Tip of the Week

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Add Comments to a Formula in Excel

When entering formulas in Excel, you may want to remind yourself, or someone else, what it was for in the future. Or you may want to add instructions to let users of your spreadsheet know what to do in certain cells.

We will show you how to add a comment to a formula and a comment that displays when you move your mouse over a cell.

Add a Comment to a Formula

The N() function allows you add comments directly inside your cells on your formulas. To use the function to add a comment, simply add a plus sign (+) to the end of your formula, and then enter some text in quotes inside the parentheses, passing that text to the N() function.

When you select the cell, the comment shows as part of the formula in the Formula bar.

Add a Comment to a Cell

You can also add a comment to a cell that displays when you move your mouse over that cell. This is helpful if you want to provide help for the users of your spreadsheet, informing them of how to use specific parts of your spreadsheet.

We will use the function that generates a random number between a range of numbers as an example. Enter the following formula in a cell in your spreadsheet.

=RANDBETWEEN(1, 49)

This function will generate a random number between 1 and 49.

If you don’t have automatic calculation on, you have to click Calculate Now in the Calculation section of the Formula tab (or press F9) to generate a new random number.

To add a comment to the cell that lists the steps for generating a new random number, select the cell and click the Review tab.

In the Comments section of the Review tab, click New Comment.

A sticky note-style box displays pointing at the selected cell. By default, the user name of the current user is entered into the comment box, but you can delete this text or change it to something else. Enter any additional desired text into the comment box. You can resize the comment box using the small, outlined box handles along the edge.

Once you have entered your text, click on any other cell outside of the comment box. The cell now contains a small, red triangle in the upper, right corner, indicating a comment has been added to it.

When you move your mouse over the cell, the comment box displays.

To remove a comment from a cell, right-click on the cell and select Delete Comment from the popup menu.

Comments are a convenient way of documenting your spreadsheet both for your own reference and as “context-sensitive help” for users of your spreadsheet.

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How to Quickly Jump to a Date in Outlook

To find a specific date in the calendar in Outlook, you can scroll through all the weeks and months. Or, you can save some time using the Go To Date feature and enter a date to which you want to jump.

You can even jump to a date using a date-related phrase, such as “7 days from now” or “10 weeks from now.”

Open Outlook and click Calendar at the bottom of the window.

In the Go To section on the HOME tab, click the small arrow, or press Ctrl + G.

The Go To Date dialog box displays. To select a date from a drop down calendar, click the down arrow to the right of the Date edit box. Navigate to the desired month using the right and left arrows at the top of the drop-down calendar. Click the desired date to select it.

You can also enter a date-related phrase, such as “Two weeks from tomorrow” in the Date edit box.

Click OK. The appropriate date is calculated and displayed in the Date edit box before the dialog box is closed.

The desired date is automatically selected in the calendar.

To go back to today’s date, click Today in the Go To section of the HOME tab.

If you plan a lot of meetings, events, etc. for the future, this feature can save you time when entering these items into your calendar.

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How to Convert a Formula to a Static Value in Excel

When you open an Excel worksheet or change any entries or formulas in the worksheet, Excel automatically recalculates all the formulas in that worksheet by default. This can take a while if your worksheet is large and contains many formulas.

However, if some cells contain formulas whose values will never change, you can easily convert these formulas to static values, thus speeding up the recalculation of the spreadsheet. We will show you an easy method for changing an entire formula to a static value and also a method for changing part of a formula to a static value.

NOTE: Keep in mind that if you convert a formula to a static value in the same cell, you cannot go back to the formula. So, you may want to make a backup of your worksheet before converting formulas. However, you can also copy formulas and paste them as values into different cells, preserving your original formulas. Also, if your worksheet is set tocalculate formulas manually, make sure to update your formulas by pressing F9 before copying the values.

Select the cells that contain formulas you want to convert to static values. You can either drag across the cell range, if they’re contiguous, or press Ctrl when selecting cells if they are not contiguous. Click Copy in the Clipboard section of the Home tab or press Ctrl + C to copy the selected cells.

Click the Paste button in the Clipboard section of the Home tab and click the Values button in the Paste Values section.

