Kentucky Department of Education

Try these tricks to move open windows around with your keyboard:

Past Tech Tips have provided many keyboard shortcuts for PC users. What about shortcuts for Mac users?

Have you ever misplaced a document or needed to find a message that you sent or received a long time ago? If manually searching your computer is not helping, try this tip in Windows 7.

Lync makes it possible to share your desktop with others remotely. During an online meeting or conversation, you can share the desktop, present a PowerPoint presentation, use a whiteboard or give others control of your screen.

​With Microsoft Lync 2010 Recording Manager, you can manage the Microsoft Lync 2010 conversations and meetings that you have recorded.

Lync is great for sharing ideas and lots of information via instant message or chat window during a call. But once the Lync window closes, the information is gone – or is it? Here are a few ways to quickly find chat history:

You may be thinking, “Now that I have Lync, who needs to talk to someone, use the phone or e-mail. I will instant message them or video call them anytime I want something.” Wait!

If you’ve been thinking, “I have Lync, I think I will schedule a meeting with everyone I know in KDE and several districts,” – WAIT!

Similar to Skype, Microsoft Lync is a software tool used to collaborate and communicate with others.

KDE and all K-12 staff will be upgrading to Microsoft’s Office 365 platform this weekend beginning at 6 p.m. EST. Service will be restored by 7 a.m. EST Monday Feb. 18. Please note that there may be time when e-mail is inaccessible during this maintenance window.

Toolbars can be helpful by allowing you to access files, folders and programs with the click of the mouse. The desktop toolbar has icons for all items that are on the desktop so that you can see and access all items on your desktop directly from the toolbar.

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Many of these special character and document formatting shortcuts aren’t used very often. Why do a tip on them then? Unless you use them often, they can be hard to find when you need them.​

When adding todays date in a Microsoft Word document, use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Alt+D.​

Tip 140 is intended for KDE staff only. 

 

An amazing tool in Office 2010 is the SkyDrive. With the SkyDrive you can store documents in a central location and access them from wherever you are.

Now that we have entered the holiday season, online shopping increases and so does your risk of someone getting your personal and credit card information. Here are a few tips that will help keep your information safe:

A desktop alert is a notification that appears on your desktop when you receive a new e-mail message, meeting request or task. By default, desktop alerts are turned on.

If your Windows 7 desktop has icons scattered everywhere, right-click in an open space and select View, then Auto arrange icons.

One of the most underused features of Outlook is the search folder. The search folder allows for quick and easy filtering of your e-mail based on conditions you customize.

We all make mistakes. Sometimes we don’t even know we’ve made a mistake until it’s pointed out to us. Software programmers, the people who write the applications for computers, tablets and smartphones, are no different.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing (think Napster, Bit Torrent and Kazaa) lets users quickly share files housed on their personal computers with others around the world. Using P2P software can be convenient, but it also can put your computer, and the information that’s on your computer, at risk. Keep in mind that whatever and whomever you touch in cyberspace is touching you back. 

It’s amazing how fast a technology that works will take off and be adopted. Smartphones and slate devices have, by virtue of their portability, ease of use and immense functionality, done more to advance the adoption of technology than the last 20 years of personal computers. But just because they are easy doesn’t make them safe.

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ID theft is a crime that occurs when a thief steals enough of someone else’s information to be able to impersonate that person. There are many reasons why someone would want to steal your identity.

In a Word Document, about 85 – one to hold the Shift key down and another 84 hits of the Hyphen\Underline key. Here’s a tip that will shave off 80 keystrokes and leave a perfectly straight solid line. 

People have different ways to get the same things done. To look up a favorite website, some people use the start menu, others prefer desktop shortcuts, and still more use the favorites menu in Internet Explorer.

An excellent Office 2010 feature, which works in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access, is the ability to keep or “pin” a file in the Recent Documents list.

​If there is a folder on the network that you use frequently, the fastest and easiest way to access it is through a mapped drive.

​The KDE News App is not only a great way to stay aware and informed of the happenings within KDE but also to share that information. Use the app’s options to share information with friends, family and colleagues.

