Working with Vista
Get Snippy
Your keyboard's PrtScrn (Print Screen) key might start to feel neglected with the arrival of the Snipping Tool in Vista.
Found in the Accessories folder on the Start menu, the Snipping Tool allows you to capture only the part of the screen that you want.
Just start up the tool, click and drag the mouse to select the area you want to preserve, and release the mouse button.
Once you've captured your snip, you can draw on it with the pen tool, highlight certain portions or erase others, and save it as a JPEG, GIF, PNG, or MHT (HTML) file. Click on the copy button and paste to other applications.
Note: although you can paste your snip directly into other applications without saving it, you cannot then group it with other images in programs such as Word and Publisher. Therefore it is best to save your snip and then insert it to your other application.
Windows Mobility Centre
This tip is for notebook/laptop users only.
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The Windows Mobility Centre, which is accessed by pressing Windows key + X allows you to tweak all sorts of settings on your laptop in the one convenient location.
You can change your display brightness, adjust the volume, check your battery status, turn wireless connectivity on or off, switch your screen orientation, set up an external display and much more.
Outlook
Switching back and forth between various Outlook windows (Calendar, Inbox, Contacts etc) is sometimes necessary depending on your tasks. If you find yourself switching a lot, then it's easy to stop.
Simply right-click on an item in the folders list and choose "Open in New Window" to open as many different folders as you need.
You can now move between them by clicking the appropriate icon in your Taskbar. Not only is it quicker than making the switch in Outlook, you will also return to a window exactly as you left it.
Choose Exit from the File menu of any of your open Outlook windows to close them all at once.
Outlook 2007
Navigation Pane and To-Do Bar
You can now minimise the Navigation Pane to gain more screen real estate for your email messages, the calendar and other views in Outlook 2007.
To minimise the Navigation Pane, click the double left chevron in the upper right corner of the Navigation Pane. This control changes to a double right chevron which you click to restore the Navigation Pane
When the Navigation Pane is minimised, it acts like the Windows task bar in auto-hide mode. Just click on the Navigation Pane to open it. After you select an item from the Navigation Pane, it minimises itself again.
If you don't want to use the Navigation Pane at all, choose View>Navigation>Off to turn it off. To turn it back on, select View>Navigation Pane>On.
The To-Do Bar works much the same way as the Navigation Pane. You can configure the To-Do bar to be minimised from the View menu. Then, when you need to use it, click on the double chevrons to expand or collapse it. You can also click on an area of the minimised To-Do Bar to temporarily expand it.
Calendar Overlay
If you manage multiple calendars, you'll really appreciate Outlook 2007's new calendar overlay feature which allows you to combine multiple calendars into a single view. For example, you might manage your personal appointments in a separate calendar from your business appointments. Or maybe you want to merge a sports calendar with your work or personal calendar, or look at two or three staff members calendars in a single view to schedule meetings. Calendar overlay provides a great means for identifying conflicts or getting a complete picture of your schedule.
Open the Calendar folder and then in the Navigation Pane, place a check beside the calendars you want to view. Outlook displays the calendars side by side. In the name tab at the top of one of the secondary calendars, right click and select the View in Overlay Mode to overlay the calendar with the primary one. Repeat for any additional calendars you want to overlay. To view the calendars separately, right click the name tab again and slect the View in Side-by-Side Mode button.
