December 19, 2007
Dear Everyone:
Last Letter of the year. In fact, tomorrow is my last day in the office until after New Year’s. This is a good thing because, with the Enterprise File Plan “officially” finished and on the shelf, I have absolutely nothing to do. No projects. No “can you help me with (fill in blank)…” Zip. Nada.
So I’ve been “working” on “Discretionary Training.” This is different from “Mandatory Training.” Mandatory Training, as its name implies, is required and usually has something to do with safety. Discretionary Training is something you generally do to further your skills, such as taking a Business Analysis class. And while it is discretionary, everyone is expected to have at least 40 hours of this training each year.
I already had over 70 hours on the books through last month. But I have to do something with my time this week, so I’m taking a lot of “self-paced computer-based” training on the new Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
They all begin with “Up to speed with…” in which they tell you all about “The Ribbon”. In the version of Word or Excel that you probably use now, there is something called the “Menu Bar”. This appears at the top of the screen and has words like “File”, “Edit”, “View”, “Insert”, “Format”, and so on. The new applications have “eliminated” the Menu Bar and replaced it with The Ribbon.
The Ribbon has tabs that look remarkably like the words on the old Menu Bar (except when they don’t). Clicking a tab displays “groups” of “commands” that you use to do your work. The only thing is, they moved where everything is.
In other words: Just when you figure out where it’s at, somebody moves it.
This is a hallmark of Microsoft. They change everything with each upgrade. So you have to relearn all the things you used to know how to do. Here’s my theory: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
People who had trouble using Headers and Footers in the last version complained that it was too hard to find. So Microsoft changed it for them. The rest of us, who never had a problem with Headers and Footers never told Microsoft, “Hey, we’re fine with it. Leave it the way it was.” Microsoft only hears from the complainers, not from the rest of us.
So now I’m wandering through the tabs in the Ribbon, trying to find where they hid Headers and Footers. It used to be under “View”. Nope, not there. Turns out it’s part of “Insert” now.
On the plus side: The Quick Access Toolbar. Back in the previous version Microsoft Office, they had something they called the “Shortcut Bar”, a place where you could put shortcuts to the things you did most often. I used it extensively and was much put out when Microsoft eliminated it in the current version. Now they’ve sort of added it back in with the latest version.
So I can be in Word and can click on a button I’ve added to the Quick Access Toolbar to start a new email message without having to leave Word. This I like.
So I’m “learning” about the new Office and working a little bit on the Case Study that we got when we took that AIIM (Association for Image and Information Management) class on Electronic Records Management back in August. We have until mid-February to finish and submit the case study for accreditation.
And
when I can’t stand that anymore, there’s always Wikipedia.
When I was a child in
Nevertheless, I’d rather be working. So here’s hoping there’s more work on the other side of New Year’s. Everyone have a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.
Love, as always,
Pete
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