Display time in easy-to-add decimal form, rather than sticking with Excel's

Displaying time exactly the way you want can be tricky—and it gets even more confusing when you'd like the time to display as a decimal. Often decimals work better for timesheets or other projects when you want to be able to add values together to determine how long you've spent on a project. Let's say you have a worksheet displaying the agenda for a business conference. The start and end times of each presentation are in columns C and D and you'd like the durations of each presentation displayed in column E in decimal form (e.g., 1.25 instead of 1:15). If you'd like to follow along, you can download and extract the file agenda.xls from the URL given at the beginning of this tip.

Let us apply the Time number format to the range C6:D13. Cells E6:E13 will have a similar Time format that excludes AM or PM.

To apply a time number format:

1. Choose Format | Cells from the menu bar and select the Number tab, if necessary. (In Excel 2007 or 2010, choose the Home tab, then click Format in the Cells area, then choose Format Cells from the resulting dropdown list.)
2. Select Time from the Category list box, choose a format from the Type list box, and then click OK.

To display time in a decimal format:

1. Select cell E6 and note the formula, which subtracts the start time of the presentation from its end time.
2. Type =(D6-C6)*24 and press [Enter].
3. Select cell E6 again and click and drag the fill handle to copy the formula down to cell E13.

The values don't look correct, but the formatting we do next will set it straight.
To display the new time format correctly:

1. Select the range E6:E13 and press [Ctrl]1 ([command]1 in 2004) to open the Format Cells dialog box.
2. Choose Number from the Category list box and click OK. Now, each presentation's duration displays as a decimal.

To round the values to tenths of an hour:

1. Select the range of values you'd like to format.
2. Click the Decrease Decimal button on the Formatting toolbar. (In 2007 and 2010, this button is in the Number area of the Home tab.)

Just keep in mind that Excel automatically rounds your values when you decrease the number of digits after the decimal point.

Working with the Library

No need to keep your voice down. With the Library panel in Flash Catalyst you can share and import other components made by other Flash Catalyst users quickly and easily. From the Library panel, click the Export Library Package icon or Right-click and select Export Library Package. To import another library use the same controls, but choose Import.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 - Live View navigation tricks

You can now use Live View in CS5 much more like a browser, which is indispensable for designing dynamic applications. For example, you may need to design around a specific view of a WordPress application, like a posting page or search results. Just hold down Command (PC: Ctrl) and click links to get to exactly the view of a dynamic app you'd like. Interact with the JavaScript elements of your interface and then hit F6 to "freeze" any state of your application.

Display Brush presets in a jiffy

When you're using any of the painting tools, you're bound to want to change the brush preset. And when you're focused on your work, you need to know the quickest way to get things done so you don't waste valuable time.

Well, you don't have to move your mouse out of position to display the brush presets at your fingertips. Simply [control]-click (right-click in Windows) wherever your mouse is on the canvas to display the brush preset picker. It's that fast!

Straighten crooked images quickly in Photoshop

Every now and then, you may have to straighten out an image that appears to be crooked. There are a number of ways you can do this. You can, for example, use the Crop or the Rotate tool. However, the fastest and most accurate tool is the Ruler tool. First, select the Ruler tool from the Tools panel. Then, within your image, drag the pointer along a line that you want to be straight.

Next, choose Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary. When the Rotate Canvas dialog box opens, leave the option values set as they are, and then click OK. Photoshop automatically rotates the canvas for you, aligning your image with the line you drew with the tool.

Join me

In Illustrator CS5 you can join any number of paths by simply selecting them all with the Selection tool (V) and pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J)-you no longer need to select just the end points. A second Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) with the path still selected will close the path.

Put mathematical equations at your fingertips

When you're dealing with complicated mathematical equations, trying to duplicate them in any Office program is a challenge. Excel is no exception.

The symbols used in mathematical equations can often make it difficult to include them in a spreadsheet.

Fortunately, Excel offers a few common equations at the click of a button. These equations don't produce results the way that a traditional Excel formula does (they're just text boxes), but they allow you to display a mathematical equation correctly in a worksheet without spending hours hunting for symbols.

To insert a mathematical equation in your spreadsheet:

1. Open your workbook and go to the Insert tab.
2. In the Symbols group, click on the Equation button's dropdown arrow to view the dropdown palette of available common mathematical equations.
3. Select an equation from the palette to place a text box containing the equation in your worksheet.

If the equation you want to create isn't in the Equation button's dropdown palette, you can click the Equation button itself and open the Equation Editor. You'll see a contextual tab that allows you to quickly insert symbols and create structures (brackets, operators, fractions, etc).

Gridified tools

While dragging with a frame tool, tap the arrow keys to start sub-dividing the area you've dragged out into equal parts. The Up/Down Arrows change the number of rows and the Right/Left Arrows change the number of columns. The default amount of space between each frame will automatically be the same as the Gutter value for the current spread (Layout>Margins and Columns).

Using the Spacebar to Adjust Spacing Between Objects

In CS5 or later: Select more than one object and start dragging a side or corner handle. While the mouse button is down, hold down the spacebar and InDesign adjusts the spacing between the objects instead of scaling them.

Just click it to select it in Adobe Fireworks CS5

Fireworks has a simple and powerful selection model. Click on something to select it, regardless of what layer it's on, even if it's grouped. There's no need to dig through your Layers panel to try and find a layer. Use the Pointer tool (V) to select an object or its group, the Select Behind tool (press V again) to click repeatedly and select the next object lower in the stacking order, and the Subselection tool (A) to select an object in a group. Wicked simple, and sure to save you time.

Jumpstart 3D creation from the 3D panel

In Photoshop CS5 Extended, it's easy to get started with 3D creation from the 3D panel (Window>3D). Use Repoussé on text layers, masks, selections, or paths to extrude them to real 3D geometries. Take layers and wrap them around 3D shapes and even open 3D models from third-party content providers directly as a Photoshop 3D layer.

One thing about a virtual machine that's still physical

If you're testing VoIP software on a virtual machine, you may think that the speaker and microphone may be virtual too. However, this is one part of a virtual machine that still needs something physical. For example, when installing Cisco IP Communicator on VMWare, you may receive a message that no audio advice is available. To solve this problem, plug a headset into your computer when the virtual machine is running, so the drivers install on the virtual machine. Also, enable bi-directional audio in your remote desktop connection.

Quick correction shortcuts in IOS

When using the command line, it helps to be able to quickly correct a mistake. Cisco provides shortcuts that allow you to save time by deleting multiple characters at a time.

For example, say the command is correct up to a certain point, and then everything to the end of the line is wrong. Simply position the cursor at the beginning of the incorrect part and type Ctrl-K.

Similarly, if everything from the cursor to the beginning of the line is wrong, you can delete all those characters with Ctrl-U or Ctrl-X.

There are also shortcuts for deleting individual words. Ctrl-W deletes the word to the left of the cursor, and Esc-D deletes the word to the right of the cursor.

Use the Material Drop tool to easily load and drop materials

Material editing workflow is easier now with the 3D Material Drop and 3D Select Material tools in the 3D panel. With the 3D Material Drop tool, Option-click (PC: Alt-click) a material to load it and then click anywhere to drop it to another part of your model, another 3D mesh, or another 3D layer. Use the 3D Select Material tool to help target the right material as indicated by the material picker thumbnail in the 3D panel.

Transform Tricks

Need to make a bunch of frames the same size? Just set the height and width of one of them. Then select the others and choose Object > Transform Again >Transform Sequence Again Individually.

Slicing improvements in Adobe Fireworks CS5

You can now Edit>Copy and Edit>Paste Attributes from one slice to another, saving you time in what can be a tedious workflow. Slice names are now case-sensitive, so changing the case of a letter in the slice name will now change the slice name.

Simple command makes recorded sessions more useful

When troubleshooting or investigating a problem, it can be helpful to record your session. When doing so, logging the current time frequently can help you figure out how what you're seeing as a result of various "show" commands relates to other events that may be happening.

To show the current time from the router's perspective, you can use one of the following commands:

• show clock
• show clock detail

The latter shows additional information such as the clock source and whether daylight savings time is used. If investigating a possible hacking incident, this additional detail may be useful in strengthening the evidence.

Sharing is Caring

When creating multipage sites or applications, you often want the object on the first page to show up on one or more of the other pages. Your first instinct is to copy-and-paste it into the pages where it's needed, but doing that will create multiple copies of the object. To avoid this, Right-click on the object and use the Share to State command to select specific states, or all of them. If you want to remove the object from the state, use Remove from State.

De-Runt Your Paragraphs With a GREP Style

Although you can control quite a few widow and orphan settings with InDesign's Keep Option settings, one problem remains: a too-short last line (sometimes called a "runt"). Let's assume you have a style rule that states the last line of a paragraph must contain at least 10 characters. The following GREP Style trick helps you follow that style.

1. Start by creating a Character Style called "no break" that only has the No Break option enabled.

2. Next, add a new GREP Style to your paragraph style, set the Apply Style pop-up menu to the "no break" character style you created earlier, then enter the following regular expression in the To Text field:

.{10}$ (That's a dot-curly-ten-curly-dollar sign.)

Now any 10 last characters of the paragraph will never be broken.

Improve manageability with network objects

Managing the permissions and rules for resources on the network can be a complex task when you need to make changes. Fortunately, network objects simplify administration by allowing you to group several related resources into one "object." Rules can then be set for the object as a whole. Any change to the settings for the object automatically applies to its members, thus eliminating the need for separate configuration changes to each network resource. Also, by giving network objects logical and understandable names, you can make it easier for new IT staff to learn the network architecture more quickly.

Two of the most commonly used network objects are IP address objects and service objects. IP address objects (also called, simply, "network objects") allow you to group together hosts, subnets, IP ranges, and even fully qualified domain names into a single object. Service objects allow you to group together various services, including the protocols (e.g., TCP, UPD) and the ports used.

When configuring access control lists, you use the "object network" command to define IP address objects and "object service" to define service objects.

To set rules for multiple objects at once, Cisco also allows you to create groups of objects. These are called object groups. To create them, use the "object-group network" and "object-group service" commands.

View links in Bridge and Mini Bridge

If you want to place an image that you used in another InDesign document, go to either Adobe Bridge or the new Mini Bridge panel (Window>Mini Bridge) in InDesign, and navigate to that InDesign file. Right-click on the document thumbnail and choose Show Linked Files. Magically, you'll now see thumbnails of all the placed files inside that InDesign document. Select the item(s) you want to use and drag them into your current document.

Keep your Format Painter active — even after you re-format a range

The Format Painter button offers a great service. It copies the formatting from your selected cell or data range and pastes it onto the next data range you select. You don’t have to format a new area — including font, borders, number formats, etc. — from scratch.

But if you need to use the Format Painter to add your copied formatting to more than one non-contiguous data range, you’ll find yourself wasting time. You probably select the cell with the desired formatting, click the Format Painter button, select one data range for the new formatting, go back to the original cell ... rinse, wash, and repeat.

But here’s an insider tip: You don’t have to go through this time-consuming, back-and-forth process. Just double-click on the Format Painter button. Then every range that you select gets the new formatting — until you click the Format Painter button again to deactivate it. You’ll see that the paintbrush cursor sticks around even after you apply the formatting the first time.

Change your default Save As file type

Not everyone has braved the jump to Excel 2007 or Excel 2010. Some Excel users are holding on tight to their comfortable menu bar instead of learning their way around the new Ribbon interface. It’s understandable. But if you want to share files to someone using the old file type (.xls files from Excel 2003 and earlier), you might have difficulties.

Sure, you can save your Excel files as an .xls file type instead of Excel 2007/2010’s .xlsx file type. But when you save your workbook, the new .xlsx file type is the default. You have to manually change it to the older .xls file type. And who needs something else to remember?

Play it safe and change Excel’s default Save As file type. This way, you’re always saving in a file type that anyone can open—no matter what version of Excel they use.

To change your default Save As file type:

• Click on the File menu and choose Options. (In 2007, click on the Office button and then click the Excel Options button.)
• Choose Save from the left side of the Excel Options dialog box.
• Select Excel 97-2003 Workbook from the Save Files In This Format dropdown list

Work faster with the Roto Brush Tool

When drawing strokes to define a foreground object with the Roto Brush tool (Option-W), begin by drawing broad foreground strokes along the center of the object's features. Next, make at least some rough background strokes on the other side of the object's boundary. Then you can draw a fine stroke along the boundary to attempt to get a precise segmentation.

New DSLR presets

You can now edit the video files from your favorite DSLR natively in Premiere Pro CS5. With a fast USB 2 card reader, you can even edit directly off the camera media. With some cameras all you need is a USB cable connected to the camera-no need to transfer the files for a quick rough cut-just edit!

Removing Lines in Adobe Photoshop CS5

Phone and power lines are the bane of a retoucher's existence. The new Content-Aware Spot Healing in CS5 has fixed this. Here's how: Using the Pen tool (P), add a path to the line; choose the Spot Healing Brush (J) with Content-Aware selected in the Options Bar; change the brush size to two times the width of the wire; and in the Paths panel (Window>Paths), select the path and click the Stroke Path with Brush icon-done!

Dash away all

The new dash adjustment option for strokes will make dashes look as if they were carefully and correctly placed-evenly distributed on a path and cleanly bisecting any corners, even on complex shapes such as a 20-pointed star. To turn this option on, go to the Stroke panel (Window>Stroke), click the Dashed Line checkbox, and select the second icon to the far right: Aligns Dashes to Corners and Path Ends, Adjusting Lengths to Fit. Want to keep that setting turned on for future object creation? Deselect New Art Has Basic Appearance from the Appearance panel's flyout menu (Window>Appearance).

Adobe InDesign CS5 - Auto-Fit

Something every InDesign user learns is that an image in a frame and the frame itself are two separate things. InDesign CS5 introduces a new feature that changes this relationship. Select a frame that has an image in it and enable the new Auto-Fit checkbox in the Control panel. Now when you resize the frame, the image will "go along for the ride" and scale as you change the frame!

Using Negative Text Wrap

If you want text to follow the shape of an object, while overlapping the object too, enter negative values in the Text Wrap panel.

The context sensitive Properties panel

The Properties panel shows the commands and operations that you can use for the current selection. In Fireworks CS5, there are even more context sensitive controls and nice new features: Easily constrain proportions when scaling width and height; a new Gradient Dither option smoothes Linear and Radial gradients; align strokes with a single click; and new Compound Shape options allow easily combining vectors shapes as they're drawn.

Easily access free 3D content online

Download additional free models and materials directly from Photoshop CS5 Extended! Explore the landing page for 3D content from 3D>Browse 3D Content Online. Here you'll find links to popular 3D content providers, additional 3D materials to download, and information on other great 3D resources.

Down to the wire

Flash Catalyst contains numerous wireframe drawing tools and pre-built components that you can use to create interactive wireframes. Pre-built components are fully functioning buttons, scrollbars, checkboxes, and other user interface items that let you quickly mock up the layout of your finished project. You can find these in the Wireframe Components panel.   

Multiple server projects

The revised Site Setup dialog (Site>New Site) not only helps you get started faster, but it also helps to manage projects that span across multiple servers. Say, for example, your client wants to check everything out on a staging server, but you need to also use both your local machine's Web server as a local environment and a shared team server for your day-to-day work. Just create a new server for each part of your workflow, and then at any point in the project, choose which is your active testing (development) server and which is your remote (publishing) server. Easy!