After you download the KDE News App from the iTunes Store and install it on your smartphone or tablet device, you can adjust the settings.

KDE has released a new mobile app for the iPhone, iPod touch (3rd generation) and iPad called KDE News.

The process for using KDE’s wireless network has changed.

The desktop has a way of getting messy with lots of shortcuts, icons and files. One way to keep things neat and clean is to get Windows 7 to automatically arrange the desktop by right-clicking on the desktop, selecting View and then Auto Arrange Icons. 

​Using Windows Mobility Center (WMC), you can quickly access your laptop settings in one convenient location.

​One goal of the weekly Tech Tips is to provide updates on emerging technology. Welcome to USB 3.0.

There are several ways to sort or organize your e-mails within Outlook. Sorting by sender, subject, received date and size are methods many of us have used for a long time.

​Have you ever entered your data in Excel, only to realize that it would be better if your rows were columns and your columns rows? Don’t start retyping. Excel offers a transpose option in the Paste menu. 

​The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) provides all of its courses online for free. It’s called OpenCourseWare (OCW), and the goals of the program are to:

The sharpness of the text on the screen will vary depending on the monitor, lighting and your eyes; however, most people use the same default text profile. That means a document that appears perfect to one person will appear poor to another when looking at the same monitor. 

The Windows 7 calculator offers some very powerful functions hidden within the View menu. 

How do I create a shortcut for a Web page in Outlook’s Shortcut list?

​We have recently explored keyboard shortcuts for Word and Excel. If you found those helpful, here are a few that will help speed things up when using Outlook. 

Google allows you to translate text or documents into different languages. The translation won’t be perfect, but is good enough to understand the general message.

How do I share my calendar with staff members without sending e-mails? 

We have covered keyboard shortcuts using the Windows key for Word in past weeks. Here are a few that will help in Excel:

​A recent Tech Tips explored keyboard shortcuts using the Windows key. If you found those helpful, here are a few quick-key combinations that will help speed things up when using Word: 

Selecting a different worksheet by scrolling through the tabs at the bottom of an Excel document, especially when the worksheet you are looking for is not located near the worksheet you are using, can be difficult and time-consuming. There is, however, an easier way to quickly jump to a different worksheet. 

Ever been in the middle of a very important document only to run out of battery on your laptop computer? Here are a few settings you can change to help maximize the battery life on a laptop: 

KETS Tech Tips was started in November 2009 by the Office of KIDS to provide KDE staff with tips and tricks pertaining to new and existing technology. Looking back, the previous 99 tips have tackled a wide variety of products and items such as Microsoft Office, passwords, e-mail, function keys, shortcuts, blogs, toolbars, ribbons and much more. 

When replying or forwarding an e-mail, does the original message remain open? You can quickly end up with dozens of messages open, each in their own window.

​Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of two or more keys that, when pressed together, can be used to perform a task that would typically require a mouse.

“Send me a screenshot of that.” Those words always bring up the question, “How?” Is it CTRL+ALT+Print Screen or ALT+Print Screen? Wait, my keyboard doesn’t even have a Print Screen.

 

Nope, we aren’t talking about walking across hot pavement to the pool in the summer. It’s the section of buttons in the center of the Ribbon’s Home tab in Outlook.

 

When using the traditional toolbar, everyday commands seemed to be right where they should be. Now they are spread out across tabs in strange locations that only make sense to the person who put them there.

 

With the release of Office 2007 and subsequently Windows 7 and Office 2010, the new Ribbon was the least-liked feature in Microsoft’s software according to many surveys.

Microsoft introduced the Recycle Bin in its current form with Windows 95. However, having a location to delete and store deleted messages was originally introduced around 1982 by Apple. Both iterations allowed a computer to store deleted files and folders for a while.

 

Gadgets in Windows 7 are handy tools that can be used to help you get information at a glance. These are visual utilities that run on the desktop and supply up-to-date information. They include things like CPU usage meter, cool clocks, calendars and much more.

 

Outlook 2010 has a new feature that allows quick access to information about individuals who have sent you an e-mail. This is built into the bottom of the view pane on the Outlook inbox. This feature allows you to quickly see previous e-mail, contact information and even meetings you have with the individual.

With some holidays right around the corner, it is a busy shopping time for most people. Bargains offered for events like Black Friday often entice shoppers to spend their money, but be aware this also is a prime time for scams and spammers to try to fool you.

Undo most mistakes with a simple keystroke

​Converting images to text documents

Post-it Notes are a staple in many offices. Windows 7 offers similar functionality with a neat utility called “Sticky Notes.” Sticky notes make it possible to quickly jot down a number or take a memo without having to shuffle through papers or trying to find a pen. You also can format or edit the note at any time.

​Several Office 2010 programs have a feature that allows you to save your work as a PDF without additional software or “plug-ins” as was required in Office 2007. The programs that have this functionality are Word, One Note, PowerPoint and Publisher. 

Magnifier, part of the Ease of Access center in Windows 7, can magnify all or part of your screen. Magnifying allows you to briefly increase the size of the object on the screen instead of changing the entire screen resolution just to view a few lines of fine print. 

When you right click on any file or folder, specific options appear under the “Send To” menu. For example, you can create zipped folders or send the document to an application.

Last week’s Windows 7 tech tip discussed how to pin applications to the taskbar. Today’s tip will show you how to open those pinned applications quickly, without even touching the mouse.

​Pin to Taskbar is a new feature in Windows 7. Pinning a program directly to the taskbar allows for quick and convenient access as opposed to browsing the Start menu.

Snap allows you to automatically resize two windows or programs to fit your entire screen and eliminate any overlap.

In a recent Tech Tips, we discussed the new Start button in Windows 7. However, there is another option if you’d prefer a more traditional navigation menu.  

Outlook 2010 features a default view called Conversation. Conversation view displays your e-mail items grouped by message subject or "thread."

Many new features improve the navigation experience within Windows 7. One such feature is the new “shake” functionality. Shake allows you to focus on one open window even if multiple are open on the screen.

While the role of the Windows desktop has not changed over the years, Microsoft has consistently implemented changes that either add functionality or update the look and feel of the desktop.

To access the Start Menu in Windows 7, push the Windows Start Button at the bottom left of your monitor. 

The Productivity Hub is a SharePoint site on the intranet that includes information and FAQs about software such as Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint. The site also contains video tutorials on multiple subjects, including using smart art, how to set up themes, navigating the Windows 7 desktop and more. 

​There are many shortcut key combinations that can be used with Internet browsers such as Internet Explorer (IE). 

​Staff and students can connect to webmail at www.outlook.com by providing their e-mail addresses and passwords. However, as of June 30, customers will have to specify the latter part of their e-mail address (education.ky.gov) after outlook.com.

​There are multiple benefits to checking the screensaver settings on your workstation, including increased security and time-savings.   To see your computer’s settings, navigate to the “Control Panel” on your machine and select “Display.” This will open a dialogue box named “Display Properties” with a few tabs along the top.

It’s important to make sure that the organization's data is safe and secure at all times. Locking your workstation when you step away is one of the simplest security steps you can take.

Tip 69 is intended for KDE staff only.

​Many cell phones are becoming quite advanced, allowing users always to be connected to the Internet. Users may look up anything with their favorite search engines. However, looking at a phone’s screen or typing on a small keyboard for extended periods often can be cumbersome or inconvenient. Likewise, not everyone has a phone with an Internet connection.

Mapping a drive to a SharePoint document library

E-mail is useful for letting large groups of people see the same information. In some cases, replies to a message should go to everyone while in other cases they should only go to the original sender.

​Versions of Microsoft Word prior to Word 2007 had a little-known feature that allowed you to save all open Word documents at the same time. This feature could be accessed by holding the Shift key while selecting the File menu. However, this shortcut won’t work in Word 2007 and newer versions of the program.

Microsoft Outlook has a convenient feature called AutoFill that remembers who you’ve sent e-mails to. This feature was designed to save you time when your send to the same recipients repeatedly. You’ll see this feature when typing recipients into an e-mail message. However, this feature can also cause confusion and errors if it’s not maintained.

