How to reduce Microsoft Word 2003 File Size

As you would all know, MS 2007 has far more features than MS 2003. One thing that often gets missed out is file size reduction in MS 2007. However, unfortunately, not everyone still recognizes docx or xlsx as official MS Office stuff, as they are still using doc, xls etc.

Now, in case you are in a situation where you have a MS 2003 word file which has a large size and you want to get it reduced. One way would be to convert this to an MS 2007 file. This way, the size is bound to reduce (Everything apart from image size). If you still have to submit an MS 2003 file only, you can then save this MS 2007 file as an MS 2003 file.

Just to reiterate

1. Take your large size MS 2003 file.
2. Save it as an MS 2007 file.
3. Resave it as an MS 2003 file.

And it's done!

Cricket 2.0

A news of IPL is just out that talks about the "One Over Eliminator" taking over the "Bowl Out" feature of IPL. Find out about this new feature for tied matches, as you read ahead.

The world of Cricket is no different from any other industry of the world. Even here, we have newer trends coming in everyday, with newer ways of serving the target segment.

At first, there were Test matches - the orthodox, real game of cricket. 5 days in the field, and a battle across 4 innings to have a possible winner.

With time, the spectators got more demanding - they wanted faster results and matches to be more exciting, as Test matches often ended in draws. This brought in the concept of LOIs (Limited Overs International) with a fixed number of overs per side (60). Seeing that this concept was emerging fast, Test matches sort of took second place. And with time, the number of overs became 50 a side.

Superior technology finally brought in the concept of a 3rd umpire, which made run out decisions more acceptable.

After this, things stabilized quite a bit. But everywhere around, new innovations were being tried. The strongest of these innovations was the Twenty20 concept. And with time, it also took part of the centre stage. There was an ICC World Cup for Twenty20 (obviously won by the best team, beating their arch rivals ;-) ) This led to a newer concept - IPL.

IPL has been ICC's baby. They have promoted it extensively, and kept innovating with it as well. With IPL, the focus is clearly shifting from hard core sports to entertainment. The "product" Cricket is now "packaged" for entertainment. This can of course have its own advantages and disadvantages.

Another aspect worth mentioning is the rate of innovation in IPL, like the No-ball rule which now includes a Free Hit. And now they have come up with the latest change in the next version of IPL - they have pushed out the concept of Bowl Out, and introduced the One over Eliminator. This would be like a Tie-Breaker, where each side gets one over to show their worth. They have to select 3 batsmen and 1 bowler form their team. If the team loses 2 wickets, then the team is "All out". Also, if the 2 teams are tied at the end of this contest, then the team that has hit the maximum number of sixes in their innings would win. If that too is same, then it would be the maximum number of fours that decides the winner.

How are they able to bring in such rules? First of all, because it isn't nations fighting against each other, it is just power performers. So, the spectator enjoys watching good shots from both teams, good bowling from both teams, and rarely goes back really disappointed with who has actually won the contest. Though it is difficult to generate that passion as a country against country match would bring in, it is well substituted with entertainment, and it is exactly as long as it should be. For example, if you have 3 hours to spare and nothing to do, you know you can use this as a source of entertainment if it is happening.

And that is why I call this version of Cricket as Cricket 2.0 - it reaches new boundaries at new levels and offers a lot of entertainment, without asking you to invest too much.

Is this the way ahead? Can IPL replace One Day Internationals (ODIs) and test matches? Do you like the packaging that IPL brings to cricket? Do write your comments on the Wall!

Finally Gmail has folders! Find out how to use them

Google has finally decided to directly compete with Yahoo! in their mail service. In this post, I will explain how you can move mails into a folder, and later in the same post I will explain how you can apply filters in your mail so that a mail can automatically be moved to a specific folder.

Gmail, as you might have noticed has got a different template for its buttons now. What you may not have noticed however, is the "Move to" button in Gmail now.

If you select a mail from your Inbox, and click the Move To Button, it gives you the option of moving this mail out of your Inbox and into any existing folder (something they term as LABEL). You can also create new folders, which are then listed in the Left Menu (under chat) in your Gmail. When you click on the folder names, Gmail will accordingly show you the relevant mails.

What is the difference from earlier? Earlier, Google only allowed you to Label incoming mail with whatever you wanted. Those mails would remain in your Inbox, though you would clearly be able to see their label there itself. This wasn't particularly convenient - especially compared to Yahoo mail, where the design of folders just rocks. This new feature from Google completely changes the equation of competition between Yahoo mail and Gmail.

Now, one feature of Yahoo which is still better than Gmail is Filtering. You can easily make a mail move to a particular folder using filters. However, this feature is not directly there with Gmail. However, there is a small workaround with which you can replicate the Yahoo feature.

Say you want to move all mails you get from xyz@gmail.com into a folder called XYZ. You need to perform the following steps to complete the action.

1. Click on Settings in Gmail at the right Top of the browser screen.
2. Click on Filters in the Top Menu under Settings
3. Click on Create a New Filter
4. At the top of the screen, you would now see various ways of making a filter. In this case, we want to move all mails sent from xyz@gmail.com into a folder called XYZ. So, first enter xyz@gmail.com in the From field at the top. Click on Next Step.
5. Now, you would see multiple options of what can be done with these mails. Here, you will need to select "Skip the Inbox (archive it)", and also select "Apply the Label", and specify the label name or create a new one.
6. You can now apply the filter to existing mails as well as new mails by selecting the checkboxex accordingly.
7. Save your filter, and test run it to confirm.
8. So the next time xyz@gmail.com mails you, the mail would automatically go to that folder, and what's more, it will even be highlighted as XYZ (1) when a mail comes.

In case of any queries, do write them on the wall

Google Products : Google Reader

Google Reader is a product of Google which still hasn't hit the complete set of consumers. Here's an explanation of what it is all about, and why it is really useful.

Internet is growing fast, and with that, so is the information available on the internet. Google is one company of the world which has been working really hard on collecting and arranging this information. Imagine being in an internet space where you didn't know how to search for relevant information! I remember a time when I would not remember a website address and would spend ages trying to get the address right. That problem doesn't exist today!

Coming specifically to how Google Reader helps now. Let's take an example of the Gmail Blog.

How would you keep track of when it is updated? Should you go to the Gmail blog once in a week? Or once a day? How would you remember whether you have already read this article earlier or not? Further, what if you read multiple blogs / news articles online? Would you go to each website and look for information updates?

Google Reader is a one stop solution for all these problems and many more. All you need to do is, go to Google Reader and click on "Add a Subscription on the Left Top of the window. Here, you could add any blog / news address directly and Google Reader would feed the data from that site directly into this interface.


This way, you never need to go to any of those blogs again. Google Reader is exactly like an inbox of mails, where each mail is an article that has been posted on the blogs you are subscribed to. Another huge advantage is "Search". Google Reader lets you search in the blogs you are subscribed to. This guarantees relevant results, as you are specifically defining which blogs / news articles you want to refer to.

For example, if you subscribe to NDTV news today. Now, you want to search for last 5 years of news on a specific company. You could search this NDTV feed, and it would give you all results of when news was published by NDTV on their online channel.

Do subscribe to the Wall on the right menu on my blog, and ask me any questions you have in mind.