Category: Tech Bytes

Do you find yourself making a lot of formatting changes to your slideshows? Do you have to constantly rearrange the placeholders in each slide so things look the way you feel they should? Do the color options never seem to match what you need? Would you like to add a company logo or watermark? Then it’s time to look into PowerPoint’s Slide Master tool.

Purpose of Slide Master

Slide Master allows you to make changes to the formatting and layout of the slides in your presentation. You can change fonts, font sizes, font colors, and colors. You can also add things like the company or organizational logos to your slides, or perhaps a watermark for the background.  Another key aspect of Slide Master is the ability to format and adjust the placement of the slide number, date, and footer text for your slides. You can also rearrange or resize the default placeholders that hold titles, text, or other media.

Accessing SlideMaster

There are two ways to access Slide Master:

• First Way: Navigate to the View ribbon and then click on Slide Master
• Second Way: Shift – Normal View button (see bottom right of the screen)

Once you’ve opened up Slide Master, on the left-hand side of the screen you can see thumbnails for the different types of layouts, such as title, comparison slides, image, and others. At the top level of this outline is the master slide.  By default, Slide Master will open up to the type of slide you were on when you opened it.

Making Changes in Slide Master

Any changes to layout or formatting in the top-level master slide will be changed in all the slides in your presentation. You would use the master slide to make changes to all the different types of slides at one time. For example, if you wanted to add a logo to the bottom of all your slides, this would be the place to add that logo. You can quickly check how your changes will affect your existing presentation by exiting out of Slide Master.

If you add text to the title or object area placeholders, it will not appear on your slides. This is because these placeholders are for modifying the formatting only. The text will appear only to show you how the formatting is going to look on the final slides.

Customizing Slide Layouts

Modifying slide layouts is good when you need all of a particular type of slide changed. For example, suppose you want to move the caption on an image slide (e.g., Content with Caption Layout) because it is obscuring the company logo you added. Then you can scroll down through the thumbnails on the left-hand side of the screen until you find that type of slide, click on it, and then rearrange the caption until everything fits the way you want it to. When you exit Slide Master, those changes will be made on all slides of that layout type. And any new slides you add using that layout type will also reflect those changes.

Modifying and Adding Footer Objects

There are three placeholders in the footer area of the slides: slider number, data, and footer text. These are a little bit harder to work within Slide Master. You can make changes to how you want the footer placeholders to look, but they will not appear on the slides unless you do the following once you have exited Slide Master:

• Go to the Insert tab
• Click on either Header & Footer or Slide Number
• A box will appear that allows you to set up the actual text for the footer and the numbering scheme, and to indicate whether or not you want this information to appear on the title slide
• Once you’ve entered all the information you need to, click Apply to All (if you click Apply, it will only add this information to the current slide)

Many people try to add their company name to the footer in Slide Master, only to have it not show up when they go back to the normal slide view. Remember, as mentioned earlier, that any text you type into a placeholder is only used to show you what the formatting changes would look like, not to add that text to the slides.

Exiting Slide Master

To exit Slide Master, make sure you are on the Slide Master ribbon. On the far right-hand side of the ribbon, there is a button that has an X in it and says Close Master View. Clicking this will return you to normal slide view.

Conclusion

Slide Master is a great way to make overall changes to the layout and formatting of your PowerPoint presentation. Taking the time to learn how to use it properly will make you a much more efficient PowerPoint user and can add that extra level of customization that helps to make your slides stand out.

Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Add your Email Signature in Outlook, Outlook.com, and Gmail

Creating a signature that will leave a lasting impression at the end of an email is essential in today’s business world. However, users often struggle to know which font to use, how to make it stand out, but not make it too flashy, and so on.

If your company doesn’t specify a detailed way to create a signature, you may end up searching for professional email signature examples every time you change jobs, get a promotion, or feel the need to improve your current signature.

Let’s take a look at how to add a signature to the two most popular email platforms used today: Outlook and Gmail. We will also identify shortcuts and tips to make your experience using these email platforms easier and more effective.

