Have you ever wanted to delete the document currently open in Word? I find I often want to do this when I’m trying to clean out a whole bunch of old documents: I open each one, check the contents and, if I no longer need it, delete it on the spot.

Word won’t normally let you do this: you must first close the document, then delete it. That’s a sensible safeguard, but sometimes it gets in the way of what you want to do.

Using a macro, you can get around this restriction and delete the active document. Note that because you cannot undelete any document you eliminate using this macro, it takes some preliminary precautions:

• First, the macro checks that there is, in fact, an open document to delete.
• If there is an open document, it checks that the user really wants to delete it. If not, the macro ends without doing anything else.
• If the user gives the go ahead to delete the document, the macro checks to see whether the open document has already been saved. If it has, the document is closed and then deleted. If it has not yet been saved, it is simply closed without saving any changes.

To create the macro:

1. Press Alt+F8 to open the Macros dialog.
2. Type DeleteActiveDocument in the Name box and click Create.
3. Copy and paste the following code between the Sub DeleteActiveDocument()and the End Sub statements (Note: if you want, you can download a full text copy of the code, complete with comments describing what it’s doing at each stage):
   

Dim strFileToDelete As String
Dim docOpen As Document
Dim intDocCount As Integer

intDocCount = 0

For Each docOpen In Documents
   intDocCount = intDocCount + 1
Next docOpen

If intDocCount > 0 Then

   If MsgBox(“Are you sure you want to delete the open document permanently? ” & _
   “You won’t be able to undo this action.”, vbYesNo) = vbYes Then

      If Len(ActiveDocument.Path) <> 0 Then

         strFileToDelete = ActiveDocument.FullName
         ActiveDocument.Close SaveChanges:=False
         Kill strFileToDelete

      Else

         ActiveDocument.Close SaveChanges:=False

      End If

   End If

Else

   MsgBox “There is no open document to delete.”, vbOKOnly

End If

End Sub

4. Close the Visual Basic editor.

Add it to Word’s toolbar

To make the macro easily accessible, add it to the Quick Access Toolbar in Word 2007:

1. Click the arrow at the right end of the Quick Access Toolbar and select More Commands.
2. In the Choose Commands From box, select Macros from the drop-down list.
3. Click the newly created macro (it’s full name is Normal.NewMacros.DeleteActiveDocument) and then click the Add button.
4. Click the Modify button, select an appropriate icon for the macro (there’s a handy one with a cross in a red circle that fits well), type Delete This Doc in the Display Name box and click OK.

To add the macro to a Word 2003 toolbar:

1. Right-click any toolbar and click Customize.
2. On the Commands tab in the Categories list click Macros.
3. Locate Normal.NewMacros.DeleteActiveDocument in the Commands list and click-and-drag it onto a toolbar.
4. Right-click the new button you’ve created, in the Name box type Del (or something else short and descriptive), then click Text Only. If you’d prefer to use a graphic icon instead of a text-label, although none of the default icons is particularly apt you can create your own by selecting Default (instead of Text Only). Then click Edit Button Image, then Clear and then do a quick paint job (a red X works well).
5. Click Close in the Customize dialog box.

If you have any problems running the macro, take a look at the code in the Visual Basic editor and make sure you don’t have any broken lines. That’s the usual cause of problems.

If you frequently find yourself wanting to edit the same document you were using in your last Word session, you can create a shortcut which does just this, using a command-line switch.

Here’s how:

1. Right-click an empty spot on your desktop and choose New -> Shortcut from the pop-up menu.
2. Click the Browse button and locate the winword.exe program. If you installed Word in the default folder and you’re using Word 2003, you’ll find it in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11; if you’re using Word 2007, it’s in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12. Click winword.exe when you locate it and then click Open. Windows will automatically fill the location box with the full pathname surrounded by quotation marks.
3. Click within the location box and, after the closing quotation marks, add a space followed by /mfile1, then click Next.
4. Give your shortcut a name, such as Last Word, and click Finish.
5. If you like, drag your newly created shortcut onto the Quick Launch bar to the right of the Start button to make it easier to use.

Put them somewhere handy

1. Right-click the Last Word shortcut and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. On the Shortcut tab, click Change Icon.
3. Click one of the alternative icons and click OK.

