Help Desk

This page contains directions for commonly used Microsoft office applications

Click on the topics below for information about how to access and use Microsoft Office Programs:

• Microsoft Office shortcut bar
• Viewing Toolbars in Office
• View all available commands  in the Office menus without having to wait for them to appear
• Pulling data  created in one Microsoft Office program into another Office program without having re-typing it
• Getting text files to open automatically in Word 
• Deciding whether to use Excel or Access to keep track of data
• Microsoft Office home use agreement

Click here to view Microsoft Office Quick Source Guides

Microsoft Office shortcut bar

shortcut bar is missing

If your Microsoft Office shortcut bar previously started up automatically when you turned on your computer, you should be able to get it back as follows: Click the Start button, choose Programs, choose Startup, and click Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar.

If you do not find Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar in Startup, click the Start button, choose Programs, choose Microsoft Office Tools, and click Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar. Click Yes if asked, "Would you like to configure the Office Shortcut Bar to start automatically whenever Windows is started?"

If you still cannot restore your shortcut bar or the buttons on the shortcut bar do not display correctly, call the ITS Help Desk.

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Viewing Toolbars in Office

By default, Office  programs display the Standard and Formatting toolbars on a single toolbar row below the menu bar. If you want to assign the toolbars to separate rows, right-click on a toolbar, and click Customize (or open the Tools menu, and click Customize). Click the Options tab, and click to remove the check mark for "Standard and Formatting toolbars share one row."

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Viewing all available commands in the Office menus without having to wait for them to appear

Office menus and toolbars adjust themselves to the way you work, making more commands and buttons available as you use them. Commands and buttons you don't use are hidden so that they don't get in the way. Consequently, when you open a menu, you may not see all of the commands until after a short delay. If you want to disable this feature, right-click on either the menu bar or a toolbar, and click Customize (or open the Tools menu, and click Customize). Click the Options tab, and click to remove the check marks for "Show full menus after a short delay" and "Menus show recently used commands first."

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Pulling data I created in one Microsoft Office program into another Office program without re-typing it

There is more than one way to share data between Microsoft Office programs. The easiest method is to simply copy and paste it. Open the file in the Office program that contains the data you want to replicate. Select the data, and choose Copy. Open the file (or create a new one) in the Office program where you want to place the copy of the data. Position the insertion point where you want the data to appear, and choose Paste. For example, if you copy and paste Excel data into Word, the spreadsheet will be pasted into Word as a table. Remember, when you copy and paste, the changes you make to the data in one document will not automatically update the other document.

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Getting text files to open automatically in Word 

Usually, when you double-click to open a text file, it will open in Notepad. If you want to open text files automatically in Word, complete the following: 

1. Click the Start button, choose Settings, and click Folder Options.

2. In the Folder Options dialog box, click the File Types tab.

3. Locate the icon for Text Document in the list of Registered Files Types, and click on it to select it.

4. Click the Edit button. In the Edit File Type dialog box, click the Edit button at the bottom.

5. Click the Browse button in the Editing Action for Type: Text Document dialog box, and locate WINWORD.EXE. 
   (Note: You should find it in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe.)

6. Click the Open button.

7. The entire pathname for WINWORD.EXE appears in the "Application used to perform action" box. Click OK.

8. Click the Close button to close the Edit File Type dialog box.

9. Click the Close button again to close the Folder Options dialog box.

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Deciding whether to use Excel or Access to keep track of data

Excel can be used to sort or filter data to find key values; however, if you spend much of your time working with lists of data or your lists grow extremely large, you may find Excel to be cumbersome.

You should consider using Access for the following reasons:

• You need to store multiple types of related information.

• You need to have multiple people accessing and updating the same information.

• You need to store more than 65,536 records (Excel's limit).

• You want to use your own data entry forms.

• You need to produce professional reports presenting and summarizing your data.

• Your worksheet is too large to fit into your computer's memory.

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Microsoft Office home use agreement

ITS markets CD-ROM disks that will allow you to install Microsoft Office programs on your home computer. The cost is $10 per disk to cover duplication costs. The number of CD-ROM disks required for an application determines the total cost of the software. The disks are currently available in the ITS main office (TLC 330) between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Please note that ITS will only accept value on your StarCard as payment. When you receive your first set of disks you will be asked to read and sign an agreement form that outlines the program in more detail. See Agreement for Home Use of Microsoft Software and available software list .  This list also outlines how many disks are required for installation of each program so you can determine what your total cost will be ($10 per CD) and have the value added to you StarCard ahead of time.

The complete Microsoft Agreement can be found at the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/education/license/campus/default.asp

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