There's a RAM preview for every occasion

You can specify two sets of RAM preview options in the Preview panel: RAM Preview Options and Shift+RAM Preview Options. For example, you can set RAM Preview Options for full frame rate and full resolution, and set Shift+RAM Preview Options to skip one out of every two frames and preview at half resolution. To preview using Shift+RAM Preview Options, hold Shift as you initiate a RAM preview. Press Option (PC: Alt) while initiating a RAM preview to preview a specified number of frames up to and including the current frame. The default number of frames previewed with this command is five. The preference for changing this number is in the Alternate RAM Preview section of the Preview preferences.

Pick Up Where You Left Off

To activate the last-used field in the last-used panel,
press Command+Option+~/Ctrl+Alt+~ [tilde]. For
example, if you entered a value in the Weight field
of the Stroke panel, you can use this shortcut to
reactivate the Weight field and change the stroke
weight. It even works if you have since selected a
different object.

Box model beauty

You can now get rich details about how your layout is hanging together with CSS Inspect. Click the Inspect button at the top of your document window, and hover over areas in Live View. The CSS Styles panel will update in real time with the properties of your selection, and you'll get a visual overlay showing your selection's current border, margin and padding settings, and how they affect the elements around them.

Drag clip to make new sequence

From the Project panel, drag any clip to the New Item icon at the bottom of the panel and release. This will automatically create a sequence with the correct editing mode (RED, AVCHD, DVCPRO, XDCAM, and so on). This is my personal favorite new user interface tip.

Assign Categories To Calendar Entries For Easy Reading

If your calendar is filled with not only your work tasks, but also your personal appointments and your boss's meetings, you may look at it and wonder what you're supposed to do next. 

If you're using Microsoft Outlook, you can assign categories to your appointments and then choose to view only one category at a time. 

To add a category to a calendar item in Microsoft Outlook:

1. Click on the Calendar icon in the Navigation Pane (click on the Calendar folder in the Folder List in 2000 and 2002).
2. Launch a new Meeting or Appointment form, or double-click on an existing event to open it.
3. Click the Categories button at the bottom of the form.
4. Select the appropriate check box from the Available Categories list box, or enter a custom category in the Item(s) Belong To These Categories list box, and then click the Add To List button.
5. Click OK to close the Categories dialog box.

To display your calendar by a category:

1. Click on the Calendar icon in the Navigation Pane (click on the Calendar folder in the Folder List in 2000 and 2002).
2. Choose View | Arrange By | Current View | Customize Current View from the Outlook menu bar (View | Current View | Customize Current View in 2000 and 2002).
3. In the Customize View dialog box (View Summary in 2000 and 2002), click the Filter button.
4. Click on the More Choices tab in the Filter dialog box.
5. Click the Categories button. Then, select the category that you'd like to print from the Available Categories list box.
6. Click OK three times to return to the Calendar.

Make The Best Use Of Worksheet Hyperlinks

When you think of worksheet hyperlinks, you probably think of website links. There's another great use for hyperlinks in your workbook that you might not use to its full potential: internal links. You can create a hyperlink that takes you to another location within the same workbook when you click on it.

For example, if your workbook contains an Overview worksheet, which refers to more detailed data in other worksheets within the same workbook, you might want to allow users to quickly jump to that data.

To create an internal hyperlink:

• Launch Excel and open the workbook to which you want to add an internal hyperlink. 
• Select the cell you want to make your hyperlink. 
• Choose Insert | Hyperlink from the menu bar or press [Ctrl][K] to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box. 
• Click the Place In This Document icon on the left. 
• Specify the text you want the linked cell to display in the Text To Display text box. 
• Enter a cell reference for your hyperlink destination in the Type The Cell Reference text box and choose a worksheet from the list box. Note that any named ranges in the workbook are also available as hyperlink destinations. 
• Click OK to create the hyperlink. 

Now when a user clicks on the cell that contains the specified text, the active cell jumps to your specified destination.

Taper Strokes

The Width tool (Shift-W) lets you drag strokes wider or narrower on any part of a path. You can add multiple width points to go wide to narrow to wide again. The Width tool is easy-to-use, but don't let that stop you from exploring all the functionality possible with this tool via shortcuts. For example, pressing the Option (PC: Alt) key while dragging will allow you to create an asymmetrical stroke width.

Four ways to exit configuration mode

Cisco IOS gives you four ways to exit configuration mode back to privileged EXEC mode: Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-C, and the "end" and "exit" commands. At first, these methods may appear similar, but there are some important differences regarding which ones to use.

"Exit" is a little different from the other commands in that it returns you back to whatever mode you were in before. This means that only in global configuration mode does it return you to privileged EXEC; in other configuration modes, it returns you to the previous configuration mode. In contrast, the other commands allow you to jump all the way out of any configuration mode back to privileged EXEC.

The difference between Ctrl-Z and using either "end" or Ctrl-C is that Ctrl-Z first adds the command to the left of the cursor to the configuration, so it's equivalent to pressing the Enter key and then using the "end" command. This can be a way to minimize keystrokes. However, to avoid accidentally adding a command to the configuration, you may want to be careful about getting in the habit of always using Ctrl-Z. Hence, Ctrl-C could be viewed as a safer shortcut.

