From time immemorial Windows has come with it’s classic Notepad app.  Few users bother with it anymore, thanks to the proliferation of Microsoft Word and the free alternatives, both desktop and web based.  There are also countless competitors to Notepad itself that provide the simple text editing, but a better interface and a few more options.  When Microsoft introduced the ribbon interface to Office 2007, and now Office 2010, the original Notepad started to feel a bit dated.

Windows Notepad isn’t going away, though.  There are still enough users who favor it’s simple design and interface to keep it around.  There are also those Notepad users who want to get that more up-to-date feeling, and for them we found Notepad 7.

Notepad 7 brings the Office feel to the app with the ribbon interface that was introduced in Office and is now proliferating in Windows 8.  It offers the same great functionality that was a part of the original app, including the ability to save files with a simple .TXT extension.  Users can also customize the toolbar or move it around,  and add the date and time to documents.

Notepad 7 is available for Windows versions, including Vista SP2 and 7.  It requires .NET framework 4.0 to be installed on your PC.  It doesn’t replace the Windows version of Notepad, but is a stand-alone app.  To open a document  with it, simply choose the “open with” option.  It’s a free download from SkyForU.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Microsoft launched Office 365 in 2011 after a lengthy Beta testing program.  It’s designed to be the Office alternative for business professionals – where Google Apps hopes to get to as well.  Microsoft has already been running Office Web Apps for individual users, which would be the equivalent of Google Docs.  So far Microsoft has been very receptive to feedback from customers of Office 365.

Today Microsoft announced that they would be increasing the email limit for users of what they term the “P1 plan”.  Previously users of this plan were limited to sending emails to 500 recipients per day, but beginning now the limit has increased by three-times to 1,500.  If you are wondering why Microsoft would have this limit for Office 365 customers, while users of services like Gmail have no hard limit, then let Steve Chew explain:

“Recipient rate limits exist to discourage users from sending large volumes of unsolicited commercial email, commonly referred to as spam. These limits protect our online service from becoming a source of spam and, as a result of these protections, keep our customers’ email messages flowing. Datacenter enhancements have allowed us to increase this limit while maintaining the same level of protection.”

The email rate limit applies to both internal and external messages.  However users can avoid issues by using distribution groups, which count as only one recipient each.  For the moment Microsoft doesn’t have a solution for legitimate bulk email, like newsletters, and they suggest that users continue to use a third-party service.

For now users can visit Bulk Email and Daily Recipient Rate Limits to find out more about all of this.  If you want a detailed announcement then you can visit the blog of Microsoft rep Steve Chew.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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OneNote has become one of the most popular and innovative apps that is included as part of Microsoft Office.  Microsoft clearly loves this app as well because, despite it not being new, they brought it to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week just to show it off.  While OneNote isn’t yet available for Android or iOS, although that’s coming, it’s one of the more popular items for Windows Phone.  Aside from the mobile app, which has greatly popularized OneNote, the app is also available online through both of Microsoft’s web-based Office applications – Office Web Apps, which is part of Windows Live SkyDrive, and Office 365.

Like all Office programs, and most software in general, OneNote has an extensive list of keyboard shortcuts available for use in it.  Most users require a few keyboard shortcuts to get by in their daily tasks, but there are probably very few who use them extensively.  But those few we use tend to vary some from user to user and that’s why today’s software programs have such long lists of keyboard shortcuts built into them.

If you would like to take your OneNote use beyond the old standby’s like “Ctrl-C” and “Ctrl-P” then I found just what you need.  The Office team from Microsoft have posted a comprehensive list of OneNote shortcuts.  This list is worth browsing through for any average or power Office user.  You can visit this site to view the shortcuts or, if you want a copy for yourself, we have both Word and PDF files for you to download.  The links are posted below, or you can visit our Windows Resources page for these files and more.

OneNote Shortcuts (Word)

OneNote Shortcuts (PDF)

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Microsoft created the Outlook Social Connector back in 2009 to integrate social networks into a user’s Outlook program in the hopes of bringing as much information as possible together in one place.  More recently, in July of 2010, they added Facebook to the list of networks available in the Social Connector, to go along with LinkedIn, Windows Live Messenger, MySpace, and more.

Yesterday Microsoft posted a quick message to their Outlook blog letting everyone know that a new update for Outlook Connector for Facebook had been released.  “Recently, we released a small update to the software that connects the Outlook Social Connector to Facebook. If you already use the Outlook Social Connector to connect to Facebook, you can get  the software update in our download center.”  The update allows you to connect to Facebook over a secure, or https, connection, something that surprisingly wasn’t built into the older version of the app.

If you would like to learn more about the Outlook Social Connector you can visit Microsoft Office.  The new update is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.  You will need to be using either Outlook 2003, 2007, or 2010, which should include almost everyone, as does the Windows version requirement which is, in a nutshell, Windows XP SP3 or newer.  To get the update, as well as installation instructions, visit the Microsoft Download Center.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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The Cloud has become the new battleground of computing with cloud storage being everywhere and on everyone’s mind, especially with music, documents, and backup.  As for documents, Google made the first big splash with their Google Docs, an online suite of apps designed to compete with Microsoft Office.  Google Docs has seen widespread integration with individual users and some corporate success as well.  Microsoft jumped into the fray with Office Web Apps, which works in conjunction with their SkyDrive to provide up to 25 GB of free storage.  They later added Office 365, which is more full-featured than Office Web Apps, but isn’t free.

Today Microsoft released a new two minute video designed to mock Google Apps, while also showing the benefits of Office Web Apps with SkyDrive.  Both web apps have their advantages and we use both here depending on the situation.  Microsoft does make a compelling argument in their video for the benefits of using Office Web Apps with SkyDrive, but Microsoft also produced the video.  While Google Docs does update in real-time, unlike Microsoft leads you to believe in this video, the features available in Office Web Apps do contain more features.

The video, posted below, begins with a mocking of Google Docs, followed by a list of the features in Office Web Apps that trump those of their competitor.  In the video, students use Microsoft web apps to collaborate from different locations to put together a paper.  Both services are free for home users and both are worth checking out.  You can find them by visiting Google Docs and SkyDrive.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Microsoft Office online isn’t anything new – there are Office Web Apps built into SkyDrive (a part of Windows Live), and last year Microsoft released Office 365, which is a more fully-featured version of Office geared to compete with Google Docs and Google Apps and woo both individual and business users.  However Microsoft brought Office Web Apps to the booth at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show to give demos of what it can do for users.

Mostly what Microsoft wanted to accomplish at CES was reinforcing what they recently showed off in their TV ad “Keep Shopping” (the ad is posted below).  And to that end, they were primarily showing the OneNote web app, which is what was used in the TV commercial.  If you haven’t used the OneNote Web App then Microsoft was even helpful enough to provide instructions on how to get your own “Keep Shopping” list up and running.

1. In SkyDrive, click the OneNote icon to create a new OneNote notebook.
2. When it opens in the OneNote Web App, add a title to the page, then list the items that you need at the store.
3. To make sure the shopper buys your favorite brands, download the notebook to your computer, then add pictures of the branded products. You can add pictures from any web page by using the OneNote Screen Clipping tool on the Insert Tab.
4. To share the notebook with your family–especially those using Windows Phones–just right-click on the file in SkyDrive, and then click Share to send an email with a link in it.

The Office Web Apps work with your PC, Windows Phone, or on a tablet via the web (unless you have a Windows tablet).  They are free to use, as is SkyDrive, which provides 25 GB of free cloud storage for your files.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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The calendar has officially turned and, believe it or not, we are into 2012.  That means new calendars, and many people rely on Microsoft Word and their widely used calendar templates to get them started in a new month or new year.  Calendar templates for Word are especially popular with business customers, but are also widely used in homes around the world.

With the added functionality of Office 2010, Word has become an even better tool for both home and business users.  With that comes even cooler calendar templates for Word 2010.  Microsoft  has tried to please both business and home users with their new templates.

“All of these calendars take advantage of familiar Word 2010 features to let you design your own calendar. For example, you can Use themes and change colors to give the calendar’s border a different look.

We’ve got photo calendars, which you might want to use at home, and business calendars for your office. Each calendar has two versions:

• One with the week starting on Monday and ending on Sunday
• And another with the week starting on Sunday and ending on Saturday”

The new Photo calendars allow the user to select their own pictures to include on each page.  The new templates, and links to them, are listed below.

• One page family photo calendar (Monday – Sunday)
• One page family photo calendar (Sunday – Saturday)

• Twelve-month photo calendar in tabloid format (11″x17″) paper (Monday – Sunday)
• Twelve-month photo calendar in tabloid format (Sunday – Saturday)

• Basic twelve-month photo calendar for letter size (8.5″x11″) paper (Monday – Sunday)
• Basic twelve-month photo calendar for letter size (Sunday – Saturday)

For business users, Microsoft has specially formatted Word calendars that allow you to add your company logo, web address, and also change the photos so you can brown-nose your boss and embarrass your co-workers.  The list, and links, are below.

