Changing Calibri...It's Reared Its Head Again

First, let me say that this post is for a special case that power user Ray--a reader of this blog--wrote to me about. Let me start by giving you the background explanation.

Background Explanation

Ray changed Calibri to Garamond inside of MS Word. If Ray opens a document inside of MS Word, he gets Garamond and all is right with the world.

However, shortcut lovin' Ray is opening new MS Word documents from Windows Explorer. When Ray has Windows Explorer open, he is right clicking in a folder, and using pop-up menus to open a new Word document.

Click the graphic to open a larger view.

Press the ESC key to return here.

When you open a new document using this method, it appears that Word opens the Normal/Blank Document template with the Office theme applied...ignoring your font change inside of Word; that is, you get Calibri font...Again!

So how you open a new document matters because of the apparent automatic application of the Office theme.

Workaround

I'm a never say die type of gal. So, after thinking about it a minute, there is a workaround. 

1. Use Ray's shortcut to open a Word document.
2. Click the Page Layout tab. 
3. Locate the Themes group, and click the drop-down arrow beside the Fonts button. A list of fort themes opens.
4. Select a font theme--in Ray's case Black Tie (Garamond). Word updates all of the styles in the new document to garamond or whatever font combination you selected. 

Since this will be a routine task for Ray, he should add the Theme button to his Quick Access toolbar. 

1. Right click in the Themes group to display a pop-up menu.
2. Click Add to Quick Access Toolbar. Word adds the Themes button to the toolbar at the top of the screen. 
3. To use the button, Ray has to open a document, click the button in the Quick Access toolbar, select the Font button, and then select a font combination.

Followup

I'm continuing to read to see if there's a way to change the Office theme to force the font change. A quick look online provided no answer. 

Family Group Sheet Fillable Form and Shading on Fields

This summer has been interesting. Had you been a friend on my Facebook page, you would have been treated to updates on how I was recovering from a broken ankle. I made sure to include a few gruesome pictures. That was in early June. By the middle of June, my computer conked out and I just didn’t have the ump necessary to get it fixed until this week. Like my computer, I'm on the mend. Luckily, only one person posted a question, which was in reference to the family group sheet fillable form. Here’s a paraphrase of that question.

How do I remove the shading on the fillable fields?
The shading is a global option…a toggle that gets turned on or off. When I created the form, I wanted you to always be aware of the fields, so I set the control to Always (on). Here are the Word 2007/2010 steps to change the option to Never (off).

1. Open the form and stop protection so that you can make a change to the form.
2. Click File, and then Options to open the Word Options menu. 
3. Click Advanced, and then scroll down to Show document content.
4. Locate Field shading, and then pick Never from the drop-down menu. 
5. Click OK at the bottom of the dialog to save the change. The shading on fillable fields disappears. The fields are still there but not showing.
6. Start protection again so that your form cannot be changed.

I'll be adding this new post to the Fillable Forms Archive post.

Update to Family Group Sheet Fillable Form

I've had a reader of this blog report a problem. You can't enter a date earlier than 1910 in the form. I've mostly used the form to collect information for and about living people or recently deceased people...most of whom were born after 1910. Therefore, I've never run into the problem.

To get around the problem, I've updated the form. I've turned the date fields into plain text fields so that anyone filling in the form can type the dates in any format. I've added a suggested format (DDMonthYYYY) to the first field; however, I placed no restriction on the field so that other date formats are possible.

In addition, I've added the form to my OneDrive account as a public download. OneDrive is the rebranded SkyDrive account. You should be able to use the SkyDrive download instructions if you need help (http://technology-tamers.blogspot.com/2013/03/fillable-family-group-sheet.html).

Click here to get the latest copy of the family group sheet form.

Here is the full address to the form: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=E8AA5BE5FEB18E27!493&authkey=!ADugQArUckqvDs4&ithint=file%2c.docx

As usual, the form is protected. After you download the form, use the password form to unprotect and edit the form. Remember to start protections again after editing.

If you've been wondering where I've been, it's been a busy time for me.
Aug 2013 Lost my job
Sep 2013 Moved my mother from New Orleans to my home in Florida
Oct, Nov, Dec 2013 Looked for job and got my mother's paperwork done
Jan, Feb 2014 Looked for job...visited every discount mall in Florida with my mother
Mar 2014 Landed a part-time contact job
Apr 2014 Started working again

I'm settling back in. I stand to learn new things at the new job. You always learn new things on each job. So perhaps I'll find more to write about on this blog. In the meantime, please report any problems you run into. I'm sometimes slow, but I do eventually find a bit of time to answer questions.

P.S. Tested the links and maybe you won't use the SkyDrive instructions to download the form. I'm not sure what you'll see. So, if you have problems downloading, please post a comment and I'll do my best to provide an answer.

To select or not select...selecting partial text...

I had the pleasure today of teaching a day long class on using MS Word to execute a template (and all the attendant skills a writer needs) as well as showing the class how to create a template. During the class, when we were talking about getting text from an existing document into an instance of a template, I recommended two ways of adding the text.

Method 1:

1. Select a template to create a new document. 
2. Open the document with the source text. 
3. Highlight the text you want to copy.
4. Copy and paste the text into the instance of the template. 
5. Use Paste Special to paste the text as unformatted text so that you can apply the styles associated with the template. 

Method 2: 

1. Select a template to create a new document. 
2. Place your cursor in the document where you want to add existing text.
3. On the Insert tab in the Text group, select the Object drop-down button. A pop-up menu opens. 
4. Select Text from File. A navigation dialog opens. 
5. Navigate to the file with the text you want to add to the instance of the template, select the file name, and then click the Insert button. All of the text from the selected document flows into the new document you are creating. 

The problem arose in my neat little world when a class member asked this question: Suppose I have a book with ten chapters and I just want to copy the text in chapters three to six. How do I copy just what I want?

I never do this task so I had only the two methods described above to offer as a solution. Another class member offered this nifty bit of instruction.

Method 3: 

1. Open the document with the text you want to copy.
2. Click your cursor before the first word in chapter three.
3. Scroll to the end of chapter six.
4. Hold down the Shift key and click behind the last word in chapter six. Word selects the text from chapters three to six. 
5. Copy the text (Ctrl + C). Word places the text on the clipboard. 
6. Select a template to create a new document.
7. Click your cursor in the location where you want the copied text to appear. 
8. Paste (Ctrl + V) the selected text into the new instance of the template. 

Regardless of how long I use MS Word, I'm constantly learning to do new tasks, which are frequently tasks that I would never have thought of on my own. So here's another example of a place where I had the a class member teach me to do something new. I'm writing about it here in case you have to do this type of task too. 

Click here to go to a list of shortcuts, including selection shortcuts. For the most part, I don't use selection shortcuts but that doesn't mean that you won't find them helpful.