Computer Information

Adding Close File Buttons in
Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2003

The Microsoft Office Standard Toolbar has buttons for New file and Open file but it doesn’t include a Close file button, which would be very handy to use when you want to close a document, worksheet or presentation, but you don’t want to exit the program.

First of all, open MS PowerPoint 2003. Point at the blank area NEXT to the Standard or Formatting toolbar and tap your right mouse button to pull up a toolbar menu. Select Customize at the bottom of the menu.

Select the Commands tab. With File selected as a Category on the left side, look under the Commands on the right side. Select the Close command with your right mouse button and drag it up to the Standard Toolbar. Drop it to the right of the Open button (as you drag the button, you’ll see a little plus sign and when you move the mouse cursor to the proper place, you’ll see an I bar showing up in the toolbar). When you let go, the Close button icon will appear. Note: If you put it in the wrong place, just drag it where you want it to go. Now click on the Close button on the Customize dialog box. Now you can easily close PowerPoint presentations. You can exit the program.

Now open up MS Word 2003. Repeat the same steps, then exit the program.

Now open up MS Excel 2003. Follow the same steps as before. Notice that when you have the Customize dialog box open in Excel, there is only a word that says Close instead of a Close button. Drag it up next to the Open button on the Standard Toolbar, anyway. After the word Close appears on the toolbar, point at it and select Default Style. The Close button image will appear. Close the dialog box. You can exit the program.

Now, whenever you have saved your work (if you haven’t saved your work, it will prompt you to do so), you can close your files in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint with one click.

By the way, you can also use these steps to add other button functions that are useful to you, too.

Photoshop Elements: Make Your Own Photo Composite Background

I was asked to do a software tip lesson for Photoshop Elements, so here it is. It’s an intermediate level lesson, assuming that you already know how to do a little basic editing. First, you take open up Photoshop Elements and open the file of a photo that has distracting background elements in it.Then duplicate your photo. A quick way of doing this in some Photoshop Element versions is to use a Ctrl – J key combination. Or you can drag the thumbnail of your layer on top of the first icon underneath the Layer Palette. (Duplicating the original layer is a step you should always take. It lets you have an original to compare against your finished results, it serves as a backup in case you really mess up the editing of your photo, and the original photo layer is locked, preventing you from applying many editing changes to your photo.) Get a good view of your subject by selecting View, Fit on screen. Now you can select your subject by completely painting it with your Selection Brush tool (you can select it by typing the letter a) or by encircling your subject with the Lasso tool (you can select the lasso tool by typing the letter l). After you have finished selecting your subject, put them on another layer by selecting Layer, New, Layer via Copy or use the Ctrl – J key combination.Find a photo with a nice background and open it with the File, Open command. (The resolution of the photo should be similar, or part of your combined photo might look grainy.) If that happens, choose a different photo that has a closer resolution. If your photo is maximized, you will need to cascade it because you will be dragging the subject from one photo to the other. (You can tell that it is maximized if you can’t see the edges of your photo). In the picture to the left, the Cascade Windows button is highlighted in yellow. You will find it in the top right corner of your window. Now hold down your Ctrl key and tap the thumbnail of your subject (on its own layer). That will select your subject. Click on the move button or type m to select the Move button arrow. Put your cursor on the thumbnail of your subject and drag it on top of the photo that has a nice background. (This wouldn’t work if your photo was maximized). Drag it to where you want it. If it is too large, drag it downwards until you can see the top left corner of your subject’s bounding box. Put your cursor on it and when the double-headed arrow appears, drag down and right until your subject is the right size. Repeat if necessary. Press Enter or click on the check mark on the Options Toolbar to finalize your changes. If you need to adjust the lighting on your subject so that it matches the background better, select your subject by holding down your Ctrl key and tapping the thumbnail of your subject (on its layer). Then select Enhance, Adjust Lighting, and using Brightness and Contrast or Shadows / Highlights or Levels until the lighting looks correct.Your photo should now be ready to print. You can also save it as a JPG (File, Save As, select JPG as the file type).

These steps can also be used any time you want to combine element(s) from one photo with another photo.