No Automatic Signature on Custom Forms & Templates

Thank you to Diane Poremsky for providing this solution found at http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/email/signatures-on-custom-forms-templates/

Diane provides solutions for all versions of Windows Outlook. I implemented the Outlook 2013 version. 

Outlook 2013

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Options
DWORD: NoAutosigOnCustomForms
Data Value: 1 = no signature; 0 = uses signature (the default)

That's right, we have to add a registry key. Worked as expected, once I put it in the correct directory. I navigated to the Options folder, but incorrectly selected a directory below. It has to be in the Options level folder. Heller.

1. Open the registry editor by typing regedit into the Start menu’s Search field or by press Windows key + R on your keyboard
2. Browse to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Options key in the registry
3. Right click on the Options folder and choose New > DWORD (32-Bit) Value
4. Type or paste NoAutosigOnCustomForms as the name
5. Right click on NoAutosigOnCustomForms and select Modify...
6. Enter a value of 1 if you don’t want the autosignature added.

You’ll need to restart Outlook for the change to take effect.

Creating User Names with Excel

Our usernames are a combination of the first initial of the first name and entire last name. Should there be a duplicate, we add a number. Below describes how to create the user names from a spreadsheet. However, care still should be given for those names that may contain a number. (e.g. Jack Johnson jjohnson and Joe Johnson jjohnson2)

Use CONCATENATE, LEFT, and LOWER to create user names.

Example: Don Ho dho

=LOWER(CONCATENATE(LEFT(C2,1), B2))

The formula returns 1 character of the word beginning on the LEFT in cell C2 joining it together with the entire word in cell B2. LOWER then converts the entire result to lower case.

Annoying Adobe Acrobat/Reader "Reading Untagged Document" Dialog

For about a week now, every time I opened a PDF document an annoying popup related to Adobe Reader X would appear.

Thankfully, an Adobe person provided a few workarounds to what seems to be a known issue since Adobe Acrobat/Reader 8. For my situation, I must have installed something that caused Adobe Acrobat/Reader X to think I had some type of assistive technology installed on my PC. The actual workaround I implemented was listed in the comments section of the blog post and it works well-so far.

Here are the steps:

• In a Windows Explorer window, navigate to 
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 11.0\Acrobat\plug_ins
• Rename Accessibility.api to Accessibility.api.bk
• Rename ReadOutLoud.api to ReadOutLoud.api.bk

Source: http://blogs.adobe.com/dmcmahon/2011/08/19/acrobatreader-how-to-disable-the-reading-untagged-document-dialog/

Creating a Search Folder for a domain (e.g. microsoft.com)

Being the administrator for Office 365 requires constant communication with Microsoft--especially for issues that affect all cloud users. 

I wanted an easy way to keep that email in my Inbox, but group it together. Utilizing an Outlook feature of "Search Folders" for the account, I did just that.

1. Right Click on the Search Folders icon
2.  Select "New Search Folder" 
   
   
   
   
   
3. In the New Search Folder Dialog box select "Mail from and to specific people"

4. Click on "Choose..." 
5. The Global Address List picker will pop up. 
6. In the "From or Sent to ->" field enter the domain (e.g. microsoft.com)
7. Click OK
8. Wait while your new search folder is created and populated

That's it! Now you just have to remember the folder is there to use during your daily activities.

How to update the Global Address Book in Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010

Last week I added some new distribution groups via the Exchange Management Console EMC (Exchange 2007). Normally, it only takes overnight for the Global Address Book to sync. It had been several days and still no new distribution groups showing up.

Then I remembered that I might be working with a cached copy and needed to download a new copy. Of course I forgot how to do this and searched for the solution. After viewing several dead-end articles, I came upon this great support article/tutorial at UNC-Chapel Hill which describes the process for Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010.
 
https://help.unc.edu/help/exchange-how-to-update-the-global-address-book-in-outlook/

After downloading a new global address copy, my new distribution groups showed up.

Thank you UNC-Chapel Hill Help & Support!

Running out of diskspace? Identifying Large Folders Using Treesize

Fun day at work, wondering why my Windows 7 machine is running so slow, stalling, spinning cursor, all that cheese.

After doing some preliminary checking, it occured to me to check the diskspace. Hello. I needed to find out why I was down to 10 GB on a 140GB drive.

Searched for what people are using nowadays and ended up using this free utility program call Treesize. They, Jam Software, have other versions. But for what I needed the free version was perfect.

http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

I highly recommend this program.

It was surprising to learn that my Dropbox folder was the main culprit. I need to go through and be a bit more selective on what directories I will be syncing on my work computer.
Well, I better get to it. Aloha!

Resetting WordPress Admin Password Using phpMyAdmin on BlueHost

I have several WordPress installations with my ISP bluehost.com. Recently, I needed to reset all the passwords. I searched and found this handy tutorial.

http://codex.wordpress.org/Resetting_Your_Password#Through_phpMyAdmin

Thank you WordPress for sharing this information!

Converting MP4 video to MP3 audio on a Mac

Greetings,

I recently needed to convert an .mp4 video file to .mp3 audio to create an audio CD for my mother-in-law.

Still available as of this posting, RealPlayer Converter (free) http://www.real.com/realplayer/video-converter helped me get the job done.

I simply dropped the .mp4 into the application window, selected the .mp3 format from the numerous conversion options, and clicked start.

Bam!

The conversion completed under 20 seconds (on a MacPro 3,1 early 2008). Starting with a 13.1 MB video file resulted with a 4.6 MB audio file.

Documenting this here for future reference.

--Liko

Outlook 2010 Creating a Contact Group from an Email

I received an email for a work group with a large distribution list. Instead of just replying all, I wanted to be able to compose a new message using my contact list for addresses. I found the answer here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/create-and-edit-a-contact-group-formerly-distribution-lists-HA010354963.aspx

Rather simple once I learned that the Members field will accept a large amount of copy and pasted addresses.

Create a Contact Group by copying names from an email message    

1. In the message that you want to copy the names from, click the names in the To or Cc box.
2. Right-click your selection, and then click Copy.
3. In Mail, on the Home tab, in the New group, click New Items, then click More Items, and then click Contact Group.
4. In the Name box, type a name for the Contact Group.
5. On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click Add Members, and then click either From Outlook Contacts or From Address Book.
6. At the bottom of the Select Members dialog box, in the Members box, right-click, and then click Paste.

Many thanks to the author of the article!

IE Tab is Awesome! (Display Internet Explorer specific webpages in Chrome)

Happened upon a great chrome extension called IE Tab. 

This app runs webpages specific to Internet Explorer in Google Chrome! So, I can now use OWA and view SharePoint pages using my chrome browser. Happy times and highly recommended. They also have an extension for the FireFox browser.

From their website: http://www.ietab.net/

What Is IE Tab?

IE Tab for Chrome (and IE Tab 2 for Firefox) is a browser extension that allows you to use Internet Explorer to display web pages in a tab. This is useful in many cases where a web page requires Internet Explorer features. Here are some of the many uses for IE Tab:

• Display web pages that require ActiveX controls.
• Test web pages with IE's rendering engine.
• Use Windows Explorer view to browse the local file system, with full Explorer support for icons, right-click menus, etc.
• Use Outlook Web Access.
• Use IE-only Sharepoint features.

Blackboard 9.1 Using Internal Course Links

This has been perplexing for a while, but finally figured out how in Blackboard 9.1 as a student at CSU-Eastbay. Please take note of using https instead of http for course links.

• Copy desired link location (Right-click usually does the trick.)
• Paste link into desired location
• • e.g. [Week 9 Course Documents] https://bb.csueastbay.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_386297_1&content_id=_4318960_1
• Select entire link
• Click on Hyperlink icon in Text Editor menu   (The little globe)
• In the dialog box
• • Under Hyperlink Properties, make sure to select HTTPS
  • Paste URL for link (Make sure that you only have a single "https://")
  • Select Open in a New Window if desired (I usually do)

https://bb.csueastbay.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_386297_1&content_id=_4318960_1

It is also possible to embed a link, such as click here for Week 9 Course Materials. [Note: This one opens in same window]

Just had to share. I missed being able to do this since WebCT!

--Liko

Outlook 2010 Scroll Not Working with Logitech MX Revolution

For the past few days, using the scrolling mouse wheel did not work with Outlook 2010. After completing some basic verifications, I checked to see if an update was available for my Logitech MX Revolution. Hello.

After downloading and installing the update, both the SetPoint software and the driver for the mouse were updated.

All is now good in "scrolling land!"

Outlook 2010 Keep Source Formatting Lost

Issue: "Keep Source Formatting" paste option lost in Outlook 2010. Also, when replying to an e-mail message originally sent as HTML, the reply defaults to "Plain Text" only.

Solution: Uninstall the "Skype Click to Call" program.

