The Good and the Evil

By default, Outlook 2003 blocks all HTML content that is referenced by an external location. Many junk e-mail senders put an image URL in the e-mail message. The image URL notifies the junk e-mail senders' Web server when you read or preview the e-mail message. This type of image URL is also known as a "Web beacon." An example of a Web beacon image URL is:

<img src="http://myserver/cgi-bin/program?e=your-e-mail-address-here" />

If you preview or open an e-mail message with this type of an image reference, this action may make you a target to receive more junk e-mail messages.

To prevent this type of Web beacon, where an HTML e-mail message contains references such as links and banners to an external URL, the Outlook 2003 HTML viewer does not automatically render the external content. Instead, when you view the e-mail message, areas in the e-mail message that should have a picture appear as a red X placeholder.

Also, you receive the following InfoBar message that indicates that the HTML content has been blocked:

Click here to download pictures.
To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download
of some pictures in this message. 

With all that warning, if you still want to do it:

1. Open Outlook
   
2. Click Tools menu
   
3. Select Options
   
4. Click the Security tab
   
5. Click Change Automatic Download Settings button
   
6. Select when you want pictures downloaded
   
7. Click OK OK

Download pictures automatically in Outlook In Outlook 2007 go to Tools>Trust Center Automatic Download

 




[Edited entry from 11/15/2006]



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Distribute Text Evenly Within Controls

When you add form or report controls, the Text Align property defaults to General setting: characters align to the left while numbers and dates align to the right.

When you set up controls to act as headings or titles, you can achieve interesting visual results by changing the Text Align setting to Distribute (This is called Justify in Word).

This setting distributes characters within the control evenly to span its entire width.

If you apply this setting to a textbox control, the alignment switches to Left alignment when you click inside the control to allow for easy data entry.

General (Default)

The text aligns to the left; numbers and dates align to the right.

Left

The text, numbers, and dates align to the left.

Center

The text, numbers, and dates are centered.

Right

The text, numbers, and dates align to the right.

Distribute

The text, numbers, and dates are evenly distributed.

[Edited entry from 11/14/2006]




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Does 85 WPM impress you?

The common short cuts are: Ctrl+X for Cut, Ctrl+C for Copy, and Ctrl+V for Paste.

These are optimized for use on the left side of the keyboard.

There's another set of shortcuts that use keys on the right-hand side the keyboard:

Cut: Shift + Delete
Copy: Ctrl + Insert
Paste: Shift + Insert

Also see:
One Hand Typing

"Computer Keyboard Shortcuts for one hand typists. Resources for vocational, occupational, rehabilitation therapists, and their clients, who have lost full, or partial use of one hand, with a special emphasis on learning to type with a standard keyboard."

"This video clip is of me, Lilly Walters. Note how I use my less able hand to do the SHIFT key. I am typing on a normal keyboard. I really do up to 85 words per minute - with enough caffeine and sleep. The keyboard shown here is a NORMAL keyboard you will find in any office, school or home. No alternative keyboard layouts. Just what all of my peers use. By the way, I type faster than most of my peers! All because I learned to type with one hand."

[Edited entry from 11/13/2006]




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Fresh look

When Office 2003 was released, the only application that showed obvious changes from the earlier version was Outlook.

Slipstick.com does a good job describing the changes and providing useful links.
Also Office System 2007

Here is the Microsoft Office 2003 Editions Product Guide

Here is Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 product overview

2010 adds the Ribbon.

There is an apocryphal story that when Outlook was first considered, it was a PDA, kind of an electronic date book.

One Microsoft manager, supposedly, questioned adding an e-mail reader, since any one who wanted to do that, could just do it on the Internet.

Another story was that Microsoft was a little slow recognizing the Internet, because their managers were too old. They were in their late 20's and when they went to school the net had not progressed that far from the Well in San Francisco.

When the young graduates entered the company, they were used to Internet access from their dorm rooms. MS woke up and swung the ship around almost overnight.

