As promised, today I am going to sign up for an image hosting provider.  These are the steps for signing up to Photobucket:

Go to http://photobucket.com

On the top right you will see the words "Sign Up".  Click on these words

Complete the form on the next screen.

On the next screen click on Upload Now to upload images.

At the following screen the default settings are Upload from My computer.  To do this click on the green button which says 'Select photos and videos'.

Find your image file and click on Open in the dialogue box.  You will be given an opportunity to add a title and description.

The image is automatically put into an album labelled with your user name.  You can add further albums if you wish.

Experiment with the buttons in the blue bar at the top.

Note that with this hoster you cannot download the images once they are uploaded, so this would not be a good vehicle for sharing image files.  Google's Picassa would be a better choice if you require this service.

I have checked, and Photobucket do allow you to link to a site to sell items, unlike Flikr.

In my hunt around for information about Open Office I found the following link with information about other free office products:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/free-office-software

I'll try to do a review of one or two in due course.  In the meantime, enjoy exploring.

Open office is a free office programme which has similar tools to MS Office. I tend to use MS Office myself because I am familiar with it and it is standard in offices, however it has to be said that I don't have to pay for it!! If you are looking for a free set of Office programs, perhaps for your home computer, then Open Office is definitely a good contender.

It has a familiar looking set of buttons across the top which look a lot like the pre-2007 versions of MS Office. You will easily fine your way around these if you have some experience of Office XP and earlier. Open Office was originally launched as StarOffice, so you may have used it in the past too.

Here is a screen shot of the Open Office 2 toolbar in the Writer program:

As you can see, fairly familiar. This screen shot shows version 2, but version 3 is now available. The package comes with a spreadsheet, presentation program, a database, and a drawing program. Files can be read and saved in formats compatible with MS Office and most other software programs.

For more information and to download click here: http://www.openoffice.org/

As promised, this post is about editing pdf files.  How many times has someone sent you a pdf file which you have then had to edit it?  Happens to me all the time.  Put simply, you cannot alter a pdf document.  You have to create a new document, copy the text across, make the relevant changes and save it as a pdf again, using one of the methods mentioned in my last post.  This is a step by step guide to this process.

When you open the pdf file it will open in Adobe PDF Reader.  You need to copy the text you want and paste it into your word processing software.  To select the text click on the select button on the tool bar (see image below).  Click and drag over the text you want to select. 

 Alternatively, go to Edit-Select All then use your normal method to copy to the clipboard (e.g. go to the Edit menu and select copy, or use ctrl-c).  A quick way of selecting and copying the text is to go to Edit-Copy file to clipboard.

Go to your word processing programme and paste the text into the document.  Make the desired changes and when done, save your document as a pdf again (see previous post).

Another way to edit pdf files is to use an online pdf converter like this one:  http://www.investintech.com/.  The programme will convert into a range of file formats which you can then edit to your heart's desire.  Note that you will probably lose formatting information whichever method you use. 

Finally, you can use Google Documents, which I have written about before.  Click here to learn how to upload a pdf.  Make sure you tick the box next to 'Convert text from pdf....'

Google will extract the text from the pdf which you can then edit.  When you are ready, you can choose File-Download to export the file to your computer as a pdf.

I have heard about programmes that allow you do edit a pdf directly, but feedback from these has been poor, especially if you are wanting to make substantial changes.

When creating pdfs make sure you keep the original so you can edit it easily without losing your formatting.

I had a situation recently where I sent some large files to an individual and because they had a slow network connection they were unable to download them.  So I thought about a way around this and decided to use Google Docs which I have written about before.  This is how I did it.

You need to visit the Google search page and sign up with an email address and password - it's free!

If you are on the Google search engine page you will go to more at the top of the screen and select Documents from the drop down list.

Click on the Upload button on the left and then search for your files.  When you have all the files listed click on Start upload at the bottom of the screen.

You will then be given a window confirming that your files have been uploaded.

Click on Back To Google Docs on the left.

