Master These Skills

(See Student Work Samples, Below)

MS Word - Basic Document Skills

• Create, save, print document
• Insert or delete text easily
• Center or indent text
• Underline, bold, italics
• Change typestyle size or color
• Copy and move paragraphs
• Page & line formats
• Spell check, thesaurus
• Envelopes & labels
• Correct formats for business
• Understand "hidden codes" 

MS Word - Advanced Documents

• Reports
• Legal and business docs
• Headers & footers
• Page numbers
• Search replace
• Newspaper columns
• Tables
• Graphic lines, shadings
• Adding pictures, clipart
• Setting tabs 
• Paragraph numbering
• Mail merge
• Sort databases & lists 

MS Word - Legal Documents

• Proper formats
• Caption boxes
• Numbered pleading paper
• Court-required footers
• Table of contents / authorities
• Footnotes, endnores
• Auto paragraph numbering
• Appeal briefs

Microsoft Word - Speed Tricks

• Move around documents quickly
• Stop keyboard/mouse time waste
• Copy and paste easiier, faster
• Move text around faster
• Macros and other speed tricks
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Quick access to favorites
• Lists with bullets, numbers, outlines

Brochures, Newsletters

• For business and personal needs
• Brochures with 3 or 4 sides 
• Flyers -- to print or to email 
• Newsletters for work, social, family 
• Invitations - weddings, other events 
• Greeting Cards 

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Speech Recognition - Talk, Don't Type

• Just say the words or numbers 
• Speed: 80 to 100 words per minute 
• No pain -- hand, wrist or neck pain 
• All computer programs work with this
• Keyboard & mouse still work 
• Law/business/med office timesaver
• Great for schoolwork, letters, email

Power Point - Make your presentation lively

• Present anything to a group
• For business, legal, medical
• For school, religious, social
• Add sounds, music, or a voice
• Add video, film footage
• Makes info interesting, enjoyable
• Better family & friend projects
• Show music/ actor/ writer/ project.
• Make pictures dissolve, spin, fly onto the screen
• Dramatic entrance for any phrase or idea

Excel Spreadsheets - Basic Level

• Spreadsheet basics
• Easier than a calculator
• Simple math and easy formulas
• Track money, time, expenses
• Formats for currency, percent, etc.
• Calculate percentages
• Big docs: freeze headings, rows, columns
• Add & remove columns & rows
• Change column widths
• Multi-sheet workbooks
• Full-year workbooks

Excel Spreadsheets - Office Level

• Keep & sort client/company data
• Powerful--but easy--formulas
• More interesting page layouts
• Charts - pie / line / column charts
• Export Excel to Word and PowerPoint
• Word tables into spreadsheets
• Using named ranges
• Macros

From Old to New MS Office

• Where are the menus?
• What is The Ribbon?  And why?
• What's better in the new version?
• Which of my old skills still work?
• What's easier now?
• Is anything harder?

 What's inside your computer?

• Open up a computer, see what's inside
• Copy anything to a flash drive or CD
• Files versus Folders
• Make folders to store docs, photos
• Use storage media for backup
• Rename & delete files
• Install and delete programs
• Defragment a tired computer
• Change desktop icons & scenes
• Link  to photos, webs, docs, etc.

Computer Repairs & Upgrades

• "Emergency" computer help
• Start a sleeping computer
• Install (or re-install) programs
• Wake up sleeping programs
• Add a new hard drive
• Add a CD or DVD burner
• Find drivers for printer, mouse,
• Revive or replace failing parts

ProTools - Record Music on a MAC

• Plugins vs External Hardware
• Connecting an Interface
• Microphone choices
• Keyboards with audio or midi inputs
• Preamps, compressors, and limiters 
• Reverb vs Delay
• Mixes and Sub-mixes
• Keeping track of your tracks
• External speaker considerations
• Bouncing a mix
• Troubleshooting ProTools and your mix

Music - To and From CD's

• Play music on a computer
• Copy CDs into a computer
• Copy tapes or records to computer
• Make CDs of favorite songs
• Record yourself singing or speaking

Small Business Needs

• Flyers and brochures
• Laptops as presentation machines
• Spreadsheets: track time, money, sales, Inventory, travel, costs
• Better business letters & documents
• Selling on the Internet
• PowerPoint presentations
• Track real estate online
• Put photos into unique shapes 
• Add pix, sounds, clipart to docs

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

• Scan photos into computer
• Scan documents into computer
• Capture pictures from magazines, newspapers, anything visible
• Get any photo from the Internet
• Take pictures of what the computer sees
• Crop out part of a picture
• Make dark photos visible
• Color photos: tinted, black & white
• Put photos into unique shapes 

Email, Internet, Faxing

• Faxing from your computer
• Email everyone at once
• Send out photos, docs, songs
• Search for any info you want
• Use scientific search engines
• Use Ebay & other buy/sell sites
• Satellite & street views of home
• Save emails to OneDrive or your computer
• Block unwanted emails
• Virus and popup control

Typing: Basics & Speed Tricks

• Learn to type without looking
• Why don't my little fingers work?
• Finger exercises to have control & speed
• Keyboard shortcuts and tricks
• Macros & other speed tricks

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Products We Sell

• Keyboard shortcuts (laminated)
• Step-by-step computer guides
• Workbooks with practice documents

Student Work - MS Word and Excel Documents
(click thumbnail images)