Last week I installed Skype on my Windows 7 box (32-Bit). Little did I realize that installing Skype with "Skype Click to Call" would break Outlook 2010. I had been struggling with finding a solution. Thankfully, some wise MVPs shared the solution which I found at the link below.

Thank goodness and thank you to Ulodesk who shared the solution!

http://www.msofficeforums.com/word/8438-paste-keep-source-formatting-lost.html

So happy that my Keep Source Formatting is back!

Skype: Publicly Displayed Birth Date

Issue: Skype profile displays my birth date publicly.


In the application and on the web, there is no way to change it from public to private. But there is a workaround.


Solution: The answer is provided here by elainem77 on the Skype community forum: http://community.skype.com/t5/General-Discussion/Birthday/m-p/261092


Basically, there is a blank at the very top of the date picker for each field. In either the application or on the web control panel, above 1900 is a blank space, select that, repeating for the day and month.


--Liko

Outlook 2010 Changing Default Task Type for Journaling

[Update: 19 May 2014] These instructions also work for Outlook 2013 / Windows 7 64bit
Summary: I investigated the possibility of changing the default task type in Microsoft Outlook 2010 Journaling. Our department is now utilizing this feature of OL2010 for various reasons, but truly helpful when asked: “So what did you accomplish this week?” For the solution below, I changed the Registry Names for Outlook 2010 Journaling to enable the default to Task instead of Phone Call. According to my findings, Phone Call is hard-coded. The workaround switches the names to have the default task type as Task.

I backed up the Journaling registry as recommended. After making the name changes: boom-shaka-laka works like a charm!

Procedure: 

Resource Thread (Post #2) http://www.msofficeforums.com/outlook/1336-outlook-2003-modify-default-entry-type-new.html

Directions below modified from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/180139

Back Up the Registry

1.       Click the Start button, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

2.       In the Registry Editor, navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Outlook\Journaling 

3.       On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.

4.       In the Save In list, click to select the folder where you want to save the backup.

5.       In the File Name box, type a name for your backup file.

6.       In the Export Range box, be sure that Selected Branch is selected.

7.       Click Save. The file is saved with a .reg extension.

Edit the Registry

Use the following steps to edit the registry:

1.       Click the Start button, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

2.       Navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Outlook\Journaling

3.       Right click on Phone Call and select Rename. Change name to Task2.

4.       Right click on Task and select Rename. Change name to Phone Call.

5.       Right click on Task2 and select Rename. Change name to Task.

iTunes deimos.apple.com not found error FIX

Mahalo ke Akua for this fix for an error that had finally driven me loopy! Thank goodness someone had figured it out while providing a solution. And no, it was not Apple. Yikes!

Install MIT CA (Certificate Authority) in Safari on Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 (Hermes)

Batch Conversion of Excel to PDF « Acrobat for Legal Professionals

There is a project requiring a batch conversion of Word and Excel documents to PDF. Luckily, I found this tutorial for Adobe Acrobat. I will be sure to let you know how it went. Thanks to Rick Borstein!

Batch Conversion of Excel to PDF « Acrobat for Legal Professionals

How to Enable Telnet in Windows 7

How to Enable Telnet in Windows 7

Excellent instructions on how to enable Telnet on a Windows 7 machine!

Solution for OWA Navigation Pane and Rules Link Missing

Thursday, October 20, 2011

3:45 PM

The OWA premium Navigation Pane is turned off, including "Rules" capability when the Options > General Settings > Accessibility > Use the blind and low vision experience is activated

To restore the Navigation Pane and Rules link: Options > Accessibility >  deselect Use the blind and low vision experience

Log out and log back in!

Created with Microsoft OneNote 2010
One place for all your notes and information

Change the Default Folder View in Windows XP

I finally got fed up with having to change my view to details every time I navigated to a folder. Learned how to set the default view in Windows XP from this post.

Thanks to Susan Daffron!

Fortunately, this change is easy. Double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop or open Windows Explorer. Navigate to your C drive and double-click a folder to open it.

To set the view, you can either use the View menu, or the drop-down Views toolbar button. You can choose from Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List, and Details. In this case, choose View Details to show all the file details. Once you have this one folder the way you like it, choose Tools|Folder Options.

Click the View tab and at the top, click the Apply to All Folders button. Windows shows a dialog box that says, "Set all the folders on your computer to match the current folder's view settings (except for toolbars and folder tasks)?

Changes will occur the next time you open them." You want to click Yes to make Windows apply the view changes.

See the full post here: http://www.logicaltips.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=508