PowerPoint: Custom Slide Shows

Did you know that you can create custom slide shows in PowerPoint? Let’s say you have a PowerPoint document that you would like to use for two different presentations, but you have a few different slides that you would like to show for each presentation. You can easily create several custom slide shows from the same document. Let’s check it out.

Exercises

If you would like to follow along, you may download today’s exercise here:

This is a PowerPoint document about Wichita State University. The data is all fictional, of course!

The idea is that you would like to create two possible presentations from this one document: one presentation for parents and one for students.

Set Up Custom Slide Shows

1. Go to the Slide Show tab in the ribbon.

2. In the Start Slide Show group, select the dropdown for Custom Slide Show and select Custom Shows.

3. In the popup that appears, press New.

4. Give the slide show a name in the box provided. Perhaps our first one will be the student presentation, so we can title it Student Show.

5. Select the slides you would like to appear in the slide show: perhaps everything except Finances and Statistics.

6. Press the Add button, and make sure the slides appear on the right pane. Notice you have the ability to rearrange the slide order with the arrows on the right.

7. Press OK.

8. Repeat the steps above, but this time create a Parent Show, consisting of all the slides except Recreation.

9. Now when you visit the Custom Slide Show dropdown, Custom Shows, you can see both the shows you created.

Access Custom Slide Shows

Are you ready to show one of your presentations? Revisit the Custom Slide Show dropdown, and select either the Student Show or the Parent Show to start one of these presentations.

Thoughts?

What do you think? How will you use Custom Slide Shows?

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

Carody Bryan

Linda Steinacher

Excel: Navigating Inside a Document with Links

Utilizing links in an Office document can do so much more than simply take your end users to a website. Links are also a great way to help people navigate around a document. Below is a great example… let’s check it out.

Exercise File

Feel free to follow along with today’s Exercise File:

This is a special file full of (fictional) information; there are a variety of sheets at the bottom of the document: a Home sheet, a Management sheet employee information, a sheet with a Class List, and last but not least, Dessert Sales.

You would like to share this document with a group of people who may or may not be very proficient with Excel. Just like we saw with slicers, creating buttons for people to press can be a huge help if people are not familiar with navigating around an Excel document.

Assigning Links

Linking within the Document

We want to assign links to the icons on the Home sheet.

1. Click on the icon of people to select it.

2. Right Click on top of the image, and select Link. (note: this may be called Hyperlink in your version of Office)

3. Notice on the left side of the screen there are a variety of location options. For the icons, we are going to select Place in This Document.

4. Select the Management sheet and press OK.

5. Test out your link by deselecting the icon (click on any cell), then click on the icon.

6. Follow the same process to link the Backpack image to Class List, and the Cake Slice to Dessert Sales.

7. Notice each additional sheet (besides Home) has some arrows in an icon to the right of content. Click on this icon to select it, then link this to the Home sheet.

Test out the icons you just created! You should be able to navigate to a sheet by pressing on an icon in the Home sheet, then go back home by pressing on the Arrows on any other sheet. How cool!

Linking Outside the Document

We have created all sorts of links inside our document. Let’s take a look at linking outside the document.

1. On the Home sheet, press on the WSU Logo to select it.

2. Right click on top of the logo, and select Link (or Hyperlink).

3. On the left side of the screen, press Existing File or Web Page.

4. In the Address box, type http://wichita.edu

5. Press OK.

Test out your newly created link by clicking on the WSU Logo.

Additional Notes

  • Linking to Documents: When you linked to the webpage, you might have noticed the contents of your computer pop up underneath. You can link to an existing document, but remember that the only people who can open the link will be people who have access to the location you are linking to. If you link to something on your desktop, probably you are the only person who can open the link (and only on that machine).
  • Cell Reference: When linking to a place in this document, you can have the link go directly to a specific cell. Enter the cell name in the field provided, otherwise it will default to A1.
  • Removing a link: At any time, links can be removed or edited by right clicking on top of the link and selecting Remove Link or Edit Link.

Thoughts?

What do you think? Will you use links to navigate within your shared documents?

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

Excel: PivotTables and Calculated Fields

Formulas and PivotTables. Many of us have gotten caught up creating formulas outside of a PivotTable by referencing cells within a pivot table, only to be disappointed when we update our PivotTable and cells shift back and forth. There are several ways of dealing with this issue. One way is to create a Calculated Field within your PivotTable. This is something we cover briefly in Excel PivotTables sessions, but it is definitely worth a review.

