Office live mainly consist of two services named Office Live Workspace and Office Live small business. This service was discontinued some times back and bifurcated into Office Web App on SkyDrive and Office 365. The two are detailed as below:

Office Web App on Skydrive

Skydrive as we are aware is Microsoft utility of online data storage. User can upload or store any data (Word files, videos etc.) on virtual drives having capacity up to 25 GB as of now. So user can use online Apps hosted on cloud to create or edit document and can store them as well. 

Office 365

Office 365 chiefly consists of these five Microsoft services integrated into one:

• Microsoft Exchange Online

Microsoft Exchange is basically a cloud service, which provides online solution for Email, Calendar and Contact storage.

• Microsoft Share Point Online

It offers sharing and editing of documents between users.

• Microsoft Lync Online

Lync online is an admirable communication tool, which involves PC-to-PC calling, instant message service, audio calls, video calls, web conferencing etc. Its one stop solution for any communication needs that an organization (growing or established) requires as of day-to-day activity.

• Office Professional Plus

Office Professional Plus is again Office suite consisting of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and other utilities. Here Licensing is monthly basis, i.e. it can be renewed every 30 days. Budget conscious companies can make use of this service more effectively.

• Office Web Apps

Online version of Word, Excel and PowerPoint is basically Office Web Apps. User need not worry to store the file in flash drive or other media since information can be stored online.

Download Office 365 Trial Version

Download Office 365 Trial Version from here.

As we can see that after the discontinuation of Office Live, the new services that come into effect is more powerful and rich in feature set. Please note that the target audience of these mainly online services is SMEs who are in growing phase but do not want to spend much on IT infrastructure as such. These companies understand the importance of IT and can really utilize these services for the benefit of Organization. This is meant for small and medium business users who are ingrowing stage and want people to collaborate on move.

The power point viewer supports the features embedded in the slides like slide animation, power point background, power point templates, notes etc. It prevents editing, copying and even screen shots of the slides is also blocked by the viewer, this helps in sharing the confidential documents.

Download Power Point viewer 2003

• Microsoft office power point viewer 2003 does not support Power point 95 files or earlier versions. Similar to the 2007 version it also supports Power Point 97 or later versions. Power Point Viewer 2003 is no longer available for download. You can use Power Point Viewer 2007 for the same purpose.
• In order to view the files open the file in Power Point 2003 or later and save them in 97 or later format.
• The PowerPoint viewer 2003 supports the various power point file extensions including .ppt, .pptm, .pot, .pps, .ppsm. Microsoft power point viewer is enough rather than purchasing the office package.

Download Power Point Viewer 2007

Click here to download Power Point Viewer 2007. The link is directed to the following page displayed in the picture below. Click on the download icon in red to start the download.

How to install Power Point Viewer

• Download the file by clicking the download icon in the web page.
• A dialogue box pops out to enable the download to be saved in the hard disk.
• After the download completes, click download.exe to install the application
• Follow the instruction to complete the entire installation process.
• Once the installation is completed, click the start button and check the all programs for the installed Power Point Viewer.

Basic System requirements

• Operating system – Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3, Windows Server 2003 or 2008
• Minimum memory requirement is 256 MB RAM
• 276 MB of hard disk space

Advantages of Power Point Viewer 2007

• The power point files can be viewed for free using the viewer.
• It supports the files created using Power Point 97 or later.
• Files that are password protected also can be viewed.

Disadvantages of Power Point 2007

• It prevents the user from editing the presentation
• Normally the power point presentation can be viewed in full screen mode only.

Download Power Point viewer 2010

Click here to download Power Point viewer 2010 from the Microsoft web page.

Follow the steps as mentioned in Power point viewer 2007 for download and installation of the software. The steps remain the same for both the installation and uninstalling of the software.

Download Power Point Viewer for Macintosh

For Mac computers click here link to download the Power Point viewer. The size of the power point viewer for Macintosh is 6.0 Mb.

