What to Do when PowerPoint’s Presenter View Won’t Play Nice

The Presenter View option allows PowerPoint users to show the audience the slide show while giving the presenter a view of upcoming slides, a timer, notes to yourself, and other handy tools. (If you haven’t yet, be sure to give it a try.)

powerpoint-2013-presenter-view

The problem is that every now and then Presenter View doesn’t happen, and the laptop screen only shows the slides. Most people don’t memorize where these controls are, so in this situation, users are often forced to press on without the use of Presenter View. Since this little headache pops up from time to time, it pays to know how to set this option.

For Windows PC Users:use presenter view At the top of the PowerPoint screen are a series of tabs. Click on the one that says Slide Show. In the ribbon’s Monitors section, you will see a check box next to the words Use Presenter View. Check this box and Presenter View will start up when you begin the slideshow.

ppt2011-presenter-viewMac Users: Click on the Slide Show tab and look for a section titled Setting for Two Displays. Click on the icon that says Presenter View, and then start your presentation again.

Mac users may also need to be sure that their laptop is not set to mirror the displays. To do this, click on the Apple icon in the top-left of the desktop, then click on System and choose Display. Click on the Arrangement tab at the top of that screen and be sure that the check box next to Mirror Displays is unchecked.

swap screens ppt2013Lastly, if the Presenter View shows up on the wrong monitor simply click on the Display Settings button at the top of the Presenter Tools page and select Swap Presenter View and Slide Show.

Of course, Classroom Support is always available to help with this. Call us at 214-768-8888, and we’ll be glad to set it up for you.

Tips for Better Calendar Use in Office 365

CSC-SC2-Tip_3_02Simplify your scheduling

A busy day means a complicated calendar. With Office 365, students at SMU can easily set up and manage your meetings–saving you time to get more done.

CSC-SC2-Tip_3_05See other people’s calendars

Add a team member directly to your calendar view to see their availability whenever you want. Overlay their calendar with yours or hide it as needed.

Learn more

CSC-SC2-Tip_3_09Quickly set up a meeting

See the availability of all attendees and nearby conference rooms without leaving your meeting invitation.

Learn more

CSC-SC2-Tip_3_13Search your calendar

Need to find an event on your calendar but don’t know when it occurred? Whether you’re using Outlook or Outlook Web App, you can quickly search your calendar, or other people’s calendars, to find a particular event.

Learn more

For more information on Office 365 at SMU, please visit our webpage http://www.smu.edu/BusinessFinance/OIT/Services/o365.

4 easy steps to keep the leading zero in Excel!

When working on spreadsheets you might have a need to have a column that has leading zeros. For example, let’s use an ID number, if I was to input the beginning of my id “0010” Excel would automatically remove the first two zeros.  Here’s how to keep the leading zero in Excel:

  1. Right-click on the column you want the leading zero, and select Format Cells.
  2. Select Custom from the category list.
  3. In the Type field, enter how many digits you need. The SMU ID is 8 digits which we will use in our example below.  (Note: You do not need to add quotes to the string.)

Format Cells

4. Click OK. The column will now utilize the format you created!

ID number

 

Internet Browser Troubleshooting Tips

The IT Help Desk receives reports daily from individuals having trouble using different websites. These reports seem to be growing more and more frequent, and functionality within websites seems to be impacted with each browser upgrade. The following are some troubleshooting tips we use which may help you the next time an application isn’t working as expected in your browser! Continue reading Internet Browser Troubleshooting Tips