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TO ASK A QUESTION: If you have a question or need help with Office, please feel free to use the 'Click to Contact' link at the bottom of this page. You'll get a form that you can use to email a question to me. (I had been getting a ton of spam when accepting direct emails, so only emails that use this form will get through to me.)

Please be sure to mention the version of Office you are using when you send your question.

I answer all e-mails that I receive via this form, as long as they are polite :)

Since disabling comments on this site, I'm actually hearing from more of you with questions ... so, as it seems people prefer to email rather than comment, I'm going to leave comments disabled. As always, you can ask me any Office-related questions you have. If the question is outside of my expertise, I'll try to direct you to where you can get an answer.

Follow-up on yesterday's advanced Word webcast

March 19, 2008

Hello everyone. Thanks to everybody who joined me for yesterday's advanced Word 2007 webcast! If you didn't get a chance, or if you want to review any part of it again, following is the link to the webcast recording:

Advanced Tips and Tricks for Word 2007 Documents

At the end of that session, I promised some additional links specifically related to learning about Open XML and VBA. If you click the Genius Resources link at left, you'll find a ton of Office 2007 links for all levels - and the last section of those are next-level resources for Office, such as the marvelous Office Developer Center and Open XML Developer.org.

- As also mentioned, if you have my Office 2007 book - Advanced Documents Inside Out - that book contains extensive primers (written for advanced Office users, not for developers) on both Open XML and VBA basics.

Additionally, I have given webcasts on Open XML basics, VBA basics, and the basics of customizing the ribbon ... and here are the links to those recordings (like yesterday's session, these are all advanced (level 300) events:

Breaking Into Your Open XML Format Documents
Using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Every Day Is Easier Than You Think
Customizing the Ribbon Using Open XML

Finally - I mentioned in yesterday's session that you can create an entire document theme from scratch, including theme effects. The tool I mentioned for helping to create theme effects without writing the XML is the Open XML Theme Builder that is freely available on CodePlex, thanks to some folks on the Office 2007 product team. If you are going to check it out and start building complete themes from scratch, the following article gives you some basic background on the components of themes and how theme effects translate from the choices you can make to what you see in the Office programs ... Behind the Scenes with Document Themes.

If I forgot to mention a resource I promised, or if you have questions that didn't get answered, you can (as always) use the Click to Contact link at the bottom of this page for a form that will enable you to send me your question or request by email. When my work schedule is hectic, it can take me a couple of days to reply ... but I reply to all polite e-mail messages that I receive :)

Happy Wednesday everybody!

Posted by Stephanie at 03:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Open XML for Mac Office

March 14, 2008

Hello everyone! After MacWorld, a few people emailed to ask me if the presentation I gave at MacWorld on the new Open XML Formats was available online. It wasn't at the time ... but now it is (thanks to those very cool folks at the MSFT Mac BU).

Here's that link ... Introducing the Open XML File Formats ...

Happy Friday everyone!

Posted by Stephanie at 11:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'm back ... and it's about time!

March 13, 2008

Hi, everyone! Well, it's been awhile since I've posted here. Work has been super busy and lots of things going on (moving - yes, again ... traveling ... and the lovely winter flu, which is thankfully gone) - but I realized yesterday that I neglected to post to say I'd be offline for awhile and apologize to anyone who sent a help request email that hasn't yet been answered.

I hope to catch up on those by tomorrow ... so if you don't see a reply from me by tomorrow, feel free to resend.

Meanwhile ... some new resources coming up ...

Please join me next Tuesday, March 18th for an advanced (level 300) Word 2007 documents webcast. As always, Microsoft Office webcasts are free and available to everyone ... so check it out! If you don't already have the 2007 version of Microsoft Office LIveMeeting installed - log in a few minutes early the day of the event to give yourself time to install and get it setup before the session begins (it's free as well, of course, but does take a few minutes).

Here's the link to register:

Advanced Tips & Tricks for Word 2007 Documents

... there will be more resource coming pretty fast and furiously over the next several weeks, including articles, training courses, and other hopefully interesting tidbits for both Office 2007 and Office 2008 ... so please stay tuned!! (I also intend to get my webcast archives updated on the 'help with Office' pages of this site very soon ... so if you're looking for a session you don't see, please drop me an email and I'll get you the link.)

Meanwhile, happy Thursday everybody!

Posted by Stephanie at 10:18 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)