Instructions to install:

• Before installation close other programs that are running including the antivirus before initializing the installation process.
• In case of Mac OS X it is recommended to use start up disk preferences and restart the computer.
• Click the download option to save the file in the hard disk.
• It is possible to install simultaneously by clicking run in the executable file while it is being downloaded.

Uninstall Power Point Viewer:

• Go to the settings in the start menu and click the control panel
• Double click the add/ remove programs
• The list of installed programs is displayed in alphabetical order; click the remove button across the power point viewer.
• Click OK to uninstall the application.

File size unreasonably bigger

After the presentation building is complete, user may want to check the file size of presentation. Some people might require mailing it, or uploading it to a site. But every so often one is surprised to find that size is quite large making it a big attachment for mail or upload purpose. Why is that so?

• The reason of large file size could be many. Since the presentation more than often contains graphics, images and media files, size can increase considerably. The answer to this analogy is that one must sensibly optimize the image and media file size. A general tip is that .bmpimage is much more heavy than .jpeg type. As far as media is concerned, the sampling rate should not be very high. Make it reasonable for the sound and video to be clear enough and yet small in size. Other reason is that by default fast saves is turned on. Make sure to turn it off. Please refer to the screen below

Options screen

Fast saves tab

Presentation in show mode

When user starts presentation (clicks on ppt file), it first opens the PowerPoint software, and then one has to typically click on the Slide Showbutton (in view menu) or F5 to start the show. Is there any way wherein presentations starts directly

• Yes, one needs to change the presentation file extension from .ppt to .pps. By default file extension is hidden. To view file extension go toTools – Folder options in Explorer menu, click on view tab and uncheck Hide extensions for know file types. Please refer to the images below

 Start Menu

Folder Options – View tab

Screen going black if idle for some time

If the presenter is in conversation (with audience) and laptop/computer is idle for some time, the screen goes black or screen saver is activated

• This is due to energy saving feature or screen saver activate due to idle. Please remember to de activate both before starting presentation. Refer to the display properties screen below

Display Properties

Unable to extract media file

Sometimes you may get a presentation, which play very good background music or other media embedded into the slides. Somehow you want to extract that media file and use in your presentation. By default there is no option present in PowerPoint to carry out this task. So how to pull out the music file?

There is a work around to achieve this feat. Follow the below mentioned steps:

a) Open the presentation (from which file needs to extract) in PowerPoint

b) Go to File menu and click on Save as Web Page

 File Menu

c) Select the save location and press Save button

d) Go to the location where file is saved. You’ll find a folder with the file name present there.

e) This folder contains all the media file and images that were there in the presentation

f) Search this folder for the media file you wanted to extract and use as per wish.

Audience at back can’t see the slides clearly

While preparing the presentation, make sure you use appropriate font size. The reason is that some conference/presentation rooms are really large and people sitting at the back might have trouble reading from slide display.

• Generic rule is that font size should not be less than 26 points for normal text and more for heading/subheading etc. This way user sitting far away can make out what’s happening!

Mouse showing in between presentation

Sometimes during the presentation, if you give slight movement to mouse (by any chance), then mouse pointer will appear on the slide show screen. This looks quite awkward.

• The solution to this problem is you need to press key combination CTRL+H, which will hide mouse pointer. The pointer is hidden till the time you press CTRL+A, which will again display the hidden pointer.

Vlookup happens to be an excel function which is used to look for specific data on the first column of the data table. Once the data has been located it would return the result on the same row with respect to the number of column you have used in the first column. If your list is already sorted, then Vlookup will work to give you the closest match. The VLOOKUP function allows you to get the corresponding value for the given input.

Syntax

VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_num,range_lookup)

The range lookup can be true or false, when no information is provided, it automatically assumes as false.