Outlook

Frequently Used Keyboard Shortcuts

Knowing keyboard shortcuts can speed up the process of sending emails, formatting documents, and searching through the toolbar. Let’s look at some great shortcuts for Outlook.

Go to Home tab: Alt+H

New message: Ctrl+Shift+M

Send: Alt+S

Insert file: Alt+N, A, F

New task: Ctrl+Shift+K

Search: Ctrl+E Alt+H, R, P

Reply: Alt+H, R, P

Forward: Alt+H, F, W

Reply All: Alt+H, R, A

Copy: Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Insert

Send/Receive: Alt+S, S

Go to the calendar: Ctrl+2

Create appointment: Ctrl+Shift+A

Move to folder: Alt+H, M, V, select folder from list

Attachment SaveAs: Alt+JA, A, S

Navigating Through Outlook Using Shortcuts

Outlook has great shortcuts that can quickly allow you to hop around from email to calendar, and so on. Let’s look at these shortcuts.

Switch to Mail view: Ctrl+1

Switch to Calendar view: Ctrl+2

Switch to Contacts view: Ctrl+3

Switch to Tasks view: Ctrl+4

Switch to Notes: Ctrl+5

Switch to Folder list in the Folder pane: Ctrl+6

Switch to Shortcuts: Ctrl+7

Adding an Email Signature to the Desktop Version of Outlook

Step One: To begin, open up your Outlook email client and click on File.

Step Two: In the file window, click on Options.

Step Three: When the Options window pops up, click on Mail.

Step Four: In the Mail section, scroll down to Signatures.

Step Five: When the Signature window opens, Click on New.

Step Six: In the Signature window, type in your signature and add a company logo if you desire.

Once you have completed this process, you can select New Email to see the signature you’ve created.

Adding an Email Signature to Outlook.com

If you are using Outlook.com instead of the desktop version of Outlook, adding a signature is a little different. Let’s look at how to add a signature to Outlook.com.

Step One: In your Outlook.com email, click the gear symbol in the top right corner.

Step Two: In the dropdown, scroll down to options, and click on it.

Step Three: In the Options window, scroll down to mail, and click on Signatures.

Step Four: When the Signature window appears, add your customized signature.

Step Five: After adding your signature, click the Save button.

Once you have completed this process, you can select New Email to see the signature you created.

Gmail

Frequently Used Keyboard Shortcuts

As with Outlook, knowing keyboard shortcuts in Gmail can quicken your tasks of sending emails. However, with Gmail, you first need to turn the keyboard shortcuts on.

Turning on Keyboard Shortcuts in Gmail

First: In your Gmail window, click the gear symbol in the top right corner.

Second: Click on Settings.

Third: Scroll down to the “Keyboard Shortcuts” section.

Fourth: Select Keyboard Shortcuts On.

Last: At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.

Gmail Shortcuts

Once you have your keyboard shortcuts turned on, here are some great shortcuts in Gmail:

Open keyboard shortcut help: Shift + ?

Select a series of messages: Shift

Select all unread messages: Shift + 8 + u

Archive selected messages: e

Mark selected messages as important: =

Compose Email: c

Undo last action: z

Search for messages: /

Go to tasks: g + k

Add a conversation to tasks: Shift + t

Reply: r

Reply all: a

Forward: f

Mark current messages unread: Shift + u

Mark selected message as important: =

Archive selected message: e

Jump to newer email: k

Jump to previous email: j

Jump to next message in email thread: n

Jump to the previous message in email thread: p

Jump back to inbox view: u

Insert link: Command + k

Insert numbered list: Command + Shift + 7

Insert bullet points: Command + Shift + 8

Bold/Italicize/Underline: Command + b/Command + l/Command + u

Remove formatting: Command + Control + \

Send Email: Command + Enter

Adding an Email Signature to Gmail

Step One: After you have signed in to your Gmail account, click the gear symbol in the top right corner.

Step Two: In the drop down, click on Settings.

Step Three: In Settings, scroll down to the Signature window, and add your Signature.

Step Four: At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.

Wrap Up

There you have it! Easy ways to add a custom signature to today’s most popular email platforms. Plus, as a bonus, all the shortcut keys you need to make sure you’re saving time and being productive each day.

