Peggy Duncan's Suite Minute blog. Computer tips and tricks that make work easy.

I wanted to create a postcard-size announcement about my new book, Conquer Email Overload with Better Habits, Etiquette, and Outlook 2007. As usual, PowerPoint was the answer. I first resized the PowerPoint slide, changed the background, and added my art elements and text. Then with one of my favorite applications, Image Exporter, I was able [...]

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I was recently interviewed by Geetesh Bajaj, a Microsoft PowerPoint MVP and administrator of the popular Website, Indezine. We reconnected at a recent PowerPoint conference and he was there during my keynote, Shameless Self Promotion. This interview is a result of that and I thought you might enjoy it.
The Interview
In this discussion, Peggy discusses her [...]

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In a previous post, I explained how I use PowerPoint for all of my graphics projects. A designer will laugh at this because they probably use software such as PhotoShop to handle complex projects. Well, I don’t know PhotoShop well enough to whip out something fast, but I know just about everything that PowerPoint can [...]

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Use your brain for thinking; not for remembering
- Peggy Duncan
As you go through the day acknowledging due dates or making commitments and promises, always ask yourself: “How am I going to remember this?” Then put some type of external cues in place that will trigger the action.

You probably already use a to do list, tickler [...]

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When I buy new gadgets and gizmos, I read the how-to booklets and also look for more tips on the Web. I purchased the BlackBerry 8820 over a year ago, and in addition to setting up my laptop to use it as a modem (tether), here are some other things I learned and changes I’ve [...]

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Have you ever tried to block justify your paragraphs (make your right margin even) in a Word document and ended up with an amateurish look of too much space between words? Try this instead.

Select the text you want to block justify.

Right-click on the text, and click Paragraph.

On the Indents and Spacing tab, click [...]

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In addition to my traditional books, I also sell two ebooks on my Website. Digital products are a breeze to sell, especially when you store them on a site like PayLoadz. My customers purchase the book on my Website via PayPal with any major credit card. Before they can blink, an email shows up with [...]

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I’ve read several stories that report how President-Elect Barack Obama, like so many other people, is addicted to his BlackBerry. I’m sure he feels torn right now at the thought of having to give it up once he enters the White House. But I think he’s going to feel so much better once he gets [...]

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I was in a meeting recently with a group of solopreneurs. We pulled up each other’s blog and talked about each one. The most important thing I walked away with was this: since the purpose of my blog is to share helpful information and not about making money from ads, I should create Web banners [...]

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A financial planner sent me a letter that went into the trash the instant I opened it…without even blinking. Here’s why:

The letter was typed using the Comic Sans typeface. The typeface you select for your business correspondence should reflect the type of business you’re in. If you’re running a daycare center, a playful font like [...]

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Know any meeting planners? Send them this link.
I just bought a new laptop (more on that later). It gave me the power I needed to use Camtasia to update/edit a marketing video I’d created earlier.
In a previous post, I talked about how the Movavi Video Converter was the only software I found that was able [...]

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I just finished a training/consulting session with three officers from the US Air Force. It was so invigorating to work with this small team on their laptops with their own work. Each one had work they dreaded doing, and I was charged with helping them find a better way (my specialty).
After asking all the right, [...]

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I haven’t upgraded to the 2007 version of the Microsoft(R) Office Suite and don’t plan to anytime soon. (I will when I start getting training requests for it…hasn’t happened yet, and I’m glad.)
If you’re using the 2007 version, the new design could be slowing you down. It’s a brand new look and will take some [...]

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Have you ever needed to email the entire contents of a computer folder? It’s easy with Windows XP or above.

Right-click the Start button, click Explore. Find the folder you want to email.
Right-click the folder, Send To, Compressed (zipped) folder. All of the folder’s contents will be compressed into a single file (don’t worry, when it’s [...]

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This question came from a Computer Magic seminar attendee. I don’t provide technical support, but when I can answer something quickly, I will (but don’t get any ideas about sending me your problems…OK?).
“In Word, if I highlight text, it wont’ let me delete by just hitting the delete button. It puts a message in the [...]

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Take your ebook (or booklet) to another level. I’ve seen so many that are downright tacky. If you’re going to do this, do it right. Make your ebook easy on the eyes…a pleasure to read.
Here are some ideas:
Before You Create the PDF (Adobe Acrobat full version has the most functionality and is worth every penny).

Use [...]

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I’ve set up various ways to quickly get to documents I work with a lot. One way is by adding folders to the Places bar (it’s the bar on the left of this dialog box (under Look in:) that appears when you click the Open toolbar button (or click Ctrl+O) inside your favorite software.
It’s easy [...]

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A question that came up in my Computer Magic! seminar at the Affordable Meetings conference in Chicago was about emailing a single Excel worksheet instead of the entire workbook.

Here is a method that will be faster than clicking File, Save As, renaming the workbook, and deleting what you don’t want to send.

RIGHT-click on the tab [...]

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By default, PowerPoint will output a jpeg at 96dpi (click the File menu, Save As, and choose jpeg as the type). This is fine for the Web, but not for printing. In most cases, you’ll need at least 300dpi.
To create high resolution jpgs, you have two choices…fiddle with the registry and change it, or invest [...]

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I just finished an interesting project using PowerPoint. In an earlier post, I talked about how to save PowerPoint slides as pictures. I do this a lot when I create the photo gallery for my Website. And I’m finding other uses for this tip.
I’m creating a DVD using some great video footage from a PBS [...]

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You can use PowerPoint to create a postcard, ad, or brochure you want to email, place on your Website, or print. One of my favorite things to do is create snazzy photo albums for my Website and email ads I send in Outlook to promote my training. I don’t know enough about PhotoShop to create [...]

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If you’re ever working on a PowerPoint presentation and notice that the file seems to get bigger for no reason, try this.

Click File, Properties, General tab to see how large your file is. Close the dialog box.
You can reduce the file size by up to 50 percent by resaving it under a different name. Click [...]

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