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EITHER THAT TABLE GOES, OR I GO
Did you know that Oscar Wilde's last words were reputed to be "Either that wallpaper goes, or I go?" It has nothing to do with anything. It's just funny and sounds the same as the title we chose for this tip.

Anyway, if you've done any work at all with Word 97's tables, you've probably noticed that they're darn hard to get rid of. Select the entire table and press Delete, and you delete everything IN the table, but not the table itself. Well, we offer TWO ways to "off" your table.

Way Number 1:
1. Click anywhere in the table.
2. Choose Table + Select Table; OR press Alt + 5 on the number keypad (Num Lock must be turned off).
3. Press Shift + Delete; OR click the Cut button on the Standard toolbar.

Way Number 2:
1. Hold your mouse above the top row of the top column of the table.
2. When your mouse pointer changes to a black down-pointing arrow, click to select the entire first column.
3. Drag to the right to select the remaining columns.
4. Right-click and choose Delete Columns from the shortcut menu.

If we think of another way to obliterate tables, you'll be the first to know.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DRAWINGS?
"When I save a Word 97 document containing drawings as HTML, the drawings do not show up in the browser. Is there a way to make the drawings appear?"

If you drew those drawings with the tools in Word 97's Drawing toolbar, the answer is no. But all is not lost: If you draw them as follows, they show up just fine:

1. Position your insertion point where you want your drawing to appear.
2. Choose Insert + Object.
3. In the Object Type list, choose Insert + Object + Microsoft Word Picture; then click OK.
4. NOW use the tools in the Drawing toolbar to draw whatever you want, wherever you want (don't mind the picture boundary--we handle that in the next step).
5. When your drawing is finished, on the Edit Picture toolbar, click the Reset Picture Boundary button (the boundary adjusts itself to enclose your picture).
6. Click Close Picture to return to your Word document.
7. Choose File + Save as HTML and save the file.

Word converts the image to a GIF graphic, which will appear in your browser. However, after this conversion occurs, you can no longer edit the picture with Word's Drawing tools. So make sure your little creation looks the way you want it to look BEFORE you save it.

YOU CAN MARK YOUR PRINTOUT, BUT YOU CAN'T PRINT OUT YOUR MARKS
"The Show/Hide feature is often helpful in diagnosing a problem with Word 97 documents. Is there a way to print a document with these characters showing?"

Well, David, we left no stone unturned. We tried printing with Show/Hide turned on. We checked Word's extensive Help files. And then it occurred to us: Show/Hide shows and/or hides NONPRINTING CHARACTERS--that is, characters that don't print.

So we're afraid the answer is no, you can't print your document with visible tab, space, and carriage return characters, as useful as that might be. Sorry we have to give you bad news.

TRY THIS ON FOR SIZE
If you liked yesterday's tip (about how to select fonts by using only the keyboard), you'll love today's tip--because today, we show you not one, but TWO great ways to change font size, using nothing but your trusty old keyboard.

To change your font size to the next larger or next smaller point size listed in the Formatting toolbar's Font Size list, do either of the following:

Press Ctrl + Shift + > to go to the next higher size. For example, if your current font size is 12 (as in 12 point), pressing Ctrl + Shift + > bumps the size up to 14 point.

Press Ctrl + Shift + < to go to the next smaller size (from 14 point back down to 12 point, for example).

To increase the font size a point at a time (from 12 point to 13 point, for example), press Ctrl + ].

To decrease the font size a point at a time, press Ctrl + [.

Had enough of this topic? So have we.

ANOTHER VICTORY IN THE NEVER-ENDING BATTLE TO KEEP YOUR FINGERS ON THE KEYBOARD
You l-o-o-ove fonts. You just love 'em. Arial, Garamond, Haettenschweiler, whatever--you just can't get enough of the little buggers. Only problem is, as much as you love fonts, you have to use the mouse to get at them. So every time you create a document, you're thrust into a deep left-brain vs. right-brain conflict: Do you satisfy your creative self by littering your document with a variety of fonts, or do you appease your practical (and, we might add, somewhat anal) self by adhering to your strict antimouse ethic?

