IPAD Tip- Organizing Your Apps

Hi All
I was at the Maroon 5 &Train concert last night. It took place at Conseco Fieldhouse instead of at the State Fair grounds due to the Fair stage collapse earlier this week. It was an absolutely  fantastic show but what was truly impressive was the  fact that every single thing was donated- the FieldHouse, the band's performances and most impressive - all the workers. Every person working there including the ushers, stage hands and concession workers donated their time so that all funds could go to the Indiana State Fair Remembrance Fund. Hoosiers are a truly phenomal group of people.

If you are like me and have screen after screen of IPAD apps, consider organizing them. It is very easy-simply select an app
(press on it until it starts to shimmy)and then drag it on top of another app and the IPAD will create and put the apps in a box that you can name. Then just keep dragging apps into it. (To get it to stop shimmying- press the Power button once).
I now have a nice box of  Card Games and another nice box of Word Strategy Games.  Next week I will share 2 or 3 of my favorite game apps that you might want to consider downloading for your "free time" and then I will get back to Excel tips.
I hope that you have all had time to check out my new site Excel-Diva.com. We will be adding more materials to it and hopefully a few more videos shortly.

Have a great Friday and an even better weekend.

Introducing Our New Sister Site- Excel-Diva.Com

Check out our new site at Excel-Diva.com.

We had quite a few requests from Non-CPA business people for the same high quality Excel EBooks that we were selling on CPASelfstudy.com so we decided to create a site for them.

The quality of the Excel EBook sand the step by step instructions  are the same; however, since these courses do not need review questions, exams, certificates and state accountancy board approvals etc, we can offer them a  significantly lower price.

So, if you are a CPA and have been using our courses, you might want to consider these for some of your employees.  If you are in numbers oriented business position, you should also consider taking a look at these EBooks.  They offer step-by step instructions and most include exercise files to work through and answer files. Best of all, if you don't understand something you can email me with your questions or comments. If you are looking for a group rate, just email me at either patricia@excel-diva.com or patricia@cpaselfstudy.com


We will be adding additional EBooks and videos over the next couple of weeks.

More Useful Programs - DropBox and SnagIt

Below are two other programs that I have found very useful. Again, these are my personal opinions and I have no affiliation with either company and I am NOT receiving any referral fee etc. If you have found some other useful programs let me know. I would love to try them out. 

DropBox
Another program that I have been using for about a year is Dropbox.  You can use drop box a couple of different ways.  I can take files on my computer and put a copy in the Dropbox application on my computer. Once the file has been put in the DropBox on your computer - they are then available to you on the web.
How cool is that?   Dropbox also says that it works with mobile devices such as the Blackberry however I have not yet tried that.

You can also upload files to Dropbox.com and give share privileges so that others can access files.  This is a lot more useful than emailing multiple people a file or files. You can even upload a folder.
 People with share privileges can view the files, download the file or the entire folder. It is much easier to keep track of files this way - particularly if you are updating them all the time.  Also, if the files you are sending are too big to email this is an alternative. 
I really like this program because I was getting tired of sorting through my flashdrives to find a file- of course if you don't have an Internet connection then this would not be too helpful - I learned this the hard way when on my last vacation I ended up being without internet service for a few days (always have a Plan B!).
I tend to go the low cost way when looking for programs so dropbox met that criteria since it is free if you are storing 2G or less. Of course, if you want more storage than that, they have a monthly pricing structure. If this sounds interesting to you check out http://www.dropbox.com/

SnagIt
I have used SnagIt for years. It is a screen capture program. You can capture an entire window or just a piece of it. You can add text and arrows if you want.You can then save the image as a file or to the clipboard.   You can get a 30 day free trial but you have to buy it after that. I have tried other screen capture programs and have always come back to this one so even though it costs about $50, I personally think it is worth it if you doing a lot of screen captures. http://www.techsmith.com/snagit/features/win/

Useful Software Programs

Do you like the new design of the blog? If you didn't notice, don't feel bad- it is not that different.
I have been working away on my new Excel Site called Excel-Diva.com however it is not quite ready yet. I will tell you more about it later in the week when everything on the site is actually working. There is nothing more irritating then clicking on a button that takes you nowhere.

Right now, I want to talk to you about some different software programs that I have been using. These are my personal opinions. I have not accepted any fee etc for these recommendations.  Between traveling and getting an IPAD, I have been using a lot of different software and Apps so I just throught I would share a few with you that I have found useful.

These two software programs relate to sending/uploading files.

First, if you are sending a lot of files - particularly large ones consider a zip file. The person receiving the file will certainly appreciate it. Also, a lot of mail systems now will not send large files.
I have used WinZip for years and have never had any problems with it. Winzip compresses your files and you can send a group of files or even folders in a compressed .zip format. You can also turn the zip file into an executable file so that the receiver only has to double click on it and the files all extract. You can password protect the .zip file and .exe files. You can also extract or add files into a compressed file.
So, if you have not used a zip file check it out. They offer a 30 day free trial which is always nice.
http://www.winzip.com/win/en/index.htm

The downside to the .zip and .exe file is that some firewalls will not accept them. In those cases or in cases where my .zip files is still too big for my mail system, I use YouSendIt.
I just started using this program about 2 months ago and have been very pleased with it. They have a totally free subscription and then of course they have the enhanced versions. I started out with the free subscription but I did move up to a paid subscription simply because I wanted to send multiple files at one time. You can send files to people and see when they have downloaded the files. You can upload files and share them with others. If you are interested check them out. http://www.yousendit.com/compare-plans?incid=topNavPlansSignUp_txt


That's it for now. Later, I will tell you about some cool IPAD apps.

Excel Hero Academy- Starts August 1st!

I am still tunneling through the mountains of paperwork that resulted after a 2 week vacation however I wanted to make sure and mention Daniel Ferry's Excel Hero Academy to you all.
The  Excel Hero Academy starts on August 1st so I obviously need to tell you about it now! There is not much time left to sign up.

Daniel Ferry, an Excel MVP, runs the Excel Hero Blog and the Excel Hero Academy. If you have a chance check out his blog and this course he is offering.
I will tell you that I am only recommending advanced Excel users take a look at it - that is strictly my opinion, of course.
There is no CPE currently being offered although Daniel and I are going to talk about that and see if we can offer CPE in the future on Excel Hero Academy or some portion of it.

The content, recommendations of others and testimonials from prior students is impressive and I would recommend this course anyway however I do want to let you know that I will receive a small fee if you register for the course.
Here is the list of the 12 (very in-depth, to the point of advanced) weekly modules included in the academy (remember that each module is strongly peppered with VBA):
Click here to visit excelhero.com.

Module 1: Named Formulas

Module 2: Array Formulas and Named Formulas Continued

Module 3: Charting 1

Module 4: Dashboards 1

Module 5: Database Techniques

Module 6: Advanced and Creative Formulas

Module 7: Charting 2 with Animation

Module 8: Excel and Access

Module 9: Dashboards 2

Module 10: Classes (VBA on Steroids)

Module 11: Optimization (Speeding up large/slow workbooks)

Module 12: Extreme Excel

It looks extremely interesting and I know a few of you are licking your lips over it.  I know that I am. So, check it out and even if you don't have the time to take this particular session-(there will be others), check out Daniel's blog as you may find that useful too.
Click here to visit excelhero.com.