Get PDFs with non-Standard Fonts and Apple Preview to Display Correctly

A project that I am working on uses non-standard fonts in the documents (in this case Myriad Pro). The documents are in Microsoft Word and then saved as PDFs for distribution. After sending out one document I got feedback that users on Apple computers did not see any text when they opened the PDF with Preview. That's bad!

I looked around for a solution and found that Preview does not work well with Open Type fonts. The solution (at least until Apple fixes their OS) is to embed the fonts in the PDF.

If you have Adobe Acrobat, you can use this procedure to setup PDF creation:
1.    You must have Adobe Acrobat installed (not just Adobe Reader)
2.    Open the Word file

Powerpoint: Add Connection Point to Shape

Routing connections in Powerpoint works well only when the ends of the connector are attached to connection points. Connection points are usually only on the corners/vertices of the shapes and you often want to connect to a different location.

You can add your own connection points by doing the following:

1. Click the shape that you want to add connection points to.
2. Right click > Edit Points.
3. Hover the mouse over the place where you want to create the connector. The mouse will change into cross hairs.
4. Left click one time. DO NOT move the mouse.
5. Right click > Add point.

You now have a new connector at that location.

[Source Indezine]

Windows: Fit Filenames in Windows Explorer

If you want to resize the columns in the Windows Explorer to be able to see complete filenames, you can use this keyboard shortcut:

• Press and hold the Control key and then press the Plus key (Cntl + +)

I tested this under Windows 7.

Windows: Change the OEM Background Image

If you want to change the background image for your logon screen, all you need to do is change the default image located in this directory:

C:\Windows\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds

More extensive instructions can be found at TechSpot.

[Source Techspot]

Gmail: Multiple Email Addresses

Today I was learning how to become a Gmail Ninja and I came across a nice addition to Gmail. You can have multiple email address sent to the same address just by adding a plus sign (+). For example, if my email is GmailNinja@gmail.com, I can create:

• GmailNinja+Spam@gmail.com
• GmailNinja+Lists@gmail.com
• GmailNinja+Recipes@gmail.com

All of the above will be delivered to GmailNinja@gmail.com.

Why is this important you say? You can then set up filters based on the incoming email address. When you get dozens or hundreds of emails a day this can be a big time saver.

[Source Gmail]