Good news for you and your analyst: You can keep BOTH sides of your brain happy--by using your keyboard to select fonts. Here's how:

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + F. This activates the Font list box in the Formatting toolbar, just as if you had clicked the box yourself.
2. Press the down arrow or up arrow keys to select the font you want to use.
3. Press Enter to apply the font.

See? Left brain and right brain, working in harmony. It's beautiful to watch (or maybe, just to think about).

JUST WHO ARE THE DUMMIES, ANYWAY?
Since we've started the Word 97 Tip of the Day, we've offered all kinds of tips for cutting, copying, and pasting text. But leave it to us to overlook the best tip of all--and leave it to one of our crack readers to point out the omission. Trevor Williamson of Mount Pleasant, California, tells us that the best way to move or copy text, or anything else in your Word document, is to do the following:

1. Select the elements you want to move or copy.
2. Using the RIGHT mouse button, drag the selection to where you want to paste it.
3. From the menu that appears, choose the option you want: Move Here, Copy Here, Link Here, Create Hyperlink Here, or Cancel.

What's so great about this method? You don't have to remember HOW to drag to copy rather than to move, for instance, and you don't have to choose Cut instead of Copy. You just select, drag, and do what you want when you get there.

Thanks, Trevor, for showing us up.

CASE STUDY--PART 1 OF 3
If you're like us, you prefer using UPPERCASE LETTERS for your titles or subtitles. Or maybe you like to use capital letters for EMPHASIS. Either way, you probably find the conventional ways of typing in uppercase annoying. Holding down the Shift key while you type? That's uncomfortable. Turning on Caps Lock? Sure, if you can remember to do that--and even then you always forget to turn it off, so yOU gET tEXT tHAT lOOKS lIKE tHIS.

Luckily, there's a better way to type text in uppercase:
1. Press Ctrl + Shift + A to switch to uppercase.
2. Type your text. (Note that all the text you type will be in uppercase, whether or not you press Shift.)
3. When you're finished typing in uppercase, press Ctrl + Shift + A again.

Perhaps even more useful, to quickly turn existing text to uppercase:
1. Select the text.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + A.

Note that if you've typed uppercase text using Ctrl + Shift + A, you can "remove" the uppercase--that is, switch back to lowercase--by selecting the text and pressing Ctrl + Shift + A again. However, if you created the uppercase text by using the Shift or Caps Lock key, this method won't work. We'll show you how to handle that situation in the next tip.

CASE STUDY--PART 2 OF 3
Last time, we showed you how to use the Ctrl + Shift + A shortcut to apply or remove uppercase to text, the same way you would apply or remove any other text attribute. But suppose you were unlucky enough to have applied uppercase by using the Shift or Caps Lock key: Does that mean you have to retype all your text--or worse yet, use the Word menu--if you now want it in lowercase? Of course not. Do the following instead:

1. Select the text you want to change.
2. Press Shift + F3. This key "cycles" you through three case options--UPPERCASE, lowercase, and Title Case--starting with the one AFTER the case of the selected text. So if you've selected uppercase text, press Shift + F3 once to change it to lowercase, again to convert it to title case, and once again to switch it back to uppercase.

If you don't mind using the Word menu, try this:

1. Select the text you want to change.
2. Choose Format + Change Case.
3. Choose the case you want and click OK.

Are we finished yet with this "case" stuff? Don't bet on it.

CASE STUDY--PART 3 OF 3
Let's review, shall we? Two tips ago, we showed you the keystroke shortcut for switching to and from uppercase text. And last time, we showed you how to cycle through uppercase, lowercase, and title case. That should cover just about every kind of case issue you're liable to encounter.

Ahem. Aren't we forgetting a little thing called SMALL CAPS? Yes, small caps--those tiny uppercase letters that seem to drive people wild. Is there a way, you ask, to apply small caps to text without resorting to the dreaded Word menu? Sure:

1. Select the text you want to set in small caps.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + K.

And yes, this works as a toggle, just like the uppercase shortcut discussed two days ago: Press Ctrl + Shift + K while typing to switch to small caps; press it again to turn off small caps.

And that's the end of our case study. We promise.

DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT WE COULD SAY THE WORD 'CEDILLA' ALL DAY LONG
A few weeks ago, we showed you how to type special characters in Word 97 by using specific keystroke sequences. (To get an "e" with an acute accent, for example, press Ctrl + ' and then press e.) But as a reader who chose to identify him/herself by e-mail address only pointed out, WE FORGOT THE C-WITH-CEDILLA character. And so, without further ado . . .