If you’ve ever needed to copy and paste multiple items at the same time, Office Clipboard might be the tool you’ve been looking for. This week’s tech tip comes directly from Office.Microsoft.com.

Those of you who frequently use PowerPoint or other presentation software may have heard of Prezi.com. Prezi.com is an alternative to PowerPoint that allows you to create presentations, edit saved presentations, download presentations for offline use, and even collaborate on presentations with your colleagues via the Internet. Additionally, the collaboration features in Prezi allow multiple people to edit shared presentations simultaneously, in real-time. You also can upload existing PowerPoint presentations and convert them to Prezi for more unique and engaging presentations. 

​There are numerous resources online for tips and tricks associated with the Microsoft Office Productivity Suite.

You can easily create tables in Word 2007 without touching the mouse. This is accomplished by using the pipe key, also referred to as the vertical bar, and the underscore key. The pipe key is on the same key as the backslash (\), just above the enter key on most keyboards. You’ll need to hold down shift and then hit the pipe key simultaneously to get a character that looks like this: |.

​​The technology industry churns out new acronyms and buzz words at a staggering rate. While most of these words are industry specific, and you may never hear them, others make it into our lexicon as their associated technologies are adopted into mainstream society.

​You’ve probably heard the term “cloud” or “cloud computing” hundreds of times in reference to a piece of technology or a technical service. But what exactly is cloud computing and how did we get here?

The sale of smartphones – mobile phones that offer computing capabilities – are on the rise with no end in sight. According to the Associated Press, “Worldwide, consumer electronics makers shipped 100.9 million smartphones in the last three months of 2010, an 87 percent jump from a year earlier. PC shipments were weaker than expected, edging up just 3 percent to 92.1 million.”

Laptop battery best practices – Maximize the charge

The new KDE Intranet will be on Sharepoint. Items are being migrated from the “old” Intranet site to this new site.

A Wi-Fi hotspot is a location that offers Internet access over a wireless network. These hotspots often can be found in restaurants, airports and other public spaces. As the popularity and dependence on hotspots rise through the mass adoption of smartphones, laptops and other devices, so do outbreaks of malicious activity by hackers. Intel Corporation recently released a list of nine things you should never do while connected on a public Wi-Fi hotspot.

​Bing.com, launched by Microsoft in June 2009, describes itself as a decision engine as opposed to search engine. A search initiated on Bing will return results that are sorted into logical categories as well as providing you with the syntax of similar searches initiated by other users. Bing also highlights instant answers in the search results.

Using delayed delivery options in Outlook 2007 can make scheduling conflicts easier to navigate. For example, if you need to send a time-sensitive e-mail at 3 p.m. but also have a meeting scheduled for the same time, delayed e-mail delivery can help you meet both commitments.

The holiday season is in full swing, and the end of the year is quickly approaching. As you’re making last-minute preparations to be away, here are a few items to check if you plan to take your laptop.

The address of an individual Web page is a Uniform Resource Locator, or URL for short. Depending on how a website is built, the URL in the address bar can grow very lengthy as you click on links and move deeper into a particular site; the more you click, the larger the URL will often get. This lends itself to long URLs that are difficult to read and nearly impossible to remember. You may not be concerned with this until you need to share a link with others via e-mail, social networks, newsletters, blog posts and more.

Tech tip 47 gave a brief overview of how the micro-blogging site Twitter.com works. This article discusses the Lists and Search features of Twitter.

​Want to learn some quick tips for Word, Uutlook and PowerPoint?

The last Tech Tip, Twitter 101, discussed several basic functions and terms you’ll encounter when conversing via the social media site Twitter.com. Here’s how to create a new account and join the conversation.

​In tech tip 18, we discussed blogging and briefly mentioned Twitter.com as a micro-blogging site. A micro-blogging site is a blog that limits the length of posts to a certain number of characters –140 in Twitter’s case. Twitter is free and it’s by far the most popular micro-blogging site in the world with more than 100 million users.