Fields, Items and Sets drop down with Calculated Field circled

Exercise File

If you would like to follow along, here is an exercise file:

This document contains two sheets: one sheet contains the PivotTable, and the other contains the source data, showcasing a couple years of dessert sales. Right now, you have income and expense information in the values of the PivotTable. Since we have those figures handy in our data, it would be nice to figure out net income.

For this Byte, I am assuming you are comfortable with PivotTables in Excel. If you are not, please come attend my PivotTables, Charts, and Pictures sessions! Sessions are listed in myTraining and are updated regularly.

PivotTable Contextual Tabs

We are going to be working a lot with the PivotTable Tools contextual tabs. Like any other contextual tab in Microsoft, remember that you need to click on the element to see the corresponding contextual tab(s).

PivotTable Tools COntextual Tabs

When you click on the PivotTable, you should see two contextual tabs for PivotTable Tools: Analyze and Design.

Click onto the pivot table to activate Pivot Table TOols tab

Be sure you can see these tabs before moving on to the next step.

Inserting a Calculated Field

Remember, our end goal is to create a Net Income field that will subtract the Expenses from the Revenue.

1. With the PivotTable Tools activated, go to the Analyze tab, Calculations Group.

2. Select the dropdown for Fields, Items & Sets and select Calculated Field.

Fields, Items and Sets drop down, Calculated Field circled

3. In the popup screen that appears, you will see all the PivotTable fields listed at the bottom of the screen. At the top is an opportunity to name the field and a space for a formula.

Insert Calculated Field Pop up

4. Click in to the Name box and change Field1 to Net Income.

5. Click in to the Formula box, and double click on Revenue in the Fields area. Type a “-” on your number pad, and double click on Expense. We are building a formula that will read: = Revenue – Expense.

6. Press Add.

Insert Calculated Field pop up, filled out as described in text.

7. Press OK, and look at the field you just created incorporating a formula from two other fields. Pretty cool!

Pivot table with new Calculated Field column

Notes

  • PivotTable Fields: You will see this calculated field appear in the Values section of your PivotTable Fields.
Sum of Net Income visible in the Values box of Pivot Table Fields list.
  • Calculations from Calculations: If you are creating another Calculated Field, you will see the Net Income field we just created as a field option for use in future formulas.
Calculated field visible in a new Calculated Field pop up screen for further calculations

Thoughts?

What do you think? Can you incorporate Calculated Fields into your PivotTables? I would love to hear from you!

Open Labs

Did you know that Applications Training has open labs every other week? Whether you have a Banner question or a Microsoft question, feel free to stop by! Open lab times are listed in myTraining under the title Open Lab Assistance on Banner 9, Time Entry, Reporting, & Microsoft/Adobe.

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

Julie Scott

Julie Scott with Power User Certificate

PowerPoint: Creating Master Slide Layouts

Why would someone want to alter a Master Slide in PowerPoint? Several reasons… Sometimes you are making a simple alteration to the overall formatting or appearance of your slides – we do this in PowerPoint Essentials training. Other times you might want to do what we are about to do today, which is to make a larger layout change for your presentation. Altering the Master Slide might sound intimidating, but it can be a huge time saving step… and can make uniformity of your presentation so much simpler. Let’s check it out.

Exercise Files

No exercise file today! You can open PowerPoint to your favorite theme (or even no theme at all). For reference, my screen shots are showing the Gallery theme.

Master Slides

You have seen Master Slides before, even if you didn’t know where they lived. Whenever you select New Slide on the Home tab, you were picking from preset Master Slides. You probably noticed these options change when you select a different theme… that is because each theme comes with its own unique set of Master Slides.

New Slide view

Let’s find where these Master Slides live. In the View tab of the ribbon, Master Views group, select Slide Master.

View tab, slide master button circled

This can be a bit disorienting at first. Your presentation seems to disappear (but don’t worry, it is still there!), and you are thrown onto a new tab called Slide Master with a plethora of options.

Slide Master tab

At any time, you can leave Master View by selecting Close Master View in the Slide Master tab.

Close Master View circled

Master Slide View and Creating Layouts

Let’s make some adjustments to the Master Slides.

1. Go to View tab, Slide Master (instructions above).

2. On the left side of the screen, notice a list of all the existing layouts. Hover your mouse over one of them to see the name appear.

Mouse hovered over slide layout to see title
  • Notice there is a plethora of options on a right click menu… more on this later. But for now, notice that if you like a layout, and want an additional slightly altered version of it, you have the ability to duplicate and alter.
Right click menu, duplicate circled

3. In the Slide Master tab, go to the Edit Master group an select Insert Layout.

Insert Layout circled

4. In your new layout, find the Master Layout group, and select the dropdown for Insert Placeholder.

Insert Placeholder circled

5. Notice you have the option to limit content to a specific type, or insert generic content (what you are most used to seeing in layouts). We are going to insert Content.

Insert Placeholder options

6. Your cursor will change to a cross hair. Draw out a box the size you would like your content box to be on your slides.

Drawing a placeholder

7. Let’s do another one. Go back to Insert Placeholder (above), and this time select SmartArt. Draw out this box next to the Content box you created. Notice you can use the PowerPoint guides (red dashed lines) to see if the boxes have lined up properly.

Size guides
  • You should be left with a layout similar to this:
Final new layout

8. Remember how we explored the right click options earlier? Find your new layout in the slide list on the left. Right click on top of it, and select Rename Layout.

Right click menu, rename selected

9. Give it a new name that you will easily be able to identify.

Name box

Test Out Your New Slide

Let’s test it out! Remember to leave the Master View, go to the Slide Master Tab, and select Close Master View on the right.

Close Master View button circled

You will be taken back to your presentation. Select the New Slide dropdown. Do you see your new layout?

Newly created master slide visible in New Slide dropdown

More About Master Slide View

While you were in Master Slide View, You might have noticed a couple of other things about the Master Slide tab…

Themes, Colors and Fonts

In PowerPoint Essentials training, we talk about manipulating themes, colors and fonts on the Design tab… the Master Slide tab contains another way to access these same features.

Themes, Colors, Fonts on Master Slide View

Title

To the left of where we selected Insert Placeholder, you might notice a checked box for Title. This is a very important little box.

Master Layout: Title

Luckily this box is checked by default, but be sure not to uncheck it. All of your slides should have a title: this is usually found at the top of your slide. If you were to remove this title box and replace it with a text box for instance, your PowerPoint will not be as easy to work with, nor will it be accessible to people using screen readers. Long story short, leave it checked!

Thoughts?

Will this help you customize your presentations? I would love to hear from you!

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

  • Tonya Bronleewe
  • Donna Hughes

Excel: Using Slicers With Password Protected Sheets

Who doesn’t love slicers? What an awesome way to sort and filter data. We have talked about how, in addition to being a time saver, slicers can make it easier to share your data with others who are not as comfortable working in Excel. Not everyone understands, “filter the data,” but we all can understand “push this button!”

Slicers circled

At the same time, in the advanced Excel sessions, we talk about how you often want to protect a workbook from accidental changes, particularly after you have spent a lot of time creating elaborate formulas. Unfortunately, protection also renders your slicers useless… Here is a great compromise: you can protect a document and leave your slicers fully functional by incorporating a very simple method. Let’s take a look.

Before we do, big thank you to Erin for having this question in last week’s Excel Essentials session and inspiring this byte!

Exercise File

If you would like to follow along, you can download the exercise file here:

This is a list of fictional students in a fictional class with their fictional grades. (This is fictional data, friends). In this scenario, it looks like you decided to turn this data into a table, because of course you did! And you added some slicers for ease of use so you can quickly filter and only view students with A’s or Freshmen with A’s, etc.

By the way, if you are not fully comfortable with tables or slicers in Excel, please come attend one of my Excel Essentials sessions! I would love to see you.

Disclaimer

  • With protection options, be very careful when applying passwords. If you lose the password, unfortunately, we cannot get it back for you!
  • You can also lock a document without applying a password, which is handy to know if you are worried less about dishonesty and worried more about accidental typing. This is the route we are going to take today.

Unlock Slicers

1. Right click on a slicer and select Size and Properties.

Right click menu, Size and Properties circled

2. On the right side of the screen a Format Slicer menu will appear. Click the triangle next to Properties.

triangle next to Properties circled

3. Uncheck the box next to Locked.

Box next to locked unchecked

4. Follow the same steps for the second slicer.

Protect Sheet

  1. In the ribbon, go to the Review tab, Protect group and select Protect Sheet.
Protect sheet button circled

2. This is where you could set up a password, but for today, let’s leave that area blank.

3. Scroll down in the list and check Use AutoFilter. Click OK.

Use AutoFilter circled

Now… notice that you cannot make a change to a specific cell (error message below), but the slicers should be fully functional allowing users to filter the data.

