Dear readers and job-seekers, 69% of workers over age 55 plan to work beyond retirement, making 50-plus folks one of the fastest growing labor groups in the US. They're supplementing retirement income, working in jobs that inspire them, and starting new careers. I found some good information and resources to help with that, including some ways to rethink current careers, brought to you by Cornell University:
- 26% of employers would allow older employees to reduce hours while not changing your benefits
- 40% of employers would allow pension benefits to be drawn while you work part time
- 3 out of 4 companies would permit you to reduce your hours rather than go to full retirement
Other options include:
There's a lot of information to keep organized when you're looking for work, making lists, and staying on track. We at Office Online have all kinds of templates, for just about everything: inventories, calendars, family reuinions, holidays, you name it!
- Ed
(Office Hours columns are conceived and written by Microsoft employees -- for the times when only insider information will do.)
If you visit my office, you will probably notice right away that I have three large flat screen displays that sit together and are synchronized so they work like a single very wide display. The large display area enables me to work very efficiently. I keep my Outlook 2007 Inbox open on the screen to the left so I can see new messages as they come in. I usually have the message or document that I'm currently reading or writing in the center screen. The screen on the right is where I have room to open up a browser or look at a document that someone has sent me in e-mail.
I spend the majority of my time communicating with colleagues, customers, and partners. As a result, Outlook is the application that I use the most. I receive about 100 e-mail messages per day from Microsoft employees, and many more from customers and partners.
It's very important that I hear what people think about our products and our company. Yet I need to balance that against the very real risk of information overload from all the e-mail that I receive. The advances we made in Outlook 2007 for filtering, rules, and search folders have made it much easier to manage my e-mail than before, especially because so much happens automatically once I've set everything up.
A great thing is that all my voice mail, faxes, and even instant messages are sent to my Outlook Inbox using our unified communications technology. Another important feature of unified communications that we have integrated into Office applications is presence and identity. That means I can always tell at a glance whether the person I need to get in touch with is available or not.
One change to Outlook that I appreciate is tasks are now integrated with how I view my calendar. Before Office 2007, I never used the Outlook task feature, but now that tasks are automatically added to my calendar, it makes it much easier to stay on top of the important things I need to do.
Working with other people efficiently and effectively is more important than ever, not just for Microsoft but for any organization. I find that SharePoint, a software program that enables people to easily create internal Web sites so they can collaborate on projects, has become indispensable.
For example, each year I do something called ThinkWeek where anybody in the company can submit a paper about an idea they have to change the way our company works or to pursue a new development project. We used to rely primarily on printed documents, but now it's simple for us to create a Web site to manage the entire process. This year, more than 350 papers were submitted. Not only did I read and comment on many of them, but other technical leaders from across the company were able to go up to the ThinkWeek Web site and add their thoughts. This has led to many lively discussions and started numerous new projects, something that was much harder to do when everything was on paper.
This release of SharePoint also has many social networking features that I find enormously helpful. In addition to searching any corporate intranet site for documents, SharePoint now enables me to search for specific people based on their expertise, job title, or the department they work in. Also, employees can easily create personal Web sites where they can post photos and list their experiences and interests. SharePoint even automatically associates every document with its author, and explains his relationship to other employees on the same team and in his department. So SharePoint makes it far easier to quickly identify the two or three people who are experts in parallel computing, for example, even though there are more than 80,000 employees at Microsoft now.
Of course, collaborating often means meeting with my colleagues in person or remotely over the Internet via Office LiveMeeting. I always take a lot of notes about ideas to think about or things to follow up on. I try to bring my Tablet PC to meetings as often as possible so that I can use OneNote 2007 to write notes in ink that can later be searched or converted to text. Even if I forget my Tablet, I can scan a document or piece of paper and add that image to OneNote. One of the nice new features in OneNote 2007 is that it automatically recognizes the text in those scanned documents, so that it's easy to search for them later.
Then there are times when I really want to drill down into an industry or market trend. The new business intelligence and data visualization tools in Excel 2007 and SharePoint are fantastic for accessing the kind of data that used to be hard to find because it was stored in back-end databases, and then dig through that data to gain some real insights into what is going on. Now I can easily take a look at how a change to something like our assumptions about customer demand might affect the market for a certain product.
Taken together, the improvements in Office 2007 have certainly had a large impact on the way I work. I seem to discover a new feature or a better way of doing something almost every day, and I am hopeful that many of you will find the new Office to be as useful as I do.
-- Bill
Office Online Templates introduces our newest partner, Inkd -- a marketplace for fully editable Word templates designed by professional graphic designers from around the world. And we are marking this occasion by offering two unique Inkd design sets only available to Office Online Templates customers: the Technology consulting business design set and Professional services business design set.
Technology consulting business design set
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Professional services business design set
Also, an additional third design from Inkd, the General consulting business design set is now downloadable free from Office Online Templates.
General consulting business design set
Customize and print from any of these 17 templates available on Office Online. To see the larger variety of marketing templates available through Inkd, browse by type and industry on their website.
To keep up with new Templates information, visit the Templates Team blog and Templates home page.
--Aaron
There are more reasons for forgetting a password than there are reasons for having one. Some passwords you may need:
- A password to send and receive e-mail.
- A password to protect a presentation, spreadsheet, or other Office document.
- A password for your Personal Folders (.pst) file (you know, the one that contains the backups of all your e-mail, Contacts, and Calendar items. The one I've been encouraging you to create?)
- A password to get you into the cave where a magical lamp is waiting for you to gently rub it so the genie who inhabits it can come out and grant you three wishes.
The very basic basics
When you start Outlook for the first time and set up your e-mail account, Outlook asks you whether you want to save your password so that you don't have to enter it every time you want to send or receive your e-mail. There are both good and bad things about doing this:
The good You won't have to enter your password each time. This saves you time and finger use.
The bad If you don't enter your password each time, chances are you will forget it and then one day, when something goes terribly wrong and you actually have to enter your password, you won't be able to and then you will blame me.
So…what to do? This conundrum branches out to many other instances when passwords are needed.
So many passwords…
Now, I know that we all have a lot of number combinations to remember: The PIN to get money from the magic cash machine; home, office, and cell phone numbers; security codes for our home, car, or daycare center; and the list goes much further on.... It's a wonder we can manage to remember our gym locker combinations.
Starting with Outlook: If you're smart (and I know you are), when you signed up for an e-mail account with your Internet service provider (ISP), you chose a really strong e-mail password that only you could know. However, if you're smart and busy, perhaps that password dropped out of your pretty little head (along with the middle name of your youngest child) after bonking your head at Saturday night's Chute Doggin’ event at the National Western Stock Show. And now, of course, if you can't remember your password, you can't get your e-mail; and if you can't get your e-mail, you're not going to be able to write your mother-in-law and ask her about that kid's elusive middle name. (Then again, you could look on the bright side of things: no more e-mail means no more spam!)
Here's the thing: Unless you've written the password down or it spontaneously comes to you tomorrow while you're at yoga class doing sirsha-asana (the headstand pose), there isn't any real way to retrieve it. It's gone, pal; get over it and move on to the next one. Chances are, you'll have to call the company you pay to give you access to your e-mail — your ISP — and reset your password. After that's taken care of, you'll need to update Outlook with your new e-mail account password. Then write it down and put it in a safe place, will you?
And just to give you an idea about how many of you are having password issues, take a look at the little video I did (yes—that’s me!) that addresses this issue:
(Click to play)
More information:
Crabby answers your question about lost passwords:
For more information about passwords, please visit my column Crabby doesn't have your password on Office Online
-- Crabby
The summer is half over, you’ve been out of school or out of work for months, and you’re starting to feel desperate. You’re sure you’ve lost the last brain cell you ever had. Ideas, which used to be your strong suit, elude you completely. What’s next?
If you’re a student living at home this summer, redemption with the folks doesn’t seem likely by the time July rolls around, but I’m here to tell you that you can still find work this summer with a little (very little) sweat, and the help of a few Office Online templates.
Try one of these, and I’ll bet you will have something lined up by next week:
1. Pound the pavement … some more. A student without much work experience can get a lot of mileage out of a simple resume. Use a log to track businesses where you’ve dropped off resumes, and don’t forget to send thank you notes for job interviews.
2. Offer landscaping services. In this economy, many of your neighbors have stopped
their landscape service and are probably in desperate need of some weeding, pruning, or mowing right now. A simple door hanger or a business flyer with pull-off tabs can drum up enough business for the rest of the summer. Be sure to schedule appointments.
3. Advertise babysitting skills. I speak only for every working parent in America when I say that childcare is a parent’s summer nightmare. If a teenager offered to “entertain” my children for a one-day trial, and handed me a babysitting log or a checklist of what they did with my kids, I would, well, I would cry with joy, and then I would hire him for the rest of the summer.
4. Join forces and wash cars. You might have friends in a similar employment predicament right now. A car wash fundraiser to buy your fall semester school books could result in a few contacts with employment leads for next summer. Be sure to vacuum their seats.
5. Organize a neighborhood garage sale. Approach a few families in the neighborhood and offer to clean out their garages in exchange for the proceeds from a multi-household garage sale. Or, if you’re a prolific artist, you might consider teaming up with other artists to advertise an arts and crafts sale.
6. Make family a priority. Whether it’s your family or someone else’s, convince an elder to pay you a stipend to create a family history book, a vacation photo album, or a vacation newsletter. You might be surprised at what you learn.
7. Start a book club. Take this opportunity to catch up on your reading. Maybe you have other unemployed friends or access to a retirement community filled with enthusiastic readers. Put together a reading list, and make a flyer to recruit book club members. Organizing anything requires initiative; put your book club on your resume.
Do you have summer job-hunting tips to share? Let us know what has worked for you.
--leslie
There is a wide range of 2010 calendars now available on Office Online Templates. New versions are recently available for older, popular styles such as the Lunar Calendar for Word. And different types of calendars, new to Office Online Templates, are now here such as the Quarterly Calendar for Publisher. Below is a clickable sample of these new templates, or select here to browse all calendars by category.
Excel:
OneNote:
PowerPoint:
Publisher:
Visio:
Word:
To keep up with new Templates information, visit the Templates Team blog and Templates home page.
--Aaron
(Read the entire column on Office Online)
Sometimes you just need a little something to tide you over until a new version of Office is released: an add-in, an update, a white paper to prevent your Office programs from going all flabby on you. A nip here, a tuck there ... a quick visit to Office downloads can make you feel alive again.
Think of a trip to the Microsoft Office Downloads Web site like a trip to the bank, the grocery store, or even the cosmetic surgeon: Sometimes you just need to boost your power, stock up on necessities, or perhaps add a little fluff and well-being to your computing lifestyle. Office offers a variety of downloads designed to give you all of that and much, much more.
There's a significant difference between a trip to Office Downloads and a trip to, say, the plastic surgeon: All of our downloads are free. That's right: F-R-E-E. As in complimentary, gratis. On the other hand, as I view it, there are two parallels between plastic surgery and Office downloads:
- Certain cosmetic procedures (Botox injections, liposuction, chemical peels) and certain Office downloads (PowerPoint Viewer 2007, Office Sounds, and Microsoft Save As PDF or XPS) tend to be more popular than the other offerings among the general population.
- Conversely, certain cosmetic procedures (such as buttocks implants) and certain Office downloads (such as the Microsoft Visual Keyboard add-in, where you can type in more than one language on the same computer) are often overlooked, hidden gems — things that you should perhaps explore more fully before passing judgment.
Define the terms
If you're a regular Crabby reader, you know that I sometimes like to define some terms before jumping into the topic at hand. That way I know we're all on the same page. Rather than pelt all of you with that dry information, I've stuck it on a different page that you can refer to at your leisure: Gimme the lowdown on downloads: Defining the terms.
When you just gotta have it
If you feel you must have the Live Search Maps Add-In for Microsoft Office Outlook because you jealously noticed that your office-mate has it and you don't (known as "add-in envy"), you can just march right on over to the Office Downloads site and get it!
Add-ins are an example of a type of download that you can decide if you want to download or not; they tend to be yummy nuggets of enhanced features designed to make your life more fun, such as:
- Microsoft Math an add-in for Word 2007 that makes it easy to create graphs, perform calculations, and solve for variables with equations created in Word
- Get Started Tab for PowerPoint 2007 is an add-in for PowerPoint that gives you easy access to free content on Office Online that helps you learn PowerPoint 2007. (The Get Started Tab add-in is also available for Excel 2007 and Word 2007).
And let's not leave out the other sorts of downloads, such as viewers (that allow you and others to view Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or Visio documents without having those programs installed), publications (providing you with in-depth information on the various Office programs), demos (that let you see how a product, service, or feature works), and even audio downloads (hear The Crabby Office Lady talk about OneNote — why it's the program choice for taking notes).
The how, when, and where of downloads and installations
Now that we have some of the major terms figured out, when it comes to how to find, when to find, and where to find Office downloads, I'm here to tell you that there is more than one way to skin a cat. However, being a lover of all animals (except Lancey, the next-door-cat who snatched a baby bird from its nest right in front of my daughter), I won't be sharing that information with you today (even if I knew, myself — which I don't ... and isn't that a shame for baby birds everywhere). I can, however, give you some advice — or at least ideas — about the how, when, and where of Office downloads.
To learn more about what sorts of downloads are available, where to find them, and how to tell if your computer is up to date, read my Crabby Office Lady column on Office Online.
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." — Thomas Edison
-- Crabby
(Office Hours columns are conceived and written by Microsoft employees -- for the times when only insider information will do.)
It takes time to get used to a new version of a product, particularly one with a revamped interface. Microsoft employees aren't immune to the productivity hit when called to upgrade. Anneliese Wirth aims to lessen that hit for you by offering tips for surviving the upgrade to Excel 2007.
Is upgrading to Excel 2007 a productivity hit you could do without? Yeah, I felt that way, too (although as a card-carrying member of the Office team, I'm probably not supposed to say so). But hey, I lived through the upgrade and actually became more productive as a result. And I want you to do the same.
This column contains a few tips for getting started with Excel 2007. It's particularly suited for those who are converting from Excel 2003, but a lot of it is just as relevant if you're switching from an earlier version. I found these tips by reviewing the comments you left about various Excel 2007 Help topics. (Yes, we really do read and appreciate your comments, even the ones where you yell at us in ALL CAPS. Heh.)
Tip 1: Add a Get Started tab to the Ribbon
In Excel 2007, toolbars and menus no longer appear along the top of the window. Instead, you'll see the Ribbon, which is part of Microsoft Office Fluent user interface. When you first start using Excel 2007, you'll probably have questions about where to find Excel 2003 commands and toolbar buttons. To help answer those questions, I recommend that you download a free add-in that adds a Get Started tab to the Ribbon.
You can use the commands on this tab to get to training courses, video demos, newsgroups, and other content designed to help you learn Excel 2007. The most useful tool for those who are new to the Ribbon is the Interactive Guide (the button on the far left), which shows you exactly where to find Excel 2003 buttons and commands in Excel 2007. Trust me, it's a lifesaver.
You can download the Get Started Tab for Excel 2007 from the Microsoft Download Center. If you don't want to add the Get Started tab to Excel 2007, or if your company prohibits you from downloading the add-in, you can access the Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 command reference guide directly.
To get tips 2-6, read the full column on the Office Hours blog.
-- Anneliese
Dear readers and job seekers, veterans from Iraq start coming home this month and there will be many of them searching for jobs as they transition to civilian life. I'd like to welcome them back with some resources to help with new challenges.
Helmets to Hardhats - Military, reservists, and guardsmen can transition from active duty to work in construction. With stimulus money officially on its way out, there is local infrastructure work to be done! On this site, you can learn about construction work and education assistance.
Veteran Employment - In partnership with Monster.com, veterans, active duty, guard and reserve can search for thousands of jobs for veterans from employers who value military experience. Check out the Microsoft - Monster partnership for resumes, career advice, and instructional videos.
Military Stars - A company run by veterans and seasoned professionals; try this site to learn about career expos near you.
The Department of Homeland Security has scholarships, fellowships, and internships for students, and is hiring.
Transition to the classroom from the battlefield is not always easy. Take a look at some useful resources here.
Do you qualify for Veterans Administration (VA) benefits? Find out.
Locate a VA facility near you.
Filipino veterans: sus necesidades.