 

Everything You Need To Know About Facebook Events!

Facebook allows you to post events for pages and groups, and from your personal page as well. Many of the options are going to be the same for all three of these, but not all options – and some options, once set, you cannot change. It’s a good idea to have an overall idea of what you can do and what information you need as you create an event on Facebook.

Creating Events for a Page

You can create public events for a Facebook page. You’ll start by navigating to the Home page for the particular Facebook page involved with the event. Once there, click on Create Event. From there, you can add a picture for the event, and then specify information such as the name of the event, its location, date and time, and any co-hosts (which can involve individuals or other Facebook pages).

If tickets need to be purchased to attend the event, there is a spot to add a URL to take individuals where they need to go to buy a ticket. Next, you can describe your event, select a category, and add tags to make your event easier for people to discover. There is also an option you can check to make sure that only the host and co-hosts can post on the event wall.

Sometimes you may want someone else to take a look at an event before you publish it. If you notice, there is a drop-down arrow beside the word Publish. One of the options is Save as a Draft. You (or someone else) can come back to it later and publish it. Sometimes you may want to schedule the event to be posted at a later time, and for that, you can use the Schedule option.

Once you’ve created your event, don’t forget to invite people, share it with others, or publish it on the Facebook page behind the event. This will help to get the word out about the event. You can also promote an event for a page.

Creating Events for a Group

You can create events directly from a Group page as well. There is a Create Event option that directs you to enter information such as name, location, date, time, and details. The final option controls whether or not posts and stories related to the event must be approved by the admin.

Who will be able to see the event depends on the privacy settings for the group. If it’s a Public group, then anyone on or off Facebook can view it. If the group is Closed, only members can see posts and events. If someone tries to access the event page, they will not be able to see any of its contents. The same is true for Secret groups.

Creating Events from Your Personal Page

For events related to a personal page, you’ll want to navigate to your Facebook homepage, and the easiest way to do that is to click “Home” on the upper right-hand side of your screen. Once there, you’ll notice a list of Favorites in the column of the left-hand side. In that list, click on Events.

That takes you to information about events that are going on. You want to create a new event, so click on Create Event.

Event Privacy Settings

Now, this part is essential: the drop box beneath Create Event gives you the one and only opportunity to decide if your event is going to be public or private.  If you want it to be a public event, then click on Create Public Event. If this is going to be a private event, then click on Create Private Event. Public events are visible to anyone, even people not logged in to Facebook. Private events, on the other hand, are only visible to the people that you invite. If they aren’t invited through Facebook, they’ll never even know the event exists.

Private Events

Once you’ve chosen private events, it’s time to set the attributes for your event. You can start by selecting an image to upload for the event, as well as an option to choose a theme to use. Next, you’ll add the name of the event and the location. Next comes the date and time information. All of this can be edited later on if you wish.

Now, there is a caveat with private events. One of the options you can choose will allow people invited to invite their friends. Do not check that box if you want to retain full control over who can see the event and who is invited via Facebook. This is the last option under private events. Once you’ve entered the information, click on Create. The next task is to encourage your Facebook friends!

If you’d like to add co-hosts, click on Edit Event. This not only allows you to select someone as a co-host, but it will enable you to invite additional friends and change other event details such as time or description.

Public Events

Setting up public events is similar to what we just described for private events. First, however, you’ll need to specify who the host is going to be. You can then add a picture of the event, then the usual event name, location, time, and description. Added to public events, however, are descriptive tags you can use to describe your event and make it easier for interested parties to find out about it. Once you’ve filled in all the information, you can Edit Event and make changes or add a co-host.

Conclusion

Facebook is a great way to get information out about your event. This popular app gives you quite a bit of control over who views it and who can be invited. Knowing what the options are as you go along can help you get it right the first time. Though most details can be edited, some cannot, so it may be a good idea to write down all the details of your event before ever going into the Facebook app to create your next event. Brainstorm with friends. Write down specifics. Locate good photos that will make the event shine. These are just a few ways to ensure that your next Facebook Event is a huge success.