Check this security setting if some PCs can't connect

Sometimes, you may find that a few PCs are able to connect to a switch or router, but every other PC that tries to connect after that is unable to get an IP address. Such problems can be mystifying, because the device appears to be working, but not for everyone.

A common reason for such problems is the port security configuration. Port security can be configured to limit the number of hosts allowed to connect to a port. This prevents rogue devices from connecting. Unfortunately, not being aware that this setting had been applied earlier could produce this baffling result.

Quick Fix for InDesign CS5 Button Glitch

A known issue in InDesign Creative Suite (CS) 5 has to do with the new Live Corners feature. You may find that this feature does not present itself quite the way it is supposed to when working with rectangular interactive buttons.

Live Corners lets you apply corner effects to rectangular frames and edit the radius of each corner together or individually using the small, yellow diamond shapes that appear on a frame when it is selected.

When working with rectangular interactive buttons, however, the initial small, yellow box you need to click in order to access the corner diamonds is nowhere to be seen.

As a workaround, simply double click the button to activate the small, yellow box and then click the small, yellow box to activate the four yellow diamonds in the corners of the button.

Use these yellow diamonds to edit the corners of your button. For example:

• To adjust the radii of all four corners together, drag one of the diamonds toward the center of the frame.
• To adjust a single corner, [shift]-drag the diamond associated with the corner you want to edit.
• To cycle through the various corner effects, [option]-click ([Alt]-click in Windows) a yellow diamond.

Retouch unwanted spots from your photos quickly with Photoshop's Blur tool

Have you ever had to do a quick photo retouch, such as removing dust or a blemish? If so, we have a great technique for you. The next time you have an image with a mark you'd like to remove, select the Blur tool from the Tools panel. In the tool Options bar, set the tool's Strength to about 35% and then change the Mode pop-up menu to Lighten. Now, paint the unwanted spot until it's gone.

Streamlined Video Workflows

You can now preview your video live on the Stage. As soon as you import a video you'll see a preview of the first frame. Right-click on the video to play, pause, and rewind. If a skin was used to add playback controls then you'll be able to use them on the Stage, as well. This is especially helpful if you're working with video assets that have alpha transparency. You can also add and view cue points in the Properties panel while previewing the video.

Don't forget to count these in your network

Intermittent network problems affecting only some computers on the network can be frustrating to diagnose. That's exactly what can happen if you have too many devices on the network for your ASA license.

A common mistake is to count only the computers, rather than all the devices on the network. Printers and other network devices also have IP addresses, so don't forget to count them when you're figuring how many licenses you need.

Because it's so easy to make this mistake, be wary of accepting someone else's word that there are only so many hosts on the network; take careful inventory so you can prevent any network licensing problems from developing.

Use debug wisely

When troubleshooting a router problem, sometimes "show" commands don't give you all the information you need. For more detailed information, Cisco has a series of "debug" commands which you can see by typing "debug ?".

Unfortunately, "debug" commands carry some risks when used on a production network, since they take up a lot of resources, and since routers give them priority over other tasks.

Therefore, it's very important to remember to turn debugging off when you're done, such as with the "no debug" command. Similarly, if the network is mysteriously slow, you can type "show debug" to check if a debugging command left on might be the reason.

Also, avoid the temptation to issue multiple debug commands at once, or to issue the "debug all" command (which risks overwhelming the server). Because debugging has an impact on router speed, one kind of debug command can influence the results in another kind, making it more difficult to get to the root of the problem. Hence, issuing the commands at different times is more effective.

Change the ruler's measurement units for comfortable form and report design in MS Access

The ruler is a great way to ensure that your reports print accurately or your form controls are right where you want them. However, you may not know exactly what measurement units Access' ruler indicates. If you're more comfortable with the metric system (centimeters instead of inches), you can adjust your ruler permanently. Or, if you have Access 2003, you can simply input measurements in your preferred unit.

To change the ruler's units of measurement:

• Access your Windows Control Panel, which you can usually find on the Start menu. 
• Double-click on the Regional And Language Options icon. If you're using Windows XP's Category view, just click on Date, Time, Language, And Regional Options and then click on Regional And Language Options. 
• In the Regional And Language Options dialog box, select the Regional Options tab, if necessary. 
• Click the Customize button to display the Customize Regional Options dialog box. 
• Select the Numbers tab, if necessary. 
• Choose either U.S. or Metric from the Measurement System dropdown list and click OK to apply it. 

Of course, since the ruler is based on the Windows regional settings, this means that the change from one measurement system to another affects your entire operating system.

• In Access 2003, if you want to enter measurements in a different unit, but you don't want to make the change permanent, you can do so. For instance, follow these quick steps to set a report's left margin to six centimeters: 
• Choose File | Page Setup from the menu bar. 
• Click on the Margins tab, if necessary. 
• In the Margins (Inches) panel, type 6cm in the Left text box and press [Enter]. 

When you press the [Enter] key, Access automatically converts the six centimeters into its equivalent inches, since our operating system is set to the U.S. measurement system. If you're using the metric system as your default, you can perform the same automatic conversion by typing the text in after your measurement. Access converts the measurement from centimeters to inches.

Adapt for Access 2010: To adjust a report's margins, use the Page Setup contextual tab, which is part of the Report Design Tools. In the Page Layout Area, click on Page Setup.

Alphanumeric data sorting made easy

Alphanumeric data consist of a combination of both letters and numbers. If you often use alphanumeric data in your worksheets, such as product codes, customer IDs, and case numbers, it's easy to get frustrated when you attempt to sort. With a good understanding of how Excel sorts alphanumeric data, you'll find it much easier to analyze your data after you've sorted.

Excel sorts alphanumeric data from left to right, character by character, using the following ascending sort order:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 space ! " # $ % & ( ) * , . / : ; ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~ + < = > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

For example, in an ascending sort, Alpha5 precedes Alpha6, M106 precedes N50, and beta@example.com precedes betaz@sample.com.

In addition, Excel ignores apostrophes (') and hyphens (-) when sorting. However, if two entries are identical but one contains a hyphen, Excel sorts the hyphenated entry after the entry without a hyphen.

Make your image pop with an outside glow

When drop shadows don't offer enough contrast, try a glow instead. Soft drop shadows often fade into dark backgrounds, but an Outer Glow might be just what you need to add impact to your image and make it "pop" . It's quick and easy to do with a layer style.

To add a glow to your image:

1. Remove the background from around your object as you normally would.
2. Click on the Add A Layer Style button at the base of the Layers panel, and select Outer Glow from the pop-up menu.
3. Set the color of the glow to white and adjust the Spread and Size to suit your needs.
4. Click OK when you're done.

Save your selections often to save yourself time

If you took some time to create a complex selection, it's a good idea to save that selection in case you need to reference it again. The common technique is to choose Select > Save Selection, and save and name your selection through the Save Selection dialog box. This adds a new channel to your image masking out everything but the area you defined as a selection.

However, for a much quicker way to save your selection for your current document only, you can go right to the Channels panel. 

To save your selection through the Channels Panel:

1. Choose Window > Channels to view your Channels panel if it isn't open already.
2. Click the Save Selection As A Channel button at the base of the Channels panel. This creates a new alpha channel with your selection.
3. Double-click on the word Alpha (or Alpha 1, Alpha 2, etc. depending on which alpha channel this new selection is in your document) and rename the channel if desired.

Note: As we mentioned before, this saves a selection for use in your current document only. If you wish to save your selection for use in another document, you'll have to choose Select > Save Selection and set your options in the Save Selection dialog box. 

When you need the selection again, access it by choosing Select > Load Selection, or quickly load it in with a keyboard command. To load it with a keyboard command, choose one of the following options:

• [command]-click ([Ctrl]-click in Windows) on the alpha channel in the Channels panel to load the selection.
• Press [command][option] ([Ctrl][Alt] in Windows) in conjunction with the channel number, such as [command][option]5 ([Ctrl][Alt]5 in Windows) to load a selection from channel 5.

Control your access control lists better with line numbers

Order is crucial in access control lists. Access control entries (ACEs) only affect privileges that haven't been explicitly granted or denied. This increases efficiency by preventing the full list from having to be read unnecessarily. However, it can cause headaches when you need to revise the list.

Fortunately, there's a line number feature which allows you to insert a new ACE into the proper place without having to completely remove and reapply the access control list. When you specify the line number for a new ACE, the line numbers for all existing ACEs with that number or greater are incremented upward by 1 (e.g., shifted further down the list). 

To specify the line number, simply put "line" and the desired number after the ID for the access list, as in this example: 
access-list access_in line 1 extended deny tcp any host 192.168.1.0 eq www

Notice that the same syntax is displayed when you issue the "show access-list" command, indicating the actual line numbers for each ACE, whether or not you specified line numbers originally.

Playback/Pause resolution settings

You can adjust the resolution of playing or paused assets. Right-click the Source or Playback Monitor, select Playback or Pause Resolution, and then choose Full, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16. This gives more control over monitoring experience. For example, with higher resolution footage, you can set Playback Resolution to a lower value for smooth playback (e.g., 1/2), and set the Pause Resolution to Full. This allows you to quickly check the quality of focus or edge details when playback is paused.

Content-Aware Fill

From fixing gaps in a panorama to removing unwanted objects, the new Content-Aware Fill (CAF) feature delivers amazing results, but there are a few tricks to know. Ask the possible-CAF does a great job with reproducible patterns: Sky, sand, grass, stone, etc.; less so with man-made objects. When in doubt, use a small selection and try running it and re-running it; each pass will likely get you closer. Sometimes expanding a selection will help dramatically. No matter what the result, CAF will get you further and faster than ever before.

Assign Categories To Calendar Entries For Easy Reading

If your calendar is filled with not only your work tasks, but also your personal appointments and your boss's meetings, you may look at it and wonder what you're supposed to do next. 

If you're using Microsoft Outlook, you can assign categories to your appointments and then choose to view only one category at a time. 

To add a category to a calendar item in Microsoft Outlook:

1. Click on the Calendar icon in the Navigation Pane (click on the Calendar folder in the Folder List in 2000 and 2002).
2. Launch a new Meeting or Appointment form, or double-click on an existing event to open it.
3. Click the Categories button at the bottom of the form.
4. Select the appropriate check box from the Available Categories list box, or enter a custom category in the Item(s) Belong To These Categories list box, and then click the Add To List button.
5. Click OK to close the Categories dialog box.