Almost the same thing with a macro

Note that it’s also possible to open the last-edited document using a macro, but this method has the drawback of making Word always launch with that document loaded. If that’s what you want to do, here’s how to create the macro:

1. Press Alt+F8 to display the Macros dialog.
2. Type AutoExec in the Macro Name box and click Create. The Visual Basic Editor will load.
3. In the code window on the right, you’ll see that Word has automatically created a code stub for the AutoExec macro. Between the Sub AutoExec() and End Sub statements, on a line by itself, type:

RecentFiles(1).Open

4. Close the Visual Basic editor.

The commands you stick in a macro named AutoExec run automatically whenever you launch Microsoft Word, so creating this AutoExec macro will open the most recently edited document every time you launch Word.

Microsoft has long produced software with a belt-and-braces approach, offering a choice of ways to perform a particular task.

For example, in Word, you’ll find a smorgasbord of methods for cutting, copying and pasting text. There’s the usual cut, copy and paste via keystroke, menu or toolbar. There’s also the Office Clipboard, which is like copy-and-paste on steroids. Then there’s the often-overlooked spike, which sits halfway between the other two methods in terms of power.

The spike lets you quickly reorganize snippets of text and graphics. You grab the snippets from different locations in your document, place them one by one on the spike, then use the Insert From Spike command to paste them as a block into your document.

The spike didn’t qualify for inclusion in Word’s menus or toolbars, but you can easily access it using the keyboard: Ctrl+F3 cuts the selected text and places it on the spike; Ctrl+Shift+F3 copies the entire contents of the spike into the document at the current location.

So if you’re working on a masterpiece such as this:

Oil, that is. Black gold. Texas tea.
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
When up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude.
Then one day he was shootin’ at some food
Come listen to a story ’bout a man named Jed

and decide a little rearranging would improve its readability, select the fifth line and press Ctrl+F3; then line 2 and press Ctrl+F3; line 4, Ctrl+F3; line 3, Ctrl+F3; line 1, Ctrl+F3; and finally press Ctrl+Shift+F3 to paste the newly arranged result:

Come listen to a story ’bout a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin’ at some food
When up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude.
Oil, that is. Black gold. Texas tea.

Of course, the spike really comes into its own when you’re writing something a little more weighty and need to rearrange entire paragraphs or sections to create the best flow.

Spike’s idiosyncracies

There are several things worth noting about the spike.

• First, the spike uses a separate area of memory from the Windows and Office clipboards. So you can press Ctrl+C to copy an item to the clipboard, then subsequently press Ctrl+F3 to cut an item to the spike, and the contents of the clipboard will remain untouched. When you press Ctrl+V the contents of the clipboard will be pasted into the document; when you press Ctrl+Shift+F3 the contents of the spike will be inserted.
• While the Windows Clipboard can hold a single item at a time and the Office Clipboard can hold 24, the spike has a voracious appetite and is happy to accommodate thousands of items.
• When you insert the contents of the spike into the document using the Insert From Spike command (Ctrl+Shift+F3), the spike is emptied. This contrasts with the behavior of the clipboard, where the contents remain available for pasting and re-pasting until you replace the contents by cutting or copying another item. If you’d prefer to keep the contents of the spike intact while pasting it into your document, it helps to know that when you cut the first item to the spike, in the background Word creates an AutoText entry called ‘spike’; the entry is deleted after you press Ctrl+Shift+F3. So if, instead of pressing Ctrl+Shift+F3 to insert the spike, you instead type spike and press F3, Word performs the usual AutoText actions instead: it copies the contents of the ‘spike’ AutoText entry without deleting it.
• The spike is shared by any documents you have open. You can spike an item from the first document, switch to the second and spike three items there, switch back to the first document and insert all four items.
• Things get a little tricky when you try to add the contents of a table to the spike. If you select the table and then press Ctrl+F3, the only thing that gets spiked is the contents of the table’s first cell. This is because Word stops ‘spiking’ when it hits the first paragraph mark, and, because it treats the end-of-cell marker as a paragraph mark, it copies that first cell’s contents then stops. To get around this, make sure you select the entire table plus the paragraph mark following the table. It may help to click the Show/Hide button on the toolbar so you can quickly spot the paragraph mark.

