:

Tap and HOLD the 123 key and slide to the number you need. When you release, the keyboard will automatically switch back to the letters.

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A Great Way to Use Mobile Me

My favorite feature about MobileMe is that I can save important emails on the cloud and am able to access them from my computer, my laptop, my phone AND my iPad, and even from someone else’s computer via the web. I find this especially helpful when I am traveling–all of my flight information, reservation confirmations and other important stuff is with me.

To set this up:

1. In Mail, click the plus sign at the bottom of the left column that shows all of your Mailboxes.

2. Chose to create a New Mailbox.

3. Title it (ie. TRAVEL)

4. Next to Location, choose ME.COM (or Mac.com if you’ve had the account for a while)

5. Now, drag any important travel emails into this Mailbox and those emails will be on every other device that has your MobileMe account set up.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Mobile me Mailboxes

See the above tip to set up Mailboxes in Mail that you can access from your iPhone or iPad.

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Changing Dates in iCal

iCal has so many great features that make it easy to schedule appointments, celebrations, meetings and more. It’s easy to color-code each entry, set it to be a recurring event every week, every month or on a customized schedule. You can even set an alarm to remind you ahead of time.

Sometimes, you’ll have an event set for a particular day but then the day is changed.

Instead of clicking on the Event, clicking Edit and changing the information, just drag it to the new date.

To duplicate an event, hold down the Option key and drag the event to the new date.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

All About Sounds

You can control what sounds play when different things happen. Maybe you don’t like the sound when you unlock your device. Maybe you prefer NOT to hear a sound every time you receive or send an email or when someone sends you a text or leaves a voicemail.

It’s easy to choose which sounds and alerts you want to hear.

1. Click on Settings.

2. Click on Sounds.

3. Scroll through the list, choosing which you want on and which you want off.

This is also where you can choose a different ringtone and make the Vibrate feature silent.