http://jbarrett.com Getting the most from your home devices & equipment Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:21:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.png http://jbarrett.com http://jbarrett.com/2009/05/26/converting-office-2007-files-to-office-2003/ http://jbarrett.com/2009/05/26/converting-office-2007-files-to-office-2003/#comments Tue, 26 May 2009 16:24:33 +0000 johnfb68 http://jbarrett.com/?p=180 ]]> Are you continually receiving files in the new Office 2007 format (i.e. docx, xlsx, pptx) which you can’t open and work on because you have not upgraded from Office 2003? Of course one way to deal with this is to ask the sender to do a Save As to the Office 2003 format and then resend the file. A more simple long-term solution is to install the Office Compatiblity Pack now available for free from Microsoft. After installed it will convert the Office 2007 format files to the Office 2003 format so you can not only view them but also edit them as you normally would.

Posted in Application, PC Tagged: Free, MS_Office ]]> http://jbarrett.com/2009/05/26/converting-office-2007-files-to-office-2003/feed/ 0 johnfb68 http://jbarrett.com/2009/02/26/evernote/ http://jbarrett.com/2009/02/26/evernote/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:29:12 +0000 johnfb68 http://jbarrett.com/?p=137 ]]> It almost seems to good to be true but there is a free product, Evernote,  that  allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere. For example you can save whole or selected portions of web pages to Evernote. Or an entire email or just selected text. In the process of saving an item you are prompted to give it a categorization Tag so you can easily filter your saved items. I find it invaluable whether doing online comparisons in searching for a product or doing research for an article I plan to write. There is a Premium upgrade if you need some advanced features, but for the me the free version is perfect.

Posted in Application Tagged: Email, Free, Internet ]]> http://jbarrett.com/2009/02/26/evernote/feed/ 0 johnfb68 http://jbarrett.com/2009/02/02/create-pdf-files-with-office-2007/ http://jbarrett.com/2009/02/02/create-pdf-files-with-office-2007/#comments Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:26:41 +0000 johnfb68 http://jbarrett.com/?p=84 ]]> Microsoft provides a free add-in that provides the ability to Save an Office 2007 document as a PDf file.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4d951911-3e7e-4ae6-b059-a2e79ed87041&displaylang=en

Posted in Application, PC Tagged: Free, MS_Office ]]> http://jbarrett.com/2009/02/02/create-pdf-files-with-office-2007/feed/ 0 johnfb68 http://jbarrett.com/2009/01/17/powerpoint-alternatives/ http://jbarrett.com/2009/01/17/powerpoint-alternatives/#comments Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:03:54 +0000 johnfb68 http://jbarrett.com/?p=55 ]]> I am often asked how can a fellow group member who does not have PowerPoint access presentations.

• If the person only needs to view (not edit) the PPT, then there is a free viewer available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=048DC840-14E1-467D-8DCA-19D2A8FD7485&displaylang=en
• If they need to edit a PowerPoint and are a little computer savvy they could install the free OpenOffice suite. It will open .ppt files by converting them into its own format. Then you can do a Save As and select .ppt which will reconvert them into a .ppt file. This can be found at http://www.openoffice.org/

Posted in Application Tagged: Free, PowerPoint ]]> http://jbarrett.com/2009/01/17/powerpoint-alternatives/feed/ 0 johnfb68