Crabby Office Lady

The Clip Art and Media site is most popular area of Office Online. This week's column is all about learning to use the site and taking advantage of all it has to offer.

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We have more than 140,000 pieces of art on the Clip Art and Media site and sometimes it seems like you just can't find the one you need. This week I give you some tips about how to search for the perfect clip, how to get it onto your computer, and what you need to know about using the clips you've chosen.

Find clips

There are a few ways you can find the perfect piece of art for your document, presentation, e-mail message, or whatever. And with thousands of pieces of clip art, photos, animations, and sounds available to you, educating yourself about the easiest ways to find what you're looking for is a good idea, and frankly, not that difficult to do, after you learn a few searching techniques.

• Use the Search box  If you know exactly what you want, type your want into the Search box. If you know that you want a photograph, make sure you choose Photos from the drop-down menu in the Search box. If you want just animations, be sure to choose Animations from that drop-down list. If you aren't sure what you want, make sure that All media types is showing.
• Search within a category  If you are looking for some sort of decoration (such as a border or a frame) click the Decorative Elements category under the Browse Clip Art and Media Categories heading (in an orange box in the middle of the page). This will populate the Search box with all the clips that have the keywords decorative elements and then you can narrow your search from there. For example, you can then search for birthday or Independence Day and get just the decorative element you need.
• Search by style  If there is a specific type of style or artistic rendering that you want, you can find all the images we have in our database that match that style. For example, if you found a clip that doesn't really match what you need but whose style you really like, click on the thumbnail of the clip. If there are other clips from within that style, then in the preview of that clip, along with File name, Media type, Dimensions, File size, and Keywords, will be a heading called Style. Click on that Style number and your page will populate with all the clips we have that are within that style.

   Note   Not all clips have styles associated with them.

  
  Using the example of the Decorative Elements category and the Independence Day keywords, I found a clip that I not only wanted to use for my Independence Day party invitation border, but I also saw that the style of this border — the specific type of artist rendering — was available in other clips.
  
  
  When I clicked style number 153 a page opened with all the other clips that matched the style of this particular artist rendering. While I did not see a clip that I wanted to use for my Independence Day project this year, I like this style of clip art and can use the Style 153 clips for other things.
  
  
• Keywords  You may have noticed, in the first image under the Style item, that there are other keywords associated with this type of clip. You may not have thought of these words when performing your search, but by displaying the keywords already assigned to the clips, the Clip Art and Media site has provided another great way for you to find a clip that you may not have discovered without this handy feature. Just click one of the keywords from the clip you've selected, and a page populates with all the clips that match those keywords.

The best way to figure out how to find a clip…is to just do it. Play around with the techniques I've offered above and you'll get the hang of it. Judging from some of the mail I get, many of you just use the Search box, don't find exactly what you need, and then give up (and sometimes even send me a diatribe lambasting the lack of clips we offer).

Folks, sometimes just using the Search box won't pull up what you're looking for. Maybe that particular word you searched for shouldn't be in singular form; maybe you need to try searching for its plural. For example, if you search for "valentine" you get about seven results. However, if you search for "valentines" you get about 480 results. But even if you did search for the singular "valentine" you can click one of the results, and use the keywords associated with it to bring up all sorts of valentine-related clips, such as arrows, hearts, and flowers. My point is this: We do our best to make what's available as discoverable to you as possible. The clips are there — you just need to learn some techniques for finding them.

Customize how your clip art search results are displayed

You can choose how many thumbnail images of clips you want to view on one screen, and you can also choose the size of thumbnails. You can even determine the size of the preview that appears in the Properties window.

 Note    The more thumbnails you show on one screen or the larger the size of the thumbnails, the slower your browser performance may be.

To change the number and size of thumbnails that appear on a screen

1. Click Options, located at the upper right of the page below the Search box.
2. Pick the number of thumbnails you would like to see per screen. If you want, you can also choose the size of the thumbnails.
3. Click Save. (You may have to click the Refresh button in your browser to see the change.)

To change the size of the preview that appears in the Properties window

1. Click Options, located at the upper right of the page below the Search box.
2. Click the size you want, Medium or Large.
3. Click Save. (Again, you may have to click the Refresh button in your browser to see the change.)

To change the size of a clip's preview after you click its thumbnail

• In the Properties window of the clip whose thumbnail you clicked, click Bigger Preview.

Your settings are stored in a cookie and are specific to the computer you are working on. So, if you have cookies disabled in your browser, the changes you make will only affect the current session.

Get the clips onto your computer

You've found the perfect clip for your document or presentation. So how do you get it from the site to your computer? We make it pretty simple.

Procedure #1: Download a bunch of clips at the same time into the Microsoft Clip Organizer

1. Select the clip you want to use by clicking the checkbox under it. (You do this for as many clips as you want.)
   Every clip you've selected shows up in the Selection Basket (displayed in the left-navigation pane), which shows how many clips you've selected and the total download size. You can also click Review Basket to double-check the images you've chosen.
2. Now it's time to download the clips to your computer. Click the link in your Selection Basket. Then you'll be whisked off to the Download page.
3. On the Download page you can see what you're about to download — the number of clips and their sizes — and you can review your basket one more time.
4. The Download page tells you that your clip art will be imported into Clip Organizer 2002 or newer, and your clips will be stored in in the Microsoft Clip Organizer folder in My Pictures. (See? You don't have to choose where to put the clips; we do it for you.)
5. Click Download Now and then click Open.
6. