Outline Page
The outline page is designed to work on the principle of a simple outline using either Roman numerals, a numeric system, or an alphanumeric combination. Numbering is placed in the Order column to the left of your screen, with corresponding text entries placed in the adjacent Outline column. Open the main menu with a right click on your mouse to select from a list of options available on this page. When ready, your work can be printed and even copied to a Word document where it can become your table of contents. To learn how to paste to your project’s outline, select the audio help entry titled, How to paste to a Word document.
Numeral System
Once you’ve decided to use either a Roman numeral system, a numeric system, or an alphanumeric combination, you’ll place your entry in the first available space in the Order column to the left of your screen. It’s imperative that you use dots as seperators between numbers and letters. This is how your software determines the number of indentations necessary for your text entries in the Outline column. Don’t use a system that places dots at the beginning or end of an entry, although if you use a numeric system, Microsoft may end some simple numbered entries with a dot. Should this occur, it won’t affect your indentations. Please note the following examples.
Using the Outline
Begin your outline by entering key points first, along with their corresponding alphanumeric designations. When you’re ready to add the next level of entries, do so in the next available space at the bottom of your existing list of entries. Don’t worry about placing entries in proper order. Just enter them as they come to mind, always careful to maintain corresponding order and outline match ups. After you’ve randomly placed a sufficient number of entries, right click to open the main menu, select the sort option, then press the enter button. Your page will then be sorted.
Notes
All your notes are placed and stored in the Notes page. Everything can be sorted and organized to complement your Outline and then formatted to provide you with a bibliography that can be copied and pasted to your Word document. Your software will prompt you for each entry needed per row. In the first column, enter an Order designation that corresponds with the Order designation assigned to each row in your Outline page. Once your order designation is entered, place your corresponding note in the notes column. Be as extensive as necessary as each row will expand to allow for considerable input. You can even paste entries copied from p d f files, word documents, and items copied from the internet.
The Order Column
The order column in the Notes page must duplicate the same designation found in the order column located in the Outline page. When you’re ready to enter a note, place your entry in the Order column and then press enter on your keyboard. You’ll then be ready to write or paste an entry in the corresponding notes column.
Data Entry
Notes can be entered by voice, keyboard, or by pasting from the internet or other documents. The row will adjust to allow you to enter up to 32,767 characters in most cases, though versions older than Excel 2007 can only display a limit of 1,204 characters. For the most part, you may find it more practical to divide up lengthy notations, though there is a remote possibility they may become separated when sorted. Entries can be italicized, emboldened, and made to change color.
Sources
The last 3 sections of a row are designated for authors, titles, and page numbers. If possible, briefly enter an author’s last name only, with 1 or 2 words to designate the work’s title. If references are not required, hold down the control and shift keys, and press the right arrow on your keyboard. This action will enter an asterisk in each of the 3 columns. This is necessary only when references are not available as something must exist in each section to advance a row. You can even tap the arrow in rapid succession to advance quicker.
Abbreviations
If your project requires a list of abbreviated sources, choose an appropriate abbreviation and place it in the Abbreviation column and press enter on your keyboard. Next, enter the full name of the publication in the Publication column and again press enter to advance or finish. As with other pages, this page can be sorted, printed, and pasted to Word documents. To learn how to paste to your project’s abbreviations page, select the audio help entry titled, How to paste to a Word document.
Bibliography
Simply stated, the Sources page is your bibliography page. You can sort print and copy the contents from the menu. There is one limitation to note. Excel cannot format italicized entries so you must manually italicize book titles and other snippets that require italics. This can be done before pasting your sources to your project. Or if you prefer, you can edit any aspect of your bibliography after it’s added to your project. To learn how to paste to your project’s bibliography, select the audio help entry titled, How to paste to a Word document.
Audio Features
The first seection in your main menu allows you to activate or call up the audio menu. If you choose to deactivate the audio feature, open the menu and select the settings option at the bottom of the window and press enter. The settings and miscellaneous menu will open next. Select the off button in the audio help section to deactivate audio. You can repeat this process later to reengage this feature or you can simply right click your mouse to reopen the main menu and select audio. Selecting audio will automatically reengage the audio feature.
Notes as the Core
Bibliographic material is entered in both Notes and Sources, but it is in the Notes page that automatic entries can be generated and posted to your Sources page. As you’re placing entries, Notes detects the addition of each new bibliographic source and opens a bar at the top of your screen that displays your options. Choose the option that fits your new source, or ignore the bar and it’ll close after 10 seconds. You can also open express versions of the source window by pressing the control plus shift keys and then either the B key for books, J key for journals, M key for magazines, N key for newspapers, or the C key for custom. Enter your source information in the appropriate sections, careful not to include concluding punctuation. When finished, press the submit key and your source will be postedand you’ll be free to continue with your notes.
Outline Indentation
Outline indentation is automatic by default and is activated by the number of dots within corresponding alphanumeric entries in the Order column. You can always change the spacing and number of indentations manually, but this cannot be done automatically. If you can’t get an entry to do what you want, the section must be replaced and its Order designation deleted. You can replace the section in 1 of 2 ways. You can manually copy and paste a blank Outline entry into the applicable row and then reenter your text. But if you prefer, select and left mouse highlight all applicable Outline rows to be deleted, right mouse click to open the main menu and select the indentation option. Correct the Order designation if necessary to prevent a future erroneous indentation and then enter your corrected text. If you wish to deactivate the intentation feature, open the main menu, select the indentation option, enter, and in the settings and miscellaneous window complete the deactivation process. Use the same steps to reactivate the feature.
Special Notation
To locate your bibliographic special notation entries, go to the Sources page. Press and hold both the control and shift keys and then press the plus sign. This action will take you to the first notation entry. Edit your entry according to your writing style, and when done, be sure to delete the locating plus sign. This search feature locates only the first available entry and not all entries at once.
