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10 Changes to Office 2013

Takeaway: Ten popular tools and options that are unseen or removed from Office 2013.

Office 2013 has made minor adjustments and changes to the new cloud-based suite.

Creating from Existing

In previous versions of Office it was simple to create a new document from an existing one. This would allow changes without changing the original.

Using Office 2013, the button “New From Existing” is gone; there is a section under the File Tab for Recent Documents.

Outlook – Activities

There was an option to add a Contact’s Activities in older versions of Office. For Office 2013, Activities option is replaced by Outlook Social Connection.

Word – Show Mark-Up

For Office 2013, the Show Markup drop-down, located in the Review Tab and Tracking Section for older versions, is removed but you can add it to your Quick Access Toolbar.

Backstage Exit

In previous versions, “Exit” on the File Tab would allow you to exit all open documents in one click. In Office 2013, you can right click the program on your task bar and select “Close all windows” or add “Exit” to your Quick Access Toolbar.

Picture Manager

Unlike previous versions of Office, Clip Art Organizer and Picture Manager are no longer available. Clip Art Organizer is replaced with Insert Media Dialog Box. Picture Manager is replaced with Windows Photo Gallery.

Access – PivotTables & PivotCharts

For Office 2013, PivotTable and PivotChart are no longer tools in Access; only Excel 2013 provides the PivotTable and PivotChart.

Access – Upsizing Wizard

In previous versions of Access, it was simple to add an Access database to SQL Servers.

Using The Upsizing Wizard to migrate all or some objects to SQL Servers is no longer available with Access in Office 2013.

Excel – Workspace

Workspace files save the layout you have selected. When you open a saved Workspace Files they are displayed in that layout.

Excel 2013 you can open a Workspace file but you can not save layouts as Workspace files or add it to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Outlook – Journal

Journal tool in Outlook helps you manage your productivity and time spent on projects. This tool will no longer be available for Office 2013 and will not be replaced by another tool.

Outlook – To-Do Bar

The Pinned Peek feature is replacing the traditional To-Do Bar in Outlook for Office 2013. The Pinned Peak feature is not as detailed as the To-Do Bar, for example you can only view appointments for one day .

Windows 8.1 Uncovered

Takeaway: Microsoft has created many new features that are included with Windows 8.1 expected to be release before the end of 2013.

Windows 8.1 is more than an update to Windows 8; it has new features for both businesses and home users. Another major step for Microsoft will be annual updates for operating systems; similar to Apple with OS X.

The biggest update will be the traditional Start button on the left side of the screen. Other features include:

Boot-to-desktop is available instead of booting to the Metro Start Screen.
Start screen provides additional custom options for tiles.
New snap behavior allows up to four Windows 8 Apps to be placed side-by-side without the 320-pixel limitation.
PC Settings section includes settings previously located in Control Panel.
SkyDrive Synchronization settings are built into the operating system.
& many other features.

Windows 8.1 Preview with Jensen Harris

Apple iOS 7

On Monday, June 10, 2013 Apple exposed iOS 7 at the Worldwide Developers Conference. The new OS will be available for multiple devices including iPhone 4 and up, iPad 2 and up and the iPad Mini.

New features for iOS 7 include:

Control Center: By swiping from the bottom to the top will now allow you to adjust your settings

AirDrop: For Apps that allow sharing, AirDrop will encrypt data that a user shares to friends within a close distance.

Activation Lock: To prevent smartphone crimes, when disabling “Find My iPhone” the phone will be locked and only the correct Apple credentials will unlock the phone.

Multitasking: Apps can develop patterns based on usage. These patterns will allow the iOS 7 to update apps in the background based on network connections.

Car integrated iOS: For 2014, many car manufacturers are integrating iOS with the car display.

Safari: Safari has been updated with navigation, smart search and iCloud Keychain.

Siri: Siri can now operate more of the iPhone including voicemail, Wikipedia, Twitter, Bing and many others.

Camera: Photos are well-organized as Moments. Also, the camera has new photo filter options.

App Store: The App Store can organize Apps based on age and geographical location. Also, background updating will eliminate manual updating.

Music: Music, Movies and TV Shows are now stored together in your Library.

iTunes Radio: A streaming music service that will be available with iOS 7.