Avoiding blank lines

You may find it useful to switch off Smart Paragraph Selection in order to avoid creating blank lines between each of the items on the spike.

With Smart Paragraph Selection enabled, it’s impossible to select a paragraph without grabbing that final paragraph mark as well. If you spike the series of lines from our previous example with Smart Paragraph Selection enabled, you’ll end up with this:

Come listen to a story ’bout a man named Jed

A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,

Then one day he was shootin’ at some food

When up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude.

Oil, that is. Black gold. Texas tea.

If you switch Smart Paragraph Selection off, you can select a paragraph minus the paragraph mark by dragging carefully to the text end; you can still grab the paragraph mark if you want to by dragging past the “end” of your paragraph to include the mark. You can also grab a paragraph complete with its paragraph mark by placing the cursor in the left-hand margin and dragging down.

To turn Smart Paragraph Selection off, in Word 2007 click the Office Button -> Word Options -> Advanced and deselect Use Smart Paragraph Selection. In Word 2003, click Tools -> Word Options -> Edit tab and deselect Use Smart Paragraph Selection.

I sometimes wonder whether Microsoft spends so much on its programming budget it has little left over to spend on designers. This thought often crosses my mind when working with Office sample files, templates and styles.

Take, for example, the auto-formats supplied with pre-2007 versions of Excel. Who designed these things? Not only are they ugly, they also don’t address basic formatting needs such as coloring every other row in order to make a table more readable. Yes, there’s one auto-format option which gives you this – sort of – but it comes with unattractive headings and footer formatting and it’s inflexible.

The solution? Do the job yourself, using conditional formatting. Conditional formatting lets you apply formatting based on the value contained in a cell or based on the result of a formula.

Here’s how you can use it to apply shading to alternate rows:

1. Select the range of cells you wish to format.
2. Click Format -> Conditional Formatting.
3. In the drop-down box, select Formula Is.
4. In the box type:

=MOD(ROW(),2)=0

5. Click the Format button and then click the Patterns tab.
6. Select a color for the shaded rows and click OK twice.

There you have it: a table with banded colors. If you find you don’t like your chosen color, simply select the range once more, open the Conditional Formatting box and choose another color.

The real beauty of this method is that even if you delete a row in your table, the banding will be maintained automatically.

Formatting in Excel 2007

If you’re using Excel 2007, you have a whole range of new formatting tools at your disposal, including the alternate row shading offered through the Format As Table options. I’ll be writing more about these options in the future.

Nevertheless, you can still roll your own conditional formats if you choose: from the Home tab, click Conditional Formatting -> New Rule -> Use A Formula To Determine Which Cells To Format and then use the same formula described in Step 4 above to create banding.

Conditional formatting explained

If you’re not familiar with conditional formatting, a little explanation is in order.

Conditional formatting is applied to a cell when the condition you specify is true. The condition may relate to the cell’s contents. For example, you could set all cells containing negative values to be displayed in a red font. Alternatively, you can use a logical expression or formula which evaluates as TRUE or FALSE, as we did in the example above. In Excel, a 0 value equates to FALSE, while any number greater than 0 equates to TRUE.

The MOD() and ROW() functions

The formula we used contains two functions, ROW(reference) and MOD(number,divisor). The ROW function returns the number of the row contained in reference or, if the reference is omitted (as in our example) it returns the number of the row containing the function. So, if you place the formula =ROW() in cell A9, the value returned is 9.

The MOD function returns the remainder of the number divided by the divisor. So, the formula =MOD(7,6) returns a value of 1, while =MOD(6,7) returns 6.

Evaluating Logical Expressions

Now take a look at the formula we used to create shading on every other row:

=MOD(ROW(),2)=0

In this case, ROW() provides the number while 2 is the divisor in our MOD() function. In English, we divide the current row number by 2. The remainder will either be 0 for even numbered rows or 1 for odd-numbered rows.

We then compare the result to 0. For even numbered rows, we end up with the expression 0=0, which is TRUE. Because the condition evaluates to TRUE, we apply the selected formatting. For odd-numbered rows, the result is 1=0, which is clearly FALSE, and thus the formatting is not applied and the row remains the default color.

