BlogOffice

Adding the Path to Your Filenames

If you work with content development team like I do, chances are that you are continually sharing versions of files and improving on each other's work. Content management at its best enables you to all work with a single document without duplicating or accidentally replacing or losing earlier changes. One simple way to manage versions is to ensure that everyone is drawing their file from the same place. (Yes, there are more sophisticated ways of doing this, including using Office Live Workspaces or SharePoint to check files in and out, but when you work in an office that is slowly deploying and warming to high-end features, sometimes simple is best.)

Here's a simple little technique that has saved us a lot of hassle. Add the file path to the filename in the footer of your document. That way you can ensure that people are using the same file and any stray versions can be weeded out. Here are the steps:

1. Open the document you want to use.

2. Click the Insert tab and click Footer.

3. Click Edit Footer.

4. Click in the footer at the bottom of the page. In the Insert group on the Design tab of the Header & Footer Tools, click Quick Parts, and then click Field.

5. In the Field Names list, click FileName. Click the Add Path to Filename checkbox in the right side of the dialog box. Click OK.

There. Now you're one step closer to that smooth content development process you've been dreaming about. :)

Single Labels in Word 2007

Here's a super simple tip, just in case you're getting ready to do one-off labels in Word 2007. When I opened the label template yesterday, Word 2007 shows me a blank screen. Oh great, I thought. How do I tell where one label area stops and another starts?

Suddenly a little whisper of intuition said, "Turn on paragraph marks."

So I clicked the Show/Hide tool in the Paragraph group on the Home tab, and clicked inside the little label marker (after the open bracket and before the end-of-paragraph mark) and typed the data for the label. All things should be so easy!

Fresh Out of Properties

As the managing editor for a professional journal, I work with lots of versions of manuscripts in all sorts of states. Early submissions, revisions, reviewer copies, and so forth. I need to be able to easily discern which versions are which. Although our numbering system is reliable and effective, I always want to double-check versions before they go out to reviewers. Today I went to do that second look and had to go on an adventure hunt to find Properties. Just in case you're wondering where they went too, here you go:

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button.

2. Click Prepare. (Why Properties are under "Prepare," I have no idea--not very intuitive, imo)

3. Click Properties (at the top of the submenu).

The Properties header appears so that you can find things like author, title, location, and so forth. But if, like me, you want to check the creation date. You have one more step. Click Document Properties at the top of the Properties header area and choose Advanced Properties. This pops open the old-fashioned Properties dialog box so that you can get the rest of the story.