Archive for January, 2009

Microsoft Word can be found on almost every computer in the known world, and not just PCs either. Macs run Word too. It’s probably because it’s so widely used that most people never get trained in how to use it and, as a consequence a lot of Word users make some pretty basic mistakes when creating their documents.

* Are you ever guilty of pressing the Return key at the top of a document to move the cursor down, perhaps when creating a document to be printed on your company stationery? If so, this means that you are creating a document with unwanted characters at the start. Much better to click on File – Page Setup and change the top margin (in Word 2003) or click on Custom Margins in the Page Layout tab of the Word 2007 ribbon.

* Leaving two spaces after the period which ends each sentence is another common error among users. In fact, one space is fine with modern typefaces since they are proportionally spaced (e.g., the letter “w” takes up more space than the letter “i”). The two space habit is a throwback to the days when people were using typewriters with monospace typefaces such as Elite and Courier.

* Do you habitually press the Return key two times to indicate the end of a paragraph? If so, you should consider pressing the Return key just once then using the paragraph spacing commands which can be found by clicking on the Page Layout tab of the ribbon in Word 2007 or by clicking on Format then Paragraph in Word 2003.

* If a casual user of Word has never had any training, you will often see him or her using the space bar to align columns of text. This sometimes looks as though it’s working on screen but when the document is printed, the lack of alignment becomes very apparent. The only sure way of getting columns to align is to press the Tab key.

* Although you can get away with pressing the Tab key to create columns of text without actually setting any tabs, it’s not usually a good idea. This method uses Word’s default tabs and means that the user often inserts a varying number of tabs between columns. It’s much better to set up your own tabs by clicking on the Word ruler. That way, you will only ever need to press the Tab key once between columns.

* Some Word users, even experienced ones, are so seduced by the Format Painter, that they rely on it to maintain consistency of formatting throughout a multi-page document. It is much better to use Microsoft Word’s styles to make your text formats consistent. With styles, at any time, you can go back and change the attributes associated with a style and your changes will update all text in that style.

* Word has a number of AutoCorrect options which can seem intrusive to new users and who complain about them without attempting to switch them off. To modify Word’s AutoCorrect and other settings, choose Options from the Tools menu (Word 2003/2002 etc.) or choose Word Options from the Office button in Word 2007.

An interactive PDF form is a great way of capturing information from a group of people and Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional makes the creation of these forms a breeze. It also has features for distributing the form and then tracking people’s responses.

The PDF format is a great choice for forms since it will allow the user to see the form exactly as it was created. Web forms, by contrast, can vary depending on the operating system and browser software being used.

There is also immediacy and flexibility of delivery. The form can be emailed to a group of users at the same time. The delivery of the form then becomes a single operation. PDF forms can also be distributed via CDs and DVDs.

Forms have been a feature of Acrobat since version 3. However, the forms features available in Acrobat 8 are a significant improvement on anything available in previous versions.

Instead of relying purely on other applications to supply its content, Acrobat can now create forms from scratch using a utility called Adobe Life Cycle Designer. It also includes some useful form templates such as conference registration, employee appraisal, etc.

As before, you can use forms made in other software such as Word or QuarkXPress. However, now Acrobat has a feature for automatically recognising where fields need to be inserted and creating them for you.

If you wish to use some of your printed forms as starting points for your interactive PDF form, then Acrobat’s Scan From Paper option will offer just what you need.

As well as having Acrobat automatically generate text fields for you, you can add a variety of other controls, such as drop-down menus, tick boxes and radio buttons. Then you finish it off by adding a submit button.

The advanced menu in Acrobat 8 Professional contains a new feature (“Enable Usage Rights in Acrobat Reader”) which allows Acrobat Reader users to fill out your form and then save the form data. Normally, this can only be done with a full version of Acrobat Professional.

You can send your interactive PDF form to any number of users by clicking on the “Form” menu and choosing “Distribute Form”. You can select a series of emails from an Outlook address book or just enter recipients manually.

Returned forms are saved in a special Acrobat file called a dataset. When users complete the form and email it back to you, you simply double-click on the attached form. Acrobat opens a special window marked ” Add Completed Form to Data Set”.

Once all the forms have been returned and the data added to the dataset, you just open the dataset and export it as a CSV (comma separated values) file. This format is compatible with programs like Excel and Access which can then be used to store and analyse responses to your forms.