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The Ultimate Tech System for VAs
The Ultimate Tech System for VAs Congratulations! You have started out in business. You have decided what to call yourself and now your thoughts turn to how you are going to work and what you need to work with/on. I am often asked : What kind of computer should I get...
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How to use Smart Lookup
Why use Smart Lookup? When you are working on a document and want to get a definition or some more information about something, use Smart Lookup to add that extra dimension. In Word you will find Smart Lookup on the References Ribbon in the Research group (I will talk...
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How to control spacing after paragraphs
Today's Tip– Space after Paragraphs Before I dig in, this tip is the same for both Windows and Mac versions of Word. Let me set the scene. You are doing some work in Word, and you need to have more line spaces between each paragraph. What we tend to do, is to press...
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How to Draw on your Word Document
How to draw on your Word document Today's tip is for those of you who use a touch screen device. That may be a touch screen laptop like a Microsoft Surface or Surface Pro, or an HP with a touch screen or a Lenovo – you get the idea. A laptop that can be used with a...
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How to use Find and Replace Formatting in Word
How to Use Find and Replace in Word Now most people know that you can use Find and Replace in Word to find a word and replace it with something else. Particularly useful if you have misspelled a word throughout your document and need to correct it everywhere. Did you...
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VAs – Create Word Templates to speed things up!
Templates Templates help speed up work. A template will hold formatting such as Styles and Margins plus any standard text that is needed. Templates can be created for many purposes, a standard letter, a letter of engagement, anything that will save you time if you...
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VAs – Tired of switching between documents? Show them Side by Side
You know the drill. You are working on a document or rather there are two. You need to copy some things from one to the other maybe its text or a picture. Normally you would have the two documents open and use the task bar to switch between them. Did you know you can...
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VAs – Start a presentation from a template
Templates In PowerPoint Now you may be thinking – I know you can start a presentation from a template, but did you know that Microsoft provides lots of ready made design templates both locally on your computer and online? No? Well let me show you. In PowerPoint click...
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VAs – Conditional Formatting can show the way in Excel
You are a busy VA – that's a given! A client has asked you to show her what her data means. What is the top value in the list of sales? Can you see values that meet a condition? Conditional Formatting will show the way. What is Conditional Formatting? Conditional...
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Cell formatting in Excel – things a VA needs to know!
I was recently asked about formatting cells in Excel, specifically about changing the colour of the cells. This made me think that perhaps it's time to write a blog post about cell formatting, so here goes. Why Format? Formatting does several things: Makes certain...
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How I became a VA
Guest Post Series Today's guest post is from Jo Brianti of JLB Support Solutions -continuing my series of posts by VAs for VAs. In today's post Jo tells us how it all began and what she does. You can get in touch with Jo by visiting her website JLBSupport Solutions or...
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VAs- Customise the Quick Access Toolbar to save time!
What is the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) ? Customise the Quick Access Toolbar to save time - it is a big statement. Read on to see why. The Quick Access Toolbar is one of my all-time favourite things in Microsoft Office. You can build your own toolbar for quick access...
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9 Questions VAs ask about Office 365
I was recently interviewed for an online summit. It was a great Q & A session about Office 365. Here are some of the questions I was asked along with my answers. What is Office 365 ? Simply put, Office 365 is a way of getting access to Microsoft Office software...
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VAs – How to Insert and Format Charts in PowerPoint
You have a client who asks you to create a presentation. Now amongst the information that needs to go into that presentation is some data. Your client really wants this data presented as a chart and asks you to do this. What if you are not sure how to do so? How long...
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6 essential programmes / apps for Virtual Assistants
Guest Post Series My guest blogger today is Christine Southam of CS Virtual Assistant. Following on from an excellent post introducing herself. Today Christine is talking about the top six tools she finds invaluable. You can find Christine here:...
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Keyboard Magic in PowerPoint for Virtual Assistants
Keyboard Magic in PowerPoint As you know I am all about saving time and getting more done so I was wondering how much time do you spend trying to figure out where the command to do something is in PowerPoint? Or in any Microsoft Office product for that matter. Do you...
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VAs – Do you know how to create a Timeline in PowerPoint?
Why do you need a Timeline In PowerPoint Why would you need to create a timeline? What purpose does it serve? What if a client asks you to create a visual timeline in PowerPoint to show her book launch plan? It would be a real shame if you declined the job because...
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