An often overlooked, but extremely important part of an e-mail is the signature.  It acts as an information and marketing block that provides pertinent and important information about you or your company to anyone that corresponds with you via e-mail.

Your signature should include all or some of the following:

• Your name
• Your title
• Company name
• Phone number(s)
• Fax number(s)
• Website address/Facebook Address
• E-mail address
• Logo

These are the basics of what you need to communicate in your signature. This information will allow anyone that receives an e-mail from you to quickly locate an easy way to contact you or your business.   It also adds a certain level of professionalism to each outgoing email. If you happen to have any seasonal promotions or anything that you’d like to draw their attention to, you can add this to the end of your email signature as well. Maybe you want to make a quick note about a coupon code, for example.

To create your signature in Outlook 2007

1.  Click “Tools”, then “Options”.  This will open the “Options” dialog box (shown here).  Click on the “Mail Format” tab, then click on the “Signature” button, about 3/4 of the way down the dialog box.  This will open the “Signatures and Stationery” dialog box.
2. Click “New”, then give your signature a name.
3. In the text area, type your signature.  To change fonts or font sizes, add bold or italics etc, simply use the buttons and drop down boxes above the text area.
4. Click “Save” when you are finished.
5. [OPTIONAL] You can set up more than one signature if you like.  Simply click “New”, name your new signature, and type your new signature.

To make your signature automatically appear when you type a new email, or reply to an email in Outlook 2007

1. Again, in the “Signatures and Stationery” dialog box, you can select your favourite signature for new messages, or replies and forwards.  Simply use the two drop down boxes in the top right hand corner of the “Signatures and Stationery” dialog box.

Combine Text from Multiple Cells

To combine text from multiple cells into one cell, use the & (ampersand) operator.

1. Select the cell in which you want the combined data
2. Type an = (equal sign) to start the formula
3. Click on the first cell
4. Type the & operator (shift + 7)
5. Click on the second cell
6. Press Enter to complete the formula 

Add Spaces to Combined Text

When you combine cells with text using the above formula, there is no space between the first and last names. To insert a space, you can include a text string in the formula.

1. Select the cell in which you want the combined data
2. Type an = (equal sign) to start the formula
3. Click on the first cell
4. Type the & operator
5. Type ” ” (double quote, space, double quote)
6. Type the & operator
7. Click on the second cell
8. Press Enter to complete the formula  

Combine Cells With Text and a Number

You can combine cells to join a text string with a number from a cell.
In this example, text will be added to the payment terms.

1. Select the cell in which you want the combined data
2. Type the formula, with text inside double quotes. For example: =”Due in ” & B3 & ” days”
   Note: To separate the text strings from the numbers, end or begin the text string with a space.
3. Press Enter to complete the formula

Combine Cells With Text and a Formatted Date

When you combine text with a date, you can format it by using the Text function. Without formatting, the date will appear as a number.

1. Select the cell in which you want the combined data
2. Type the formula, with text inside double quotes, and the date inside the TEXT function. For example:
   =”Today is ” & TEXT(TODAY(),”dddd”)
3. In the TEXT function, the date is the first argument, and the formatting is the second argument.
   In this example, the TODAY function returns the current date. The “dddd” formats the date as the full weekday name.
4. Press Enter to complete the formula.

TEXT Function Formatting Examples

Format a date as 12/31/04:
  =”Payment is due ” & TEXT(A2,”mm/dd/yyyy”)

Format a number as currency:
  =”Amount due: ” & TEXT(A3,”$#,##0.00″)& ” USD”

Format a number as a percentage:
   =”Your score is ” & TEXT(A4,”0.00%”)

Format a number as a fraction:
   =”Hours worked: ” &TEXT(A5,”# ?/?”)

Office Word 2007 provides a feature called Document Inspector that allows you to check any document for tracked changes, comments, hidden text, and other personal information. To check a document:

1. Open the document you want to inspect for tracked changes and comments.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button , point to Prepare, and then click Inspect Document.
3. In the Document Inspector dialog box, click Inspect.
4. Review the inspection results. If Document Inspector finds comments and tracked changes, you are prompted to click Remove All next to Comments, Revisions, Versions, and Annotations.
5. Click Reinspect or Close. (more…)