OneNote: Wiki Links

A very useful new feature in the latest release of OneNote allows you to create wiki links to other pages in your notebook.

Create a link by simply typing the name of the page in square brackets. If you enter the name of a page that doesn't yet exist, OneNote will actually take the initiative to create it for you.

As an example, if I were updating my notebook with information about Excel, and I wanted to include a link to my page on OneNote, I could type: [[OneNote]].

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Excel: PowerPivot Making Excel Load Too Slowly

Using the new PowerPivot add-in for Excel 2010? It's a really amazing new tool, but are you bummed out by how long it takes Excel to load now that you've installed it?

If you're not using PowerPivot every single time you open Excel, you'll most likely benefit from temporarily disabling the add-in until you're actually planning on using it. Having PowerPivot enabled will increase the load time for Excel, whether you're opening a file that's using it or not.

Here's how to turn it off!

Go to the 'File' tab, and choose 'Options'. Go to 'Add-Ins' (on the left-hand side of this window). At the bottom of this next window, where it says 'Manage:', choose 'COM Add-Ins' from the drop-down menu and click 'Go...'. In the window that pops up next, find 'PowerPivot for Excel', and uncheck it. It'll look something like this:



Make sure that checkbox next to 'PowerPivot for Excel' is unchecked, click 'OK', and PowerPivot will be disabled. (If you have any other add-ins, you'll see those listed here as well. I erased mine from the screenshot just to make it more clear!)

What does this mean? The next time you open Excel, it won't take quite so long. And when you're ready to use this add-in again, just repeat all of these steps but put a checkmark in that box instead of unchecking it.

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Outlook: Navigation Shortcuts

I'm an admitted keyboard shortcut addict. Why not? It's so much faster to get things done when you keep your hands in one place - on your keyboard.

Here are some ways you can jump around your Outlook window!

Ctrl + 1: Go to Mail
Ctrl + 2: Go to Calendar
Ctrl + 3: Go to Contacts
Ctrl + 4: Go to Tasks
Ctrl + 5: Go to Notes
Ctrl + 6: Go to Folder List
Ctrl + 7: Go to Shortcuts

In particular, I find myself switching between my Inbox and my Calendar a lot, so this was pretty useful information to discover.

Happy shortcut-taking!

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OneNote: Built-in Calculator

Most of us probably have a calculator hanging around our desk somewhere, or are perfectly capable of opening up the one included in Windows on our computers, but check out this nifty little trick in Microsoft OneNote:

Type in a mathematical equation anywhere in OneNote, type an equals sign (=), then type a space. I think it's super awesome that OneNote automatically puts in the answer for you. You can even use brackets, such as (2*4)+32= [OneNote will calculate it for you! Try it!].

Some of you might have noticed that I've started to tag my blog entries with the version of Office that I've tried this in - I currently only have access to 2007 and 2010, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't work in earlier versions. I won't be posting anything about compatibility before 2007 - but feel free to try it out yourself!

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