VLookup Tutorial

How to use the function on Vlookup can be better explained with the aid of a VLOOKUP example. Take for instance you like to know the rate of certain product A, so what you have to do is type the syntax in the adjacent cell. Let’s assume the adjacent cell to be C2, so then the formula will be:

=VLOOKUP( C2_ value,table_array,col_index_num,range_lookup)

Here the value, table; will be the table from where you want to get the rate of product from. Choose the entire table, you will get value, table is this format B2:C7.

Then you will have to select the column you want the reference from, in case there are two columns and the information that you need is in column two then you would have to include this number in your syntax to finish the formula and get result. So your final formula will be something like this

=VLOOKUP(C2,B2:C7,2 )

Then you will get the corresponding value for the product you are looking for, you can also compare this one value with the other set of product values also.

Practical functions of vlookup include

• Comparison between two tables: you can compare the repeating data in the master table and the updated table. This will save a lot of time from doing the check manually, also at the same time you can update the table to the current values.
• Using Vlookup you can find out about any discrepancies that might occur within two or more number of tables.
• You can also use Vlookup to change values into letters, take for example you would like to change 95 percentages to grade A for a student. In this way you can change the values also, and if you have huge amount of data then categorizing them will for sure help you in the future.
• For any given product or name you can easily find all the relevant details and can also easily keep track of any updating that you make.
• You can categorize the columns into various categories, and based on your search you can have the drop down list boxes.
• You can compare the tables in various pages easily and an accordingly identify the entries that are missing and have them updated.
• You can create a dashboard which retrieves the given data from the different work sheets.

Detailed VLookup functions and examples can be found on Microsoft’s Excel VLookup Tutorial website.

These are just some of the functions, but as you practice more and more you will come across scenarios and situations where you will find more practical uses for VLOOKUP function. This function will allow you to easily maintain your data and also keep a regular track of any updates in the data.

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 97

The Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 97 allows people, who create their presentations on Microsoft PowerPoint, to share their presentations with anyone and to post full fidelity PowerPoint presentations on the Internet which helps them to expand their online audience including people who might not have PowerPoint. Besides this, it allows to view and print power point presentations, but not to edit.

Version: 8.0

License type: Freeware

Features:

• Provides full fidelity display of PowerPoint 97 files including the new animations, graphics effects, action settings, hyperlinks, and custom shows
• Opens presentations saved in PowerPoint for Windows and PowerPoint for Macintosh 3.0 or later.
• Supports printing of PowerPoint presentations.

In addition to running as a standalone application, Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 97 is optimized for displaying PowerPoint presentations inside Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.x and above.

Themes:

Microsoft Corporation is getting intermittent slide playback issues when they add text or graphics to solid color backgrounds. Sometimes the presentation will play through normally but at other times, they have slides not displayed, displayed without the background, displayed with text in a different font than the font used during creation. This happens when the presentation has been saved in PPT format normally.
So, Microsoft has modified their system and now their playback device is Linux-based and has PowerPoint Viewer 97 loaded on it.

You can download the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 97 from here.

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2007

PowerPoint Viewer 2007 lets us view full-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and later versions. This viewer supports opening password-protected Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. We can view and print presentations, but we cannot edit them in the PowerPoint Viewer 2007.

License type: Freeware

Size: 26.01MB

Features:

• Create Dynamic Presentations
• Get better results faster with a redesigned user interface
• Create powerful, dynamic diagrams or hierarchy diagrams.
• Create presentations quickly and easily by saving custom layouts
• Dramatically modify shapes, text, and graphics with new tools and effects work.
• Easily Share Presentations
• Reduce your document sizes and improve damaged file recovery at the same time
• Use Microsoft Office Groove 2007 for real-time review sessions
• Integrate presentations stored in Microsoft Windows Share Point Services technology with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

Themes:

Applying a new theme changes the major details of our document dramatically. WordArt effects are applied to titles in Office PowerPoint 2007. Tables, charts, Smart Art graphics, shapes, and other objects are updated to complement one another.

Background styles are unique to Office PowerPoint 2007 and use the new theme color model that defines two dark colors and two light colors to be used for text and backgrounds. The light colors are always visible over the dark colors and vice versa.

You can download the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2007 from here.

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2010

PowerPoint Viewer 2010 lets you view full-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and later versions with full fidelity, without requiring the MS Office suite. This viewer also supports opening password-protected PowerPoint presentations.

License type: Freeware

Size: 60.3MB

New Features:

• The ribbon: designed to optimize key PowerPoint presentation scenarios to make them easier to use.
• Backstage view: creating and saving files, inspecting for hidden metadata or personal information, and setting file options.
• Protected View: Files from a potentially unsafe location are validated and can open in Protected View.

Themes

Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 comes with a nice selection of pre designed themes for creating presentations. If we are not satisfied with the pre designed templates, then we can also create different themes. The themes mainly contain three parts – color schemes, fonts and the effects which are very stunning and attractive.

You can download Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2010 from here.

Overall we can see that Microsoft PowerPoint viewer is very much useful and nowadays it is in huge demand for the corporate world, students, and the academies also. Though the modified versions are yet to be produced, the latest one is really something that satisfies the user’s needs.

List of Basic Excel Formulas

Here is the list of excel forumlas along with their function.

ABS : ABS function is used to Return the absolute value of a supplied number. Absolute value means the modulus of the number we supplied.

SIGN : Sign formula is used to returns the sign of a supplied number. Sign of the number can be +1, -1 or 0.

GCD : GCD function is used to return the greatest Common Divisor or GCD of two or more given numbers.

LCM : Want to find the lowest common multiple of two numbers? This formula or function make it much easy. It returns the Least Common Multiple of two or more given numbers.

SUM : This formula can be used to return the sum of 2 or complete list of numbers. This is quite useful formula when you need to add individual entries of a column or row.

PRODUCT : Want to find the product of 2 numbers or product of elements of entire row or column then this is the perfect solution to cut short your time. It returns the product of the given numbers.

List of Advanced Excel Formulas

POWER : Power formula or function is used to find the result of a number raised to a given power. It returns the result of a given number raised to a power. It greatly reduces your time by going certain high power calculations in seconds.

SQRT : While preparing a balance sheet or a project in excel many times we need to find the square root of the elements. Now finding square root is made much easier. Just use sqrt forumla and it returns the positive square root of the given number.

QUOTIENT : This formula can be used to return the integer portion of a division between two given numbers. You don’t need to calculate quotient manually anymore.

MOD : When we divide a number by another number and we want to know the remainder then this is the perfect formula for that thing. It will return the remainder from a division between two numbers.

AGGREGATE : This is quite useful function as it has the ability to perform more than 1 function. It can be used to calculate the sum, product, average and much more  for a list or even a database. It also has the option to ignore hidden rows and error values. This feature is available in only in Excel 2010. Previous versions of excel don’t support above feature.

SUBTOTAL : This formula is used to performs a specified calculation like sum, product, average, etc. for the values which we supply.

CEILING : Ceiling function is used for rounding off a number away from zero. Rounding off away from zero means rounding a positive number up and a negative number down.

EVEN :  This function is similar to ceiling function but it round off a number to next even number. It rounds a number away from zero that is rounds a positive number up and a negative number down to the next even number.

FLOOR : This formula is just opposite of ceiling function. It is sued to round of a number towards zero which means it rounds off a positive number down and a negative number up.

ODD :    This function is similar to ceiling function but it round off a number to next odd number. It rounds a number away from zero that is rounds a positive number up and a negative number down to the next odd number.

ROUND : This function of formula is used to Round off  a number up or down to a given number of digits.

TRUNC : This formula or function is used to truncate a number towards zero. It rounds off a positive number down and a negative number up to the next integer.

SUMIF : Sumif is a conditional sum formula in which sum is calculated if the condition or criteria is satisfied. It is used to add the cells in a supplied range for a given criteria.

SERIESSUM : This formula is used to find and returns the sum of a power series.

PI : This is quite handy formula used to returns the constant value of pi.

SQRTPI : this formula or function calculate the square root of a number and then  multiply the result by pi and return the final result.

DEGREES : Degrees formula is a trigonometric formula used to convert Radians to Degrees.

RADIANS : This formula is a trigonometric formula used to convert Degrees to Radians.

COS : This trigonometric formula or function is used to returns the Cosine of a given angle.

ACOS : This formula or function is used to returns the Arccosine of a number.

COSH : This formula or function is used to returns the hyperbolic cosine of a number.

ACOSH : This formula or function is used to returns the inverse hyperbolic cosine of a number.

SIN : This trigonometric formula or function is used to return the Sine of a given angle.

ASIN : This trigonometric formula or function is used to return the Arcsine of a number.

SINH : This formula or function is used to return the Hyperbolic Sine of a number.

ASINH : This formula or function is used to return the Inverse Hyperbolic Sine of a number.

TAN : This trigonometric formula or function is used to return the Tangent of a given angle.

ATAN : This trigonometric formula or function is used to return the Arctangent of a given number

ATAN2 : This trigonometric formula or function is used to return the Arctangent of a given pair of x and y coordinates.

TANH : This trigonometric formula or function is used to return the Hyperbolic Tangent of a given number.

ATANH : This formula or function is used to return the Inverse Hyperbolic Tangent of a given number.

How to use excel formulas

These were the list of excel formulas now lets see how can we use these functions or formulas.

ABS : To use Abs formula just write =(equal to) ABS followed by the number in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the  absolute value of the number is calculated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

SUM : To use Sum formula just write =(equal to) SUM followed by the numbers in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the sum of the numbers is calculated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

PRODUCT : To use Product formula just write =(equal to) PRODUCT followed by the numbers in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the product of the numbers is calculated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

LCM : To use LCM formula just write =(equal to) LCM followed by the numbers in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the LCM of the numbers is calculated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

CEILING : To use Ceiling formula just write =(equal to) CEILING followed by the number in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the Round off of the number is evaluated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

FLOOR : To use Floor formula just write =(equal to) FLOOR followed by the number in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the Round off of the number is evaluated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

MOD : To use Mod formula just write =(equal to) MOD followed by the number in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the Modulus of the number is evaluated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

SQRTPI : To use Sqrtpi formula just write =(equal to) SQRTPI followed by the number in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the result is calculated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

SIN : To use Sin formula just write =(equal to) SIN followed by the angle in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the sine of the angle evaluated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

COS : To use Cos formula just write =(equal to) COS followed by the angle in brackets as shown in the figure. As soon as you close the brackets and hit enter the Cosine of the angle evaluated and displayed in the same cell as shown in the figure.

Similarly you can  use all of the above mentioned excel formulas.

Excel Cheat Sheet

Cheat sheet is not a sheet meant for cheating but it is a concise set of notes used for quick reference. They are named so because they maybe used by students in the test or exam for cheating purposes. Excel cheat sheet is used for quick reference of excel shortcuts and formulas. Visit cheat sheet to download excel cheat sheet.

Excel or spreadsheet is used to represent the data in more understandable, recognizable and organized form. This data can be anything ranging from a simple inventory to a sophisticated database. In order to use Microsoft Excel, you must have Microsoft Office (preferably 2007) installed.

Stepping Into Excel

On selecting, MS Excel you will be introduced to the interface of the Excel. It comprises of many cells that are arranged horizontally and vertically in a grid. Horizontal cells represents rows and are number 1, 2, 3 and so on and vertical cells represent columns and are represented as A, B, C and so on. On opening Excel, a new Workbook is created. This will store Worksheets or Ms Excel sheets that will contain the actual data. By default you will be provided three worksheets, but you can add them later on.

At the top we have a menu bar which consists of several tools and options to perform various functions. On clicking any of the tab like home, menu, insert etc in the menu bar you can see further options under these tabs.

By default there are three worksheets present in excel which can be increased later on.