To display your calendar by a category:

1. Click on the Calendar icon in the Navigation Pane (click on the Calendar folder in the Folder List in 2000 and 2002).
2. Choose View | Arrange By | Current View | Customize Current View from the Outlook menu bar (View | Current View | Customize Current View in 2000 and 2002).
3. In the Customize View dialog box (View Summary in 2000 and 2002), click the Filter button.
4. Click on the More Choices tab in the Filter dialog box.
5. Click the Categories button. Then, select the category that you'd like to print from the Available Categories list box.
6. Click OK three times to return to the Calendar.

Make The Best Use Of Worksheet Hyperlinks

When you think of worksheet hyperlinks, you probably think of website links. There's another great use for hyperlinks in your workbook that you might not use to its full potential: internal links. You can create a hyperlink that takes you to another location within the same workbook when you click on it.

For example, if your workbook contains an Overview worksheet, which refers to more detailed data in other worksheets within the same workbook, you might want to allow users to quickly jump to that data.

To create an internal hyperlink:

1. Launch Excel and open the workbook to which you want to add an internal hyperlink.
2. Select the cell you want to make your hyperlink.
3. Choose Insert | Hyperlink from the menu bar or press [Ctrl][K] to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.
4. Click the Place In This Document icon on the left.
5. Specify the text you want the linked cell to display in the Text To Display text box.
6. Enter a cell reference for your hyperlink destination in the Type The Cell Reference text box and choose a worksheet from the list box. Note that any named ranges in the workbook are also available as hyperlink destinations.
7. Click OK to create the hyperlink.

Now when a user clicks on the cell that contains the specified text, the active cell jumps to your specified destination.

Revealing Missing Fonts with the Story Editor

If you search for a missing font with Find Font, but you can't see the text on the page, hit Cancel (to close Find Font) and then open Story Editor. The cursor will be highlighting the problem text.

Export frame from Source and Program Monitors

The Export Frame buttons in the Source and Program Monitors offer a rapid frame export workflow that bypasses the Adobe Media Encoder. Position the playhead at the desired location in a clip or sequence and click the Export Frame button. In the Export Frame dialog name the exported frame, choose a file format, and browse to a location for saving the exported still image to disk.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 - Sharpen as it should be

Following in the footsteps of the updates in CS4 to the old Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools, CS5 features a new logic for the Sharpen tool. Now pressure-sensitive, brush-based sharpening is more powerful and less destructive (no artifacts). Just select Protect Details and the Tablet Pressure options in the Options Bar. In fact, this is the most sophisticated sharpening algorithm in Photoshop!

FXG export: Adobe Flash Professional CS5

You can export a selection or the entire Stage using a new file format called FXG. This format offers improved fidelity as well as compatibility with Illustrator, Fireworks, Flash Catalyst, and Flash Builder. Simply select Export Image or Export Selection from File>Export.

Draw a triangle in Adobe Illustrator

How do you make a triangle? Some people do it with the Pen tool (P), others by creating a square and deleting an anchor point. The fastest way to draw a triangle is with the Polygon tool (nested with the Rectangle tool [M]). While drawing a polygon, hit the Down Arrow key on your keyboard multiple times to reduce the number of sides.

Grid Place for multipage documents

It's now possible to place pages from a multipage PDF, INDD, Illustrator file, etc. as a grid. In the Place dialog (File>Place), enable the checkboxes for Show Import Options and Create Static Captions, and then navigate to your multipage file. Choose the range of pages you want to place in the next dialog and click OK. With the loaded Place cursor, drag out an area for your grid, subdivide the area into columns and rows using the arrow keys, and then release the mouse button to place the pages.

Mobile authoring and Adobe Device Central integration

Fireworks is a screen graphics design application and can be used to create optimized graphics for any device. With the explosion of mobile devices, set-top boxes and proprietary electronic devices, there are more screens in the world now than ever, with no signs of slowing down. Fireworks CS5 designs can easily be previewed with Adobe Device Central. 

Experimental CSS Design

In Dreamweaver CS5, experimenting with CSS-based layouts is even easier. Hover over the left margin of your current rule selection in the CSS Styles panel to see the new CSS Enable/Disable feature. Click the "no" icon to disable a particular rule, and again to enable it. Aren't happy with the results? Right-click the rule and choose Enable All Disabled in Selected Rule to get everything back to where you started. Things looking great? Go ahead and Right-click the rule and choose Delete All Disabled in Selected Rule to clean up those comments in your code.

Quick and Easy Duotone Effects in InDesign

Here's how to create a super-easy and effective fake duotone effect.

1. Place a color image.

2. Select the image with the Selection tool.

3. Apply a fill color.

4. Select the image inside the frame, and use the Effects panel to apply the Luminosity blend mode.

Let After Effects handle the math

Most text fields for input of numerical values in After Effects will perform basic calculations for you. For example, you can enter 1920/2 to set a property to half of 1920. After Effects will do the math for you and set the property value to 960.

12 Most Winning Customer Service Skills to Create Loyalty

A world-class customer service experience is more about doing the basics we know in customer service, it requires us to change who we are, in order to deliver an exceptional service experience. The big question is can customer service skills create customer loyalty?

