I love the new ribbon interface that’s available in the Microsoft Office 2007 system. Part of the reason for that is that I wasn’t too much of an excessively experienced user of the various applications.

If you were an experienced user then you’ve probably spent time looking for one of the controls and features. Sometimes they’ve put them where you would expect them, other times you’re looking and looking until you finally find them in a toolbar that doesn’t quite make sense to most people.

Now you can see all the toolbars at once. Just click on the image below to see the full-sized version and all the toolbars at once.

Post from: EveryJoe

All of Excel 2007 Toolbars

The other common use of a flow chart in business is for putting together an organizational chart for an organization. Listing employees and lines of reporting between individuals can be a helpful little guide.

The challenge is that not everyone may have a program like Microsoft Visio in your office that you can use to put together a flow chart. It is highly likely that you and just about everyone else in your office will have Microsoft Excel though.

The 3rd party application, "FlowBreeze" from BreezeTree Software gives you the ability to build flowcharts within and share them with Microsoft Excel.

FlowBreeze is a Microsoft® Excel® add-in that automates the flowcharting process by converting your text into flowcharts. FlowBreeze lets you create flowcharts by just typing. You simply type in each flowchart step, and press <Enter>. The text is replaced by a flow chart symbol. Formatting is applied, symbols are aligned, and a connector is added automatically.

The FlowBreeze software works with versions of Excel going back to Office 2000 running on Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 2000. You can download a 30-day trial version of the software to give it a try. All the features are available in the trial. After that you can either purchase the basic version of the software for $39.95 or the standard version for $59.95.

Post from: EveryJoe

FlowBreeze Brings Flowcharts Into Excel

You’ve got about 3 more days to get a copy of Microsoft Office Home and Student version for $99.99.

The original price is $149.95, but you get a discount before checkout. The order form defaults to including a software license lockbox feature for $14.99, but you can take that off and get your price down to $99.

Purchase Office Home and Student 2007 for $99.99 here.

Image: Promotion product email from Microsoft

Post from: EveryJoe

4 Days to Get Office Home and Student for $100

Image: Microsoft Tips and Tricks Special Delivery website

Are you still adjusting to the Office 2007 Ribbon? What about just touching the surface of some of the features and resources that are available to you in a variety of Microsoft software applications?

Microsoft has a Tips and Tricks Special Delivery Newsletter that’s loaded with some helpful and handy suggestions for how to get more done with the Microsoft products you’re already using everyday.

Here are some of the ones I’ve enjoyed recently:

• Customize the default Word template – always use narrow margins, Arial font, double-spaced paragraphs? Then this tip is for you.
• Preview PowerPoint slide – show in edit mode – handy for when you’re making small adjustments and want to see exactly how the finished slide will look
• Smarter Navigation in Word – would you rather scroll up and down by heading instead of pages? This tip shows you how.
• Save Commonly Used Tables – do you present the same types of table data in your documents over and over? This tip shows you how to save your table settings and quickly insert them into future documents.

These are just some of the tips that have been delivered into my Inbox over the last few weeks. You can get tips on Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Access, Microsoft OneNote and more. I normally keep them handy in a folder and look for them if I ever forget something in the future. They’ve come in very handy.

To sign-up to receive the Microsoft Tips and Tricks Special Delivery Newsletter just click the link and follow the instructions provided.

Post from: EveryJoe

Microsoft Provides Some Great Tips

In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV)

Did you know Microsoft had an astronaut in their ranks? Well, maybe not an astronaut, but Charles Simonyi who helped develop the word processing behemoth that is Microsoft Word was recently launched to the International Space Station in a Russion made spaceship.

Simonyi, 58, lives in the United States where he amassed a fortune through his work with computer software, including helping to develop Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

Not just a space tourist, Simonyi has basically invented the first, galactic Meals-on-Wheels program by bringing with him a gourmet meal chosen by Martha Stewart to be shared with the space station crew on Russia’s Cosmonaut Day. He’ll also be doing some experiments while on board as well.

Update: After reading the complete entry about Charles Simonyi on Wikipedia, the connection to Martha Stewart has risen to the surface. Charles and Martha are currently dating!

Simonyi was bringing with him a sample of the paper computer tapes that he used decades ago when he first learned programming on a bulky Soviet machine called Ural-2.

While at the space station, Simonyi will be conducting a number of experiments, including measuring radiation levels and studying biological organisms inside the lab.

I can’t even comprehend the amount of money it would take to finance your own trip to outerspace like this. Totally amazing!

Full story: Space capsule carrying U.S. mogul docks

Post from: EveryJoe

Ex-Microsoft Employee Now an Astronaut – Charles Simonyi