Astute readers may be wondering, “Why do we need the =0 on the end of this expression, when we could simply evaluate =MOD(ROW(),2)?” It’s true, we could leave off the =0 and we’d still end up with an expression with alternating values of 0 and 1 and the same bands of color (although the shaded/non-shaded rows would be reversed). But by adding the =0 we make it very easy to extend this expression to coloring every third or fourth or fifth row, and so on. For example:

=MOD(ROW(),3)=0

will color every third row. This is easy to check by evaluating the expression for rows 1 through 6:

=MOD(1,3) = 1 1 = 0 is FALSE (not shaded)
=MOD(2,3) = 2 2 = 0 is FALSE (not shaded)
=MOD(3,3) = 0 0 = 0 is TRUE (shaded)
=MOD(4,3) = 1 1 = 0 is FALSE (not shaded)
=MOD(5,3) = 2 2 = 0 is FALSE (not shaded)
=MOD(6,3) = 0 0 = 0 is TRUE (shaded)

And so on.

So what happens if you leave the =0 off the expression? Instead of shading every nth row you’d color n-1 rows then leave the next row unshaded, something that might come in handy, too. In the case above, you’d shade rows 1 and 2, leave row 3 untouched, shade rows 4 and 5, and leave row 6 untouched.

Column and checkerboard shading

You can use a similar technique to create alternating shading on columns. Instead of using the ROW() function, you use the COLUMN() function:

=MOD(COLUMN(),2)=0

Note that the COLUMN() function returns the column number, with column A=1, column B=2 and so on.

Anyone for checkerboard shading? Try:

=MOD(ROW(),2) =MOD(COLUMN(),2)

You’ll end up with a checkerboard shading pattern.

Understanding the logic

If you’re content with this result and don’t need to know the nuts and bolts, class dismissed. If, on the other hand, you’d like to understand how we end up with a checkerboard pattern from this expression, stick with me. Unless you have some programming or a philosophy degree under your belt, trying to get your head around logical expressions can be a little confusing at first.

Note that to produce the checkerboard pattern, we’ve used two formulas one after the other; we’ve also dispensed with the final =0 we used in the earlier formulas.

Why is this so?

Well, instead of comparing the result of an expression to 0, we compare the result of the first expression to the result of the second expression, and determine whether they are equivalent. So, Excel evaluates the first formula and determines whether it is TRUE or FALSE. It then evaluates the second formula and determines whether it is TRUE or FALSE. Finally, it equates the two results and determines whether the end result is TRUE or FALSE.

In other words, you end up with four possible intermediate results:

1. Both expressions are TRUE.
2. The first is TRUE; the second is FALSE.
3. Both expressions are FALSE.
4. The first is FALSE, the second is TRUE.

Now, take the final step and evaluate these four intermediate results. The first and third evaluate to TRUE (that is, TRUE = TRUE is clearly TRUE, just as FALSE = FALSE is clearly TRUE); the second and fourth evaluate to FALSE (TRUE = FALSE is FALSE; FALSE = TRUE is FALSE).

So, if you apply the conditional expression =MOD(ROW(),2) =MOD(COLUMN(),2) to cell A1 (where both the row and column number are equal to 1) you get:

=MOD(1,2) =MOD(1,2)
1 = 1 which is TRUE

For cell A2:

=MOD(2,2) =MOD(1,2)
0 = 1 which is FALSE

For cell A3:

=MOD(3,2) =MOD(1,2)
1 = 1 which is TRUE

For cell A4:

=MOD(4,2) =MOD(1,2)
0 = 1 which is FALSE

For cell B1:

=MOD(1,2) =MOD(2,2)
1 = 0 which is FALSE

For B2:

=MOD(2,2) =MOD(2,2)
0 = 0 which is TRUE

For B3:

=MOD(3,2) =MOD(2,2)
1 = 0 which is FALSE

For B4:

=MOD(4,2) =MOD(2,2)
0 = 0 which is TRUE

And so on, with the alternating TRUE/FALSE/TRUE/FALSE in one column and FALSE/TRUE/FALSE/TRUE in the next building up the checkerboard shading.

When you refer to a cell in an Excel formula, you can use any of three different ways of referring to that cell, known as relative, absolute and mixed references.

Relative cell references are the most commonly used. A relative cell reference in a formula is based on the position of the formula’s cell relative to the cell to which it refers. That means if you move the formula cell, or copy it elsewhere, the reference changes.

You denote a relative reference simply by using the cell’s column letter followed by its row number: A1. A simple formula that uses relative cell references to add the numbers in cells B1 through B9 is:

=SUM(B1:B9)

If you place this formula in cell B10 and then copy it across from B10 to C10, Excel makes the sensible assumption that you want to total the values in the same relative positions in column C – that is, cells C1 to C9 – and so it automatically adjusts the formula to read:

=SUM(C1:C9)

An absolute reference refers to a cell in a fixed location. Such references come in handy when you want to refer consistently to the same cell, or range of cells, throughout a worksheet.

For example, if you use a worksheet to estimate a mileage allowance for business travel, you could put the allowance rate per mile in cell D2 and then use an absolute reference to that cell anywhere you use a formula based on the mileage rate. To indicate an absolute reference use dollar signs, thus: $D$2.

Name that cell

You can make life easier for yourself by naming a cell or range of cells. This is particularly handy when you want to refer to a certain cell repeatedly in formulas. When you name a cell, Excel automatically makes it an absolute reference.

For example, to name our mileage rate cell in Excel 2007:

1. Right-click the cell and select Name A Range from the pop-up menu.
2. Type a name in the Name box, such as MileageRate and click OK. Although you can’t include spaces in the name, you can use underscores (Mileage_Rate), periods/full stops (Mileage.Rate) or slashes (Mileage\Rate). Excel ignores the case, but it can make your worksheets more readable if you mix lower- and uppercase.

To name the cell in Excel 2003:

1. Click the cell.
2. Click Insert -> Name -> Define.
3. Type in the name, MileageRate, and click OK.

Once you’ve named the cell, you can use its name in any formula, thus:

=E7*MileageRate

As you define the name, notice the value in the Refers To box. You’ll see the full absolute reference consists of the worksheet name followed by an exclamation mark and the absolute cell reference, for example:

=’Travel Expenses’!$D$2

That means you can use the named reference – in our case, MileageRate – in any worksheet in your workbook, not just the current worksheet.

Specifying the scope of a name 

That’s great, but what if you’ve set your workbook up with a separate worksheet for each employee and each of those employees has a different mileage rate? In that case, you won’t want a reference to MileageRate on Mildred’s worksheet grabbing the value from Darren’s worksheet.

In Excel 2003, you deal with this situation by specifying the worksheet when defining a name: in the Name box, first type the current worksheet’s name, followed by an exclamation mark, followed by your chosen cell name. For example:

Darren!MileageRate

Excel 2007, makes this easier by including a Scope box in the New Name dialog: when you define the name, select the current worksheet from the drop-down Scope box to restrict the reference to the current sheet, and Excel will name it appropriately.

Deleting a name 

If you ever need to delete a cell/range name, in Excel 2003:

1. Click Insert -> Name -> Define.
2. In the Define Name dialog, click the name you want to delete then click the Delete button.

In Excel 2007:

1. On the Formulas tab click Name Manager.
2. In the Name Manager dialog, click the name you want to delete and click the Delete button.

Mixed references

Mixed references are a combination of relative and absolute: either the column is relative and the row fixed (absolute), for example D$2, or the column is fixed and the row relative: $D2.

When would you need such a reference? One case is when you create any table where the values are derived by multiplying the x axis by the y axis. A multiplication table is the simplest example of this.

The easiest way to get a feel for mixed references is to give them a try:

1. Place the values 1 through 12 across in cells B2 to M2. This is the x axis of your multiplication table.
2. Place the values 1 through 12 down in cells A3 to A14. This is the y axis of your multiplication table.
3. In the top, leftmost cell of the results grid, cell B3, enter the formula: =B$2*$A3.
4. Copy that formula down and then across to include the entire table.