You will see the uploaded files in the window.  Select the files you want to share by clicking in the small box at the beginning of the row for each file.  Then click on the Share drop down.  Choose Sharing Settings.

Enter the email address of those you want to share with.  Decide whether you want them to view or edit the file and select the appropriate choice from the drop down.
Type a message underneath if required.

I would advise you to leave ticked 'Send email notifications' so that the person will receive a link to the file by email.

You will then get a window showing who has permissions to view and/or edit the selected files.  Note that this person cannot see or edit the other files in your Google Docs.

Voila!  Another use for this great free online resource.

This post is the second in the series I have planned on useful online resources for secretaries and administrators.  The tool I am looking at today is an online word processor.  So why, if you are using Word on your computer, do you need an online version?

Well for a start it is very useful for sharing documents and multiple editing.  Let's get started and you'll see what I mean.

Firstly, open your internet browser and go to the Google search engine.  To do this type www.google.com in the address line of your browser and press the Enter button on your keyboard.

Along the top of the screen you will see a number Google's features listed (some of which I will post on at a later date).  Click on more and choose Documents from the drop down menu.  You will need to sign up to Google if you haven't already.  I recommend this.  Google has some great free tools, which I will report on later.

To start a new online document choose Create New.  As you can see you have a choice of programmes available to you.  Today we will choose Document.

A new document is opened and you can type and edit it as usual.  You should recognise the toolbars across the top.  Take a minute to scan their contents and you will see that they are pretty familiar to you.  The document is saved automatically every few seconds.  To name the document click where it says 'Untitled document' and type your new name in the dialogue box.

One advantage of using an online programme like this is that the document is easily available so long as you are near an internet connection.  You can continue your work from home, for example.

Another advantage is that you can ask other people to edit it or comment on it.  To do this go over to the Share button on the right hand side and click on the drop down arrow.

Select Email editors/viewers.  In the following window key in the desired email addresses, type an additional message if required and click on Send.  They will receive a link to the document which they can then follow and edit. They will also have to join Google to use this feature.

If you want to send a copy of the document with the email click on Email as attachment and complete the form that you are given.

You can also publish the document or link to a web page.  From the same Share drop down arrow select Publish to the web.  You will then be provided with the html code to post into your website.

Go back to the Google docs window by clicking on the Google docs logo on the left.  You will see your new document listed.  Above the tool bar you will see a button that says Search Templates:

Click on this button and have a look through the huge range of templates available.  Have a play, have fun!  That way you learn.

For more information have a look at some of the Google docs videos:

I mentioned the site Doodle in my earlier post about arranging meetings.  I thought it would be worth a further look with some step by step instructions.  You can arrange a meeting completely free and without even signing up.  So here's how to do it....

Visit the site at www.doodle.com

Click on Schedule event >>

Complete the form on the next screen.  You will need to name your event, provide a description, enter your name, and, if you wish, enter your email address.  This last one is optional, but probably worth doing because you then get an email when people respond to your meeting request.  Then click on the button Next>>.

Use the calendar to select as many tentative meeting dates as you like.  I generally choose about 4-5.  When you are ready click on Next>>.

In the next screen enter the times you require for each date.  Note that you must enter at least one time per date.  If you want to add the same times on each date, enter the times for the first date and then click on Copy and paste first row.  When you are ready click on Next>>.

You now have a choice about whether you want to send each person an invite yourself, or whether you want to use the full Doodle features.  If you choose the first option you will be provided a link to send to your participants and a link to help you administer the meeting.  If you entered your email earlier you will be emailed when someone replies.  If not, you will need to use the administration link to check responses.

If you are using Doodle reasonably often I would consider joining.  It is free, and you can manage your polls from one easy location.  Also, there is an option to integrate the meeting with certain calendars, e.g. Outlook which could be useful.  I notice that you can also add your Doodle poll to iGoogle, so I may do a post on how to use iGoogle soon.

I hope this helps.  Let me know if you have further questions.  I have put a screen shot of a sample meeting below (click on it to see a bigger version).