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How to turn a PDF into an editable text document using Adobe Acrobat and gmail February 21, 2008

Posted by esanders in : How To, Uncategorized, Windows XP , add a comment

Ever have a PDF with text on it that you wanted to ‘extract’ or edit? Let’s say you’ve scanned in a list of names and addresses and now want to take that information and put it into an Excel spreadsheet. Here’s how to pull that text out of that PDF so you can edit it:

IN ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0:

Step 1: Open the PDF and make sure it is right-side up. If it is not, rotate it by clicking on the DOCUMENT menu and then ROTATE PAGES.

Step 2: In the DOCUMENT menu, go to RECOGNIZE TEXT USING OCR, then START. Select ALL PAGES and hit OK. This should recognize the text in the file and realign the document.

Step 3: Save the file. You aren’t done yet!

IN GMAIL:

Step 4: E-mail the file to yourself at your gmail e-mail address. You’ll need gmail for this, as it seems to be the only e-mail system that can open PDFs as text files.

Step 5: In gmail, instead of downloading the PDF attachment, hit VIEW AS HTML. Voila, you now have text that you can copy and paste into any other program!

To Install a Printer on Your Computer at Collegiate January 11, 2008

Posted by Alex in : Software, Windows XP , add a comment

To Install a Printer on Your Computer at Collegiate:Printing Press

To make this new network copier your default printer:

To change to single sided printing:

If you don’t have a printers folder on your desktop, do the following:

  1. Click on on Start ->
  2. Printers and Faxes ->
  3. Add a Printer -> Next
  4. Select “A Network Printer, or a Printer attached to another computer” and click Next
  5. Click Next to find a printer in the directory
  6. To view all printers available for installation, click Find Now. For a specific printer, put the first few letters in the name box and then select Find Now.
  7. Select the Printer from the list and press OK
  8. Select whether you want this printer to be the default printer on your computer and click Next
  9. Click Finish to complete the installation.

Photo Credit: http://flickr.com/photos/ezra/640931/

Getting Your Files Organized February 15, 2007

Posted by admin in : February 2007 Professional Development, Windows XP , add a comment

Learning Goal: To know where your files are, organize them in My Documents,Organized and back them up.

Organizing Your Files
Cheat Sheet

Click My Computer.
Click the folder that needs organizing.
Maximize the folder.
Click on the FOLDERS button on the toolbar at the top. Use this to help reorganize files.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I make a new folder? Right click outside of all other folders and choose NEW and then FOLDER. Type the name of the folder immediately and click outside of it.
How do I move a file? Just DRAG and DROP it into the new location. If you can’t see both folders, you can also CUT it from the original folder and PASTE it in the correct destination.
How do I rename a file? Simply right click on it and choose RENAME
How do I delete a file? First you need to know that once you do it, it is permanent! Deleting is easy. Right click on the file and choose DELETE, then confirm in the next window. If you want to delete several files at once, select them but using the CTRL-Click method. Then Right click on one of the selected files and choose DELETE.
Where should I save my pictures? If they are school related photos put them in the shared photos folder for the respective division. If they are personal photos, put them in your My Documents folder.
I know I saved a file but I can’t find it anywhere. How do I search for a file? Go to START – SEARCH and follow the prompts. Still can’t find it, click on ADVANCED SEARCH OPTIONS to tell the computer where to search or to search for a word or phrase in the file.

Image Credit: http://flickr.com/photos/hawkexpress/183285256/ 

Getting the Most Out of Your Laptop/Tablet: February 14, 2007

Posted by admin in : February 2007 Professional Development, Windows XP , add a comment

Defragmenting the HD:Disk Cleanup
On a frequently used hard drive, the files become broken up into non-contiguous chunks as they are created, modified and deleted. This slows the drive down. The defrag utility reassembles the files.

  1. Right-click on My Computer and choose manage
  2. Click Disk Defragmenter in the left column, which will load the defragmenter in the main part of the window
  3. Make sure the C: drive is selected in the list at the top. then click the analyze button
  4. If the drive requires defragmentation, it will prompt you do start the process

Running a chkdsk on the HD:
If a drive is heavily fragmented, chances are it has some file system corruption also. Running chkdsk repairs the corruption.

  1. Open My Computer, then right click on the C: drive and select Properties
  2. Click the Tools tab, and then click Check For Errors
  3. Check both checkboxes, and click Start
  4. You will be asked if the check should be done at the next restart. Click Yes, then restart the computer

Running Disk Cleanup on Your Computer:
Disk Cleanup removes temporary files from you hard drive. This can free up gigabytes of space on an actively used computer.

  1. Open My Computer, then right click on the C: drive and select Properties
  2. Click on Disk Cleanup
  3. Disk Cleanup calculates free space it can clean up on your hard drive.
  4. Check all of the boxes except Microsoft Office Install Files.
  5. Click OK and confirm that you want to delete the files by clicking OK.
  6. Once this is done, you may want to defragment your hard drive again.

Power Management:
Depending on you power source (i.e. battery of AC) and your needs, you may need to adjust the power settings. Click on the green power meter in the taskbar, and choose Maximum Performance or Maximum Battery Life, depending on your requirements

Symantec liveupdate and manual virus scan:
If you take your laptop home with you over the summer, it won’t be able to contact our server to download virus definition updates. You will need to run the liveupdate process to manually download virus definitions.

  1. Every 1-2 weeks, open Symantec Antivirus by double clicking the yellow sheild icon in the system tray, or run it from the start menu
  2. Click the liveupdate button to start the update process

Wireless/Access Connections:
You connection to wireless networks is managed by Thinkvantage Access Connections. If the Access Connections status icon has a red “X” over it, you are not connected to the network. (SCREENSHOT NEEDED) To reconnect to the network:

  1. Press Fn-F5 on your keyboard.
  2. Make sure the “connection profiles” tab is selected in the window that pops up, and click on the profile of your choice, e.g. “Collegiate” or “home”.

To connect to your home wireless network with Access Connections, check out our tutorial: http://blogs.collegiateschool.org/tech/2006/12/13/configuring-access-connections-for-wireless-at-home/

System Tray:
If you computer is running slowly, you might have nonessential programs running in the background. Often these programs will have icons in the right side of the Task Bar, which is called the System Tray.

  1. If you hover your mouse pointer over an icon, a Tool Tip will pop up with the name of the program
  2. To quit a nonessential program, right click on it’s icon and choose quit or exit

Toolbars:
Don’t install toolbars!! See below:

Too Many Toolbars

Disk Photo Credit: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/330155843_2cbf7546e9.jpg?v=0

Resetting Your Password December 14, 2006

Posted by admin in : FirstClass, Windows XP , add a comment

Resetting Windows Password:
Log into Windows
Press Control + Alt + Delete and select Change Password.

Resetting First Class Password:
From your First Class Desktop select Collaborate -> Change Password