Oh No - It happened Again

I actually covered this before to some extent in an article I did called "X Marks the Spot" in this group (you can search it) but I came across the problem again on a forum and it played out as an unnecessary comedy of errors.  In fact, the person from the forum got a lot of unnecessary attention for putting a few high end printers out of commission and it impacted his temp job. 

So here it is again with a little twist:

Problem:  We are about to print 200 2x4 labels. We load 20 label sheets into the printer tray.  After sending them to print, we go over to the printer to pick them up and they are printed on the wrong side.   

1.  Now, I can tell you that I have personally watched many a person dump them in the garbage at this point.   But this person, in this scenario, said hey!  I will just turn them over and put them through again.

2.  Okay, so he turns them over and sends them to print and this time they print on the proper side meaning the labels!  But, upon examining the label sheets he notices that on some of the sheets labels are missing.

3.  Where did they go?  They are glued and melted on the burning hot roller in the printer.  Now running regular documents through that printer results in remnants of glue and label adhering to letters and other legal documents thus making that printer sort of useless until someone scrapes everything off including the molten glue from the labels or in some cases, a service call has to be made in order to replace the roller so that it can be cleaned professionally.

4.  So, how do we avoid this scenario?   If you should make the initial error (and it is a common error) of putting the labels through on the wrong side, don't use that same printer since it will be burning hot!   If you want to run them through again, let the label sheets cool for about 10 minutes and go to a cold printer meaning one that has not just been used.  In this way, you can salvage the labels and they are unlikely to come off of the sheets.

This comes up from time to time but now you will know how to handle this situation at work.

www.advanceto.com

MS Word Legal Training - 2007-13 - A Path To Solid Employment.

Getting Ready For A Change:

For secretaries and word processing level operators.

This is a great course and an opportunity to receive unique training. Yes, you can do this!

Being able to step into a law firm seems to require a higher skill level with each passing year.  This simply sets us apart from the typical MS Word user even further.  That is a good thing!  It puts us at the top concerning MS Word knowledge and we in turn share all of our knowledge with you.

Our students are working!!

Our courses are affordable, THOROUGH and flexible and designed to get you to the level of a word processing operator or secretary who can then work in a top tier legal firm and ANY FIRM in between.

We offer weekly the following:

1.  Live Phone and/or In Person class is approximately 4.5 hours. Phone class may be split into two.  We teach 2007-13.  Half Class available after first full class.

2.   Most classes 1 on 1 or 2 students tops. 

3.   The ability to make your own schedule from class to class.

4.   Learn from those from the top-tier of the legal industry who function as coordinators, lead operators help desk and IT personnel.

Invaluable Word Processing Training at a Affordable Price. $175.00 first class $199.00 thereafter.  Phone class is $165.00.

Course packages are available at discounted rates!  Click on link for pricing:

http://advanceto.weebly.com/courses.html

LinkedIn Group:  "AdvanceTo Legal and Corporate Word Processing Training Forum" for free job postings, free how-to articles and discussions. This is an invaluable resource!!!

Our Courses Include:

-Homework, Practice & Job Testing

-After Class Coaching

-Resume Review

-Job Placement Assistance and  --

-Test Prep

-Books Authored By Us

Questions?  Just give us a call.

AdvanceTo Corporation

www.AdvanceTo.com 

(888) 422-0692, Ext. 1 or 2

Locking A Field

Scenario:

There is a time sensitive document.  It is about to be filed with the court.  The TOC, TOA are done and are exactly the way the Partner wants it to look.  There may have been some manual manipulation or style modification to the TOC and TOA.

Either way, he wants the TOC and TOA locked down while he has paralegals and others giving the document a last look.  He does not want someone rerunning these headings without his okay.  Get it?  That is the scenario.  How do we lock the field.  

There may be times when you want to make sure a field does not get updated. You can accomplish this by locking the field. Locking prevents a field from being updated; the last result is kept until you unlock the field and then update it. To lock a field, perform these steps:

1. Select the field you want to lock.
2. Update the field, if desired, by pressing Shift+F9.
3. Press Ctrl+F11.

If you later want to unlock the field, follow these steps:

1. Select the field you want to unlock.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+F11

www.advanceto.com

Affecting Two Basic Shapes Simultaneously

By Louis Ellman

These are tips that I used many times when dealing with shapes when doing cascading text. But, it does not matter they are useful for any shapes you are working with. 

