When you create an organization chart in Visio, you can choose what types of shapes to add based on individuals’ roles. For example, the ‘Manager’ shape can represent individuals at the management level or the ‘Contractors’ shape can represent individual working for the organization on a contract basis.

Once an organization chart is created, you can change the position type of a shape. Consider an example where a contractor is hired on to fill a management level role. Instead of adding a new shape, you can easily change the ‘Contractor’ shape to a ‘Manager’ shape.

To change the position type of a shape in Visio 2003:

1. Right-click the shape, and then click Change Position Type.
2. Select a new position type.
3. Click OK.

A single Visio file can consist of multiple organization charts. For example, if your company consists of multiple units or divisions, you may want to create a separate chart for each division but keep them in a single file. If so, you may want to include page numbers for reference.

To add the page numbers to an organization chart in Visio 2003:

• From the View menu, click Header and Footer.
• Under either Header or Footer, click an arrow beside Left, Center, or Right.
• From the menu that appears, click page numbers.
• Click the Choose Font button to customize the appearance of the date.
• Click OK.

In order to improve performance and reduce the amount of time spent waiting to view Web pages, Internet Explorer stores many of the Web pages and graphics you have viewed in a folder on your hard drive. Next time you revisit a Web site, Internet Explorer can use the content stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder to display the site content, instead of retrieving them from the Web.

You can manually clear the contents of this folder in Internet Explorer by selecting Internet Options for the Tools menu. From the General tab, simply click the Delete Files button. You can also configure Internet Explorer to empty the contents of this folder when you close your browser. To do so, select the Advanced tab from the Internet Options window. Under the Security section, select the option to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed and click OK.

As individuals join or leave an organization, you will likely need to update your organization chart to reflect the changes. Aside from adding version numbers to the name of the Visio file, another way that you can keep track of when the last changes were made is by adding the date to the organization chart.

To add the date to an organization chart in Visio 2003:

1. From the View menu, click Header and Footer.
2. Under either Header or Footer, click an arrow beside Left, Center, or Right.
3. From the menu that appears, click one of the date options: current date (short) or current date (long).
4. Click the Choose Font button to customize the appearance of the date.
5. Click OK.

Vista includes an on-screen keyboard that is built-in with the operating system. You might find this feature handy if you have impairments or if your normal keyboard is under repair. You can easily access the on-screen keyboard by clicking Start, typing OSK, and pressing Enter. A nifty little keyboard will immediately appear on your screen.

You can access this more easily by creating a shortcut to the program on your desktop. Simply right click your desktop, point to New and select Shortcut. Type in osk and click Next. Click Finish.

The on-screen keyboard runs in three different modes: clicking mode, scanning mode, and hovering mode. In clicking mode you simply click the on-screen keys. In scanning mode, you use a hot key or a switch-input device to type highlighted characters. In hovering mode, you can simply use your mouse to point to a key which is then typed. You can change the mode by selecting the Settings tab, clicking Typing Mode and choosing the mode you want to use.

A single Visio file can consist of multiple organization charts. For example, if your company is made up of multiple units or divisions, you may want to create a separate chart for each division but keep them in a single file. If so, you will likely want to add titles to each organization chart so you can easily identify them.

To add a title to an organization chart in Visio 2003:

1. From the Organization Chart Shapes stencil, drag a Title/Date shape onto the drawing page.
2. Double-click the shape, select the text “Company Name,” and then type the name of the organization or area within the organization that you are charting.
3. The date text automatically displays the day, month, and year.

There are many benefits to using Visio to create and maintain organization charts. One such benefit is the ability to compare two charts and generate a report of changes. For example, if you have two versions of the same Visio organization chart and you need to know what is different between them, you can use Visio to generate a report of the differences. Instead of flipping between charts to find differences, you can review the report.

To compare different versions of organization charts in Visio 2003:

1. Open the newer version of the organization chart.
2. From the Organization Chart menu, click Compare Organization Data.
3. In the Drawing to compare it with box, select the name of the older version, or click Browse to locate it.
4. Under Compare type, click My drawing is newer.
5. Under Report type, choose whether you want a report that shows the changes made to the drawing, or one that shows positions that were added and/or deleted.

The results of the compare will be a report listing the differences between the two charts.

Normally when you have multiple Word documents open, a button or icon is displayed for each one on your taskbar. Switching between open documents is as easy as clicking the appropriate taskbar button.

Word can be configured to display a single icon on the taskbar. Only a single icon will be displayed on the taskbar representing the active document. The nice thing about this is that it de-clutters your taskbar. However, it does make it more difficult to switch between open Word documents (you can use the Alt + Tab keystrokes).

You can configure Word 2002 to display a single Word icon using these steps:

1. Open Word.
2. From the Tools menu, click Options.
3. Click the View tab from the Options window.
4. Clear the box beside the Windows in Taskbar option.
5. Click OK to apply your changes.

I spend a large portion of my day typing in Microsoft Word. One thing I have never figured out is how to add a note in the middle of a bulleted or numbered list. Normally I would turn of the list and waste some time messing around with it. Well here is a cool little tip that can make adding a break within a list so much easier.

Instead of turning off the list, simply press Shift + Enter. Normally after you have typed in a list item you would press Enter and another bullet or number will automatically appear. To insert the break, press Shift + Enter after typing in your list item. A break will appear where you can type in your note. Then press Enter again and the numbered or bulleted list will continue. How nifty is that?

If you are looking to create an organization, Microsoft Visio is a great tool to use. Although many people use PowerPoint to create organization charts, Visio offers much more flexibility.

There are a few different ways that you can create an organization chart. You can manually create the chart using different shapes and connectors, you can use the organization chart wizard, and you can generate a chart from another data source such as an Excel spreadsheet.

To manually create an organization chart in Visio 2003:

1. From the File menu within Visio, point to New, point to Organization Chart, and click Organization Chart.
2. From Organization Chart Shapes, drag the Executive shape onto the drawing page.
3. Add a name and title to the shape by selecting the shape and typing in the name of the person in the position represented by the shape. Click anywhere outside of the shape.
4. From Organization Chart Shapes, drag a Manager shape directly onto the Executive shape to establish a reporting relationship. Add a name and title to the shape.
5. Repeat step 4 until you have added all the managers you want.
6. From Organization Chart Shapes, drag a Position shape directly onto a Manager shape to establish a reporting relationship.
7. Repeat step 6 until you have added all the necessary positions under the managers.

You should now have an organization chart created that represents your specific reporting structure. In upcoming tips, I will show you how to manipulate and change an existing organization chart.

The clock in the Vista System Tray can be configured to display the time in different formats. Some individuals may prefer or may even be required to use military time. If so, switching the time format is very simple to do.

To switch to military time in Vista:

1. Open the Control Panel and open Regional and Language Options. You can also type intl.cpl in the Start Menu Search field.
2. From the Regional and Language Options window, click the Customize this format button.
3. Click the Time tab.
4. Use the drop down arrow to change the time format to :HH:mm:ss.
5. Click OK.

The Notification Area, located in the bottom corner of your desktop, displays several icons, some of which you may never use. You can clean up the Notification Area in Vista by removing such icons.

To remove an icon from the Notification Area in Vista:

1. Right click an empty area of the notification area and click Properties.
2. The dialog box that appears allows you to show or hide the system icons.
3. Click the Customize button to show or hide non-system icons.
4. Locate the program icon you want to remove from the notification area.
5. Use the drop down arrow beside the program and click Hide.
6. Click OK.

The icon for the particular program you selected in the above steps will no longer appear in the notification area.

Disk Quotas were introduced in Windows 2000 and carried through to Vista. Disk Quotas lets administrators to limit how much disk space users’ can use on a volume that is formatted with NTFS. Disk Quota limits are based on file ownership. This means that if a User A creates a 300 Kb file, their disk use is increased by that amount. If User B takes ownership of that file, their disk usage is increased and User A’s disk usage is decreased.

You can enable this feature on an NTFS volume using the steps listed below:

1. Open My Computer.
2. Right click the volume you want to enable disk quotas and click Properties.
3. Click the Quota tab.
4. Click the Enable Quota Management option.
5. To limit the amount of disk space for new users click the Limit disk space to option.
6. Set the appropriate values for the Limit disk space to and the Set warning level to options.
7. Click OK.

If you want users to receive an “insufficient disk space” error when they exceed the disk space limit, then you also need to select the Deny Disk Space to Users Exceeding Quota Limit option.

Word includes a function that lets you convert text into table format. For example, if you have a list of words you think would be better displayed in a table format, you can tell Word to put the text into a table for you.

You need to decide how to separate the text into columns. In other words, you need to tell Word where to separate the text. This can be done using paragraphs, commas, tabs or other characters. For example, if you select commas, Word will place text in a new column or row after each comma.

To convert text into table format:

1. Select the appropriate table.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click Table, and the click Convert Text to Table.
3. Under Separate text at, click the option for the separator characters that is in your text.
4. In the Number of columns box, check the number of columns.
5. Select any additional table options you want to use.

Word will automatically put the text into table format using the criteria you specified.

Some people may want to increase the default font size in Vista, possibly to help overcome visual impairments. Vista makes it simple for users to increase the font size to suit their individual preferences and physical needs.

In a previous tip, I showed you how to increase the font size in Vista. If you are an XP user, you can still increase the font size but the steps to do so are slightly different.

To increase the font size in XP:

1. Right click a blank part of the desktop.
2. Click the Properties option.
3. From the Display Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab.
4. Click the Advanced button.
5. Click the drop down arrow under DPI setting and click the Large size (120 dpi) option.
6. Click OK twice.

Some people may want to increase the default font size in Vista, possibly to help overcome visual impairments. Vista makes it simple for users to increase the font size to suit their individual preferences and physical needs.

To increase the font size in Vista:

1. Right click a blank part of the desktop.
2. Click the Personalize option.
3. On the left hand menu, click the Adjust Font Size (DPI) option.
4. Select Larger Scale (120dpi).
5. Click OK.

Not everyone uses keyboard shortcuts. However, for those that do, you know how much faster it can be to maneuver your way around various Windows. Take for example, Windows Explorer. Knowing and using a few useful keyboard shortcuts for common tasks is faster than using a mouse.

Although the keyboard shortcuts may be difficult to remember at first, once you’ve used them a few times, you will see how much faster it is than a mouse. Until you get to that point, it is often helpful to write a few useful ones down and have them right next to your computer for reference.

Here are a few useful keyboard shortcuts available for Windows Explorer:

• Alt+Up - Go up a folder
• Alt+Right - Go forward
• Alt+Left- Go back
• Alt+Enter - Properties of the selected file
• F11 - Put explorer into Fullscreen mode

Word 2007 lets you insert a linked object or embedded object from a file created in Excel.

You can even retain the use of Excel tools to make changes to the data in Word.

To insert a linked object or embedded object from Excel into Word 2007:

1. Open your Word document.
2. Open your Excel spreadsheet.
3. Within Excel, select the cells, worksheet, or chart that you want to copy into Word.
4. From the Edit menu, click Copy.
5. Switch back to your Word document.
6. Place the insertion point where you want the data placed.
7. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow under Paste, and then click Paste Special.
8. In the As list, select Microsoft Office Excel object.
9. Click Paste to insert an embedded object, or click Paste link to insert a link to the object.

There is a quick and easy way to find a list of installed drivers in Vista. Instead of trying to do an exhaustive search and inventory on your computer, you can simply run the ‘driverquery’ command from the command prompt. The output lets you see all the drivers that are currently installed on the computer.

To run the command, open the Command Prompt and type ‘driverquery’. The output will present you with a list of installed drivers. There are also a number of parameters you can run with the command that includes:

• /FO - Specifies the type of output to display. Valid values to be passed with the switch are “Table,” “List,” and “CSV.”
• /V - Displays detailed information. Not valid for signed drivers.
• /SI - Provides information about signed drivers.
• /? - Displays Help information.

When you right click certain items in Windows Explorer, you will see the Map Network Drive option on the shortcut menu. If you never use this option, you can disable it by editing the Vista Registry.

To remove the ‘Map Network Drive’ option:

1. Open regedit.exe from the start menu search box.
2. Within the Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer.
3. From the Edit menu, point to New, and click DWORD.
4. Type NoNetConnectDisconnet and press Enter.
5. Double click the new DWORD value and enter in a value of 1.
6. Exit the Registry Editor.

To verify that the above steps were successful, right click on Computer. You no longer see the Map Network Drive option.