To create a c with a CEDILLA:
1. Press Ctrl + , (that is, Ctrl + comma).
2. Press c (or Shift + c for an uppercase C).

Your cedilla character appears. By the way, don't try this with any other letter--only the "c" takes a CEDILLA. (There--we got to say it again!)

THERE ARE MANY REASONS TO GRAB THE MOUSE, BUT SUPERSCRIPT ISN'T ONE OF THEM
In a lot of ways, superscript and subscript are forgotten text attributes. You probably hardly ever use them, right? And even on those rare occasions when you DO need them, you must dig through a few menu layers to get at them--except, of course, if you have Word 97 and know the following shortcuts.

To change text to superscript:
1. Select the text.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + + (that is, Ctrl + Shift + the plus sign key).

To change text to subscript:
1. Select the text.
2. Press Ctrl + + (that is, Ctrl + the plus sign key).

You can also use these same keystrokes to toggle superscript and subscript on and off as you type. For example, press Ctrl + Shift + + to start typing in superscript, and then press Ctrl + Shift + + to stop. Enjoy!

DO THE ELECTRIC TABLE SLIDE
You've spent most of the afternoon--or, pitiably, most of your work week--creating what you and several of your cohorts believe to be the perfect Word table. You then show it to your boss, who comes back with this brilliant criticism: "This Flanges column should be to the right of the Widgets column, not to the left of it. And can you move Temperature up a few rows? Otherwise, it's great."

Yeah, great for your boss. For YOU, it means reentering all kinds of data--unless you know the secret for MOVING TABLE COLUMNS AND ROWS WITH YOUR MOUSE!

To move an entire table column (or columns) to the left or the right, follow these steps (this is tricky, so read carefully):
1. Wave your mouse pointer above the top row of the column you want to move. When a downward-pointing black arrow appears, click to select the entire column(s).
2. Point at any cell in the selected column(s).
3. Drag to the left or the right, positioning the insertion point marker AFTER the last character in any cell of the last column you want to appear to the LEFT of the column(s) you're moving. For example, to move the leftmost column to become the third column from the left, drag until the insertion-point marker is located just after the text in ANY cell of the third column. (Just try this to see how it works.)

To move an entire row (or rows) up or down, follow these steps (this is not nearly as difficult to explain):
1. In the left margin, point at the row(s) you want to select, then click to select it (drag to select additional rows).
2. Point to any cell in the selected row(s).
3. Drag up or down. Position the insertion-point marker in the row you want to appear BELOW the row(s) you're moving.

HEADINGS, HEADINGS, HEADINGS, HEADINGS . . .
Nothing beats a Word 97 table for organizing text into neat little rows and columns. And if you have TONS of text to organize, no problem: Your table can have as many rows and span as many pages as necessary.

Well, maybe "no problem" isn't entirely accurate--at least not yet. When you create a table comprising many pages, you may have one problem: The column headings that appear on page 1 do not show up on subsequent pages, making it easy to forget which information goes to which column as you work your way through the table.

The solution: You can set your table column headings to REPEAT themselves in the top row of each page of your table. Here's how:

1. On the first page of your table, select the row (or rows) containing your column headings.
2. Choose Table + Headings.

Page through the rest of your table, and you'll see those same headings repeated at the top of every page. NOW you can say "no problem."

PEACE OF BIND
Say you're preparing a report that's so important--so absolutely earth-shattering--that the gods who rule over the budgets where you work have actually consented to pay to have the report BOUND. Which means that you have to include a little more space in the left margin (or in the left and right margins, if you're printing on both sides of each page) to accommodate the binding.

Now, you COULD just increase your margin size(s), but that solution is risky because, in the course of preparing the document, you could forget what the extra margin is for and perhaps "adjust" it away. A better idea would be to add a "gutter" to your document, which is a kind of special and very visible space designed especially for your binder.