1. First if you need to quickly dupe a shape you can use Control D. That will immediately produce a duplicate shape. If you are duping the shape for purposes of doing Cascading Text (meaning you are using right triangles) then you are going to need to use the flip horizontal feature so that you make sure that the second triangle is facing in towards the first right triangle.

2. Whether you are using right triangles or not and wish to affect both of the shapes " simultaneously" so that making a shape larger, smaller, wider, narrower, the two independent shapes will respond exactly the same if you do the following:

A. Click on the first shape 1 time
B. Go to the second shape and do Shift Click
C. Now whatever you do will affect both shapes simultaneously.

D. Micro Moving shapes is easy as well. If you need to nudge a shape into place whether it is a text box, (red herring), lines, arrows, ovals etc. you click twice on the lines of the shape and then using your control and directional arrow keys you can micro move the object into place. Up, down, left, right. Give it a try.

Get the proper training to enter the legal field:

www.advanceto.com for basic-advanced Legal MS Word - word processing and everything in between.

Legal and Corporate Training MS Word 2007-13 Job Training

 Legal and Corporate Training MS Word 2007-13 Job Training 

Specialized/High Level Office Job Training & Test Prep (Legal and Corporate)

Two ways to learn:

1. In Person
2. Remotely (Phone/Internet - still with an instructor live)

Learn anytime from anywhere - days, nights or weekends.

*Corporate and groups welcome!   We offer discounted prices for group sessions.  Take yourself and/or your staff to the next level with double the production and half the time.  Basic through Advanced Legal Word Processing for word processing center operators, secretaries, staff and professionals.

Are you currently working? Are you in between jobs? Either way we can help you.

Those of you who are working and have been using in-house or third party software your native word skills tend to decline. We can help you to make sure that your 2007-13 skills are up to date.

For those of you in between jobs, we can make sure your skill set is up to date and your knowledge is that of a top secretary or top word processing operator. Stay competitive! Know what awaits you on tests.

For those of you about to do an MOS test and need to know Styles, Multilevel Outlining, Cascading Text, TOC, TOA, Index of Terms, Cross References, and much more.  If you know Legal then you know MS Word at the top level.

Invaluable Word Processing Training at a Affordable Price. $175.00 first class $199.00 thereafter.

Course packages are available at discounted rates!  Click here for more info

Want to learn more?

Join our free forum on LinkedIn "AdvanceTo Legal Word Processing Training Q&A" for free job postings, free how-to articles and discussions.

What we include:

-Homework, Practice & Job Testing

-After Class Coaching

-Resume Review

-Job Placement Assistance

-Any version of Office (PC or Mac)

-Workshare & Blacklining

-DMS (iManage & DM5)

-Adobe & Nuance

-Presentation/Financial & Legal Learning (for attorneys, IT, wp center ops, secretarial or admins) 

-Custom Courses for Specific Goals or Professionals

www.advanceto.com

888-422-0692 Ext. 2 

AdvanceTo Corporation

www.AdvanceTo.com 

(888) 422-0692, Ext. 2

Using A Buffer Column In Tables For Signature Blocks

Most operators will understand this since we deal with signature blocks all the time.

There are occasions when there is a request to use border lines in a table for the signature lines instead of a line made by use of a tab with a solid line leader.

When we use the pen tool (in table tools) and click on each column to create a signature line, the line within each column, goes from end to end.  Placing two lines, one (signature line) in each column side by side causes the two lines to look like one long uninterrupted line.  In order to deal with this, we can do the following:

1.  Insert a new column in between the two columns.

2.   Squeeze the width of the new buffer column down to a character or two.

3.  If you insert the buffer column after you created the signature lines then you need to take off any lines in the buffer column (using the pen tool in table tools) so that the buffer column serves as the clear gap between the two columns containing the signature lines.

4.  This is good to know since it will have you become familiar with the pen tool and its use. The buffer column strategy is an easy fix for this scenario.

5.  Give it a try when you get the chance.

For Basic through Advanced Legal Training for Top-Tier legal firms and everything in between visit www.advanceto.com for our offerings.  One of the very few that teach these techniques.

Working With Small Caps

Working With Small Caps

By Louis Ellman

Certain documents make use of small caps in the following ways: 1) in the letterhead, 2) as a stylistic look of a way to start off each new paragraph by applying small caps to the first word of each paragraph such as the word Whereas, 3) as a look that is used when companies are mentioned throughout the document and in the signatures and on and on. 

When you have the use of Small Caps throughout a document it is a good idea to assign a character style whose sole function is to Small Cap any text that needs to have Small Caps applied.

1. One thing that occurs often enough is the need to change case when using Small Caps on areas of text that are in Upper Case when Small Caps is applied. 

2. When Small Caps is applied to text that is initially in UPPERCASE, there is no apparent change in the text and therefore many an operator will take this as the attempt to apply Small Caps was not successful. 

3. It does not make a difference whether it was applied by use of a Character Style or manually highlighting the text when applying Small Caps.

4. In order for the Small Caps to properly take effect, the text that is currently in ALL CAPS needs to be switched over to Initial Caps. The text which had Small Caps applied will then immediately take effect and will now reflect the attribute. And of course, in order to do this, just use Change Case. 

5. Change Case. In 2007-13 under the "Home Tab" you will see the "Aa" button towards the left side of the screen.

6.  You can cycle through the different aspects of the change case selection by using Shift F3 as well as the Change Case button.

www.advanceto.com

Do You Know Someone Who Is Typecast? We Can Help

Do You Know Someone Who Is Typecast? We Can Help

This scenario comes up again and again.

Just like an actor that becomes known as a specific character and then cannot get new parts to play it happens to us in the corporate world as well. 

The scenario:

You are working in a law firm or for that matter any large firm as a receptionist, a paralegal, a secretary a clerk and you wake up one day and decide.  I would like to transition to secretary or word processing. Why not?

You go out of your way through your own expense to learn MS Word on a level that would enable you to now function as a secretary or a WP operator.  

You approach your HR Manager and most likely they are going to tell you (in so many words) that you are a receptionist, you are a secretary etc. and they are unlikely to allow you to make the transition .  Also, if you had been a good receptionist, moving you would leave them without a good receptionist and therefore not a lot of motivation to let you take on the new role.  In effect, you have been typecast .  It happens in the movies and it happens in firms as well.  Well, we deal with this scenario and have helped many people make the jump.

So, how do we deal with this situation.

1.  Start to set up appointments at agencies and take their tests.  If you do well you might be able to get temp work and slowly establish your secretarial or WP experience.  AdvanceTo has preparation tests for both hands on and ProveIt and we now have our own on-line testing.  If you have not been out there for a while, I suggest you take our 4.5 hour test prep course or get a hold of the test prep books in legaltestready.com.    You may save a Job opportunity instead of letting it pass by.  You will feel confident and much more relaxed if you let us prep you.

2.  Depending on the level of your training you might be able to get a job in a smaller firm, establish yourself and again attempt to move up a rung to a bigger firm.  The smaller firms will appreciate your top skill level and you will gain invaluable experience that will set you up for the next job.

3.  Point being here is that if you have made up your mind to transition to a new position and are told  "NO" at your present job then keep quiet and work on transitioning out of that firm.  As far as your present job is concerned you plan to grow old there.  Remember in this situation they have already let you know how they feel.  Now it is up to you.  You have every right to better yourself.

4.  It would be very important that your training be top notch because you would really have to score high on agency tests and internal law firm tests to get noticed and get an opportunity.  AdvanceTo can give you that level of training.  We have worked in top tier firms as Help Desk, Training, Lead Operator and Coordinator positions on all shifts so we know what goes on day to day and have lived through countless scenarios and transitions.

In short, don't take no for an answer.  If you see yourself being able to function in a new position which is a step above your current position then that is all that matters. GO FOR IT!

www.advanceto.com

www.legaltestready.com

MS Word Legal Training - 2007-13 - A Path To Solid Employment.

For secretaries and word processing level operators.

This is a great course and an opportunity to receive unique training. Yes, you can do this!

Being able to step into a law firm seems to require a higher skill level with each passing year.  This simply sets us apart from the typical MS Word user even further.  That is a good thing!  It puts us at the top concerning MS Word knowledge and we in turn share all of our knowledge with you.

Our students are working!!

Our courses are affordable, THOROUGH and flexible and designed to get you to the level of a word processing operator or secretary who can then work in a top tier legal firm and any firm in between.

We offer weekly the following:

1.  Live Phone and/or In Person class is approximately 4.5 hours. Phone class may be split into two.  We teach 2007-13.  Half Class available after first full class.

2.   Most classes 1 on 1 or 2 students tops. 

3.   The ability to make your own schedule from class to class.

4.   Learn from those from the top-tier of the legal industry who function as coordinators, lead operators help desk and IT personnel.

Invaluable Word Processing Training at a Affordable Price. $175.00 first class $199.00 thereafter.  Phone class is $165.00.

Course packages are available at discounted rates!  Click on link for pricing:

http://advanceto.weebly.com/courses.html

LinkedIn Group:  "AdvanceTo Legal and Corporate Word Processing Training Forum" for free job postings, free how-to articles and discussions. This is an invaluable resource!!!

Our Courses Include:

-Homework, Practice & Job Testing

-After Class Coaching

-Resume Review

-Job Placement Assistance and  --

-Test Prep

-Books Authored By Us

Questions?  Just give us a call.

AdvanceTo Corporation

www.AdvanceTo.com 

(888) 422-0692, Ext. 1 or 2

Things Not Apparent in MS Word:

Insert File is one of them:

 People tend to not take notice about certain features until they are up against a time constraint of one type or another.

A while  ago, I wrote about an operator who could not find "Insert File" and it caused a problem. It was hidden under Object. I certainly would have been fooled on that one as well.  But the nature of 2007-13 is that there are features that are just not where you thought they would be.

If you are not solid using the new system then finding a feature like Change Case takes a while.  In 2007-13 under the "Home Tab" you will see the "Aa" button towards the left side of the screen. Again, you may not realize what that button does right away, but nevertheless that is where it is. Those of you that could not find that button could resort to Shift F3 to cycle through the change case selections until you hit the one you want.

One thing that occurs often enough is the need to use change case when using the Small Caps attribute on areas of text that are in Upper Case when Small Caps is applied. When Small Caps is applied to a portion of text that is already in UPPERCASE, there is no apparent change in the text and therefore many an operator will take this as the attempt to apply Small Caps was not successful.

In order for the Small Caps to properly take effect, the text that is currently in ALL CAPS needs to be switched over to Initial Caps. The text which had Small Caps applied, will then immediately take effect and will now reflect the small caps attribute. And of course, in order to do this, just use Change Case.

One more of those things not apparent.  Scenario:  The operator is doing a cover page for a litigation document. The cover page will consist of a Caption Box created from a 3 column 4 row table as well as the Title of the document under the actual caption box such as Motion For Summary Judgment.  Also, the cover page is using Vertical Alignment Center.

Upon looking at the Caption Box on the cover page in Print Layout view, all of the cells appear to be split apart height wise.  Even the width of the columns seems to have greatly expanded

1.  We look at the caption box that we copied within the actual document to place on the cover page.  It looks absolutely fine in both Draft as well as Print Layout View.

2.  We go back to the cover page and not knowing why the table has split apart for lack of a better term, select the table and start looking under Paragraph for extra Before/After spacing as well as checking the Line Spacing to make sure that there is no Exact Line Spacing or Multi Line spacing that could have caused this problem.  Upon looking, there is no before or after spacing and the Line Spacing is single as it should be.

3.  According to the print preview, it shows the split apart look and that is what I am going to get if I print it out.

4.  I go back to Page Layout and again and under Page Setup look at the Vertical Alignment setting which should be Center for the cover page.  It turns out that instead of being Vertical Alignment Center, it was set for Vertical Alignment Justified.

5.  Because the table had been pulled apart by that Justified setting, it did not occur to us right off the bat that it was a vertical alignment issue since the table took up so much of the page.  It may have taken 30 minutes to solve, but it won't happen again.   One more thing to file away.

www.advanceto.com