Smartphone Market Share

Takeaway: Kantar Worldpanel is an international company that provides market and consumer solutions.

Android is up 13% market share since February 2012, now holding more than half of Smartphone sales. Within the Android market, Samsung continues to take control over other smartphone manufacturers. “It’s apparent that Samsung is successful at capturing users from across the competitor set and not just gaining from their own loyalists.” said Kantar Worldpanel analyst Mary-Ann Parlato.

Apple’s iOS is down 7% market share since February 2012. Taking more than half of Verizon and AT&T sales, Apple is steadily residing in second place behind Android.

The first quarter of 2013 has been very impacting for Microsoft, jumping into third place for smartphones and fifth place for tablets. Microsoft has finally made a leap from 2012, bringing their market share up 52%. Microsoft is now continuously growing in smartphone sales.

Lastly, BlackBerry has taken a “nose-dive” since 2012, dropping from 3.6 to .7 (81%) market share.

Hosted Web Server Maintenance

Our server will be coming down at 1 A.M on Friday, June 14th, 2013 as part of our planned maintenance for space efficiency. Due to the physical relocation of the servers, we cannot provide a precise time frame for this maintenance however we expect this to take between 2 to 3 hours. Our technicians have performed this maintenance several times and have established a process to minimize the outage period during the moves. We apologize for any inconveniences caused by this maintenance.

Maintenance Window: 1 A.M. – 6 A.M. (EST) on Friday, June 14, 2013.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

(856)745-9990 or support@sjtechies.com

Surface RT the Enterprise Tablet

Takeaway: Microsoft Surface RT is the first Tablet equipped for enterprise.

Apple and Android are dominant for consumer consumption, but Windows RT is the best candidate for enterprise use.

Surface RT Tablet

The Surface by Microsoft is a crossover between a laptop and a tablet. The Surface RT is a slim tablet with a kickstand and the option of a Touch Cover or a Type Cover.

Surface RT is running Windows RT Operating System on a Quad-Core NVIDIA Tegra 3 Processor. Storage options are 32 GB or 64 GB. According to recent news, only 16 GB available for the 32 GB hard drive and 46 GB available for 64 GB hard drive.

Surface RT for Enterprise use

Surface RT is pre-loaded with touch-enhanced versions of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote). Unlike the iPad, the RT has the ability to increase storage with a USB port and MicroSDXC card slot.

Effortlessly join and integrate a Surface RT into a Windows environment; with the capability to retrieve and share network resources. Providing a “true desktop browser” and the basic functionality, commonly used with a desktop computer, allow the transition from desktop to tablet to be easy.

10 Missing Features from Outlook 2013

Takeaway: Ten popular features that are missing from Outlook 2013.

Right-click Lookup

Outlook 2013 does not include ‘Lookup’ when right-clicking a word. This feature is still available:

Open a new e-mail message.
Click inside the message body.
Select the Review tab.
Select ‘Research’ in the Proofing section.
Press [ALT] and select the word or phrase that you would like to look up. Also, you can type the word or phrase in the ‘Search For:’ box.

Right-click AutoCorrect

Outlook 2013 does not include ‘AutoCorrect’ when right-clicking a word. This feature is still available but will have to be entered manually. (Right-click Add to Dictionary is still available using a right-click.)

Import/Export Formats

Outlook 2013 only allows .pst (Outlook’s data file format) and comma-delimited data as import formats. Previous versions allowed many file formats to be imported and exported.

Meeting Workspace

Outlook 2013 does not include Meeting Workplace. Also, this feature cannot be added to the Quick Acces Toolbar. Meeting Workplace was a website that supplied Attendees, Date, Time and Location for meetings.

Outlook Mobile Service

Outlook 2013 does not support Outlook Mobile Service (OMS). OMS let you create and send text/multimedia messages to a mobile device from Outlook, similar to e-mail(s).

Windows Search

Windows 8 does not support using Windows Search to search Outlook e-mail. Previously, you could using Windows Search without opening Outlook to search for e-mail(s).

Calendar Publishing

Outlook 2013 does not support Calendar Publishing; the replacement is Office.com. Microsoft cut service for previous versions on April 5, 2014.

Drag-and-Drop

Office 2013 does not support “dragging-and-dropping” e-mail(s) in the To-Do bar to create a calendar entry. You can “drag-and-drop” an e-mail to a shortcut to create a calendar or task entry.