This formula translates as: multiply the value in row 2, column x by the value in column A, row y. For the first cell referenced in the formula, the row remains constant (row 2, the x axis where you placed the values 1 through 12) while the column changes. For the second cell reference, the column remains constant (column A, the y axis where you placed the values 1 through 12), while the row changes. No matter where you click in the table, you’ll see row 2 and column A referenced in the formula bar, while the other values vary.

Changing reference types

If you find you’ve used the wrong type of reference in a formula, Excel offers a shortcut for changing the reference:

1. Click the offending cell.
2. In the formula bar, click the incorrect cell reference and press F4. Each time you press F4, Excel will cycle the reference through relative -> absolute -> mixed (relative/absolute) -> mixed (absolute/relative).
3. Repeat this process for each incorrect reference in the formula.

A memory jogger to help you remember to use the F4 key for changing references is to take a look at your keyboard: notice how the $ symbol, used to denote absolute references, is above the number 4.  Use it as a reminder (a trick I learnt from a Kiwi school teacher).

Two of the Kindle’s most appealing features are its wireless connection, which lets you download new books any time of the day from most places in the US, and the rapidly expanding treasure trove of ebooks available on Amazon. So it’s a sad, sad day when you switch on your Kindle’s wireless and get…nothing. No bars, no signal, no Whispernet, no instant access to that literary treasure chest.

What’s a Kindler to do when her wireless is kaput?

There are several possibilities to explore:

1. Your location.
2. Kindle hardware and software glitches.
3. The problem’s with Amazon.
4. Your wireless is kaput.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to troubleshooting Kindle wireless problems.

First things first

Your wireless probably isn’t kaput.

I know that having the Kindle wireless die completely is something many Kindlers worry about; after all, this is brand new technology and the company’s first hardware product - who knows how reliable it is and what sort of longevity we can expect?

Chances are, though, that even if you can’t get a signal for a whole day or for several days in a row, the wireless in your Kindle hasn’t died, but that something else is afoot. There are several other possibilities worth investigating first.

1. Are you in Kindle’s wireless coverage area? 

Amazon’s Whispernet comes to you courtesy of Sprint’s EVDO network, so you can only use your Kindle’s wireless when you’re in the network’s coverage area.

As you’ll see from the map, urban coverage is pretty good (orange indicates high-speed, green areas get lower-speed connections), but rural folk are left off the map in many places. (Click the image to visit the Kindle coverage map online, where you can search for a particular address.)

Even if you are under Whispernet’s spell, all sorts of things can have an effect on the signal. Bad weather, hills and dales, other wireless devices in your house, that concrete bunker you’re in. Try moving about, going outside or just waiting until the storm passes, then check your connection once more.

2. Is your Kindle having a bad hair day? 

Your Kindle is like most computing devices: sometimes it’ll stop working temporarily, usually for no apparent reason. The simplest solution is often the most effective: turn it off and then back on again.

• Flick both the power and wireless switches to the off position, wait a few seconds, then switch them both back on.
• Sometimes switching the wireless on is not enough; you won’t get a connection until you actually try to connect. Give the Kindle a nudge to go online by clicking the menu button and choosing Shop In Kindle Store.

Still no signal? You may be tempted to try pushing the reset button on the back of your Kindle (under the cover). The word from Amazon is: Don’t! It’s not likely to help, and when you press the reset button, troubleshooting info stored on your Kindle, which might potentially help with fixing errors on your device, is erased.

3. The problem’s at Amazon’s end

The Whispernet is not infallible. Sometimes it silently disappears for a while, then just as quietly returns after five minutes, five hours or even longer.

If you’ve tried various physical solutions and your Kindle is still wireless-less, try patience. It usually works. I’ve had no connection on a fair few occasions - one time for two days - but the signal has always returned.

If your Kindle is brand new, there’s another possibility: Amazon failed to register it properly on its network. If you’ve just received your Kindle and the wireless won’t work at all, give the Kindle support line a call on 1-866-321-8851 to make sure everything’s hunky dory.

4. Your Kindle’s wireless really is dead

If you’ve run through this troubleshooting checklist and you still can’t get a wireless connection within the Whispernet coverage area, your wireless really may be kaput.

