Skip to content

Computer Tips

Searching within a Web page – Video Tip

This tip falls in the category of “wow, that’s easy to do, I wish I would have known about it long ago!”

When you are on a particularly long web page and need to find a term or phrase, click on Edit from your menus, then Find (or Find in page on some browsers). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + F. You will be presented with a small window that allows you to enter a word or phrase and then the computer will look for that word on the page and bring you right to it.

As with many other features, Mozilla Firefox’s implementation of this feature is superior to all other browsers, as it gives you helpful extras like find the next or previous occurrence of the word or phrase you are looking for and even has an option to highlight all the occurrences on the page. (See the accompanying picture). 

Firefoxs Find in Page toolbar 

This tip is especially helpful for genealogy researchers. Sometimes your eyes can become crossed looking for a surname in a sea of text. Use the find function instead and cut your work and eye strain in half!

If you need to look for the same term again on the same page, you will notice that the function gives you the option to find again without retyping.

This type of search works best with single words, but you can experiment with phrases as well.

You can also use the Find function in Word Processing documents, email, spreadsheets, and PDF files as well.

Watch the short video below to see this tip in action in both Firefox and Internet Explorer.

This does not have to happen to you

One of my main goals here at HelpMeRick.com is to help make computers and technology a usable, productive tool for ALL computer/tech users. The information contained within these digital walls does just that…providing you read and practice the tips. I often stand on my backup soap box here on the web site as well as with my clients and on… Read More »This does not have to happen to you

Technology Symbols

I recently came across a handy and well done infographic describing common technology or user interface (UI) symbols from the Edudemic.com web site. It is quite a large infographic so I broke down the original, which is the first image pictured below, and made individual items of the symbols. Also, I created 3 new symbols I thought were important at… Read More »Technology Symbols

Easily create labels with Microsoft Word

Printing labels can save you a lot of time and energy IF you approach the job correctly. Since Microsoft Word is still the leading word processor, I will discuss how to print labels with it. Today's tip will not discuss Mail Merge, as that is another can of worms for another day. For printing mail merge style labels, refer to this tip .

This tip will help you print a single label or a full sheet of labels with the same address or text.

Word Label dialog box
  1. Start Microsoft Word.
  2. Click Tools —> Envelopes and Labels from the menus (in the newest version of Word, you will find it in the Letters and Mailings section of the Tools menu).
  3. Click the Labels tab in the box that pops up.
  4. Type the address you want to print on the label (see #1 in the illustration).
  5. Click the Options button (see #2 in the illustration) to choose the type of label you are printing (try to purchase Avery labels or labels that have Avery compatible numbers on them).
  6. Click whether you want a full sheet of labels or just a single label (see #3 in the illustration).
    • If you are printing a single label, you can reuse a sheet of labels over and over by choosing the appropriate row and column that is next to print on your sheet.
  7. Before clicking Print, check to see if the address has spilled over onto the next line (in #1). If so, that indicates that the font size is too large for the chose label type. To correct this, highlight the entire address with your mouse, the RIGHT click it and choose font to make adjustments.
  8. Click New Document to see how the labels will look.
  9. Now print the labels on a regular sheet of paper and hold them up to a blank sheet of labels to make sure they will print appropriately. If it does, then load your labels in the printer tray (remember to load them the proper direction).

When finished printing, you can close and save the document if it is a sheet that you will use again in the future. Otherwise, just close and don't save the document.