Welcome home,
- Ed
If you are using Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, or Excel, SmartArt graphics are the answer to illustrating 
your documents, e-mail, slideshows, or worksheets.
Here are five video demos, including the top-ranked family tree demo, to get you started with SmartArt graphics:
1. Create a family tree Format a family tree graphic just the way you want.
2. Move shapes in your SmartArt graphic Modify a SmartArt graphic by moving or stretching the whole graphic, positioning individual shapes, and ordering and layering your SmartArt graphic with other graphic objects.
3. Create a chevron list Illustrate a workflow or sequence of events by creating a chevron list in a SmartArt graphic.
4. Create an organization chart with pictures With the help of a template, you can illustrate your company hierarchy and include pictures of each person in the management chain.
5. Create a hierarchy I don’t believe in hierarchies (or is that oligarchies), but if you do, you can illustrate a hierarchy or chain of command as a SmartArt graphic.
Don’t miss the SmartArt theme page that connects you with all of the resources you need to master SmartArt graphics.
Do you have any graphics tips of your own? Leave me a list.
--leslie
Whether planning a summer sale or a company picnic, Office Online Templates help maintain a business presence with both your customers and associates during the vacation season.
Consider the Summer Event Flyer (left) for Publisher which, via the software, is both printable and can be sent through email. There is also the Email Message: Summer Event Invitation (right) for Outlook.
Browse our template collections to develop a business event for any time of year: see the seasonal event, small business, and finance and accounting pages. And for those planning your next event (business or otherwise) consider these key-word searches when browsing through the Office Online Templates library: address books, advertisements, business cards, calendars, coupons, databases, envelopes, flyers, gift certificates, planners, postcards, and signs.
To keep up with new Templates information, visit the Templates Team blog and Templates home page.
--Aaron
Heads Up: You can pre-order Windows 7 today at Microsoft Store. You'll get it for at least half off and be one of the first to have it. Hurry, quantities are limited.*
It's pretty simple
Windows 7 is coming on October 22, 2009. To get it fast and save a bundle, pre-order a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49 or a Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $99 at Microsoft Store. That's about half off the estimated retail prices.
Want more info? Go to the Windows team blog for all the details.
* The offer begins on June 26, 2009 and will continue while supplies last, or until July 11, 2009, whichever comes first.
Ever wish you could actually hear the Crabby Office Lady? Envelope yourself in her dulcet tones while receiving the communion of her tips and tricks? Of course you have – who hasn’t?
Well, you’re in luck: Every week Crabby records and publishes a 2-minute podcast. It’s an abbreviated version of her current columns; an audio preview of what you get when you settle down to read her weekly column.
Try out this sample of one of my most recent podcasts; then if you like what you hear, visit the Crabby’s Office Lady's podcasts and subscribe to the RSS feed.
I spend a lot of time managing and updating Web pages on our internal Microsoft Office SharePoint Web site. MOSS is great for displaying lists, libraries, and calendars of shared items and events using Web parts. When I first starting creating pages, though, it wasn’t clear to me how to do things like add headings, add explanatory content, or use formatted text to make a page look more appealing. Then I found the Content Editor Web Part, which is now one of my favorite Web parts. It allows you to add HTML, formatted text, tables, and images to a page to help clarify, explain, or add emphasis to whatever you’re trying to communicate. For example… here’s a typical default SharePoint page with an Announcements Web part and a Calendar Web part at the top of the page.
This a good start for a page, but it doesn’t quickly communicate what the page is about, grab the attention of your audience, or look very appealing. That’s where the Content Editor Web Part comes in. You can use this versatile Web part to add a heading, graphic, and introductory paragraph to your page, like this:
Want to know how to do this?
To learn how to create something similar with a Content Editor Web part on your Microsoft Office SharePoint Web page, and for a list of awesome tips and tricks, visit this blog entry on the Get to the Point blog
For more information and related topics, see About the Content Editor Web Part on Office Online.
--Loreen
I like to keep up with environmental news and thought I’d share this little tidbit with you. Microsoft Hohm is a new software program which will be available in beta only in the U.S., that is designed to help you understand your home energy useage and how to conserve. Sign up for the beta here and be one of the first to test it out.
For other energy saving ideas, learn how to green your office.
--Nancy