You can also select Paste Special at the bottom of the drop-down Paste menu.

On the Paste Special dialog box, select Values in the Paste section. This dialog box also provides other options for pasting the copied formulas.

The selected cells now contain the results of the formulas as static values.

Remember, if you pasted over the same cells, the original formulas are no longer available.

NOTE: If you only need to convert one cell (or a few rather than many) formulas, you can double-click in a cell containing a formula and press F9 to convert that formula to a static value.

If the result of a part of a formula will not change, but the results from rest of the formula will vary, you can convert part of the formula to a static value while preserving the rest of the formula. To do this, click in the cell with the formula and select the part of the formula you want to convert to a static value and press F9.

NOTE: When selecting part of a formula, be sure that you include the entire operand in your selection. The part of the formula you are converting must be able to be calculated to a static value.

The selected part of the formula is converted to a static value. Press Enter to accept the static result as part of the formula.

Converting formulas to static values can be useful for speeding up large spreadsheets containing a lot of formulas, or for hiding the underlying formulas you used if you need to share the spreadsheet with someone.

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How to Add a Caption to an Image in Word

If you’re writing a long Word document containing a lot of images, you may want to add captions to those images. You can then reference the images by their number in the text as well as generate a Table of Figures.

To add a caption, select a picture in your document and click the References tab.

In the Captions section, click Insert Caption.

NOTE: You can also right-click on the image and select Insert Caption from the popup menu.

On the Caption dialog box, select the Label you want (Caption, Equation, Figure, or Table) and the Position related to the image (Above selected item or Below selected item). To change the numbering on the caption, click Numbering.

In the Caption Numbering dialog box, select the format for the number on the caption and click OK. If you’re using Chapter headings, you can include the chapter numbers in your captions using the Caption Numbering dialog box.

In the Caption edit box, enter a separator, such as a period after the Label and number. Then, enter your caption title.

The caption is added to the image in the default Caption style.

If you want to change the style of the caption, you can easily do so. For example, we decided we wanted the caption centered under the image. Click the Home tab.

Use the character and paragraph formatting tools to format the caption the way you want it.

To apply these changes to the Caption style for all other captions, click the button in the lower, right corner of the Styles section on the Home tab.

In the list of styles, move the mouse over the Caption style name and click the down arrow that displays on the right. Select Update Caption to Match Selection from the drop-down menu.

To close the Styles window, click the X in the upper, right corner of the window.

Now, all captions you add to images in this document will be formatted the same way.

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How to Freeze and Unfreeze Rows and Columns in Excel

If you are working on a large spreadsheet where all the rows and columns of data don’t fit on the screen, it would be helpful to be able to keep the heading rows and columns stationary so you can scroll through the data.

You can freeze rows and columns in your spreadsheet. To do so, select the cell above which and to the left of which you want to freeze the columns and rows.

Click the View tab.

Click Freeze Panes in the Window section of the View tab and select Freeze Panes from the drop-down menu.

You can now scroll through the data while the heading rows and columns stay still, as pictured in the first image in this article.

NOTE: Frozen rows and/or columns are indicated by a thin black border.

To allow the frozen rows and columns to move again, click Freeze Panes in the Window section of the View tab and select Unfreeze Panes.

You can also just freeze rows or columns. For example, to freeze the header row for a long table, select a cell below the row(s) you want to freeze.

Click Freeze Panes in the Window section of the View tab and select Freeze Top Row.

Now the heading row(s) will stay in place as you scroll through your data.

This feature is very handy for viewing long, complicated spreadsheets.

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How to Quickly Move a Row in a Word Table

Have you created a long table in Word only to discover that the rows need to be rearranged? Luckily, it’s very easy to move rows up and down within a table using an easy keystroke combination.

Put the cursor in any cell in the row you want to move and press Shift + Alt + Up arrow or Shift + Alt + Down arrow to move the row up or down.

The row moves and is highlighted.

You can also use this same trick on paragraphs to move them up and down. Put the cursor in a paragraph and press Shift + Alt + Up arrow or Shift + Alt + Down arrow to move the paragraph up or down. The paragraph moves and is highlighted, just like the table row.

You can also do the same thing to items in a bulleted or numbered list.

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How to Convert Text to a Table and a Table to Text in Word

Have you entered some text in columns separated by tabs and you want to convert it to a table? Word provides a useful feature that allows you to quickly convert text to a table and a table to text.

You can convert text separated by a specific character, such as a tab, into a table. We will show you how to do this and how to convert the table back to text.

For example, say you have some text listing months and their corresponding number of days. Before we work on converting the text to a table, you may want to view the formatting and paragraph marks so you can see how your text is separated. To do that, click the paragraph button in the Paragraph section of the Home tab.

The tabs and paragraph marks display. If you’re converting some text to a two-column table, be sure you only have one tab between the items on each line. Select the lines of text you want to convert to a table.

Click the Insert tab and click Table in the Table section. Select Convert Text to Table from the drop-down menu.

On the Convert Text to Table dialog box, the Number of columns should already be set to 2 if you have only one tab between each item on each line. The Number of rows is automatically calculated.

Specify the width of the columns in the table by selecting an option under AutoFit behavior. We decided to make each column just wide enough to fit the contents by selecting AutoFit to contents.

Specify the character you used to separate the text on each line under Separate text at. In our example, we selected Tabs. You could also use other characters such as commas or paragraph marks. You can even specify a character not listed by selecting Other and entering the character in the edit box.

Now that you have converted your text to a table, you can easily convert it back to text. To do this, select the table by moving your cursor over the table handle in the upper, left corner of the table and select it. This highlights the whole table.

NOTE: If you didn’t have a consistent number of separator characters on each line, you may end up with more rows and columns than you intended and the text might not be placed correctly.

The Table Tools tabs become available. Click the Layout tab.

In the Data section of the Layout tab, click Convert to Text.

On the Convert Table to Text dialog box, select the character you want to use to separate the columns of text. For our example, we want to separate the text using Tabs. Click OK.

Each row of the table becomes a line of text with tabs separating the items from the columns of the table. Word automatically inserts a tab marker on the ruler to line up the items from the columns of the table.

This feature is handy if you have some text from another document that was not arranged as a table originally, but you want it in table format. Simply make sure the separator characters for each line are set correctly and then convert the text to a table.

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4 Useful Windows tricks

You know that feeling you get when your friends or family see you do something on your computer that they've never seen before? If you’ve had this experience, you know that “world's coolest power-user” feeling. But if you haven’t, start here. Knowledge is power!

Read these tips for Windows 7 that will keep you schoolin' your friends and family.

1. Don't just maximize your windows—go full screen

When you need a really big window for viewing photos and videos, don't just maximize it: go full screen! This tip works great for viewing photos and videos at maximum size in Windows Explorer or Windows Media Player, utilizing screen space usually occupied by the header at the top of the screen and the taskbar at the bottom. Here’s how:

Open any photo in Windows Explorer, or open a photo or video clip in Windows Media Player. Do one of the following:

In Windows 7 and Windows XP, click the F11 key at the top of your keyboard.

The photo or video image enlarges to its maximum size and the title bar and taskbar are hidden.

Viewing a photo in Windows Explorer standard view

To undo full-screen mode and restore the window to its normal view, press the Esc(Escape) key at the top of your keyboard

2. Customize the Navigation pane

You can use the navigation pane (the left pane) to find files and folders and display links to frequently used folders and other items. You can also move or copy items to a destination in the navigation pane.

If you don't see the navigation pane on the left side of an open folder window, clickOrganize, point to Layout, and then click Navigation pane to display it.

To customize the navigation pane in Windows 7

In an open folder or library window, click Organize, and then click Folder and search options.

In the Folder Options dialog box, click the General tab, and then do one or both of the following:

To show all the folders on your computer in the navigation pane, including your personal folder, select the Show all folders check box, click Apply to see the change, and then click OK.

To automatically expand the navigation pane to the folder that's selected in the folder window, select the Automatically expand to current foldercheck box, and then click OK.

Customizing the navigation pane in Windows 7

More ways to customize your favorites in Windows 7

To add a folder, a saved search, a library, or even a drive as a favorite, drag it to theFavorites section in the navigation pane. Note: You can’t add individual file to Favorites, but you can add them to any folder in Favorites.

To change the order of favorites, drag a favorite to a new position in the list.

To restore the default favorites in the navigation pane, right-click Favorites, and then click Restore Favorite Links.

To view the folder where your favorites are stored, click Favorites in the navigation pane. Favorites are stored as shortcuts.

To remove a favorite, right-click the favorite, and then click Remove. This removes the favorite from the navigation pane—it doesn't delete the files or folders that the shortcut points to.

The Favorites area of the navigation pane in Windows 7

3. Pin a program or items to the Windows 7 taskbar

You know what would make a great taskbar? One where you could pin your favorite applications or files so that you could open them quickly from any window at any time. Guess what? You can.

In Windows 7, you can also pin shortcuts for favorite or frequently used files, folders, and websites to the Jump Lists for each of those programs to the taskbar. Learn more about Jump Lists.

Pin a program to the taskbar

To pin a program shortcut to the taskbar, do one of the following:

If the program is already running, right-click the program's button on the taskbar (or drag the button toward the desktop) to open the program’s Jump List, and then click Pin this program to taskbar.

Or if the program isn't running, click Start, find the program’s icon, right-click the icon, and then click Pin to Taskbar.

You can also pin a program by dragging the program's shortcut from the desktop or Start menu to the taskbar.

Pinning a program to the taskbar

Using Jump Lists in Windows 7

4. Arrange windows on your desktop

In Windows, you can arrange windows side by side, which can be especially helpful when comparing two documents or when moving files from one place to another.Note: If you’re using a nonstandard setup (such as dual monitors), the tricks below may not work as expected.

Windows 7

Drag the title bar of a window to the left or right side of the screen until an outline of the expanded window appears.

Release the mouse to expand the window.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 with another window to arrange the windows side by side.

To return a window to its original size click the Maximize button in the window’s title bar and the window expands to full size.

The Maximize button

Learn more about managing multiple windows in Windows 7.

Tip: To snap an active window to the side of the desktop by using the keyboard, press Windows logo key  +Left Arrow or Windows logo key  +Right Arrow.

Viewing windows side by side in Windows

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Part one of our Google Search Tips

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How to Use the Reveal Formatting Feature in Word 2010

Are you used to the Reveal Codes feature in WordPerfect? These codes show you your text with integrated formatting codes that seem similar to HTML formatting. However, if you’re using Word, there is no comparable function.

WordPerfect treats text and formatting codes the same, putting start and end codes around text as you format it. When you display the Reveal Codes window, you see the formatting code markers integrated with the text. You can select the code markers and even insert and delete them manually. For example, if you manually delete an end code, the rest of the document will be formatted according to the start code that now has no corresponding end code.

In Word, text and formatting are treated completely independently.  Word stores the formatting for the text in a different part of the file than the text to which the formatting applies. It is not inserted in the text stream. Instead, Word tracks the character and paragraph formatting you apply throughout your document, and does concern itself with start and end codes.

Whereas WordPerfect has both modes, WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) and Reveal Codes, Word only has the WYSIWYG mode. You apply bold to some text and you see that text as bold text. You cannot see the bold codes around your text.

However, there is a way to see how selected text is formatted. Word won’t show you start and end codes like WordPerfect because it doesn’t use them. But, when you select some text in Word and press Shift + F1, the Reveal Formatting pane displays. Word shows you, in list format, how the selected text is formatted with respect to the Font, Paragraph, and Section.

If you want to change the formatting of the selected text, you can do so using the Reveal Formatting pane. For example, if you want to make the selected text not bold, but italic instead, click the Font link in the Reveal Formatting pane.

The Font dialog box displays. Make any changes you want and click OK. The text reflects the change as does the Reveal Formatting pane.

Do not confuse the Reveal Formatting pane with the feature in Word that shows hidden formatting symbols. Clicking the paragraph symbol in the Paragraph section of the Home tab, shows hidden symbols such as spaces, tabs, and paragraph marks. These are different than the formatting listed on the Reveal Formatting pane.

NOTE: You can also press Ctrl + * to show and hide the formatting symbols.

You might want to show both the Reveal Formatting pane and the hidden formatting symbols to easily track your formatting and the spacing between words and paragraphs and tabs.

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How to Use Multiple Headers and Footers in a Single Document

There is no option in Word 2010 that allows you to use a different header and footer for different sections in a document. The trick is to use section breaks and unlink the header and footer respectively–this allows you to set them as you are creating the document.

For demonstration purposes we have a document with a plain text header as well as a plain text footer which both say How-To Geek.

This is awesome but i want a different header and footer on the next page saying my name. Now we could use the option which allows for different headers and footers on odd and even pages, however we also want a different header on the third page saying @howtogeek (which is our twitter handle). The only way to achieve this is to use section breaks. So place your cursor at the end of the first page and switch to the page layout tab.

Now click on the breaks button in the Page Setup section and choose to insert a New Page Section break, choose the next page section break

Click on the Header on the second page and click on the Link to Previous button to unlink it

Once it has been unlinked you can edit it without effecting your other header

You will need to do the same for your new footer as it will still be linked to the footer in the previous section

Now you can make your changes to the footer

You can create another section break and use another header and footer if you so choose to give your third page a completely unique section break

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Power User’s Guide to Chrome

Interface Tips and Tricks

Chrome benefits from one of the more attractive, compact, and configurable interfaces you'll find among modern web browsers. Here are some great ways to customize its interface.

Pin Tabs You Always Keep Open: With much of what we do on our computers migrating to the web, you probably visit a lot of the same web sites frequently, quickly cluttering up the top of your browser window. Pinning tabs saves those often-visited sites so you don't have to constantly reopen them while making that tab extra compact so it doesn't take up too much room. To pin a tab, just right-click on it and choose "Pin Tab". It'll shuffle over to the left side of the window and stay put until you decide to close it.

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Decorate Your Browser Windows with Themes: Google created 15 simple themesto let you add a little personalization to Chrome, but other artists have created many, many more. I'm partial to the way Chrome looks by default, but if you're looking for personalization or just a change of style, just visit the Chrome Theme Galleryand pick out something that you love.

The Most Time-Saving Shortcuts

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Chrome is full of useful shortcuts to help make your browsing experience better and faster. There are too many to include here, so we've whittled down the list to the ones we find most useful.

Note: If you're a Mac user, just substitute the "Control" key for the "Command" key (and know that the "Alt" and "Option" keys are the same) when performing these shortcuts, unless a specific alternative is noted.

Navigate Back and Forward Through Web Pages: If you want to go back to the previous page, instead of clicking the back button just press Backspace (Delete on a Mac). To go forward in your history, press Shift+Backspace (Shift+Delete on a Mac) instead. Windows users can also use the Alt+Left Arrow to go back and Alt+Right Arrow to go forward as well.

Reload a Page: Although many web apps refresh themselves nowadays, many sites (like this one) require the reload button to check for new content. You can reload faster from your keyboard, however, by pressing Control+R on your keyboard. Additionally, if you're reloading the page for new content but it isn't showing up, Control+Shift+R will perform a hard refresh. This means Chrome will ignore the cached copy of the page and reload everything from scratch so you know you're getting the latest version. (Alternatively, Windows users can use Control+F5 and Control+Shift+F5 to perform these same actions, respectively.)

Navigate Through Your Tabs: Navigating through your browser tabs is really easy via the keyboard. Just press Control+Tab to move to the right, and Control+Alt+Tab to move to the left. (On a Mac use Command+Option+Right Arrow and Command+Option+Left Arrow instead.) This will let you cycle through your tabs quickly.

Jump to the Top or Bottom of a Page: Web pages can get pretty long (like this one). If you want to quickly jump to the top of a page, press the Home key on your keyboard. If you want to go straight to the bottom, press the End key.

Find Text on a Page: If you want to search for text within a page, just press Control+F on your keyboard and start typing your search term. Chrome will search as you type, but pressing the Enter key will begin cycling through the results in chronological order. Conversely, pressing Shift+Enter will cycle backwards through the results.

Open a New Tab or Window: To create a new tab in Chrome, just press Control+T on your keyboard. If you want a new Window, press Control+N instead. Either way you'll be presented with a blank window and can start typing in the URL to any site your wish. Alternatively you can enter a URL in the address bar and press Alt+Enter (Command+Return on the Mac) to create a new tab with that page.

Close a Tab or Window: To close a tab, press Control+W on your keyboard. To close an entire window and all its tabs, press Control+Shift+W. (Windows users can also use Control+F4 and Control+Shift+F4 to perform the same actions, respectively, as well.)

Reopen a Closed Tab or Window: Sometimes you close a window or tab by accident and want it back. This is when you realize that Control+Shift+T is the most useful combination of keys your web browser can provide. In Chrome, this shortcut will reopen the last tab or window you closed and load the page again. (Note: This does not work with private browsing sessions because your history isn't recorded.)

Start a Private Browsing Session: When you're, uh, not looking at porn and are using private browsing for another useful purpose, you can create a new incognito window via the keyboard by pressing Control+Shift+N.

Access the Omnibar: When you need to get to the omnibar (the address + search bar) in Chrome, you can do so easily by just pressing Control+L on your keyboard. In an instant you'll be magically transported to the omnibar and can start typing your URL or search term.

Open a Link in a New Tab: If you want to open a link in a new tab, hold down the control key and click on it. You can also get the same result by click on the link with your middle mouse button (if you've got one). Adding the shift key to either of these shortcuts will open the new tab and select it immediately, rather than opening it in the background.

Bookmark the Current Page: When you want to save the current page to your bookmarks, pressing Control+D on your keyboard will do the trick. Chrome will then present you with a little window asking you to name your bookmark and select a location where it can live. In the event you want to bookmark every tab in the current window, just press Control+Shift+D instead.

Autocomplete a URL Ending in .COM: If you're typing in a URL and you want to save yourself some time, don't bother with the www. or the .com (e.g www.lifehacker.com would just be lifehacker). When you're finished, press Control+Enter (it's also Control+Enter on the Mac) and Chrome will take care of the extra work for you.

This is just a sampling of Chrome's handy shortcuts. If you want more, check out the full list forWindows and Mac OS X.

Customize Chrome's Settings

Chrome works pretty well by default, but there is so much you can customize if you dig into its settings pages. Windows users can quickly access Chrome's settings by clicking on the wrench icon in the tool bar and choosing Options. Mac users can do the same by clicking on the wrench icon and choosing Preferences (or pressing Command+, on the keyboard). Either platform can also access the settings pages by simply typing chrome://settings into the omnibar. However you get there, you'll be presented with four sections to choose from. Let's go over each individually and look at the neat things you can do in each.

Basics

To get started, open the Basic settings panel in Chrome.

Change Chrome's Startup Behavior: The startup section allows you to define what happens when Chrome starts up. You can have Chrome load your default home page, reopen everything you had open when you last closed Chrome, or open a specific set of pages you want to view every time you start up. This is really handy if you open and close your browser every day and want it to get you started with your favorite sites every time you start up.

Customize Your Search Engines: The Search section is where you set your default search engine. When you launched Chrome for the first time, it probably asked you if you'd like to use Google, Yahoo!, or Bing every time you type in a search term in the omnibar. If you have Google set as your default, this is also where you can check a box to enable Google Instant search.

This is also where you can manage your search engines, which is a very cool feature. By default, Chrome tries to recognize search functionality on sites every time you use it. So, for example, if you searched 123people.com then Chrome would record it as one of your search engines. The benefit of this is when you type in 123people.com in the omnibar and press the tab key on your keyboard, you'll then be able to type in a search term and press enter to search 123people.com without first visiting the site. Sometimes Chrome won't pick up on these search engines, however, so you can add new ones manually in this panel. Just go down to the bottom of the page to find a space to enter a new option. First add a name of your choosing, the keyword you need to type to start the search (e.g. yahoo.com for Yahoo), and then a special search string. A sample search string for Yahoo looks like this:

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=crmas&p=lifehacker

If you look at the URL you can see I searched for the term "lifehacker", but Chrome's asking us to replace our query with %s instead. So we need to change lifehacker to %s like this:

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=crmas&p=%s

Once you do that just press enter to add your new, custom search engine. If you want to access this panel faster, without the need to go into the settings panel, just right click on the omnibar in any window and choose Edit Search Engines.

Personal Stuff

To get started, open the Personal Stuff settings panel in Chrome.

Save Passwords and Automatically Fill Out Forms: By default, Chrome will offer to save any password you enter when browsing the web. If you don't want this functionality, you can tell Chrome to "Never save passwords" instead in the Passwords section. This is also where you can manage your saved passwords in case you want to alter or delete any you've previously saved.

Chrome is also capable of storing address and credit card data so you can use it to automatically fill out forms. You can set this up in the Autofill section by checking the "Enable Autofill to fill out web forms in a single click" checkbox and then the "Manage Autofill Settings..." button to start filling in your addresses and credit cards.

Import Data from Another Browser: Perhaps you're new to Chrome and you want to import data from your previous web browser. In the Browsing Data section, just click the "Import Data from Another Browser..." button and you'll be presented with a Window with a few options. Select the browser you want, then check off the data you want to import and Chrome will do the rest.

Sync All Your Data: Chrome is great at synchronizing the majority of your browser data, including bookmarks, extensions, apps, passwords, autofill information, preferences, and themes. The Sync section is where you set it up. Just click the "Set up sync..." button and log in with your Google Account. That's all you'll really have to do to get started with syncing everything, but you can click on "Advanced Settings" if you want to select individual items and change encryption settings.

Under the Hood

To get started, open the Under the Hood settings panel in Chrome.

Manage Your Privacy: Chrome's default privacy settings aren't necessarily as private as you might, so if you want to change them the Privacy section is the place to do it. For example, you might want to uncheck the box labeled "Automatically send usage statistics and crash reports to Google" if you don't want to share that information, even anonymously. More important, however, are the settings you can access by clicking the "Content Settings..." button. These settings will allow you to enable cookie restrictions, manage the cookies you've already acquired, and blocks tons of different kinds of content like images, JavaScript, plug-in based content, and more.

If you want to take things a bit further and prevent yourself from being tracked, you can install Google's official Keep My Opt-Outs extension. This will, essentially, block any cookies. Of course, you can also do this manually from Chromes Content and Data Exceptions settings page.

Set Up Google Cloud Print: If you want to use Google Cloud print, the aptly named Google Cloud Print section at the bottom of the page is where you do it. Just click the "Sign in to Google Cloud Print" button to start the process. This will open a new page and you'll be asked to log in to your Google account if you aren't already. Once you're logged in (or if you already are), you'll be able to start adding standard or cloud-enabled printers. If you're not sure how to add your printers, just follow these instructions.

Extensions

The Extensions settings panel in Chrome, or the standard extensions page, is where you can enable, disable, and uninstall extensions. You can also access their options, check for updates, and enable developer mode. There isn't anything too special to see here, but if you want to learn more about extensions in Chrome just continue on to the next section.

Enhance Chrome's Functionality with Extensions

Although Chrome began without support for extensions at all, the quantity and quality available may have surpassed even Firefox. If there isn't something you like, you can always build your own, too. In this section we're going to take a look at a few extensions you can use to enhance Chrome's functionality.

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Pin Your Favorite Sites to Your New Tab/Window Page: When you make a new tab or window, you see Chrome's default page that lets you open recent pages and access any web apps you installed via the Chrome Web Store. What it doesn't let you do is pin any favorite sites to that page for quick access. Speed Dial is an extension that lets you do just that. It also lets you customize the look of the page, reopen closed tabs, and more.

Download Speed Dial

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Easily Access Chrome's Settings: Chrome's settings can be access quickly with a variety of chrome:// prefixed URLs, as evidenced in the previous section, but that either requires a bit of typing or digging through menus. Mega Button is a Chrome extension that provides quick links to the most common settings pages directly from the toolbar so you don't have to spend much time bringing up the exact page that you want.

Download Mega Button

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Send Web Pages to Your Phone: If you've got an Android or iPhone and want to easily transfer a page to either, you need one of two extensions. Google's official Chrome to Phone extension will send any web page to your Android smartphone or tablet. Site to Phone is a third-party equivalent originally developed for Apple mobile devices, but it has since been expanded to support Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, and webOS as well.

Download Chrome to Phone or Site to Phone

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Send Web Pages to Other Instances of Chrome: Perhaps you have a separate computer at work, or even multiple computers in your home. If you're looking at a page on one machine and want to quickly transport it over to another, SendTab is a Chrome extension that can do it in a single click. Just register with SendTab on both computers, click the extension icon, and the page will automatically open on the paired machine.

Download SendTab

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Make Pages Easier to Read: Most web pages have complex designs and often advertisements that distract from your reading experience. Readability is an extension that attempts to solve that problem. Just click the extension icon on any page you'd like to see in a more readable format and Readability will reformat it for you.

Download Readability

These are just a few extensions that enhance Chrome's abilities and add some missing functionality. We've highlighted several more extensions we love, plus you can always find just about everything on the Chrome Extension Gallery.

Master Chrome's Secret Features

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Chrome has a few features you probably wouldn't know about unless you dug pretty deep or someone told you they exist. That's what this section is for—to let you in on a few of Chrome's handy little secrets.

Perform Simple Mathematical Calculations from the Omnibar: This neat little feature doesn't require much explanation. Just press Control/Command+L on your keyboard to access the omnibar and type in an equation. Chrome will add, subtract, multiply and divide for you and place the answer at the top of its suggested search results.

Control Your Plug-ins: Sometimes plug-ins can get a little out of hand. Chrome's good at wrangling them and cutting them off when they're not behaving so it they don't bring down the entire browser, but sometimes you need to go in and manually shut them off. To do that, just visit chrome://plugins to see a list of your plug-ins, plenty of "Disable" buttons, and version information.

Find Out Which Tabs Are Eating Up Your Memory: Chrome isolates each tab you create so if one crashes, it doesn't take down the entire browser with it. This is a good thing, but it doesn't prevent any particular tab from getting a little out of control. If you want to check which tabs are using the most resources, head on over to chrome://memory-redirect for a look. The resulting page will provide you with a full look at all usage so you can close any offending tabs.

Save Yourself a Few Clicks of the Back Button: If you want to get to a page you accessed further back in your browsing history, you might find yourself clicking the Back button (or pressing Backspace) incessantly until you get there. A better way to solve this problem is to click and hold the Back button. Doing so will provide you with the history for that specific tab so you can select the page you want, load it, and get on with your life.

Add New Functionality with Switches: If you're running Chromium, the developer channel build of Chrome, you can enable some additional functionality by settings specific switches. They aren't all terribly exciting, but these switches will allow you to disable functionality you don't want, test out experimental interfaces, and even some handy features. For example, --enable-click-to-play allows you to click to temporarily enable embedded content requiring a blocked plug-in, which is great if you prefer to keep Flash disabled but occasionally want to enable it. For more, check out this full list of switches and how to set them up on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Inspect Any Part of a Web Page's Code: Curious about a certain element on a web page and want to snoop around in the code? Just right-click on it and choose "Inspect Element" from the result contextual menu. This will bring up Chrome's built-in Inspector and plenty of information about part of the page you're interested in. This is a very handy tool for learning to code by example and for debugging your own code, too.

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How To Remove Image Backgrounds Using PowerPoint 2010

Removing Backgrounds Using PowerPoint

We will take a presentation we have and insert any picture right in it.

After inserting the picture, we will go to the Format Picture tab and click on Remove Background.

Notice that PowerPoint makes a good job depending on the picture to recognize the background and paint it in purple.

If your image, like ours, needs a little more editing, you can click on Mark Areas to Remove and select the areas that are still left to being removed in your picture.

When you have finally ended editing your picture, just click on Keep changes and you will notice the background will be entirely removed.

You can now even select a different background for your picture.

Do you think this will come up handy? This is not as professional as editing them with Photoshop, but for a presentation, this could do the trick.