• One-page business calendar (Monday – Sunday)
• One-page business calendar (Sunday – Saturday)
• Quarterly calendar with four months per sheet in landscape orientation (Monday – Sunday)
• Quarterly calendar with four months per sheet in landscape orientation (Sunday – Saturday)

Microsoft Office templates are free to download and use.  You can browse them all by visiting the Templates Library.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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The iPad is still the number one tablet in the world despite the best efforts of Android to dethrone it.  But one thing that the iPad or Android can’t do is run Microsoft Office.  There are ways to get the Office functionality into the tablet world with apps like OfficeSuite Pro.  Even though Apple, Google, and the open source community have tried to overthrow it, Microsoft Office is still far and away he top choice when it comes to office suites.

Now the iTunes App Store for the iPad has finally got a way for users to run Microsoft Office on their tablet and even get free cloud storage to goo along with it.  “CloudOn lets you use your iPad to create, view, and edit files directly in Microsoft Word®, Excel® & PowerPoint®.”  CloudOn isn’t really giving away Microsoft Office, but kind of acting as a bridge between the iPad and the Office Live internet app suite.  It requires the user to have a Dropbox account, which is free to sign up for.

• Use Word, Excel and PowerPoint to create, edit, and view documents.
• Rename, edit, and delete documents using your Dropbox account.
• Track changes when reviewing Word documents.
• Use pivot tables and forumlas in Excel.
• Do presentations in full PowerPoint mode.
• Open files directly from iPad email accounts or Dropbox.
• Automatically save documents.

The app is free in the iTunes App Store.   The user interface is simple and clean just like the online version of Microsoft Office is.  Perhaps in the future they will integrate SkyDrive as an option, given that is has more free storage and already works with Office Live.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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One thing Microsoft has failed to do so far is create an Office app for Android devices.  They do, of course, have one for Windows Phone, and you can use your browser to access two different Office apps that are available online – Office Live and Office 365.  Thankfully other developers have made several apps available in the Android Market for those who want or need to create, edit, and read Office documents while on the go.

Today I wanted to look at one of those apps – OfficeSuite Pro, or as it’s also known, OfficeSuite Pro 5, because that’s the current version number for their Android app.  This app from comes from MobiSystems,who make several dictionary and reference book apps as well.  The latest version, 5.5, was just released on December 15th.

Once you have installed the app, click to open it.  The main screen displays options to open Recent Files, display My Documents, Local Files, Remote Files, and browse the Collins English Dictionary.  There is also a menu across the screen bottom that lets users create a new file, find a file, check for updates, and get help.

When you click on “New” you will be presented with three options – a Word document, Excel document, or PowerPoint presentation.

Obviously the options for these documents are a bit more scant than in a full-blown version of Office, or even the Windows Phone or online versions.  While in a document you can click your Android device’s menu button to get a few more options.

OfficeSuite Pro for Android is $9.99, but there is a free trial available so you can check it out before making the purchase.  It’s available for all devices running Android 1.5 or greater, making it compatible with pretty much every device that anyone today is using.  You can get it over at the Android Market.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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Syncdocs is bringing Dropbox-like functionality to your desktop and your Google Docs.  SyncDocs allows users to automatically have the latest versions of all of their Google Docs documents available locally on any computer they choose.  That’s handy for those times when you are out of WiFi range, but still need to get a bit of work done.  We had previously looked at Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, but it proved to be a hassle with long-term use and Syncdocs provides better functionality.

There are multiple ways to use Syncdocs.  You can keep your My Documents folder synced with Google Docs, create a backup of your Google Docs cloud storage, or make Google Docs the default editor for your local documents.  No matter what you choose, it’s all pretty simple to set up and get started using.  Once you have downloaded Syndocs you can begin the installation process.

When Syncdocs launches for the first time you will need to enter your Google Docs user name and password (this should be the same across all Google applications) and agree to the terms of service.

You will now need to choose a folder where you want your synchronized documents stored.  There are also some settings you can choose from (don’t worry you can change these later if you need to).  Choose if you want to automatically convert new Office files to Google Docs format, make Google Docs your default office suite, or make Google Docs your default PDF reader.

Syncdocs will now launch in your system tray and immediately begin to sync files.  You can double-click the icon to access your sync folder or right-click it to get a context menu of options , including telling you how much of your allotted free space is being used.

There is a free version of Syncdocs, which has a limited number of files that can be synced and also a paid version, which costs $19.95 per year.  You can combine the paid service with a Google Docs storage plan for 20, 80, or 200 GB of Docs storage per month.  To download a copy you can visit the Syncdocs website.  This is is the simplest way so  far that we have found to Sync Google Docs.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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