Monthly Archives: May 2013

microsoft-office-2013

Upgrading to Office 2013: See What’s New

Featured, Teaching Tips & Strategies,

microsoft-office-2013Thinking about upgrading to Microsoft Office 2013 for your corporate training facilities or classrooms? New and improved features make Office 2013 a more efficient program for your computer network. Here are some new additions in Office 2013 that will make you thankful you’ve made the upgrade.

Simpler interface. We’re so used to things becoming more dressed up with every upgrade, it’s refreshing that Microsoft Office 2013 has done the opposite. The new interface is streamlined, and less complex from a graphic standpoint, making it easier to focus on your work at hand.

Cloud Connection. If you use SkyDrive or SharePoint to store your documents for anywhere work accessibility, you’ll appreciate the new Office software. Your SkyDrive account details will appear in the left-hand corner, allowing you to easily navigate between files and accounts. Your work will be saved by default on the cloud or you can manually save it to your local drive.

Device Synchronization. Your saved online documents will be available across multiple devices. This makes it easier to pick up where you left off, using Microsoft Office 2013 on a PC or tablet, or via WebApps on your mobile device. Your documents should appear exactly as you left them.

PDF Editing. Finally! You can save and edit PDFs without going through the laborious process of converting them. Once you save them as a DocX or PDF, they will open in Word and appear just like the PDF.

Ready to upgrade? Download Labyrinth Learning’s free Office 2013 Upgrade Guide to make sure your transition proceeds without a glitch.

 

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Microsoft Access-2013-Quick-Start-Guide

Eliminate Errors from Your Business’s Database with Microsoft Access

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Microsoft Access-2013-Quick-Start-GuideDoes your company realize the benefits of using Microsoft Access? Whether you’re a corporate trainer, or a computer instructor who works with business professionals, it’s important to understand the ways Microsoft Access can eliminate errors from your business’ and streamline the data entry process.

Many companies rely on Microsoft Excel to keep track of customers, orders and more. While this is an excellent choice for smaller projects, Access is much more efficient for large, multi-spreadsheet projects and for analyzing related data. Here are some of the benefits of using Microsoft Access.

Form Connections. With Access, users can form relationships between selected data such as all of the sales reps for a particular company, or the abbreviated and long versions of company names. This way, your reports are much more accurate since the program is able to “recognize” similar data and make the appropriate connections.

Eliminate Duplications and Inconsistencies. Maybe one admin types in Robert Williams Construction and another types R.W. Construction. Excel has no way to understand these entities are the same. Using Access, you can eliminate the common duplications, transpositions, and inconsistencies, that produce erroneous large, data-based reporting.

Shared Productivity. Another bonus of using Microsoft Access is that multiple users have access to the same information. Rather than depending on find and replace functions, if you change information in once place, that change will transfer across users and spreadsheets.

If you think your students, employees or clients would benefit from Microsoft Access training, contact Labyrinth Learning for Microsoft Access learning materials for beginner, intermediate and advanced students.

 

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Senior man working on laptop computer

Computer Literacy Essential for Job Seekers

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Senior man working on laptop computerMany adult students take classes to improve computer literacy in an effort to boost their resume power. What many job seekers don’t realize is that, in most cases, you have to be computer literate just to find or apply for jobs.

With so much hiring being done through computers these days, computers have become a necessity when seeking employment. New applicants must have the skills necessary to send and reply to emails, create cover letters, and craft professional resumes to wow their potential employers.

Computer literacy courses are a growing field of study and many people are flocking to these courses in hopes of gaining the right skills to find a better job. Begin your computer literacy course with a proven lesson plan and training program like those available at Labyrinth Learning.

You’ll find software and training books in basic computing to teach students how to effectively use programs in the Microsoft Office suite such as Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, all of which are used on a day-to-day basis in businesses around the country.
Contact the professionals at Labyrinth Leaning to help you determine the right products for your new class today.

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female hands touching keyboard

Keyboard Shortcuts Every Excel User Should Know

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female hands touching keyboardWhen you are dealing with a spreadsheet all day, you have to deal with hundreds of calculations, thousands of cells and dozens of pages. Throughout the day clicking through a series of menus and finding the right buttons can add up to a lot of extra time.

Luckily all of your common productivity programs have built in shortcuts to make quick work of your work. Here are just a few Microsoft Excel 2013 keyboard shortcuts that can boost productivity in your workforce.

  1. [ALT] + ENTER. Insert a new line in a cell. As any introductory student to Excel knows, pressing Enter will take you directly to the next cell, but ALT+ENTER will create a new line within the same same cell.
  • [CTRL] + [ ; ] and  [CTRL] + [ : ]. Insert the current date and/or time. When you hit the CTRL + Semi-colon and/or CTRL + Colon, the current date and time will appear, respectively. This is significantly faster than alternative formatting methods.
  • [F11]. Create a chart. If you want to create a chart from a range of data, simply select the data and hit your F11 key. It’s like magic.
  • [SHIFT+F2]. Add a comment to a cell. Wish you could add a comment to a cell quickly? You can when you press the SHIFT, and then the F2 key.
  • [CTRL+F2]. Print Preview. This keyboard shortcut works in both Microsoft Excel 2013 and Word, and gives you an instant view of what your sheet will look like if you need to print it out.

Labyrinth Learning offers multiple levels of Excel course materials so your students can utilize efficient, time-saving keyboard shortcuts.

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PowerPoint

The Importance of Learning PowerPoint

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PowerPointWhen is the last time you attended a meeting or presentation that didn’t include some form of a PowerPoint presentation? Microsoft PowerPoint is the go-to source for business professionals, students, and professors who want the audience to benefit from an engaged presentation.

  • Students – Ideally, students would learn Microsoft PowerPoint by the time they reached high school. In addition to creating impressive class presentations and reports, they will also have a skill they can take with them into the workplace. With the proper PowerPoint skills they can create compelling presentations that will help prepare them for life after school.
  • Professors – There is nothing worse than speaking to a sea of glazed eyes. Today’s PowerPoint features ensure teachers and professors can create lectures that will keep students visually stimulated and engaged. PowerPoint can also be used to conduct learning assessments.
  • Professionals – Microsoft PowerPoint is used at all levels of business. From hiring and training sessions, to upper-management and shareholder meetings, high-quality, visual presentations are a wonderful way to get your message across to all audiences. In fact, many companies choose to pay for their employees to learn Microsoft PowerPoint in order to increase sales and customer/client confidence.

Labyrinth Learning can help your organization gain the skills they need to get ahead with training software, learning materials and training courses to help you get ahead. Call our professionals today to learn more about how our PowerPoint learning materials can help you.

 

Image: office.microsoft.com