Tipping Mondays - 1
Sidin Vadukut -
Monday, April 07, 2008 9:54 AM
What better way to start off the week than with a couple of tips that could save you a lot of time, bewilderment and general workplace headaches...
1. WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS A DOCX FILE? WHY ARE PEOPLE SENDING THEM TO ME!
Ans. Chill. If I had one dollar for every time someone asked me how to open a .docx file I'd have a lot of rapidly devaluing currency propped up on neo-con geopolitics heading towards certain recession. But the only reason people send you this mysterious format is because they have shiny new MS Vista enabled computers and use Microsoft Word to prepare their documents. Microsoft now uses an XML based standard for making files (blah blah blah) which means latest versions of Office save docs in this new Docx file. Docx open up neither in your old MS Word application nor on Gmail (if you do that useful click to view in HTML option).
So what to do? Besides panicking in the office? Simplicity. Go to Zamzar.com and convert it into a regular Word Document! Ta da! (No more screaming across the cubicle farm for help from someone.)
2. Why do nice, sensible people, send pictures pasted in word documents instead of just mailing the freaking images to you?
Ans. Because they are idiots. Maybe even neo-cons. But fret not. There is a simple enough way to get past that problem. (I've tried this in Word Documents and PPTs.) Open the file, admire the image and then "Save As..." the document. Not save. Save as. Save it as a Web Page. On your desktop so you can find it later. Voila! You should have a webpage (html file) there with a folder named just like it.
Open the folder and there is that image you want. There will be a PNG and a JPEG version of the image. Choose whatever that works.
Have a great week.