Customers today are more knowledgeable than ever. They know what they want and demand the very best from us each and every time. Successful organizations with massive customer loyalty know it takes more than just being polite to keep customers coming back. They understand that the service they give to customers is a reflection of who they are.

Leadership tips for team leader

We’ve all been there: the point in our careers where all of a sudden we’re presented with the chance to lead a team. We’ve earned it through blood, sweat, tears plus our skill and will are both ready, willing and able. When it actually does happen, many of us do have a moment of abject fear.

Some suggest reading books. Sure – there are a bunch of great leadership and management books out there and one of Parissa’s personal favorites is Marshall Goldsmith’s “What Got You Hear Won’t Get You There”. As great as those books are, we find that hearing personal anecdotes of what works and why can be helpful. There’s something about people just like us sharing stories that reduces psychological distance and gives us courage to press on.

With that, we’re sharing with you some of the things we’ve used when leading teams and why they are favorites of ours. We know that you have many other useful tips and we can’t wait to learn from you.

A Key to Effective Leadership

There’s a significant difference in creating an environment where excellence is expected, where excellence is required. In the first case, not only to create expectations of the organization of excellence, but the efforts of the team for the more “pressure” has all the rush to set standards of excellence.

Target lights with a simple click!

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended tips- 

Easily position lights now in Photoshop CS5 Extended by using a keyboard shortcut. With a 3D Light tool active, select the light widget that you want to reposition, and then Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on the 3D object to select the new target of the light.

Linking it up in Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5

When working with larger bitmap graphics, you can set them up as external linked images to keep your Flash Catalyst project file size small. You can also make changes to these linked files after the project is published without reopening the project in Flash Catalyst. Convert an embedded bitmap image to a linked image by selecting it and setting it in the HUD, or Right-click on the image in the Library panel.

Take a shortcut when filling in an item with color

Photos are always nice, but not always necessary. When your layout calls for something simpler, like clip art,

you can easily fill an image with color to create the sort of effect. There are a few ways you can accomplish this but they’re not equally efficient.

To fill a selection with color using a keyboard shortcut:

1. Select the area you want to fill with color. (There are many ways to select pixels; the tool you use depends on the image.) You don’t need to select a vector shape, just select its shape layer.
2. Click on the Set Foreground Color box in the Tools panel to open the Color Picker.
3. Choose a fill color and click OK.
4. Press [option][shift][delete]([Alt][Shift][Backspace] in Windows). The selected area (or shape) is instantly filled with the foreground color.

Change a font to bold when a bold style doesn’t exist in Photoshop

Sometimes an installed font doesn’t have a bold style of

its normal face. Perhaps it wasn’t designed with one or
it simply wasn’t purchased with the main font. A simple
workaround is to use the Faux Bold option in the Character panel. To use the option, first choose the Horizontal Type tool from the Tools panel, and highlight the text you want to change. Next, click the Faux Bold button located at the bottom-left of the Character panel. Your text takes on a bold appearance, which can be removed by click the Faux button again.

Change your ruler measurements easily

Have you ever opened a new document and started working on a project and realized your ruler was set to inches rather than pixels or vise versa? To change the measurements quickly, press [ctrl] (right-click in Windows) and click directly on one of your rulers. Upon doing so a pop-up menu will be displayed with a list of measurements for you to choose from.

If you're in a huge rush, just double-click on a ruler and the Preferences dialog box for Units And Rulers will be displayed. Then you can select the desired measurement from the Rulers pop-up menu.

I saved over my original

Have you ever made changes to an original and then accidentally saved over it without making a backup copy? Well, if this sounds vaguely familiar, then we've got some good news for future accidents. To recover your original image, just go to the History panel and click on the opening snapshot to make it active. Then click on the Create New Document From Current State button at the base of the panel. Upon doing so, your original image will be displayed in a new document ready for you to press Save.

Now to go back to your other image and pick up where you left off, just go to the History panel and click on the last History State listed. It's a life saver!

How remote users can be better noticed

Cisco has been at the forefront of making telecommuting work easier and more effective. While Cisco's own studies have shown a significant trend toward telecommuting, there's also a downside: According to a study published in the MIT Sloan Management Review (http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/2012-summer/53407/why-showing-your-face-at-work-matters/), remote workers may miss out on raises and promotions, because of the subconscious positive evaluations managers make when they see people putting time in and working hard at the office.

The article noted some common strategies that remote workers may use to make up for this effect:

• Sending regular status reports
• Being more visible when at the office
• Responding to any messages immediately
• Getting to know many different people at the company and mentioning what one is working on
• Sending emails or phone messages outside of regular work hours

From a technological point of view, taking advantage of video conferencing technology and features such as Cisco Unified Presence may also help remote workers to be more successfully integrated with their organizations and better recognized for their achievements.

A free tool to debug and fiddle with Internet traffic

Successfully debugging Internet traffic problems requires being able to see what's really happening in the HTTP and HTTPS traffic to and from the user agents.

While developer tools in Firefox and Chrome can help, another free tool you can use to debug Internet traffic is Fiddler. Fiddler logs all HTTP and HTTPS traffic, letting you inspect it, set breakpoints, and experiment on the data going through. You can also write scripts for Fiddler using .NET.

Fiddler can be used for debugging problems experienced with browsers on computers or other devices, as well custom applications connecting to the Internet.