Locked cell error message

Unprotect Sheet

Don’t forget, when you want to edit, you can Unprotect the same place you Protect a sheet.

In our case, this was on the Review tab, Protect group. It can also be found in Backstage View.

Unprotect Sheet button

If we had created a password, this is also where we would have been prompted to enter it to unlock the sheet.

Thoughts?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this! Have you been frustrated by not being able to protect a worksheet and user slicers? Will this save you any trouble?

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

OneNote: Web Clipper

You are using and loving OneNote, right? In OneNote Essentials training, we discover how this program opens up tons of possibilities for organizing thoughts, integrating Outlook items, and so much more. One feature I talk briefly about in this training, but can’t show in detail, is the nifty Add-On you can use in your browser of choice. These Add-Ons can streamline organizing information you are pulling from the web.

OneNote Browser Add-On Downloads

About half of you are using Chrome, about a quarter are using Firefox, and the other quarter one of the other browser options.

Here is the good news… Regardless of your browser of choice, the link below will detect your current browser and send you to the appropriate download. If you use multiple browser programs, you can open it in each one (Chrome, then Firefox, etc) and download the clipper for each program.

OneNote Clipper Download

1. Select Get the OneNote Web Clipper

Get the OneNote Clipper button

2. You will be redirected to the appropriate log in page with a button allowing you to add the clipper to your browser.

Add to Chrome button

After the clipper is installed, it will appear:

  • Chrome/Firefox/Edge: to the right of your address and search bars
  • Safari: to the left of your address bar

Log In

The first time you click on the clipper, you will be prompted to log in to your OneNote account. This will give the clipper access to place your selections into your OneNote notebooks.

To log in, remember:

1. Your email is your myWSUID@wichita.edu (e.g. A123Z987@wichita.edu).

2. Password is your usual myWSUID password.

3. You will be redirected to a Shocker log in page; this will look familiar if you have taken the OneDrive training.

4. You will likely be asked to Duo, so be sure to have your device of choice at the ready to authenticate.

Clip!

Once logged in, check out the clipper! You have a choice of clipping:

  • Full page
  • Region
  • Article
  • Bookmark
Clipper Options

And, you can select a location to place your clipping. Select the dropdown by Location to see your OneNote notebooks and folders.

OneNote Locations

Thoughts?

What do you think? Do you think you will use the clipper?

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

Jacquelyn Johnston

Jacquelyn Johnston

PowerPoint: Restrict Editing with a Password

You have probably password protected documents in Word or Excel. In Excel Advanced Formulas, we even talk about how you can protect individual cells from being altered, while leaving the rest open to changes. Microsoft does not make it as obvious in PowerPoint that password protection is a possibility is it does in its other programs… but you actually have several options, including the ability to restrict editing while still allowing users to view your presentation. Let’s take a look.

Password Screen

Exercise File

No Exercise File today! You can open up PowerPoint into any random template if you would like to follow along.

Be Cautious with Microsoft Passwords

The usual password disclaimer applies…

  • Be very careful applying passwords in any Microsoft program.
  • If you lose the password, neither Microsoft nor ITS can reset it for you (trust me, I have been there).
  • You may want to save an copy of your original file without a password for your personal use.

Password Protecting Documents in Word and Excel

Password protection in Word and Excel is fairly obvious; you even have a special button in the Review tab to guide you through Restrict Editing features or Protect Sheet/Workbook in the case of Excel.

Restrict editing button in Word

With both Word and Excel, there are also a variety of Protect Workbook features in backstage (File) view.

Excel: Protect Workbook dropdown

On the other hand… in PowerPoint, the protection features are absent in the Review tab, though there are a lot of the same options for encryption in backstage view as Word or Excel…

Powerpoint restrict access options, prompting users to Connect to Rights Management Servers

Encrypt with Password would require someone to have a password to open your document, but maybe you only want to restrict editing. This is where people become frustrated.

For many people, Restrict Access looks like the right place to go, but for many it directs them to Connect to Rights Management Servers, which errors out when selected. There is a better way to do this…

“Save As” Password Options

1. With your presentation open, go to File, Save As (or remember my favorite shortcut, F12).

2. In the lower right, click on Tools dropdown and select General Options.

Save as screen, tools dropdown

3. A screen will appear prompting you to either:

  • Require a password to Open, or
  • Require a password to Modify. Let’s stick with Modify for now.

4. Enter a password for Modify, and click OK. You may be prompted to reenter the password.

Password to Open or Modify Screen

5. Save and close your PowerPoint file. Open the file again, and you should be prompted to either enter a password, or open a read only version.

Prompt when opening document: enter password or open as a read only document

Your users will still be able to view and print the document, but they will not be able to make changes.

Remove the Password

Later, if you would like to remove the password:

1. Open the file, entering the password when prompted.

2. Revisit the Save As screen to find the Tools, General Options where you first set the password.

Save as screen, tools dropdown

3. Here you can remove the password you originally created and press OK

Password screen with current password and ok circled.

Thoughts?

What do you think? Did you know about this feature in PowerPoint?

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

  • Rosemary Hedrick
Rosemary Hedrick

Word: Mail Merge with PDF Attachments

Have you ever wished that you could do an email Mail Merge with PDF attachments as the merged results? There are a variety of reasons you may want to do this. Maybe you would like to send individual PDF letters to students via email attachment, or perhaps you want to have a partially completed PDF form that is personalized for each person you are emailing. The possibilities are endless! By the way, big thanks to Julie and Meghan for having an awesome question in last week’s Word session that has inspired this Byte!

Background

  • Today I am going to be referencing an Add In that comes with the installation of Acrobat DC on a computer. To request Acrobat DC, or other Adobe Creative Cloud programs, contact the Help Desk at 4357.
  • Also, for these exercises, I am assuming you have some experience with Mail Merge in Word. If you have never merged before, or are not comfortable with the process, please come attend my Microsoft Word Essentials training! You will be comfortable with it in no time.

Exercise Files

Here are a couple files for experimentation, if you would like to follow along:

  • Sample Letter Word Document: this is your file that you would like to turn into a merged PDF for recipients. This is a fictional letter for potential students.
  • Mail Merge Database Excel File: this is a fictional database for linking to the merge document.
  • Important: you should save these both to your desktop before starting, since you will have to browse to find the Excel file when merging.

Creating the Merge

You will start this merge like any other email merge:

1. Open the Sample Letter Word file.

2. Go to Mailings tab and select Start Mail Merge

3. Select Letters

Start Mail Merge dropdown, Letters selected

4. Select Recipients and browse for the Excel file

Select recipients dropdown, Use an existing list selected

5. Insert Merge Fields as desired. I am going to insert:

  • Address block
  • Greeting line, and
  • Interest field
Insert Merge Field dropdown

Work Offline

In real life, this is an optional step when doing an email merge, but I will ask you to do it this time, since we are working with fake email accounts, and you probably don’t want to receive a bunch of bounce back emails. When you work Offline in Outlook, it allows you the opportunity to review your email merge before going back online and sending them.

  • In Outlook, go to the send/receive tab and select Work Offline.
Outlook Send/Receive tab, Work Offline selected

Finish and Merge

1. Instead of going to Finish and Merge, like we usually do, we are going to select Merge to Adobe PDF.

Mailings tab, Merge to Adobe PDF circled

2. In the popup screen:

  • Specify a name for your PDF
Specify PDF File name completed with "Welcome" title
  • Check the box next to Automatically send Adobe PDF files by Email. Email data will populate by default, but that is something that could be changed if the wrong column is selected.
Automatically send Adobe PDF files by Email box checked. Email selected from dropdown.
  • Type in a special email Message, if desired.
Message inserted in Message box: We can't wait to see you this fall!
  • Press Ok

3. Select a location to save the merged PDF files. This creates separate PDFs for each of the merge results, for your records.

If there you don’t see a location that will work, notice you can also create a new folder in the lower left.

Browse for location screen

Double Check Results

  1. Open your Outlook.
  2. Since you are working Offline, these files are going to be sitting in your Outbox. You should see a number on the left side of your screen next to Outbox. Click on the Outbox to access the folder.
Outbox displayed on list

3. You will see a list of emails. Double click on any of them and take a look at the email that is set to send. You will see your message, subject line, and a PDF attachment.

Email from results, with PDF attachment

4. Double click on the attachment. Here is the letter you wanted to send, as a PDF attachment.

PDF of merged Word file

5. The individual PDFs are also living wherever you chose to store them on the previous section, step 3.

Work Online

Don’t forget that you need to go back online again with your Outlook! When you go back online, all of the emails in your outbox are going to send automatically, and in this case (with our fake emails) is not a good idea.

Red X next to each email to delete from Outbox.
  1. Click on the red X to the right of of each of the emails to delete them.
  2. When you are finished, revisit the Send/Receive tab and toggle off the Work Offline button to go back online again.

Thoughts?

Will you use this in your area? I would love to hear how you plan to use this tool!

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

PowerPoint: Live Subtitles

Hold on to your hats! I am so excited to show you this amazing new PowerPoint feature in a new group called Captions and Subtitles. This life changing tool will caption your words during your presentation as you are speaking… and that is just the beginning. This tool really needed a video to showcase what it can do, so keep scrolling to check out a short video.

Subtitle settings

Live Subtitles in PowerPoint

Take a look at the video below, where I demonstrate the feature. Then there are a couple notes for you after…

How do I obtain access to this amazing wizardry?

This feature is only available for the Office 365 versions of the PC desktop application. If you are running 2016, you would need to request an upgrade (see below). Even with the 365 version, many people don’t have this feature yet, but don’t worry, it is coming soon! Here is what you can do:

  1. If you are not using Office 365, contact the Help Desk (4357) to put in a ticket to have Desktop Support update your computer.
  2. Even so, you likely will not see this feature yet, but hang tight, because you will see it soon with coming updates.
  3. When it does appear, it will live on the Slide Show tab of the ribbon.

Thoughts?

What do you think? Is your mind buzzing with ideas? I would love to hear from you!

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser

Meghan Simpson

Meghan Simpson

Word: Linking Text Between Documents

There are several options in Word for referencing a separate Word document. A feature I particularly like is called Insert Object. There is a lot you can do with the Insert Object feature, but one nice aspect is the ability to link (and sync!) text between two documents. Let’s see how this works.

Exercise Files

There are two files that will work together today:

The Welcome New Employees document contains a section that you would like to reference back to another Word document, Policy 55555. You would like for the Welcome New Employees document to update as your policy updates.

Since we will be linking these documents together, save both of these files to your desktop before going to the next step.

Insert Object

1. Open the Welcome New Employees document.

2. Place your cursor where you would like to insert the content from Policy 55555, at the end of the document.

3. Go to the Insert tab, Text group, and select the Object dropdown.

Note: if your screen is a smaller size, or the size of the Word window is reduced, you may only see an icon for the object in the ribbon.

4. Select Object from the dropdown.

5. In the tab at the top of the pop out screen select Create from File.

Create from File tab

6. Press Browse to browse for the Policy 55555 document.

Instructions 6 through 8

7. Check Link to File

8. Press OK

Inserted Text

Notice how this inserts the text with a frame around it. You cannot edit this text anywhere except in the source document, Policy 55555.

1. Double click on the frame to open the linked document in a new window.

Inserted text in a frame

2. Make a change to the source document.  Instead of Sandy, change the contact to Hannah, and the phone number to 999 9999.

3. Save the Policy document and close it to see the change take effect in the Welcome document.

Changes made to policy document

By the way, in the future you could always just open the linked Policy file, and make a change to it on its own. The change will take effect the next time you open the Welcome file… you may have to close and reopen the Welcome file if it is open when you make the change this way, though.

Notes

A few more things to note:

  1. Be cautious of where you save or move your linked documents. They may need to be re-linked if you move them to new locations.
  2. Insert Object also exists in PowerPoint. Imagine the possibilities!
  3. If you choose to email the final file to people, or post it online, they will be able to see the latest linked text, but they will not be linked to the linked document (Policy in this example), nor will they be able to open the linked document. Only people who can access where the linked document is stored will be able to do that.
  4. All bets are off if you export to PDF. The text will appear, but it will no longer be linked.

In other words, think of this as a feature to use with your master documents, to ensure consistency.

Thoughts?

Do you have a use for this nifty linked text feature? Also, like I mentioned in the introduction, this is only one aspect of the Insert Object feature. Feel free to explore and let me know how it goes!

Congratulations, Power Users!

Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser