VolunteerToday.com ~~ The Electronic Gazette for Volunteerism
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TIPS with Michael Lee Stills
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Many organizations
have logos and other graphics that represent their organization. However,
when they create these graphics they often fail to generate a good black
and white version for use on letterhead or other documents. Here is a
tip you can use to capture and convert graphics for use in your MS Word
documents. Just make sure you have copyrights and approval to use the
graphic.
Your goal is to end up with a computer file that has been converted into
a Word supported file. What most of you do not know is that not all files
used by Word have to have the .doc or .txt extension.
Try this:
- Open Word and then open one of your text document files.
- Go to File>Save As.
- Look for the bottom line that says Save as Type.
- Click on the small arrow next to the window. You should see several different extensions such as .rtf, .mcw, .txt. These are different formats that Word can use and share with other programs. However, when you open a graphics file you will see other extensions such as .bmp (bitmap) and .tif. These will be graphic files that Word can share with other programs.
Putting a captured
graphic in your Word Document:
- Step
One - Capture the graphic:
~ Use a Scanner
~ Capture from the Web by right clicking on the graphic and Save As your file name
~ Obtain the computer file of the graphic in a Word supported graphic file
- Step
Two - Convert The graphic Into a Word supported file:
~ In whatever program, go to File>Save As and save the file in either a .bmp or .tif format. Experiment with your different software programs to see which files they open and what file type they can Save As.
~ Save the file with your file name in one of your commonly used directories
- Step
Three - Open the file in Word:
~ From the Word menu, click Insert>Picture>From File
~ In the Insert Picture window, find and open your file name. Notice that in the Insert Picture window in the Files of Type line, you can see all the Word supported graphic types.
~ Size and Place your graphic
Remember, you can
use Step Three to open any existing graphic files supported by Word.
Extra for Experts: Windows usually comes with a program called Paint.
Open a graphics file using this program or use it to create your own graphic.
Saving as a .bmp file will usually work just fine in Word.
Return to the Menu
Most printers today have at least a Main paper tray and a Manual Feed paper tray. The Main tray usually holds your standard plain white bond paper and the Manual Feed is used for letter head, colored paper, or some odd-sized paper. Many word processor programs allow you to chose which tray to print from. Many allow you to specify which tray to print from for the first page and then all subsequent pages there after.
For example, when
printing a two-page letter it is generally preferred to print the first
page on your letterhead and the second page on a blank page. You can configure
the first page to fit your letterhead by adjusting the margins. You can
configure the second blank page with different margins.
To do this, go to the File>Page Set Up menu and look for the
printer settings that allow you to choose Letter Head or Manual
Feed for the first page and Auto configure or Tray 1
(your Main paper tray) for the second page.
Some printers also need to be configured to allow for these settings to
work. See your manual or tech guy.
When you choose Print, your first page will draw the letterhead
paper from the Manual Feed tray and then print the second page
on a blank page from your Main paper tray.
When you are printing
large numbers of letters, this process automatically collates the two-page
letter for you. You no longer have to run the letters through the copy
machine and loose the quality of your letterhead or print the letterhead
separately from the second page and manually collate the pages.
This
tip will take some time on your part to figure out your particular printer/word
processor combination.
But you do like learning how to use your tools, don't you?
Have
you ever wondered just what is on your computer and how it is configured?
In Windows go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>
System Information.
You will find more information their than you know what to do with. But
your tech guy might have a few ideas. ;-)
Editors Note: for Mac users, go to the Apple menu and select Apple System Profiler.
Drop me a note at Michael@MichaelStills.com
925 "E" Street Walla Walla, WA 99362 (509) 529-0244 FAX: (509) 529-8865 EMAIL: editor@volunteertoday.com
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