Author: philamericus

Get PDFs with non-Standard Fonts and Apple Preview to Display Correctly

A project that I am working on uses non-standard fonts in the documents (in this case Myriad Pro). The documents are in Microsoft Word and then saved as PDFs for distribution. After sending out one document I got feedback that users on Apple computers did not see any text when they opened the PDF with Preview. That’s bad!
I looked around for a solution and found that Preview does not work well with Open Type fonts. The solution (at least until Apple fixes their OS) is to embed the fonts in the PDF.
If you have Adobe Acrobat, you can use this procedure to setup PDF creation:
1.    You must have Adobe Acrobat installed (not just Adobe Reader)
2.    Open the Word file


3.    Select the Acrobat menu
4.    Click Preferences
5.    Click the Settings tab
6.    Click Advanced settings…
7.    Click on Fonts
8.    There is a list of fonts under “Font Source”. Scroll down to MyriadPro and select all of the MyriadPro fonts.
9.    Click on the Add button next to the Always Embed.
10.    Click OK.
11.    It prompts you to save your settings for future use. Give the settings a name and save them.
12.    Click OK.
13.    Now you can use Create PDF in the Acrobat window to generate a PDF that has the MyriadPro fonts embedded in it.

Once this is all setup, you can use this procedure to create the PDF:
1. Open the Word file
2. Select Acrobat > Preferences
3. Check that the saved settings created in the previous procedure are selected
4. Click OK
5. Select Acrobat > Create PDF
6. Select Options…
7. Check the desired options, such as create bookmarks and then save.
Using these procedures you get a PDF with the fonts embedded which fixes the Preview problem on Apple computers.

Powerpoint: Add Connection Point to Shape

Routing connections in Powerpoint works well only when the ends of the connector are attached to connection points. Connection points are usually only on the corners/vertices of the shapes and you often want to connect to a different location.
You can add your own connection points by doing the following:
  1. Click the shape that you want to add connection points to.
  2. Right click > Edit Points.
  3. Hover the mouse over the place where you want to create the connector. The mouse will change into cross hairs.
  4. Left click one time. DO NOT move the mouse.
  5. Right click > Add point.
You now have a new connector at that location.
[Source Indezine]

Gmail: Multiple Email Addresses

Today I was learning how to become a Gmail Ninja and I came across a nice addition to Gmail. You can have multiple email address sent to the same address just by adding a plus sign (+). For example, if my email is GmailNinja@gmail.com, I can create:
  • GmailNinja+Spam@gmail.com
  • GmailNinja+Lists@gmail.com
  • GmailNinja+Recipes@gmail.com
All of the above will be delivered to GmailNinja@gmail.com.
Why is this important you say? You can then set up filters based on the incoming email address. When you get dozens or hundreds of emails a day this can be a big time saver.
[Source Gmail]

Excel: Nice Shades

If you are using conditional formatting to highlight cells, you can run into problems when you delete/add rows. Sometimes the conditional formatting rules apply to a strange set of cells instead of one contiguous range of cells.
To get around this issue, you can use a macro to do the highlighting. Open the VBA editor (with Alt-F10) and then add the following code to Microsoft Excel Objects –> ThisWorkbook:
Private Sub Workbook_SheetChange(ByVal Sh As Object, ByVal Target As Range)

‘shade cell with “yes”

If Target.Row > 1 And Target.Column = 2 Then
    If Target.Value = “yes” Then
        Cells(Target.Row, Target.Column).Interior.ColorIndex = 50
    Else
        Cells(Target.Row, Target.Column).Interior.ColorIndex = 2
    End If
End If

This code is run every time you edit a cell. The code makes sure the current cell is not the 1st row (which is usually for headings). It then checks if the cell is in column B (which is column number 2). If the contents of the cell are “yes” it gets green shading, otherwise is gets white shading.

The only downside to this method is that it runs only after editing a cell. Therefore, if you already have  cells with information, you have to re-edit each cell to get the macro to run. This can be done somewhat easily by hitting F2, then the Enter key. For large amounts of data, you need to write a wrapper macro that you can run once on the sheet.

Author-it: Quick Search ‘q’ Bug

I have encountered the ‘q’ bug several times, without any apparent cause. Normally, one needs to type Cntl-q to open the Quick Search dialog. The ‘q’ bug is when typing the letter q opens the  dialog (without holding down the Cntl key). This makes it impossible to use any words with the letter ‘q’.
The solution to the problem (until they come out with a fix for the bug) is to follow this procedure:
  1. Press and release the Cntl key one time. 
That’s it! Operation should then work normally.

Word 2010: Remove Floating Paste Menu

In Word 2010, whenever you paste text you get an annoying little paste options menu next to the insertion point. This menu often covers up other text making it hard to continue reading the document. 
If you actually like that menu but you have finished using it and you want it to go awya, then the easiest way to remove it after pasting is to highlight anything else and copy it (Cntl-c).
If you are like 99% of the population and dislike the menu, you can disable it with the following procedure:
  1. Select File –> Options
  2. Select Advanced
  3. In the Cut, Copy and Paste section, uncheck Show Paste Options button when content is pasted
[Solution from GroovyPost]

MS Word: Paste as Text

To set up a shortcut key to paste as text, do the following:
  1. From the View tab, create a new macro named PasteSpecialAsText.
  2. Replace the contents of the code editor with the following text:

    Sub PasteSpecialAsText()
         Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText
    End Sub

  3. From the File menu, choose Word Options, then Customize Ribbon, and then click the Customize button next to Keyboard shortcuts at the bottom to bring up the Customize Keyboard dialog.
  4. Choose Macros from the categories list on the left, and then your macro in the Commands box on the right-hand side. Now you can enter in a shortcut key (Ctrl+Shift+V or your own), and click the Assign button.
This procedure was taken from LifeHacker and updated for Word 2010.

[Source LifeHacker]