1. Choose File + Page Setup.
2. IF YOU'RE PRINTING ON BOTH SIDES OF EACH PAGE, select Mirror Margins; otherwise, skip this step.
3. Set Gutter Size to a width that accommodates your binding. For example, if you're going to use a three-ring binder, set the gutter size to .5 inch; for wire or plastic comb binding, setting it to .375 inch is probably fine.
4. Click OK.

A gray strip appears outside the appropriate margin of each page. Your margin measurements are calculated IN ADDITION to the gutter. So, if you have a .5-inch gutter and a 1-inch margin, your text begins 1.5 inches from the left edge of the page.

TWIST AND SHOUT YOUR WORDS
No matter how fancy a font-and-attribute combination you come up with, sometimes typed text just isn't as eye-catching as you need it to be. Wouldn't it be great, you think, if you could add some real pizzazz by twisting the text, or curving it or shaping it? Well, you can--with a little program built into Word 97, called WordArt. Here's how you use WordArt:

1. Right-click any toolbar and from the shortcut menu choose Drawing.
2. In the Drawing toolbar, click the Insert WordArt button (it looks like a slanted "A").
3. Choose a shape and style combination from the WordArt Gallery and click OK.
4. Type your text in the box and, if you like, change the font, font size, and attributes.
5. Click OK.

Your WordArt--that is, your twisted text--appears on-screen, along with the WordArt toolbar. Resize your WordArt the same way you resize a picture; experiment with the other buttons on the toolbar to reformat the WordArt. (We'll cover some of those buttons in more detail in future tips.)

BE YOUR OWN POST OFFICE (WITHOUT ALL THE BULLETS AND SHRAPNEL)
Ever wish you could make your envelopes look really cool by printing your own address bar codes on them? Well, not to comment on your superficial worldview, but being cool isn't the only reason to add bar codes to an envelope. According to the U.S. Post Office, bar-coded mail goes through the system faster because it can be sorted by big, expensive machines you helped pay for.

Enough postal education: The big news is that if you use Word to address your envelopes, you can also have it add postal bar codes, with just one click of your mouse! Here's how:

1. In the document you're printing an envelope for, select the delivery address.
2. Choose Tools + Envelopes and Labels.
3. Click the Envelopes tab.
4. Click Options.
5. In the Envelope Options box, select "Delivery point barcode" (you see a bar code appear above the address on the Preview envelope).
6. Click OK and then click Print to print your bar-coded envelope. Then, before you mail it, be sure to run around showing everyone how "cool" it is.

FONTS-Y ENVELOPES
You've just spent an hour or two typing a beautifully formatted, subtly motivating "past-due" letter to one of your habitually late-paying customers. (We won't say how subtly motivating, but you did include an unprintable pun on the phrase "in arrears.") Then you print an envelope for the letter, using Word's automated envelope printing, and--what's this? The envelope address is in a font different from the one you used in your letter! How could this be?

Easy--Word does not automatically address your envelopes with the same font you use in letters. If you want Word to use the same font on your envelope, you have to tell it to do so.

1. In your letter, select the delivery address.
2. Choose Tools + Envelopes and Labels.
3. Click Options.
4. Under Delivery Address, click Font.
5. In the Font box, select the font you want to use for your delivery address--either the same one you used in your document or something else (such as Courier New, to make it appear as though you painstakingly type your envelopes on a typewriter).
6. Click OK.
7. If you want to change your return address font, under Return Address click Font, choose a font, and click OK.
8. Click OK and then click Print to print your envelope.

DOCS, DOCS, DOCS--CAN'T WE OPEN SOMETHING ELSE?
If you've had Word 97 even for a couple of days, you've probably got the knack of opening Word documents. But even though Word is one of the best-selling word processors around, literally scores of other word processors, past and present, are out there--each one with a document file type all its own. Which probably doesn't mean a thing to you, until someone hands you one of these "foreign" files and asks you to edit it with Word. How can you open, and work on, this strange--that is, not created in Word--file? If it's one of the file types that Word recognizes, it's a cinch.

1. Choose File + Open.
2. Using the Look In drop-down box, navigate to the drive containing the foreign file.
3. In the Files of Type drop-down box, find and select the file type. (Of course, if the type isn't listed here--and you don't mind working on just the text, without any of the document's original formatting--choose Recover Text From Any File.)
4. Click Open.

Word opens your file. It may not look exactly as it did in the original word processor, but it should be close enough.