Manual Entry
To enter bibliographic entries manually, you must open a source window for input in either Notes or Sources pages. To Accomplish this, press and hold the control and shift keys and then press the tab key. When the window opens, place your bibliographic information in the appropriate section, careful not to add ending punctuation for an entry, as your software will add punctuation during formatting. In addition to the book, journal, magazine and newspaper sections, there’s a custom section where you can manually enter formatted sources. You’ll also find a place for internet input. When finished with the window, press the submit button to post your fully formatted bibliographic source. Your entry will post to the Sources page. Finally, if you prefer, you can enter your source directly in Sources without use of a source window. You’ll need to fully format your material manually. To learn about automatic posting, open the main menu and select the audio option labeled, How to post new source material automatically.
Finding Information
When you need to find a number, character, word or phrase, open the main menu, select find and then press enter. A dialog box will open ready for an entry. Find will search only the page that is open and only for the first occurance. It’ll search all entries except alphanumeric entries in Outline and Notes pages. If you elect to use Excel’s built-in search feature, press and hold the control key and then press the F key. The drawback to using Excel’s version rests with its inability to find characters and words within a greater text.
Finding a Range of Pages
To find a range of pages to print, open the main menu and select print preview. With the preview open, scroll down or press the down control until you find the range you seek. You can print from the preview, but the print selection will print all your entries in the process. To avoid excessive printing, open the print dialog box by pressing and holding the control key and then the letter P. When the print window opens, enter the range of pages you wish to print. This feature is especially useful when you have to navigate numerous pages.
Writing Styles
Your software provides you with several writing styles from which you can choose to format your bibliographic sources. To view or change your selection, press the right mouse button to open the main menu. Select settings and then press enter. When the Settings and Miscellaneous window opens, select the required style and then press enter.
In the main menu, select the settings option and press enter. When the Settings and Miscellaneous window opens, navigate to the Change Zoom Level section, click on the Current Setting box and press enter. When the zoom dialog box opens, select the level you want to display on your active page and press okay. Changing the zoom level on one page will not affect other pages.
Copying and Pasting
To paste to your Word document, go to the page you wish to copy. After you sort your entries, reopen the menu and choose the select and copy feature, then press enter. All entries on the page will be copied as noted by the presence of a moving dotted border. Next, open your project and navigate to where you want your material pasted. Right mouse click on the location where you want the text pasted. You’ll see something similar to the following.
Listening to Your Text
When you want to listen to text rather than read it, copy and paste the desired text in the audio resource page formula bar. If the speak cells icon is present in the quick access toolbar, click on to highlight and activate the feature, then press enter on your keyboard. If you wish to end the audio session, press the stop speak icon with the red ball and white X. If the speak text feature is not setup, you can press the right mouse button to activate speech but no stop feature is available to discontinue the audio session. The text reading will run its course and finish once all text is read. To reset the audio resource feature, open the main menu, select show settings and miscelleneous, and under miscellaneous, select reset audio resource settings and then press the enter button. Visit the audio resource page to begin setting up the speak text feature.
Quick Find
Because your software allows you to enter up to 4000 rows of notes, it can sometimes be difficult to locate entries. Fortunately there’s a quick and easy solution. Go to the Notes page and open the main menu and select the print selection option. When you do this, all your notes will be sorted and grouped by alphanumeric order. You’ll be asked which section you want printed. Upon responding with an alphanumeric entry, all related notes will print giving you a complete reference ready to add to your project. Just don’t forget to turn your printer on.
Saving Your Work
Saving your work can be done in multiple ways. You can use the standard method of saving a Microsoft file or you can use the shortcut method by holding down the control key while pressing the s key. But if you’re finished, just close your file, select yes when prompted and your work will be saved.
How to Paste
Individual selections from your notes can be copied to a Word document. Simply hightlight what you want to copy, then press and hold the control key and then press the c key. With your Word document open, select where you want to paste the copied material and then again press the control key, followed this time with the v key. To learn how to paste your complete Outline, Abbreviations and Sources pages, open the main menu and select the audio option labeled, How to paste pages to Word documents. You can also find a list of shortcuts in the settings and miscellaneous menu, which can be accessed in the main menu.
Sorting
To sort a page in alphanumeric order, press the right mouse button to open the main menu and select sort. All entries will then be sorted on the active page. The Notes page gives you an additional option. You can have your notes automatically sorted each time the Notes page opens if new additions are detected. When you open your software you’ll be asked if you want this feature active. This will take place each time you open your software unless you check the box indicating your desire to discontinue the prompt.
Undo
Double click anywhere on a page to undo your most recent entry . If you double click a second time your entry will be restored. You can also use the shortcut method by pressing down and holding the control key and then pressing the letter Z. These methods will only work for your last entry, supposing Microsoft doesn’t dump its memory first.
Compatibility
Your software is designed to work on Excel 2007 and later versions. Most features should work on Excel 2003 if a converter package was downloaded from Microsoft and installed.
Troubleshooting
When troubleshooting, make sure your mouse and keyboard are connected and the number lock is engaged on the keyboard if present. In many cases, if a feature ceases to function properly, you can reset your software by pressing down and holding the control and shift keys and then pressing the delete key. You can also try activating a different page and then returning to the page where the problem occured. This action can often reset Microsoft’s macros. If these attempts fail to resolve the issue, just close and reopen your file to reboot your software. If the problem continues, visit the E Z Information System’s website for more information. If your software should ever freeze, it may be necessary to open the task manager and close the Excel app. To open the task manager, press and hold the control and shift keys and then press the escape key. When the task manager window opens, find Excel at the top of the list, deactivate it and close the window, then you’ll be ready to reopen your software.