Getting Started

How To Use Microsoft Excel

The best way to learn a Excel is to actually do it practically. Consider a scenario where you are a car dealer and you have to manage models and features of car. Sounds like a simple problem, but with Excel it is even simpler.We will start by entering the different model name by entering them into first column named as A. We’ll first put the header in the first row. Let’s name it “Cars”.

Now let’s enter some other details of each Car in column B and C as shown in figure.

Congratulations, you have created your first worksheet. Now lets move ahead and learn some more advance features of Ms excel.

How to format cells?

The format option is used to control the appearance of the cells and backgrounds. We can separate the header title from the other data by changing its background color and fonts.

→ Simply, select the row containing the headers and right click on it and select Format Cells option.

Now select the option which you want to alter.

The processed output will look like :

How To Format The Data in Cells?

To align the data in the cells  simple select the entire data cells and then select the center alignment button on the toolbox. For any other changes in data simple choose various options like fonts, colors etc from the menu bar.

How To Change The Orientation Of Cells?

→ Select the cells or group of cells that you wish to format

→ In the Home tab click on the Orientation icon and select the required orientation.

How To Wrap Multiple Lines in a cell?

→ Type the string “Microsoft Excel is a great tool for preparing worksheets” into cell A1 and press enter, you will see that it will not appear or fit in a single cell.

→ To correct this, select the cell A1 and right click on it and select Format Cells option. Choose the alignment tab and check wrap text option and click ok.

The entered text will now appear as :

How To Merge Multiple Cells?

→ Select the cells that you want to merge

→ Go to Home tab, select Alignment option and check merge cells options and click ok.

How To Use Excel Formulas and Functions?

Functions are the utility that is used to minimize the human effort to compute the output.

Writing Formula:

The formula starts with a = in the front. In the formula bar enter formula =A1+B2 and press Enter to add the data of cells A1 and B2.

How To Sum different elements of the sheet?

Sum is an inbuilt function which is useful many times. In the formula bar, enter “=sum(A1:A5)” , it means sum the data of cells A1 to A5. You will get output as shown in figure.

If we want to extend this formula to the other cells, then simply drag the cell for which the formula was enter using the a black small box that will be present at the lower right corner.

Using Average function

Average is also a built in function in Excel that can be used to average out numbers.

In the Formula Bar enter this command “=AVERAGE(A1:A5)”, it means find the average of the data in cells A1 to A5.

Multiply data of 2 cells

Suppose you want to multiply two cells then we have a cell containing price and the other cell as quantity. We simply have to enter Formula as “=A1*B1” and press Enter. Drag it further down to copy the formula.

What if you Need more help on certain topics and features ?

You can search for them by entering your queries into Excel Search that can be opened by clicking on question mark button present on the right hand side on the menu bar.

This application will offer you the possibility to process hard drive, external drives as well as USB pendrives. The key features of Wondershare Office Recovery are as below:

Key Features:

1. Easy 3-step to recover lost files – Select, scan and recover without special technical skills

2. Restore lost office files and PDF files due to intentional deletion/formatting/virus attacks and other reasons

3. Choose precise file formats for accurate recovery

4. Preview recoverable files before recovery

5. Recovery result won’t affect the original file format and layout

6. Supports Office 97, XP, 2000, 2003 and 2007

The original price of Wondershare Office Recovery is around $29.95 but you can get it for free. Just follow the link and download the FREE copy now:

Download Wondershare office Recovery Software

The installable version is around 700MB in size and to download the version you will need to register with Microsoft. The activation keys are provided after you registration.

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta includes:

1. Microsoft Word

2. Microsoft Excel

3. Microsoft PowerPoint

4. Microsoft Access

5. Microsoft Outlook

6. Microsoft OneNote

7. Microsoft InfoPath

8. Microsoft SharePoint Workspace

9. Microsoft Publisher

10. Microsoft Communicator

The beta keys are valid till October 2010. You will need to activate the keys online within 30 days of installation. By using the following link you can download Office 2010 Beta:

Download Office 2010 Beta