Convert a group of Word documents to another format

As you probably know, you can use File | Save As to convert documents from Word to another format, such as .html or .rtf files.

But if you have several documents to convert, you can convert them all at once with the Batch Conversion Wizard.

For example, suppose you have six Word documents that you want customers to be able to access over the Web. To convert all six files to an HTML format, follow these steps:

1. Save all six documents to a single folder.
2. Open Word and go to File | New.
3. In Word XP's New Document task pane, click General Templates under New From Template, and select the Other Documents tab. (In Word 2000, go to File | New, and select the Other Document tab from the New dialog box.)
4. Double-click Batch Conversion Wizard.
5. Click Next.
6. Choose Convert From Word To Another Format, leave HTML Document as the default, and click Next.
7. Specify the Source folder that contains the files you want to convert and the Destination folder where you want Word to place the converted files, and click Next.
8. Select the files you want to convert, and click Next.
9. Click Finish to begin the batch conversion.

Microsoft Excel

You can place more than one chart on a chart sheet. For example, let's say you have two charts on two different worksheets, and you want to put them both on a single chart sheet for comparison and printing.

Follow these steps:

1. Click an empty cell, and press [F11].
2. Change the default chart name to Two Chart Sheet.
3. Select the first chart you want to move to the chart sheet, and go to Chart | Location.
4. Select As Object In, and choose Two Chart Sheet from the drop-down list.
5. Click OK.
6. Repeat Steps 3 through 5 for the second chart you want to move.

You can move as many charts as you can fit. Go to View | Sized With Window to scale the charts to the window.

Microsoft Access

When users require different views of the same data, there's no need to waste time creating more than one query. For example, let's say the benefits department needs to query the organization's employee database for retirement eligibility one day, and the next day it needs to query for vacation days.

Since the value in the Hire_Date field determines eligibility, you can create one parameter query and let users enter their own date criteria.

Follow these steps:

1. Create a select query that includes all the fields of the Employee table.
2. In the query grid, enter the following in the Criteria field for the Hire_Date field:

Between [Enter the beginning date] And [Enter the ending date]

When you run the query, Access prompts the user to enter the appropriate date range.