Advanced tips for basic tasks
Improve how you carry out everyday tasks on your PC
Copy and paste
Just as the first words children learn are usually ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’, so the first keyboard shortcuts PC users learn are typically CTRL+X/C/V, letting you cut, copy and paste. It’s such a simple command that you may think there’s not much else it can do, but there are hidden settings that unlock useful tools. For example, you can set the Office Clipboard (the one you use in Word and Excel) to open automatically when you copy more than one item. The Clipboard appears on the left-hand side, listing the items you’ve copied.
To enable this setting, in the Home tab click the tiny arrow to the bottom-right of Clipboard, then click Options at the bottom. Next, tick the Show Office Clipboard Automatically box (see screenshot below).
Printing
The Word equivalent of invisible ink is the Hidden Text option. This conceals text in a document, which is useful if you need to print two versions – one showing the hidden text, one without. Highlight then right-click the text you want to hide, then click Font. In the Effects box, tick Hidden, then OK at the bottom.
If you find that the hidden text is still printed, you may need to untick a printing setting. In a Word document press Ctrl+p, then Options at the bottom left. Under the ‘Printing options’ heading make sure ‘Print hidden text’ is unticked.
Deleting files
As you may know, the Recycle Bin is where items sit, in limbo, before being permanently deleted from your PC. One of the most effective ways to remove everything is to run a Ccleaner scan – it takes no prisoners. But it also has a setting that erases only items that have been in the Recycle Bin for over 24 hours, giving you some breathing space to recover them. Open Ccleaner, click Options on the left, Advanced, then tick
the ‘Only delete files in Recycle Bin older than 24 hours’ box (see screenshot opposite below).
Opening documents
Microsoft has a habit of changing its programs’ default settings, confounding users in the process. This happened with the launch of Word 2013, which by default opens documents in Read Mode, rather than the Print Layout view as in previous versions.
To reverse this, open a Word document, click File, then Options. Click the General tab, then scroll down to the ‘Start up options’ heading and untick the box next to ‘Open e-mail attachments and other uneditable files in reading view’ (see screenshot opposite, bottom of page).
If you rarely print documents, there’s little point seeing what they’ll look like printed. In this case, choose a different default mode, such as Draft view. In Word 2007 click the Microsoft Office button, then Word Options at the bottom, and the Advanced tab on the left. Scroll down to the General heading, then tick ‘Allow opening a document in Draft view and click OK. Finally, in a Word document click the View tab, then in the Documents View section (top left) click Draft. It’s slightly different in Word 2010 – to get to the Advanced tab you need to click the File tab, then Options. From here follow the same instructions.
Saving documents
When you save a Word document or Excel spreadsheet, you can keep them confidential by adding a password. In Word click the top-left Office logo, then Save As. Next to the bottom-right Save button you’ll see a Tools dropdown menu – click it, then General Options. Here you can set a password that opens the document, and another that allows users to ‘modify’ (edit) it. Type your passwords, then re-enter them to confirm. The same process works for Excel.
Taking screenshots
One of Windows 10’s smartest tricks is automatically saving screenshots to its built-in online storage service Onedrive, bypassing software such as Paint and Irfanview.
To do this, first right-click the cloud icon at the bottom right of your taskbar, then click Settings. Click the Auto-save tab then, under the Screenshots heading, tick the box ‘Automatically save screenshots I capture to Onedrive’ and click OK (see screenshot above left).
There are two ways you could trip up. First, if you can’t see the Onedrive icon in your taskbar, try clicking the ‘Show hidden icons’ up arrow. Second, if you can’t see the Auto-save tab, try taking a screenshot first, then right-click the Onedrive icon. To take screenshots in Windows 10, as in previous versions of the operating system, press Prtscn on your keyboard.
Searching your PC
At times your PC can feel like a haystack littered with a thousand needles, so we love any tweak that makes it easier to find a particular file. Search filters in Windows 10’s File Explorer do this. To use them, open a folder or library, then click the bottomright ‘list’ icon. This will display your items in a column. Next, hover your cursor over one of the headings (Name, Date, Type etc), click the small down arrow that appears, then choose your search filter. You can dramatically cut the number of files listed.
The ‘Date modified’ filters are especially useful. Click the arrow and it shows the current month, with today’s date highlighted. To search specific months click the month heading (eg, ‘December 2016’), then hold down your mouse button and move your mouse over the months you want to select (for example, Sep, Oct, Nov).
You may find it easier to search using rough estimates on when something was saved. You’ll see these options under the calendar, including ‘Earlier this week’, ‘Earlier this month’ and ‘A long time ago’ (see screenshot above right).