Using Office 2003 and Wondering if you Need to Upgrade to Office 2007?
Hell No!
I was recently sent a Word 2007 document and without realising it I opened it. I only have Word 2003 and a strange message appeared. It mentioned something about a compatibility pack.
I was actually in shock because I didn’t think Microsoft would create a tool for forward compatibility. I mean, create a tool that was actually useful and would mean that they could potentially lose out on sales of a newer version. I just had to check it out.
I downloaded it from here and it works a treat.
No more telling my clients that they have to save the documents in a lower version for me.
Well done Microsoft for saving me some money.
The MingleStick – Will it replace the Business Card?
Do you have a pile of business cards in the bottom of your drawer? It is too much trouble to do anything with them?
You could potentially be losing out on business. Your next client could be in amongst those cards.
I am excited to say that there is a new gadget available, that may very well mean the death of the business card!
The MingleStick is a small device that uses infrared technology to transmit an ID from one device to another. This isn’t a gadget for someone who likes complex gadgetry, as there is only one button to click. The person you are connecting with must also press their button. What could be simpler?
It holds up to 500 contacts and it is easy to upload your contacts. You simply plug your MingleStick into a USB port on your computer and connect to the MingleStick website. You will set up a profile and have full control on what information your contacts will see.
There isn’t a security risk if you lose it, as it only holds your ID and no personal information. All the personal information is held on the MingleStick web server.
How much do they cost?
A lot less than business cards, unless you get the free ones from VistaPrint! One MingleStick will set you back $25.94 or £16.50 (exchange rate date 04-Oct-09). The more you buy, the cheaper they are. You could buy in bulk and sell them at your next social networking event.
Where can you use a MingleStick?
The MingleStick is a social networking gadget, it is not restricted to business use. You can gather contacts at various locations, including:
- During your time at University
- At Networking Events
- At a nightclub
The Benefits
The MingleStick has many advantages including:
- Extremely simple to use.
- Saves you time – you don’t have to enter details yourself.
- Saves on paper – less business cards to buy.
- Saves you money.
- Your profile can include all your social networking sites e.g. twitter and facebook and a photo. You become a real person and not just a business card shoved in the bottom drawer!
- Not many people have heard of them YET!
- It’s no good if you are the only person at an event with one. Although, it would be a great topic of conversation.
- Click on Open a Document.
- Locate the document to be converted to a PDF and click open.
- On the top menu click File > Export as PDF.
- Click on the Security tab if you want to add security.
- Click Export.
The Drawbacks
The only disadvantages of a MingleStick are:
Let’s start mingling the smart way.
Purchase your Social Networking Gadget NOW.
Free PDF to Word Online Converter
So you have a PDF document and you need to convert it to a Word document. You don’t have to purchase any software to do this.
NitroPDF offer a free online PDF to Word Converter at http://www.pdftoword.com.
As you can see from the screenshot above it is extremely simple to use. Just find the file you want to convert. Decide if you want it as a Word document or as Rich Text Format (RTF). Enter an email address that you want the file sending to and press Convert. The document will arrive a couple of minutes later in your inbox.
I found that during the conversion process all my styles that I had set up in the original document were lost. So don’t expect perfect formatting.
I did some testing on whether adding security to a PDF would allow the document to be converted. If the security is set to Changes Not Permitted then the document will not be converted at all.
NitroPDF also do a free PDF to Excel online converting service http://www.pdftoexcelonline.com.
Happy Converting!
Free PDF Converter – Maintain Your Embedded Hyperlinks
I have been testing a number of free PDF converters to find one that will maintain all my embedded hyperlinks. By embedded hyperlinks I mean a link within text e.g. Help on Tap will contain a link with the full URL of my Virtual Assistance website. I want that to be clickable once the Word document is converted to a PDF.
I have now found the answer and it is using OpenOffice. OpenOffice is free opensource software that is available to download from www.openoffice.org.
As you can see from the image below, OpenOffice has a number of applications including Spreadsheet, Text Document, Presentation and Database. It is possible to save any documents produced in these applications to their equivalent in Microsoft e.g. you can save a Spreadsheet as an Excel Spreadsheet. I highly recommend you download the software and try it.
To convert to PDF:
Note that the PDF will not open automatically, you will have to locate it.
(P.S. I used ScreenHunter 5.1 Free Download to capture the images in this post – so unbelievably easy to use).
