Applications Session 14 - Automating tasks

Signature Line

A signature line can be placed in a document that needs to be printed and signed by someone. It places a line, an X, and a description of the person to sign.

You can add a Signature line from the Insert Ribbon.

 Complete the dialog box with the details that you want to appear with the signature line.

and Voila!!!

Save the document.

When the document is opened, you will be prompted for a signature.

To use this and have the signature as verifiable, you need to register and pay for a digital signature.

 

Another way to sign

If you don't want to register and pay for a compatible digital signature, you can create your own by using an image of your signature.

I created mine using a touchscreen (actually my iPad), but you can create one simply by signing a white piece of paper and using our scanner to create an electronic image. Crop it as required and resave it as a JPG or PNG file. PNG files can have transparent backgrounds.

Using paint, for example, I can crop it down to get rid of some of the whitespace.

Once you have an image, you can just add it at the bottom of documents or any place you need to sign. You can also create it as a reusable part (see instructions below).

Making background transparent

If you want to have a transparent background on your signature rather than white, you can use Excel or Word. The advantage of this is that your signature can sit "In Front Of Text" and it can overlap your text without restricting the view.

To make the background transparent, use the Remove Background tool.

And you can now see that the image has a transparent background.

The extra feature that you have in Word is that you can save it out as an image - use PNG file type as it supports transparency.

Right Click on the image to save it as a PNG file.

Activity 1

Using the sample signature available from Moodle or create your own signature (use your phone or the copier/scanner), insert it into Word to create a signature line and remove the background to make it more usable.

Reusable Parts or Building Blocks

Once you have your signature image, you can create a building block that can be used over and over again!!

Start with a blank document and create your signature block.

From the Home ribbon, use Select all.

Once you have it selected, you can add it as a Quick Part using the button on the Insert Ribbon.

Complete the information dialog box by giving it a name and a description.

And then you will have a signature block that you can add to any document. Close your document and when prompted, Save the styles/template so that it will be there permanently.

Activity 2

Using the signature that you created earlier, create a signature building block that can be reused.

Creating a Macro

Recording a Macro is a simple way of being able to automate things in your document. It could be as simple as adding a table or even adding a logo and address details. It could also be adding a building block....

Start by adding the Developer tab.

In the developer tab, start the record.

Assign a name, decide whether you want all new documents to access this, and click OK

Perform the tasks that you want to record.

When complete, click on the stop record button at the bottom of the screen.

You can then run your Macro.

You can also assign Macros to your toolbars. To do this, select Button under Assign To.

This Macro will appear on the Quick Access Toolbar.

And of course you can also use keyboard shortcuts. Be careful when assigning keyboard shortcuts in case you try and use something that Word already has defined.

Activity 3

Create a Macro to add your Signature building block onto your document. You [Alt]-C as the keyboard combination

Fields

Fields can be used to place some standard information into your document. If things change, they can be easily updated. It includes things like page numbers, date, author and filename.

 

Review

You should already be aware of the basic review tools, but there are quite a few things that you can do with this ribbon.

Spelling and Grammar

Most people, me included, keep the Spell Check as you type option on. This will highlight any errors by underlining with red squiggly lines. You can right-click on the word to see alternate correct spelling.

You can also click on the Spelling & Grammar button to check your whole document.


This will allow you to correct mistakes that are consistent through your document - select Change All - or just do one word at a time. If you check the correct grammar option, it will also give you alternative grammar options as well as highlighting areas of your document that break the selected grammar rules. I must admit that I don't use this as I already know that my documents are informal and "conversational" without Microsoft telling me.

Research and Thesaurus

The Research and Thesaurus are useful tools that you can use when creating documents. I do sometimes use the Thesaurus, when you are sick of using the same word to describe something and need a different word or at least some inspiration.

Translate

As I am not a linguist, I am really not sure how good this tool works, but can only assume that it does a reasonable job! You can translate the whole document, or use the mini translator to translate words.

 

Comments

Comments are used during a review when there are multiple people who will collaborate on a document. One person may create the document and then allow a few other people to review the document and suggest changes.

You can add comments using the New Comment button. You can also use Ink Comments, which allow you to write a comment freehand using the mouse or a stylus if you have one.

When you load the document, you can view all of the comments and make any changes that were suggested,

Tracking

Tracking is very similar to comments - when multiple people are needed to collaborate on a document - such as an editor for a book publisher - the main person can review the document and decide which changes they may want to keep and discard those that they don't want to keep.

You need to turn tracking on before you start to make changes or review the document.

Once tracking has been turned on, any changes are tracked and the main user can review the changes and decide whether they want to keep them or not.

Text inserted and text deleted - note the markup

Adding inked comments - comments, whether inked or types, can help explain why  the changes were made

Inking Tools

Inking tools include highlighter pens and hand drawn doodles

Use the Review panel to see who made the changes and then the buttons to accept or reject the changes.

Compare

This is useful if you wish to compare two versions of the same document - this will highlight any differences there may be. A new document will be created highlighting the differences. Great if you have different versions stored and you lose track of what changes have been made along the way.

I have made some changes to version 2 of the Moodle document. I can use this to find out what those changes are.

The compare document is opened up in Review mode - you can review the changes in the document and decide whether you want to accept or reject the changes.

Insert Links

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are mainly used to link to web pages, but you can also link to an email address as well as a program.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks are used to link to a particular spot in a document. To create a bookmark, you need to go to where you want the bookmark and highlight the text or spot to mark it. You create the bookmark by giving the area a name.

Once you have created your bookmark, you can easily navigate to it by opening up the Bookmarks dialog, select the bookmark name and click on Go To or you can double-click the bookmark name.

Cross-reference

Cross-referencing allows you to refer to tables or figures that may be in your document. Cross references will look like Hyperlinks when inserted into a document.

Table of Contents

While we are looking at linking, this is an opportune time to point out that you can use a table of contents as hyperlinks to navigate through your document.

You will find Table of Contents under the References TAB.

Other References

Footnotes

Writers use footnotes and endnotes in documents to explain, comment on, or provide references to something they’ve mentioned in a document. Usually, footnotes appear at the bottom of the page and endnotes come at the end of the document or section.

Citations & Bibliography

You can add Citations to your document or create a placeholder and fill in the information later.

From Word Help:
Create a bibliography
Before you can create a bibliography you need to have at least one citation and source in your document that will appear in your bibliography. If you don't have all of the information that you need about a source to create a complete citation, you can use a placeholder citation, and then complete the source information later.

Note   Placeholder citations do not appear in the bibliography.

Click on the Citations drop down to add a Citation to your document. Complete the details in the Dialog Box.

Your citation will appear at the spot where you placed it.

Once you have all of your citations, you can Insert the Bibliography

Index

You can mark items that you want to appear in an index. All of the items you mark, will be included in the index when it is created.

Activity 4

Load a document that you may have on your USB.

Save it with a new name and make some changes.

Use Compare to compare the one you made changes to with the original.

Word Options

Word has many annoying things that it does by default. If they annoy you also, you may need to go into the Word Options and turn some things on or off. Here are a few of the things that annoy me!!

Generally, I am happy with most of the Autocorrect things, but a few of them annoy me. These things can be easily switched off. If there are some annoying items that aren't in the exceptions, you can add them.

AutoFormat and Autoformat as you type

Some of the Autoformatting can also be annoying, I particularly hate that Word will try and change a row of dashes into a solid line.
The difference between the AutoFormat options and AutoFormat as you type is when the autoformatting is applied - at the end of creating your document or as you are creating it.

Save - Advanced Options

The really annoying stuff is at the top!!!

File Locations

On the last page of Advanced options you can access the default file locations and change them if you need to.

Assessment Task

Create a form for new members to Mysty River Regional Library Service
Create a template for a standard letter using letterhead. Create 2 macros that will allow you to do a formal signature or a personal signature.  You will need to save your form as a Macro-enabled Document/Template.

See separate sheet with details.