Category: DigiTips

DigiTip 24: Make using Excel easier by freezing columns and rows 📊

WordPress User [sil12] Digital proficiency and productivity, DigiTips, Information, data and media literacies, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Have you ever worked on a large Excel document where you’ve scrolled down to find a figure, but then you’ve had to scroll back up to the top again to remind yourself of what the headings was for that column?!

There’s an incredibly useful function in Excel that can help with this issue, which enables you to freeze single or multiple rows and columns. You can access this feature within Excel by clicking View > Freeze Panes.

Watch the video below to learn how to freeze columns and rows:

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 23: Recover your tabs 📂

Shân Saunders DigiTips Leave a comment

Have you ever prematurely closed a tab you were using? Frantically searching your history to find your page again or even searching through webpages?  

With DigiTip 23, you no longer have to worry.  

Did you know you can open any tabs you have closed by simply selecting “Ctrl +Shift + T”. This will even work if you have closed down an entire window! 

View the video below for a quick demonstration.  

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 22 – Pin your favourite website on your web browser 📌

WordPress User [jpl11] DigiTips Leave a comment

Do you often feel frustrated with having to scroll back through your browser history to find your favourite tab? Or even accidentally closing the tab and not being able to remember the website?

With DigiTip 22, you can now pin your favourite internet tabs and have it ready for you when you open your browser next.

For internet browsers such as Chrome and Firefox, you can follow these steps:

  • Open your internet browser and type in your chosen URL
  • Right-click on your URL tab and choose the option “Pin”

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

DigiTip 21: Copy and paste content in Word without messing up your formatting 📃

WordPress User [sil12] Digital proficiency and productivity, DigiTips, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Word Leave a comment

Have you ever copied and pasted content from a webpage or another document into a new Word document and found that it completely messes up your formatting? Luckily, there are additional options outside of the basic pasting option (ctrl+v) which can help solve this!

Start by selecting where you want to paste your content and right-click with your cursor. You’ll then find several additional paste options (the options visible will be based on the type of content that you’ve copied).

Here’s a summary of what the most common 4 paste options will do:

Keep Formatting

This keeps the formatting of the text that you’ve just copied (be it from a webpage, another document, or another source).

Merge Formatting

This option changes the formatting of the text so that it matches the formatting of the text that surrounds it.

Use Destination Styles

This option formats the copied text so that it matches the formatting of the text where you’ve pasted your text

Keep Text Only

This option discards any existing formatting AND any non-text elements you have copied (e.g. images or tables).

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 20: Introducing To Bach ⌨

Shân Saunders DigiTips Leave a comment

Have you struggled to write in Welsh on your computer? Used shortcuts or symbols to insert a circumflex and accents for Welsh letters? Struggle no more!  

Free on all AU computers from the Company Portal you can now download the To Bach software. For personal computers, To Bach is available to download for free! 

Once downloaded, to insert letters with a circumflex all you have to do is select “Alt Gr” and your respective vowel (e.g., â ê î ô û ŵ ŷ).  

Key StrokeSymbol
Alt Gr + aâ
Alt Gr + eê
Alt Gr + oô
Alt Gr + iî
Alt Gr + yŷ
Alt Gr + wŵ
Alt Gr + uû

For further information visit the FAQ here.

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 19 – Quick Steps in Outlook ⚡

WordPress User [jpl11] DigiTips, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Do you want to be able to save time using Outlook by running multiple tasks efficiently?

With DigiTip 19, we will be having a look at how to set up your Quick Step recipe. When an email comes through to your inbox, with just one click you can mark it as read, move it to a specific folder, automatically send a reply and many other options.

Watch the video below for a brief demonstration:

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

DigiTip 18 – Express yourself with Emojis with the hidden keyboard shortcut 🥳🤩💖

WordPress User [sil12] Digital communication, collaboration and participation, DigiTips Leave a comment

Emojis have become an essential part of how we communicate, and they can be fantastic for expressing our emotions with just a single character 🥰🤣🙄🤯😴 

Most of us will be more familiar with using emojis on our mobile phones 📱, but there will be times when we’ll want to include emojis when using our laptops or computers 💻. Instead of googling for the emoji you need, why not access it directly from your keyboard!? 

On both Windows and Mac, you can access your emoji keyboard in seconds by selecting: 

  • Windows – Windows Key + “.” (period button/full stop) 
  • Mac – Command Key + Control + Spacebar 

Watch the video below to see how this shortcut works on a Windows device. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 17: Organise your work with Tasks in Teams ✍

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Teams Leave a comment

Are you a planner but struggling to be productive? Do you work better with a to-do list, but you want everything in one place? Introducing Microsoft Teams Task by planner!  

You can create your own to-do lists, break these down into daily to-do lists and even view tasks that have been assigned to you in Microsoft Teams channels.  

To create your To Do List: 

  • Go to the Apps icon on the left-hand side of MS Teams 
  • Search for and install the Tasks by Planner and To Do app 
  • At the bottom of the planner, select ‘+ New list or plan’ 
  • Enter any task, select the priority and due date 
  • Once completed select the circle and the task will complete itself 

To break down your to-do list to more achievable goals you can add tasks from your to-do list to “my day” which will refresh every day.   

Watch the video below for a demo on how to use Microsoft Teams Tasks by planner.  

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

DigiTip 16 – Reduce eyestrain with a blue light filter 👓

WordPress User [jpl11] DigiTips Leave a comment

Do you often find yourself having tired eyes after looking at your device for too long? In DigiTip 16, we will be having a look at how to use a blue light filter setting, to reduce the amount of blue light emitted from your device’s screen.

On Windows devices, follow the system settings below to activate “Night light”:

  • Select Start on your windows taskbar and type in Settings in the search box
  • From Settings, then choose System before finding the Display option
  • Once you have chosen the Display option, select Night light
  • With “Night light” switched on, warmer colours will be used on your screen to help block out blue light
  • To personalise when “Night light” will be in use on your device, choose the Schedule night light option where you can either select Sunset to sunrise or select Set hours to choose your own custom times for it to begin and end before closing the window

On MacOS devices, follow the system settings below to activate “Night Shift”:

  • Go to the Apple menu to open the option System Preferences
  • Through System Preferences, select the Displays icon
  • On the top of the window, click on the Night Shift tab
  • Select the Schedule drop-down list before choosing Custom
  • To personalise when “Night Shift” will be in use on your device, you can either select Sunset to sunrise or select Custom to choose your own set times for it to begin and end, before clicking Done

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

Revisit all of our DigiTips from Semester 1!

WordPress User [jpl11] DigiTips Leave a comment

Welcome to the start of 2024 and we hope you all had a fantastic Christmas holiday break!

From September 2023, the Digital Skills Team have been publishing short and sweet DigiTips that we think will help you make the most of technology – ranging from taking care of your mental wellbeing with the self-care Finch App to being able to brainstorm new ideas with the whiteboard in MS Teams!

Starting from Tuesday 9th January, we will continue to be posting weekly tips about all things digital and if you want to explore any of our previous DigiTips, you can access them from this webpage.