Notes and Journal

Office 2013 supports ‘Notes’ but ‘Journal’ is no longer available.

Suggested Contacts

Office 2013 does not support Suggested Contacts. Suggested contacts gathers contacts that are not in your list and suggests them.

Microsoft Word – Undo Automatic Indents Tip

Takeaway: Creating numbered or bulleted lists would be simple with the ability to adjust or remove automatic indents.

Simple Solution

This simple solutions works with the current list only. If you add to this list, Word will remember the indent. When you start a new list later in the document, it won’t.

Create an numbered or bulleted list.
Double-click any number or bullet in the list to select all.
To change the indent position:

Select the Decrease option in the Paragraph group (Aligning all items to the left margin)
Select the Increase option in the Paragraph group. (Aligning all items to the right margin)

Entire Document Solution

The entire document solution will adjust the settings for all numbered/bulleted lists in the document. Instructions below will default the list to be aligned at the left margin (0), you can adjust accordingly.

Create an numbered or bulleted list.
Double-click any number or bullet in the list to select all.
Right-click the selection; select Adjust List Indents.
The Adjust List Indents window opens.

Number Position: 0 (Where the numbers / bullets will align.)
Text Indent: .25 (Space between numbers/bullets and text.)

10 Purchases for Small & Medium-Size Businesses

Small and Medium-Size Businesses (SMBs) will often take shortcuts to cut costs when purchasing. To avoid disasters such as a loss of data or work, SMBs are strongly suggested to focus on the ten points below.

Hardware

Considering the rapid change of technology requirements, a pro-active approach for replacing desktops, laptops, servers, and networking hardware is to look five years into the future.

Backup Software

Although built-in backup software and Windows Server backup are adequate, purchasing a third-party backup solution will have the ability to recover from an image.

Internet Connection

Providing your SMB with a consumer-grade DSL line would not be an efficient business plan. Setting up a network that provides your business with more bandwidth than required will prevent a network bottleneck from occuring.

Firewall

Securing your business with only Windows built-in firewall is not ideal. Configuring a Cisco, Fortinet, or Sonicwall is more secure, reliable and flexible in a SMB environment.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage provides scalability, reliability and portability. Cloud storage is divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Many companies are transferring to Cloud services for access to data outside the network.

Website

Online presence has become an important key for all businesses. A solid solution is to have a strong website, blogging and effectively using social media.

Redundancy

Redundancy is an appropriate investment towards ensuring that your SMBs network does not go down. Similar to backups, redundancy does not affect everyday business but should an incident arise, you’ll be glad it’s there.

Support

IT Support is a necessity, whether it’s an in-house department, third-party service provider, or support for software.

Mobile Devices

The ability to work from outside the office and accessing data from anywhere is now an important key for businesses. Setting up a virtual private network enables laptops, tablets and smartphones to connect and work from anywhere.

Printers

Supply your SMB with a printer that has the sustainability and features required for business use.

Apple: Larger Screens for iPhones & iPads

Apple, Inc. offers innovative products that continue to grow its customer base. Testing new designs for current products is a consistent task for Apple, Inc.

“Apple has been slow to react to consumer desire for larger smartphone screens, [and] entry level price points on new phones,” said BGC Financial’s Colin Gillis. “Waiting and waiting, for the new products to launch, has become painful,” he wrote.

Currently, Apple is testing various sizes for iPhone and iPad screens. Samsung has become the world’s largest smartphone maker because Samsung offers a variety of smartphones with display sizes that range up to 5.5-inches. Continuing to compete with Samsung, Apple is testing for a 5-inch iPhone screen expected to be released in 2014.

A new tablet design is also being tested by Apple with a display that is a little less than 13-inches. This would be a great addition to the iPad that has a 9.7-inch display and the iPad Mini that has a 7.8-inch display.

Lastly, Apple has been developing an iPhone that would be cheaper than the current iPhone. According to many articles, the cheaper iPhone will be made from plastic instead of the traditional metal casing that will be available in different colors.

Apple, Inc. could climb back to the top of both smartphone and tablet sales by releasing a larger display for the iPhone/iPad and releasing an iPhone that is reasonably priced.