Quick Tips – Suggestions and Ideas from the staff at De Witt

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1) Changing how JAWS announces digits in Word 2007

Did you know that you can change how JAWS will read digits in Word 2007? For example, you may wish shorter numbers, strings of 5 or fewer numbers to be read as their numeric equivalent i.e., 54321 would be read as fifty-four thousand, three hundred and twenty-one. But you may wish numeric strings with 8 or more digits to be read as individual digits, which would make credit card and account numbers a bit easier to understand. To change this JAWS setting, do the following:

1. Open Word 2007.
2. Press INSERT + 6 to open the JAWS Configuration Manager.
3. Press ALT + S to open the Set Options Sub Menu.
4. Press the Letter “T” to open the Text Processing Dialog Box.
5. Press ALT + N to bring focus to the Number Processing Combo Box.
6. The default option, Controlled by Synthesizer, will be selected. Leave the option as is and press TAB.
7. Focus will move to the Speak Single Digits if the Number Contains Combo Box. The default option is the Controlled by Synthesizer Option. Use the DOWN ARROW to review the other options, which are 5 or more Digits, 6 or more Digits, 7 or more Digits and 8 or more Digits.
8. Choose one of the numeric options and press ENTER. The Number Processing Dialog Box will close and focus will return to the Configuration Manager.
9. To save your new settings, press CTRL + S. Press ALT + F4 to close the Configuration Manager.
10. Practice typing multi-digit numbers and comparing how JAWS announces the numeric strings.
11. At any time, you can repeat the above steps to change the JAWS settings back to the default or a different setting. NOTE: If you make this change in the default configuration file, it would apply across applications and will remain in place between uses of JAWS.

2) Inserting Accented Letters using keystrokes in Word 2007

Word 2007 has designated a series of keystrokes to help you to insert some regularly used accented letters. First, you notify Word 2007 that an accent should be applied by using a dedicated keystroke, involving CTRL and additional keys. Then you type the letter to be accented. See below for the dedicated keystrokes:

• CTRL + APOSTROPHE, following by a, e, i, o, u, y (and d) produces á, é, í, ó, ú, ý (and ð). This is for acute accented letters, where a small upward, slanting line appears above the letter.
• CTRL + COMMA, followed by c produces ç. This is for cedilla accented letters, where a small curved line appears below the Letter “C”
• CTRL + GRAVE, followed by a, e, i, o and u produces à, è, ì, ò, and ù. This is for grave accented letters, where a small downward slanting line appears above the letter.
• CTRL + SHIFT +TILDE, followed by a, i, and o produces ã, ĩ, and õ. This is for tilde accented letters, where a sideways “S” appears above the letter.
• CTRL + SHIFT + COLON, followed by a, e, i, o, u and y produces ä, ë, ï, ö, ü and ÿ. This is for umlaut accented letters, where a double dot appears above the letter.
• CTRL + SHIFT + ^(Carrot), followed by a, e, i, o, and u produces â, ê, î, ô, and û. This is for circumflex accented letters, where a carrot appears above the letter.

3) Using an Outlook Template

If you need to send out multiple emails that are similar or identical in nature, you can accomplish this in a number of ways. People often copy and paste text from a previously created email into a new mail message. This is a fine alternative, but can be time consuming as you will have to copy and paste the message, the subject and any email addresses you have in the To, CC and/or BCC. You would also have to reattach any attachments you may have included. An alternative method which will save you significant time is to create an Outlook Template.

An Outlook Template is similar to templates in other applications, where you fill in all the information that will be consistently used and save it as a template. Then you can simply open the template and make any changes as necessary, then send.

To create a template, do the following:

1. Create an email as usual. Fill in the all of the header information, including the email addresses, a subject, the body of the message and attach any desired attachments.
2. Click on the Office Button and then on the Save As Button or press ALT + F, then A. F12 will also work.
3. The Save as Dialog Box will open. By default, your template will be saved in a folder called Templates on your hard drive.
4. Focus will open in the File Name Edit Combo Box. Type in a name for your template.
5. Click in the Save As Combo Box, located below the File Name Edit Combo Box. Or press TAB and press the DOWN ARROW.
6. The Save As options will be displayed. Choose the Outlook Template Option by clicking on it or by moving to the option with the ARROW Keys.
7. Click on the Save Button or press ENTER twice.
8. The Save As Dialog Box will close. Focus will return to the message. Exit out of the message; you do not need to save it.
9. To create a message using your new template, click on the File Option, then the Ne w Option, then the Choose Form Option or press ALT +F, then W, O.
10. The Choose Form Dialog Box will open with focus in the Look In Combo Box. Click in the combo box and select the User Templates in File System Option or use the DOWN ARROW to select the same option.
11. Once the User Templates in File System Option is chosen, the template(s) you created will display in the Templates List Box (organized as a tree view). Double click on the template you just created or press TAB three times, select the template with the ARROW Keys and press ENTER.
12. The Choose Form Dialog Box will close and the template you have chosen will open on the screen.
13. You may send the template as is or make any changes necessary and send.

4) How to create an icon on the Desktop

While it not may be practical to clutter up your Desktop with too many icons, it is helpful to have icons for the programs and Web sites you use most frequently. Another alternative is to have icons on the Start Menu, but we recommend putting icons on the Desktop – fewer clicks or keystrokes!

For a Program

1. Focus should be on the Desktop.
2. Click on the Start Button or press the WINDOWS Key.
3. Click on the Programs Option (or “All Programs”) or press the Letter “P” (you may have to press ENTER as well).
4. The list of programs available on your computer will display. Locate and highlight the program for which you wish to create an icon.
5. Right click or press the Application Key.
6. The Context Menu will open. Choose the Send To Option.
7. The Send To Sub Menu will open. Choose the Desktop (create Shortcut) Option.
8. The sub menu will close and the icon is created for the program.
9. Press ESC until all displayed menus close or click elsewhere to bring focus back to the Desktop.
10. Your new icon will be positioned as the last icon in the last column.

For a Web site

1. Focus should be on the Desktop.
2. Right click on a blank part of the Desktop or press WINDOWS + D, then press the Application Key.
3. The Context Menu will open.
4. Choose the New Option.
5. Choose the Shortcut Option.
6. The Create Shortcut Dialog Box will open with focus in the Type the Location of the Item Edit Box. Type the Web site address (e.g. www.yahoo.com ) or paste the address if you copied it from your browser’s Address Bar).
7. Press ENTER.
8. Focus will move to the Type a Name for this Shortcut Edit Box. Type a name for the icon, e.g. “Yahoo” or “My Company’s Web Site”.
9. Press ENTER.
10. The Create Shortcut Dialog Box will close and focus will return to the Desktop on your new icon. The icon will be located physically on the Desktop wherever focus was when you opened the Context Menu.