​In recognition of October being National Bullying Prevention Month, this week’s tech tip gives you facts about cyber bullying as provided by the Kentucky Center for School Safety (KCSS). Please share this information with the kids in your life.

In recognition of October being National Bullying Prevention Month, this week’s tech tip will address cyber bullying and provides you with several tips and resources to share with the kids in your life. 

Tip 43 addresses five quick tips that you should know.

​Check out Tip 42 to learn how Web Apps in Live@edu can be used for document collaboration directly in the cloud from any computer.

​The Web Apps in Live@edu can be used to create documents directly in the cloud from any computer. To access the Web Apps, log into webmail and select the options beneath the “Office” drop-down list on the collaboration toolbar. Remember: Think of Web Apps as the tools you’ll use to create documents in the cloud and the SkyDrive as the place you’ll store and share them.

The SkyDrive is a Live@edu collaboration tool that allows for both document storage and sharing in the cloud.  As a reminder, the SkyDrive can be accessed via http://skydrive.live.com.  For easier navigation, use the ‘More’ drop-down list in the webmail collaboration toolbar to access the SkyDrive.  The SkyDrive provides each KDE employee, teacher, staff member, and student in the state with 25 GB of free, password-protected online storage.  This allows you the freedom to share large files and other documents as your work requires.  

Over the next several weeks, this column will highlight features of the collaboration tools that come with being a Live@edu customer. This week is an introduction to the collaboration toolbar that has been enabled in webmail since it was launched May 24.

Have you ever needed to see two or more windows on your screen at the same time but also needed the windows equally sized? You can do this quickly and easily without having to manually resize and align each window.

​All students, parents, faculty and staff have the option to buy computer hardware using the Kentucky Department of Education’s contract.

Kentucky students, faculty and staff are eligible to purchase software at academic discount prices.  The Student Select contract allows you to purchase software for up to 50% and 90% off the standard retail price.

​Have you ever written a document and been concerned that you may have overused a specific word or term throughout the text?  If so, there’s a tool in Word that allows you to check that.  To use the tool follow these steps.

​Is it time for a break or getaway?  If so, be sure to set your Out of office assistant (OOA) message before you leave.  Doing so will keep your co-workers aware of your absence and your customers apprised of your return date.  Setting the OOA in Outlook 2007 is quite simple and with webmail (Outlook Live) it can be done from virtually anywhere.   To view the instructions below with screenshots, please visit the attachment below.

If you’ve ever been working in Office 2007 and found it inconvenient to reach over and use the mouse to navigate, this tip is for you.

Have you ever wished you could take a picture of something on your computer screen?  Maybe a quirky error message pops up and you want to be able to show someone else.  Well here is how to take a quick “screen shot” and some options for what to do once you have it.

Large Excel documents often contain so many worksheets that you can’t view them all at the bottom without scrolling to find them.  Even with a wide-screen display, there’s no way to get them all in for easy navigation. 

​With every generation and social advancement there are always con artists who labor to take advantage of others.  The schemes we see today are really no different than the schemes from centuries before, just the same old tricks leveraging new technology.  I believe that John Stark, chief of the Office of Internet Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), put it best, “Fraud today has a technological twist, but is really old wine in new bottles. The Internet is a great tool for the con artist, though also a tool for law enforcement because it provides a trail.”

Have you ever told someone that you saved something on the Z drive just to be told that they don’t have a Z drive?  This can be a frustrating and confusing exchange but it doesn’t have to be. 

If you ever need a chart in a hurry or you just want to check trends in your data, you can create a chart in Excel with a single keystroke.

​If you’d like to share your calendar with all staff members without sending emails to anyone, please follow the instructions below.  To see these instructions with screenshots, please click the attachments below. 
 

Instructions on exporting and importing mailbox rules in Outlook 2007

The KETS Service Desk is changing hours and also announcing new Live@edu e-mail system. 

Most of us have heard the saying, “With great power comes great responsibility”.  This saying translates well into the technology we use here at KDE.  As most of you probably know, each KDE staff member has the ability to install software and uninstall software on your KDE issued laptop or desktop.   While this level of access is available to you, it can lead to possible issues.

When multitasking with several different websites in Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) it’s often difficult to remember which web page is located on which tab, especially if you have numerous tabs open or if the tab titles are less than descriptive.  The Quick Tabs and Tab List buttons exist for this reason. 

​Need to translate text from one language to another in a hurry?  Google Translate might be the solution you’ve been looking for.

Adding pictures to a document or email can bring a simple message to life.  However, if not created properly, these messages can take on a life of their own, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

​We see it quite often, someone can’t surf the Internet or they’re not able to use a certain function of a website. Most often the culprit is a toolbar that’s been installed in Internet Explorer. While toolbars can be quite useful for some Internet websites, they can also be problematic. We see the following two issues most frequently. 

In Tech Tip #17 we discussed what ketsmail is, how to get to the website and how to login.  In this tech tip we’re diving a little deeper to discuss 2 functions of ketsmail that go beyond email.

​A blog (a contraction of the term “web log”) is a web site that contains an online personal or professional journal with reflections, comments, and often links to other blogs or websites provided by the writer. 

​The ketsmail.us website allows you to access your KDE e-mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, journal, notes, and RSS feeds when you don’t have access to your KDE laptop or workstation.

 

​The function keys on a keyboard are often overlooked by most users, including some of the most technical savvy users.

 

​Five Quick Internet Tips

 

​If you’ve ever taken your laptop home, away on business, or have plans to do so in the future, you’ll want to know how to turn off/on the KDE proxy settings.

 

​Phishing is a scam by which an e-mail user is duped into revealing personal or confidential information which the scammer can use illicitly.

 

​While choosing a complex password is critical to protecting the integrity of your network, the task of remembering your password doesn’t have to be difficult.

 

​This week's KETS Tech Tip is an internal KDE communication.  Please contact the KETS Service Desk at ketshelp@education.ky.gov if you have any questions.

​As you may be well aware, many functions have changed in Office 2007 from the days of Office 2003. 

​Here are five quick-and-easy tips for several tools you’re already using:

​Thomas Edison, when asked why he had a team of twenty-one assistants, he responded “If I could solve all the problems myself, I would.”  Even Thomas Edison, who held 1,093 patents, understood the value of teamwork. 

​This week's KETS Tech Tip is an internal KDE communication.  Please contact the KETS Service Desk at ketshelp@education.ky.gov if you have any questions.

 

​The holiday season is in full swing, and the end of the year is quickly approaching. As you’re making last-minute preparations to be away from the office, here are a few items to check before you leave with laptop in tow... 

​Last week we discussed e-mail limits and alerts. This week we’ll delve into personal folders and how these folders can help you manage e-mail more efficiently. Personal folders are also referred to as “.pst files” because “.pst” is the file extension, much like “.doc” is the extension for a Word document or “.xls” is the extension for an Excel file. 

​You probably receive a friendly notification several times per year stating that “your mailbox is over the size limit.” Each customer of the e-mail system has a piece of physical space carved out on the KDE e-mail server that is dedicated specifically to him or her.

 

​As far back as the 1500s, printers and typesetters used dummy text known as Lorem Ipsum when working on publication layouts. They did this because they realized that editors were distracted by the text in a document even if they only wanted them to critique the layout.

We’ve all seen it happen before: an e-mail or meeting request is sent from one person in the organization to another and somehow it’s magically delivered to everyone … EVERYONE!! It’s a frightening experience. The sender is thinking, “What did I send, did I share confidential information, and did this really go to everyone?” Believe it or not, this could happen to any of us. 

The Microsoft Office suite has undergone significant changes in the newest version. In previous versions of Office, you accessed most of its formatting and product functions through drop-down menus across the top of the screen. This meant it could take several clicks to get where you wanted or to perform a task. The key to using Office 2007 efficiently is the Ribbon. The Ribbon replaces the standard menu bar from previous versions of Office and most Windows applications.

The Kentucky Education Technology System (KETS) Customer Service Center publishes tech tips in the Commissioner’s Weekly Update each Friday. Our tips, which focus on emerging technology and best practices, are archived here.