Free Office Apps

It has been over a year since I actively blogged.  I have begun writing the 6th edition of the Informatics and Nursing textbook, so will blog news as I learn.  The most amazing change in the horizon is the advent of free office apps other than Google Drive.

Microsoft now provides access to free versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote with Office.com.  Microsoft also has a free version of Outlook and provides email, calendar, and people (contacts).  Create a user name and password to access the resources.

The free Microsoft apps allow you to download the files you create or save them to your Dropbox account.

Apple also provides free apps for users and 1 GB of file.  You create a free login to iCloud first at http://www.icloud.com.  When you open you iCloud site, you will see Contacts, Notes, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Settings.

Enjoy exploring these new features! 

Reasons to Use iCloud if You have an iPad and/or iPhone

iCloud just got better!  There are several reasons to use the cloud storage site if you have an iPhone or iPad.

• From a security perspective, I suggest having your location finder turned on on the remote devices (yes, it does require additional battery use). The advantage is that you can use iCloud to find your iPad or iPhone.  Whether you have misplaced the device or it was stolen - if the device is turned on - you will be able to see on a map where it is located.
• New iCloud beta apps have promise!  You can drag and drop files including those created with Excel and PowerPoint.
• Pages
• Numbers
• Keynote

eBook Progress

I have been writing an eBook, Introduction to Data Analysis for Healthcare Professionals: Spreadsheet and Database Applications, for several weeks. As noted previously, the plan is to have the book in the Apple iBooks store at no charge.  I plan to use iBooks Author, so for the moment, am writing the book using MS Word.  To prepare the text for iBooks Author, I will save the text as a text file (.txt).  Once the final draft is completed, I will copy the text into iBooks Author.  The next steps will be to add the graphics and video files. I will design the videos as the last.The videos will be created using ScreenFlow.

I am considering publishing a version in the Amazon bookstore as an ePub file.  I will copy the text from MS Word into Apple iWork Pages and save the file in the ePub format. Of course the ePub book will not have the interactive features that are possible with iBooks Author. 

I have chapters about spreadsheets and databases in a good working draft form.  I have started a chapter on using FileMaker Pro tutorials.  I will be covering the following:

• Spreadsheet software
• Microsoft (MS) Excel
• Apple iWork Numbers
• Google Drive Spreadsheets
• Free spreadsheet software (desktop and cloud apps)
•  Database software
• FileMaker Pro (available for  MS Windows and Mac PCs - about, includes history
• FileMaker Go
• MS Access - about, includes history
• Free database software (desktop and cloud apps)
• Spreadsheet tutorials for using
• MS Excel
• Apple iWork Numbers
• Google Drive Spreadsheets
• Database tutorials for using
• FileMaker Pro for the Mac (MS Windows users should be able to find equivalent menus)
• FileMaker Go
• MS Access

I welcome any suggestions for the eBook. 

Apple Numbers Spreadsheet Software Tutorials

I am working on writing my eBook for the ePublishing project.  One of the spreadsheet software discussed in the book will be Apple Numbers from iWork.  It is fascinating to see the differences between Numbers and Excel.  The most significant difference is that Numbers allows the user to have a "canvas" where multiple tables (individual spreadsheets) and charts can be displayed.  The second most notable difference is the ease at which the user can change the display of data.  The third big difference is the number of templates for the user to choose from when opening the program. Excel users will be pleasantly surprised.

There are a number of tutorials for learning Numbers.  The Apple iWork website has a number of short tutorials at https://www.apple.com/iwork/tutorials/#numbers

Of course, YouTube is always a great source for tutorials.  Other tutorials can be located at Lynda.com.  I will be posting some of the Lynda.com tutorials that can be shared on this blog, although they are all probably available on YouTube, too.

The Lynda.com Essentials tutorial is online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uq_DYR0Vi8
I have embedded that video below.