Hands On: Microsoft Whiteboard App

Hands On: Microsoft Whiteboard App

Last year during Microsoft Ignite in Orlando, I sat in on a presentation about a new collaborative tool for the Windows 10 desktop called Microsoft Whiteboard.

Microsoft already had a collaboration tool for its Surface Hub line of devices; the idea behind this new app was to bring that level of group creativity from the conference room to the desktops, laptops, and tablets running Windows 10.

In December of last year, the Microsoft Whiteboard App preview was released in the Microsoft Store. Since then it has been updated multiple times and continues to become more robust through bug fixes, performance enhancements, and feature additions.

The app is reliable enough after five months of availability for daily use. So why not try it?

Get started by downloading it from the Microsoft Store and then opening the app for the first time so it can be associated with your Microsoft Account.

Let’s look at the app and some of the features that will be at your disposal.

When you open the app, you will see your default whiteboard and an option to begin a new one.

Any open whiteboard will have additional options available by selecting the ellipsis menu.

Here you can invite someone to collaborate via email or copy the invitation URL to the clipboard so it can be shared through other channels such as chat or social media. You can also export an image of the entire whiteboard to keep and file for safe keeping.

That image option is quite important if you want to retain what has been created in the collaboration session. The last option on that ellipsis menu is to leave the whiteboard. Once you do that, it is gone for good — so export it to an image file for long term retention or just leave it available in the app.

If you select the option on the main page to create a new whiteboard, you will see the above default whiteboard.

It immediately highlights the option for sharing your whiteboard.

Take note of the bar across the bottom of the app window to find your various tools/functions.

From left to right:

• Undo
• Redo
• Finger Inking (this works with your mouse as well)
• Pens (Black, Red, Blue, Green, Rainbow, Galaxy, Highlighter, Eraser, Selector, Ruler)
• Send Feedback (it is a preview so they do appreciate your comments/suggestions)
• Zoom
• Settings

You can use the same options I mentioned earlier for sharing a whiteboard from the main start screen of the app, including email and copying the URL to the clipboard. The export -to-image option is also available here.

In the bottom right corner, there is a settings icon. Selecting that will give you two options.

• Ink to Shape: Draw a complete circle by hand and it will change the inking to a smooth perfect circle.
• Ink to Table: Same idea as the circle option above except you draw a table and it will be converted to a smooth table.

You will be able to ink inside of both images once they take their clean form.

Here are some examples of smoothed out images from my hand drawing of a circle, square, triangle, and table.

Sharing whiteboard link to clipboard confirmation.

Collaborating with other users after sharing the whiteboard link on Twitter.

In addition to all the inking and drawing options in the whiteboard app, you can also include images by pasting them into the app or dragging the file onto the whiteboard.

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Whether you are collaborating for work or fun, the Microsoft Whiteboard App can accommodate many different styles of sharing. Let me know what you think of it once you try it out — I’m on Twitter as @winobs.

How to Work with Large Spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel

These tips and tricks can help you more easily handle a huuuuuge spreadsheet.

You’ve created an Excel spreadsheet that stretches beyond what you can see on the screen, maybe one that encompasses hundreds of rows or columns. And now working with and navigating that spreadsheet has become slow and clumsy.

Do you need to pare down your spreadsheet? Nope, don’t change it. Instead, you can tap into various tools and features in Excel to use and move around your big spreadsheet. Here’s what you can do:

• Certain keyboard shortcuts can hop around your spreadsheet in the blink of an eye.
• You can also name cells or ranges of cells to move to them by name.
• You can filter the data in a row to see only certain content.
• You can freeze specific rows and columns, such as header rows, so they’re always visible.
• And you can split your spreadsheet to see more than one area. Let’s check out the different ways to work with large Excel spreadsheets.

I’m using Excel 2016 for the examples here, but you should be able to apply the same tricks in the past couple of versions of the program.

To start, load Excel and create or open a large spreadsheet. Your spreadsheet should have several rows and columns. For our purposes, it doesn’t matter what data is in your spreadsheet. You can just copy the same rows and columns over and over.

But make sure your spreadsheet has a header row and a column header.

Let’s start off with some keyboard shortcuts to travel around the spreadsheet. Try the following maneuvers:

• Ctrl+Home – moves to the first active cell in the worksheet.
• Ctrl+End – moves to the last active cell in the worksheet.
• Ctrl+Right Arrow – moves to the last active cell in your current row.
• Ctrl+Left Arrow – moves to the first active cell in your current row.
• Ctrl+Down Arrow – moves to the last active cell in your current column.
• Ctrl+Up Arrow – moves to the first active cell in your current column.
• Page Down – moves down one screen at a time.
• Page Up – moves up one screen at a time.
• Alt+Page Down – moves to the right one screen at a time.
• Alt+Page Up – moves to the left one screen at a time.
• Ctrl+Shift+Arrow Key – selects all the active cells in your current row or column starting from your cursor.
• Ctrl+Shift+End – selects all the active cells in your worksheet starting from your cursor.
• Ctrl+Spacebar – selects your entire current column.
• Shift+Spacebar – selects your entire current row.

Next, you can jump to a specific cell by using the Go To function.

• Press F5 or Ctrl+G.
• At the Go To window, type the cell you wish to move to in the reference field.
• Click OK, and your cursor jumps to that cell.

The Go To window keeps a history of cells that you’ve visited so you can easily make a return trip by clicking on a specific reference.

You can also hop to a specific cell by typing its reference in the Name Box in the upper left corner below the Ribbon.

With a large spreadsheet you can’t easily keep track of the data in each cell. In that case, you may want to name a cell or range of cells to jump to them by that name:

• Move to a cell that you want to name. Right-click on the cell and select the command to Define Name.
• In the New Name window, type a name to christen this cell. You must start the name with a letter or underscore. You can’t include spaces, dashes, or other special characters. Stick with letters, numbers, and an underscore if you need it. Keep the name short but descriptive.

You can also name a range of cells. Select multiple contiguous cells in a row or column, right-click on your selection, click on Define Name, and then name the range.

To jump to one of your named cells or cell ranges, click on the Name Box to see a list of all the names. Click on the name of the cell or range you want to visit.

You can always filter the data in a row to see only specific values or records. I covered this topic in my article on How to Sort and Filter Your Data in Microsoft Excel, so you can refer to that story for tips and tricks on how to set up and use a filter.

Scroll too far down or too far to the right, and you can no longer see your header row or first column. But you can fix that. To keep the header row always visible, click on the View tab, click on the Freeze Panes icon, and select the option to Freeze Top Row.

To freeze the first column instead, repeat the first two steps and select the option to Freeze First Column.

You can also freeze both the first row and first column:

• Place your cursor in cell B2. Click on the Freeze Panes icon and select the option to Freeze Panes.
• Now you can scroll down or scroll to the right, and both the first row and first column remain visible.

And you can freeze other sections in the spreadsheet. Move your cursor to a random cell several rows and columns in. Click on the Freeze Panes icon and select the option to Freeze Panes. Any cells to the left of or above your current cell stay visible as you move around.

To stop your spreadsheet from freezing, click on the Freeze Panes icon and select the option to Unfreeze Panes.

Finally, you can split your spreadsheet to view more than one section at the same time. To split your sheet horizontally, place your cursor in the first cell in the row where you want to split the sheet (or select the entire row). Click on the Split icon on the View Ribbon. Move your cursor on top of the divider bar until it turns into a line with two arrows. Hold down your mouse button and move the bar up or down to change its location.

To split your sheet vertically, select the row where you want the split to occur and click on the Split icon. Again, you can move the divider bar to a different spot.

And you can split your sheet both horizontally and vertically. Move your cursor to a cell several rows and columns in. Click on the Split icon. Now you can move either horizontally or vertically in any of the four sections of your sheet. Move your cursor to the center of the divider bar. Hold down your mouse, and now you can adjust the location of the bar.