Monday, June 20, 2011

Booklet Printing

I like to print long documents as booklets printed on both sides of a standard size paper. This ends up being 5.5 X 4.25.

In Word this is an easy task under Page Layout > Page Setup > Margins > Pages > Book Fold > OK.

That's it. Your document is reformatted to fit, page numbers are redone, and you are ready to print. A duplex printer is nice, but a simplex one works just as well. You just have to follow the instructions and put the pages back in upside down for the second sides to print.

But what about using a word processor other than Word? If you have the document as a PDF, this becomes an easy task.

Open the PDF version of the document in Adobe Reader. File > Print and choose Page Scaling > Booklet Printing. Then Booklet subset > Both sides and OK to begin printing.

Simple, right? One issue that might be a concern is the size of the font printed. What happens is the 8.5 x 11 formatted document is resized to fit on a sheet half that size. Therefore the font size is a lot smaller. Depending on your eyesight, that might work for you.

Here is how to solve that issue. Go back to the original document and change the size of the paper and the margins, then save it as a PDF and try it again. If you get the document size down to a smaller size page the font size will be "normal" on the booklet printing.

Change the Page size to 5 X 8.

Change the page margins to .3" all around.

Now save it as a PDF and the booklet will have "normal" font sizes.

You might have to play around with the margins and paper size to get it to print the way you want. But the end result will be booklet printing from any word processor.

I use Google Docs a lot and when you select printing, it creates a PDF for you. If you do not have a word processor that allows the creation of a PDF, there are a number of printer drivers you can install that will give you PDF printing capability. One that I use is called "PDF redirect v2". It is a free download and works great.

For a PDF version of this white paper with screen shots: Booklet Printing.pdf

Friday, June 17, 2011

Tiny Tabs and more


If you upgraded to FireFox 4 (and I suggest you do), there is a new feature you might like. I like to have three open tabs all the time while browsing—my Google docs page, my email, and my Facebook. Those three tabs take up about half of the space for tabs. As I open other pages, the tabs get smaller and smaIler. 

Right-click the tabs you always have open and select Pin as App Tab. The tab is instantly made the size of the icon and the words go away. To reverse the process, right-click and choose Unpin Tab.

A couple of shortcuts that have been around for a while can help you "see" the window better. F11 removes all the data above the page you are displaying. Mouse up to the top of the window to have it pop back in temporarily. F11 again to bring it back.

Words too small? Ctrl + to enlarge the page and Ctrl – to reduce it in size.

Auto Creating Lines in Word

In Office 2003 I used to be able to type three dashes and it would automatically create a line across the page. Now in Office 2010 all I get is three dashes. After some searching in Word Help, I discovered how to turn that feature back on.
  1. Click the File tab
  2. Help > Options > Proofing
  3. Click AutoCorrect Options
  4. Select the AutoFormat as You Type tab
  5. Check Border Lines and then click OK
While you are in AutoCorrect Options you might want to poke around and enable or disable other options as well. For example, I do not like a fraction like 1/4 to automatically become a superscript, or for a "double-quote" to be turned into a left or right double-quote.

Now in addition to getting a horizontal line when I type three dashes followed by pressing enter, three of these characters work to give different types of border lines across the page:

~             Wavy line
-              Lite line
_             Heavy line
#             Triple line
*             Dots
=             Double line

Try them out. You will be glad you did and will start using them in your documents.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Join.me

By Dick Evans

Here is a great product and it is FREE! Need to help someone with a computer problem and they are at another location, maybe even in another state? Need to show a group of people how to do something on the computer while they watch what you do – with phone support? 

This is a free tool from LogMeIn. Download the app, run it, share the URL and conference 9-digit code with a friend, and you have sharing your screen with a friend. It includes text chat, voice conferencing, mouse and keyboard sharing, and more.

1. Support someone else

Have them open a browser and type join.me 

Then have them click the orange button with the triangle inside

With Internet Explorer, click Run to install

Using the phone or an email, have them communicate the 9 digit code to you. This is a one-time code, so you do not have to remember it for later.

On your end, type the 9 digit code into the join box, and then click the green button with the triangle inside.
You are now connected to the person needing assistance, but you do not have mouse control.

On your window have a similar set of icons. Click the mouse icon and then the Request Control box.

They will be asked a question on their end about allowing you access. Tell them to do so and you have control of their system as though you were right there.

2. Set up a demonstration or training session

Just like the above example, but you are the one installing the app and obtaining the code which you will share with as many as you want to join in the session. I strongly suggest that you DO NOT give them control of your mouse and keyboard (unless you want to for some chaos!).

Click the telephone icon to obtain the free conference number they can call to hear what you are saying in your presentation. Once they dial in you can all voice chat while watching the demonstration on the shared screen, and even share files with each other.

It couldn’t be easier!

For a PDF with screen shots, see http://rwevans.com/JoinMe.pdf