Timesaving Tips for Getting Your Work Done: Never Do the Same Work Twice

Get worksheet data into Word and Word tables into Excel. When your Word document needs tables using complex calculations, you'll do less work and get the most professional presentation when you let each program do its job. Use the power of Excel for your complex number-crunching—and the flexible table formatting options in Word for a flawless final document. Copying tables between Word and Excel takes much less time than trying to make either program behave like the other. Get help copying tables between Word and Excel, and check out other ways to exchange data between Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Link charts and tables temporarily to save time editing data. One great way to save time with that Excel chart or the data you need in your Word document is to paste it as a link in Word until your data is final. That way, it updates whenever your data updates. When your data is finalized, just break the link with a simple keystroke and have your perfect document ready to go in an instant. Visit my blog for step-by-step instructions and tips for saving time with linked tables and charts.

Size your Excel chart perfectly on the first try. When you use tables to create page layouts in Word, you can get great-looking and easy-to-manage documents in a fraction of the time. You can also use the dimensions of any Word table cell where you want to place an Excel chart to size that chart perfectly in just seconds. See my blog for easy, step-by-step instructions on sizing Excel charts for Word documents.

Create a Word Mail merge from an Excel list. There are many sources in Office that you can use for your mail merge data, including Excel worksheet content. In fact, depending on how your data is set up, you can merge data from an Excel sheet, your Outlook contacts, or even an Access database without taking any extra steps. Get help creating a Word mail merge and explore available data sources.

Create PowerPoint slides from a Word outline (or vice versa). When you use the built-in paragraph styles Heading 1 through Heading 9 in Word to create an outline in a document, you can export your outline to PowerPoint slides in just a few clicks. Or, send your PowerPoint outline, slide images, and notes pages to Word just as easily.

Take a look at the options available for sending PowerPoint content to Word:

This is the Send to Microsoft Office Word dialog box in PowerPoint. To access this dialog box, on the File menu, click Send To and then click Microsoft Office Word.

Use the Picture Recolor tool in PowerPoint to format embedded Word tables. Ever tried editing an embedded Word table on a PowerPoint slide with a dark background? You edit your Word table to turn the text white, but then you can't see it while editing it on the Word page! Instead of fussing and fighting, just use the Recolor feature in PowerPoint. It will leave your Word table intact for easy editing, and make it look perfect on your slide at the same time. Visit my blog for instructions on how to recolor embedded Word tables in PowerPoint.

Create Word document graphics using the drawing tools in PowerPoint. You have a Drawing toolbar in Word, but PowerPoint is designed for creating presentation graphics. There are many more features available in PowerPoint for crafting quick and flawless diagrams every time. Creating diagrams in PowerPoint and pasting them into Word as pictures can also help keep your Word documents easy-to-manage and help ensure that your graphics always looks exactly as you intended. Visit my blog for tips and techniques on creating presentation graphics in PowerPoint.

Convert Excel charts into PowerPoint charts in four clicks or less. Have data or a chart in Excel that you need for the PowerPoint presentation you're creating? Don't retype data, recreate the chart, or even mess with copy and paste. Microsoft Graph, the charting program within PowerPoint, enables you to import that data—or even a completed chart—in just a few clicks. Get the steps for importing Excel data and charts into PowerPoint with Microsoft Graph.

Tip  To have your imported Excel chart automatically take on your presentation's color scheme, click outside of the chart (that is, close Microsoft Graph and return to the PowerPoint slide), then click back in to edit the chart. That's all it takes to update your colors!

Create Outlook items from OneNote notes or insert Outlook information into OneNote. Select notes on a OneNote page (typed or handwritten) and just click to create an Outlook task or appointment from your selection. Or, insert Outlook appointment information onto a OneNote sheet to keep meeting details handy as you take notes. Learn about the various ways you can use OneNote and Outlook together.

Create a Word document directly from your OneNote meeting notes. Why start typing that report from scratch when you just spent time taking notes to plan the report? In just a few clicks, you can send those OneNote notes directly to Word.

To do this, select notes on a OneNote page, or select an entire page (or even a set of pages). On the File menu, click Send To and then click Microsoft Office Word. That's all there is to it! A new Word document will open, containing all of your selected notes.

Create a Visio organization chart automatically from Excel data. You can use an existing Excel worksheet to quickly generate your Visio organization chart. Or, to make sure you get the results you need—let Visio's organization chart wizard walk you through setting up that Excel worksheet.

Export your own virtual whiteboard from Visio's brainstorming tool into Excel or Word. Visio's brainstorming tool turns your computer into a whiteboard for planning and collaboration that you can save and share. Better yet, just export your brainstorming diagrams to Word or Excel, and start turning your ideas into action without any extra typing.