[Edited entry from 11/12/2006]




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For your real desktop

C.A.Daniels & Company offers some decadent, fun, office bric-a-brac.


Hippo stapler


Hare Brush and Mirror


Hippo Clock/Paperweight


Trout Razor


BoingBoing.net refers to the El Casco company for more desk bling.

Also:
Too much Bling

"A couple of months ago I bought a 17" LCD monitor (PolyView V17E). However, when I first powered it on, the thing that struck me was just how bright the blue power LED was! This power LED is just next to the power switch, immediately below the screen itself. The LED was bright enough to be very distracting, to the extent where it was just too bright to be able to look at the bottom part of the monitor without needing sunglasses.

Luckily, the LED was shining through a small plastic diffuser, mounted in the case, which had a flat surface on it. A couple of coats with a permanent marker dulled the brightness sufficiently to allow me to use the monitor without being blinded."

[Edited entry from 11/11/2006]




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Doug Klippert posted a photo:

Doug Klippert posted a photo:

Doug Klippert posted a photo:

Doug Klippert posted a photo:

Doug Klippert posted a photo:

Doug Klippert posted a photo:

Doug Klippert posted a photo:

Doug Klippert posted a photo:

Doug Klippert posted a photo:

Doug Klippert posted a photo:

A multidiscipline subject

Here is a study about how color effects a reader's choice of concentration.

It was intended for newspaper publishers, but the same knowledge can be used in Web design, PowerPoint, or any other reporting application. Word and Excel will also benefit.

Color, Contrast, and Dimension in News Design

ColorProject

The Poynter Institute is a school for journalists, future journalists, and teachers of journalists.
Poynter.org



[Edited entry from 11/8/2006]




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Let the government help you find out

Stadium High school in Tacoma, WA (WWW.CelebrateStadium.com) recently celebrated 100 years.



There have been 38,797 graduates since 1906 and 24,176 could still be alive.

This report presents period life tables for the United States based on age-specific death rates in 2003.

Presented are complete life tables by age, race, and sex. In 2003, the overall expectation of life at birth was 77.5 years, representing an increase of 0.2 years from life expectancy in 2002.

Between 2002 and 2003, life expectancy increased for males and females and for both the white and black populations.

Life expectancy increased by 0.3 years (from 77.7 to 78.0) for the white population and by 0.4 years (from 72.3 to 72.7) for the black population.

The greatest increase was experienced by black females with an increase of 0.5 years (from 75.6 to 76.1). Life expectancy increased by 0.2 years for black males (from 68.8 to 69.0), white males (from 75.1 to 75.3), and for white females (from 80.3 to 80.5).

Life expectancy at birth, selected years 1900-2003

United States Life Tables - PDF


[Edited entry from 11/7/2006]




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Click to Word, PowerPoint, Excel

You can create hyperlinks in Access that jump to other Office documents. The process of specifying the document and the bookmark you want to jump to can be cumbersome.

There's an easy way to specify where in a Word, Excel or PowerPoint document that a hyperlink should jump to, without even having to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.

1. Open the target document and the Access table that contains a hyperlink field.
   
   
2. Select some of the text at the beginning where you want the hyperlink to jump.
   
   
3. Hold down the Ctrl key, drag the selection to the Access hyperlink field you want to set up.
   
   
4. When you release the mouse button, the previously selected text is used as the hyperlink text and the link becomes active.

[Edited entry from 11/7/2006]


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Startup flags

Microsoft supplies switches or flags that can be used following a Command-Line start of an application
After the Executable allow a space and the enter the Switch.

The Microsoft Outlook Help file contains an entry that lists command-line switches, which you can use to start Outlook in a specific mode or with a specific form.
This article lists additional command-line switches that are not included in the Outlook Help file.

Search for "Switches".

Here's a good one:

/sniff

Starts Outlook, forces a detection of new meeting requests in the Inbox, and then adds them to the calendar

Command-Line Switches

HowTo-Outlook



[Edited entry from 11/6/2006]




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Doug Klippert posted a photo: