If you need to convert a .docx file to .doc, don’t pay for one of the many conversion sites or utilities out there. Your Mac has the ability to handle the conversion entirely on it’s own already built in and it’s completely free. We’re going to be using the textutil command line tool to get this done:

• Launch the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal)
• Type the following command:

textutil -convert doc /path/to/filename.docx

For example, I have a docx file located in my Documents folder that I want converted, this would be the syntax:

textutil -convert doc ~/Documents/ImportantReport.docx

The ~ signifies your home directory, and the rest is just the path to your docx file.

As just a general Terminal tip, I would highly recommend using tab completion when entering in long directory strings and complex names, it’ll save you plenty of headaches. Basically you just start typing the name of a file or directory and hit tab to auto-complete the name.

Windows 7 Jumplists are right-click menus or contextual menus in the Windows taskbar that make it easier to find the files and operations you need. If you have a program open, a Jump List will appear in the taskbar.

You can also pin programs to the taskbar so that their Jump Lists are always available. If the currently used program is pinned to the Start Menu, then the Jump Lists will appear from the Start Menu. As you click on the arrow beside the program at the Start Menu, the Jump Lists will pop up.

With Office 2010 Jumplists, you can have a quick access to Word documents, Excel worksheets or other Office 2010 files. Office 2010 Jump Lists are the menu options that pop up when users right-click on any icon in the taskbar. These Jump Lists help jump to programs that users are recently working on. These files are currently pinned programs to the task bar.

However, Outlook 2010 makes use of Windows 7’s Jumplists feature for quick access to certain processes which include actions to create a new email, appointment, meeting, contact, or task directly from the Outlook 2010 Jump List.

So, with Outlook 2010 you don’t have to open Outlook to perform these operations and can use a few clicks to perform an operation and for quick access to certain processes.

After you create a table in Microsoft Office Excel, you might not want to keep working with the table functionality that it includes. Or you might want a table style without the table functionality. To stop working with your data in a table without losing any table style formatting that you applied, you can convert the table to a regular range of data on the worksheet.

 1. Click anywhere in the table.

Tip This displays the Table Tools, adding the Design tab. A cell in the table must be selected for the Design tab to be visible.

 2. On the Design tab, in the Tools group, click Convert to Range.

   Table features are no longer available after you convert the table back to a range. For example, the row headers no longer include the sort and filter arrows, and structured references (references that use table names) that were used in formulas turn into regular cell references.

Long gone are the days of editing your document in a word processor, printing it out, and seeing what you get. The contemporary word processor possesses some of the power of a desktop publishing application.

As usual, Microsoft Word leads the way with more features and convenience tools than any other word processor on the market.

Word’s convenient Print View is a nearly perfect visual representation of how your document will look after you send it to your printer. However, some people prefer the older style Draft View to edit their documents.

Which view you prefer, it is possible in Word to split the screen to view two parts of the same document at the same time.
Why View Two Parts of a Document?

Although there are an infinite number of reasons why you might want to view two parts of the same Word document, there are two that are quite common. First, suppose you are writing a report and you made a list near the top of your document indicating the topics you will cover later in the same document.

By splitting the screen, you can remind yourself of the topics you want to cover while writing about them farther down in your report.

Second, if you write papers for your college classes, you likely use some sort of citation style such as APA, MLA, or Harvard. By splitting the screen, you can search the document for citations in the text to make sure that every citation has a reference in the references section and every reference appears in the document as a citation.

Whatever your reasons, being able to see different parts of the same Word document can be not only convenient but a real time saver as well.
How to See Two Parts of the Same Word Document

To see two parts of the same document, begin by clicking on the View tab on the Word Ribbon and locating the section titled Window. There are a number of options on this part of the Ribbon but to the far right you will see three button titled New Window, Arrange All, and Split. Click on the Split button.

Word will immediately place a grey line on the screen that you can move up and down with your mouse. This line is simply where you want the split to be on the screen.

It doesn’t matter where you place the split for now because you can move it anywhere to make one or the other split screens the size you want. Place the grey line where you want the initial split and click the left mouse button.

Notice that you now have two views of the same document. You can scroll each one independently of the other and see two places in your word document at the same time.

If you play around with the two views for a while you will notice a few things. Each view of the document is treated like two separate documents even though you are viewing the same one. You can zoom, scroll, and even change the type of view (print, draft, outline, etc.) for each view individually.

Because you are simply seeing two views of the same document, any changes you make to one will be made to the other view as well. In fact, you can edit the text in either view by simply clicking on it and typing.

Having two views of the same Word document can save you time by allowing you to edit one view while not losing sight of the second. Using the split screen feature in Word, you can spend less time scrolling and more time getting your work done.

When most people think of sorting text in an application, they think of sorting cells in an Excel spreadsheet. However, you can sort text in Word as long as there is something that tells Word where the different parts of text begin and end.
Sorting Lists in Word

There are three types of lists you can sort in Word. The first kind is simply a list of words or phrases that each occupies a separate line. The second type is unordered or bulleted lists. The third is ordered or numbered lists.

In each of these cases, a line break (also called a carriage return) tells word where one word or phrase ends and the next one begins. This is how Word is able to sort text in the document.

To sort any of these types of lists, begin by selecting the list with your mouse. Simply start at the beginning of the list, hold down the left mouse button, and drag your mouse until the entire list is selected.

Then, click on the Home tab on the Ribbon and locate the section titled Paragraph. Look for a button with the letters A and Z on it and an arrow pointing down. This is the Sort command. Click on the Sort button and Word will open the Sort Text window.

On the Sort Text window, you’ll notice that there a number of options. First, you need to indicate that you want to sort the text you’ve selected by paragraph. Even though we only have one word per line, Word still considers each line to be its own paragraph because we pressed the enter key to get to the next line. Sorting by paragraph is the default option.

Next we need to tell Word what we are sorting. Locate the drop down menu labeled Type and choose Text. This is also the default option. Lastly, we need to tell Word whether we want to sort the text in ascending (A to Z) order or descending order (Z to A). Ascending order is the default option. When done, click the OK button and Word will sort your text with the options you chose.

Notice that now the text is sorted from A to Z in ascending order.
Sorting Text in Tables

This type of sorting may seem a bit more familiar to you if you often sort data in Excel. Much like an Excel worksheet, a table contains rows, columns, and may contain headings in the first row. Luckily, Word gives you much of the same flexibility to sort text as found in Excel.

Suppose you have a table in Word that looks like the one below.

Notice that there are column headings in the first row and that the first column contains the text we wish to sort. Let’s assume that we want to sort the data in descending order this time. Select the entire table and once again click on the Sort button in the Paragraph section of the Ribbon.

Notice in the bottom left hand corner of the Sort window that Word has already detected the headings in the first row. Notice also that the first Sort By drop down menu already has the column heading Name in the option box.

The rest of the options stay the same except remember to change the sort direction to Descending. When done, click the OK button and Word will sort the table using the options we’ve chosen.

Sorting text in Word is simple as long as you have a way to tell word what separates one data element from the next. If you play with the sort settings a bit you will discover that you can sort using multiple columns and even tab and comma delimited text in a Word document.

Although not as useful as sorting data in Excel, you can save yourself some time in Word by having the application sort paragraph and table text for you using a similar interface as found in an Excel worksheet.

If you often work with large spreadsheet files, you know how frustrating it can be to lose data because of a stupid mistake or because your computer crashed while you were working with your data. Using Excel’s automatic backup feature, you can recover your lost spreadsheet data and continue working as if nothing happened.

A few of the most useful features found in the Microsoft Office suite are underused because they are hard to find. Excel’s automatic backup and recovery option is just such as feature. Read on to learn why you should use Excel’s automatic backup and how to recover lost spreadsheet data.
Why Use Excel’s Backup and Recovery Feature?

It may seem obvious why you should use a backup feature in any program but Excel is a bit different from other application such as Microsoft Word. Many Excel spreadsheets use formulas to compute new figures across its cells. In a large spreadsheet, it is not always easy to see which cells affect other cells. Making one small change can have a domino effect and ruin other calculations in the worksheet.

Suppose you make a change to a cell’s formula and save your work. Later you discover that you made a mistake and can’t remember the exact formula previously used or the exact cell where the formula resided. It would be convenient if you could revert back to the last save state to undo your mistake. Using Excel’s built in backup and recovery option, you can do just that.
Activate Excel’s Backup Feature

The option to activate Excel’s backup feature is somewhat hidden given how useful it is. Begin by clicking on the Excel Jewel in the top left hand corner of your spreadsheet and selecting Save from the menu.

You should now be looking at the Excel Save dialogue window. For our purposes here, we will save the file to the user’s desktop. Name your file in the File Name box. Before you click the Save button, click the arrow next to the button labeled Tools and select General Options from the menu.

Excel will open up a very small window with several options available. The only option we are interested in here is the one titled Always Create Backup. Check this option.

You may notice that there are three other options in this window. You can set a password for both opening (viewing) and modifying (editing) your Excel file. If you set any of these passwords, they will transfer to the backup file as well.

So, use these options with caution because if you forget your password, you won’t be able to gain access to either your main or backup file. You can also set the file to read only. Although Microsoft recommends that you use this option, you may wish to skip over it if you often share your spreadsheets with other people who need the ability to modify its contents.

Click the OK button and Excel will create a backup file in the same location as main file each time you save. Save your file once again to create the first backup file. If we go to the desktop where we saved the spreadsheet you will notice two new files, one with a strange XLK file extension.

The XLK file is your backed up spreadsheet that contains the contents of your file before the last save. If you need to use this backed up file because of a mistake you made or because of a computer crash, click on it and Excel will ask you to verify that you truly want to open up this file.

This step seems a bit strange given that Excel should know what the file is. Simply click on the Yes button and you can restore your spreadsheet to the way it was before the last save.

Using Excel’s hard to find backup and recovery option, you can force Excel to create a backup copy of your spreadsheet. This backup copy contains the data and formulas of your file before your last save.

You can open this file to remove any mistakes you made while editing your main Excel file. If you often find yourself editing large spreadsheets, this backup option is a must.

Excel is one of the most popular applications for both the home and office in Microsoft’s suite of productivity software. Functioning as a kind of two-dimensional database, Excel can help you store any information you need to keep track of.

The only problem with Excel occurs when your spreadsheet contains more than just a few columns and rows. While scrolling through your data, you can easily lose track of what data is contained in the columns and rows forcing you to scroll all the way to top or all the way to the left just to see what data you are looking at. By freezing panes, you can avoid this confusion and work more efficiently.
Why Freeze Panes?

One feature missing from Excel is the ability to permanently rename the columns and rows as you can in other specialized applications. Excel only give you generic A, B, C, etc. column and 1, 2, 3, etc. row designations. If you are like most spreadsheet users, you use the top row and first column to give your rows and columns useful headings.

When you freeze panes, you make it so the first column or top row do not move with the rest of the spreadsheet as you scroll either up and down or left and right. This way, you can keep track of your column or row headings and you can avoid having to scroll to see if you are in the right column or row. In addition, you can even create custom panes and freeze them so you always have the information you need in front of you.
Freeze Top Row

The most common use of Excel’s Freeze Pane feature is to freeze the top row that contains the column headings in the spreadsheet. To freeze the top row, begin by clicking on the View tab on the Ribbon and locating the large section titled Window. Locate and click on the button titled Freeze Panes.

You’ll notice that you have three options. Click on the second option titled Freeze Top Row.

Notice that Excel indicates the freezing of the top row with a solid black line between rows 1 and 2. You should also notice that as you scroll down the spreadsheet, the top row stays where it is while all of the other rows scroll. To unfreeze the top row, click on the Freeze Panes button on the Ribbon and select the Unfreeze Panes button.
Freeze First Column

Although less popular then freezing the top row, you can also freeze the first column in the same way. Click on the Freeze Panes button again on the Ribbon and this time select the button titled Freeze First Column.

Notice, again, that Excel indicates the frozen pane with a black line but this time you will find it between columns 1 and 2. Also notice that as you scroll left and right, the first column stays where it is while all of the other columns scroll. To unfreeze the first column, click on the Freeze Panes button on the Ribbon and select the Unfreeze Panes Button.
Freeze Custom Panes

The second and third buttons on the Freeze Panes menu described above are really only there for your convenience because those are the two most common panes frozen in Excel. You can actually freeze any cells you want to create custom panes. You can even freeze a combination of both rows and columns.

To create a custom frozen pane, click on any cell in your spreadsheet. Now click on the Freeze Panes button on the Ribbon and this time click on the button titled Freeze Panes.

You will notice that Excel froze the cells to the left and above the active cell. Using this method, you can simultaneously freeze both the rows and columns you want. To unfreeze your custom pane, click on the Freeze Panes button on the Ribbon and select the Unfreeze Panes Button.

Freezing panes in Excel can help make large spreadsheets more management by eliminating the need to constantly scroll to the top or left to see the headings of the cells in which you are working.

Although Excel gives you the option to freeze only the top row and the first column, you can select any cell, choose Freeze Panes from the Ribbon, and create your own custom pane.

To encrypt your file and set a password to open it:
Click the Microsoft Office Button , point to Prepare, and then click Encrypt Document.

In the Encrypt Document dialog box, in the Password box, type a password, and then click OK.

You can type up to 255 characters.  Encryption is a standard method used to help make your file more secure.
In the Confirm Password dialog box, in the Reenter password box, type the password again, and then click OK.
To save the password, save the file.

Imagine the situation you have subscribed to many services and you receive emails from different companies and you would like to have emails from one company in its separate folder to quickly view new emails or you want to have a separate folder for incoming messages from your friends or you just do not want to receive emails from certain people and would like to delete these emails. Outlook Express provides a great variety of such rules that can be created and customized by the end-user.

To configure rules in Outlook Express perform next steps:

1. Launch Outlook Express > go to Tools > Message rules > Mail.

2. Configure appropriate rules. E.g. if the From line contains people from your organization. Click on Contains people to select or deselect contacts.

3. Specify the folder there to move emails from  these people.

4. Select the folder by clicking on Specified:

5. That's it. Now new rules has been created and new messages from these people will be automatically moved to the specified folder.

Sometimes, when you create a document with numbered pages in MS Word 2007, you do not want the first page to have a number, e.g. a title page.

Note: Inserting cover page causes the second page to be numbered as page 2. 

Remove the page number from the first page

1. Click anywhere in the document.

2. On the Page Layout tab, click the Page Setup Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Layout tab.

3. Under Headers and footers, select the Different first page check box, and then click O.k.

Note:

If the Different first page check box is already selected, do not clear it. Instead, delete the page number in the First Page Header or First Page Footer area.

Start numbering on the second page from 1

1. Perform steps described in the first section of this article to remove the page number.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Headers & Footers group, click Page Number and then click Format Page Numbers.

3. In the Start at box, type 0.