If your Kindle is less than a year old (and as I write this, all Kindles are) give the Kindle hotline a call: 1-866-321-8851 from within the US, 1-206-266-0927 if you’re calling from afar.

Other solutions? 

Have you found a different solution to your Whispernet problem? If so, please share it by leaving a comment.

Webmail makes digital life on the road easier, but for most of us it’s not a particularly elegant solution. The browser interface can be oh so slow; you end up with multiple email addresses and messages stored in different places; and you lose the benefits of using powerful software such as Microsoft Outlook to handle not only your email, but also your calendar and contacts.

Far betterwould be the ability to take our home or office email with us: the same email program we use every day; the same email address; the same configuration; and the same mail store.

Unfortunately, most Internet Service Providers - and office mail systems - throw a fit if you try to use your email using another ISP’s network or a wireless hotspot. If you’ve ever encountered a “relaying denied” error message, you’ll understand the frustration this can cause.

Enter portable SMTP servers. These alternative mail deliverers provide a simple solution to your email-on-the-road woes.

SMTP? 

SMTP is not the sort of thing most of us spend a lot of time thinking about. If you know what the initials stand for – Simple Mail Transport Protocol – you’re ahead of the game. But when it comes to taking your email with you, it’s worth gaining at least a nodding acquaintance with the possibilities behind those initials.

I’ve written a guide to using an alternative SMTP server to gain seamless access to your email from anywhere. The article describes a number of ways to loosen your SMTP shackles, but if you’d like the I’m-too-busy-for-an-executive-summary summary, it’s this: give SMTP2Go Worldwide SMTP Server a try. This SMTP relay service is inexpensive (with a 7-day free trial so you can check it out), ridiculously easy to set up, and works smoothly and reliably.

I’ve tried other portable SMTP solutions in the past, including the downloadable Postcast Server and Gmail’s SMTP server, and encountered bumps and hiccoughs on the road. Using a relay service like SMTP2Go seems to eliminate those problems.

There are other SMTP relay services and downloadable servers available and I mention several of them in the article. Have you had experience - good, bad - with any such services? Let me know.

The Send To option has always been one of Windows’ handiest shortcuts. It lets you copy a file - or a folder full of files - to another folder without having to navigate your way to that destination folder. Send To also lets you quickly upload, email or open a document.

To use Send To, all you do is right-click a file or folder, select Send To from the pop-up menu, and select a destination to copy, upload or email the item.

Windows pre-populates the Send To menu with a selection of destinations and shortcuts, and some applications add further shortcuts to the list. You can add your own twists to the Send To menu, too. For example, you can add folders where you archive or store documents to the Send To destination list.

Shortcuts to the destinations which appear in the Send To list are stored in a special folder called SendTo (note there’s no space between Send and To in the folder name). In Windows XP, you’ll find the SendTo folder located in:

C:\Documents and Settings\username

where username is your Windows log-on name.

In Vista you’ll have to dig deep to find the SendTo folder:

1. Click Start then click your log-on name to open your user folder.
2. Click down through AppData -> Roaming -> Microsoft -> Windows -> SendTo.

Of course, as is often the case with Vista, instead of digging down through this list of folders you can quickly jump to the SendTo folder by using the search box: Click Start, type sendto in the search box and click the SendTo folder in the Files list. 

As well as adding shortcuts to folders and network drives to the SendTo folder, you can also add programs. When you Send To a program, the document you select will be opened in that program. For example, you might want to add a shortcut to Notepad to the SendTo folder so you can quickly open a document in a plain text editor.

Send To SendTo

If you frequently modify the Send To list, instead of opening the SendTo folder in order to add new shortcuts, you can add a shortcut to the SendTo folder to the SendTo folder itself. When you do so, you’ll be able to add a new destination to the Send To list simply by right-clicking the destination (folder, network drive or program) and selecting Send To -> SendTo. It sounds a little mind boggling, but it’s very simple in practice:

1. Open your user folder then navigate down to AppData -> Roaming -> Microsoft -> Windows.
2. Right-click the SendTo folder and select Create Shortcut.
3. Rename the shortcut SendTo.
4. Drag the shortcut into the SendTo folder.

Once that’s done, whenever you want to add a new destination to the Send To list, right click the destination and select Send To -> SendTo.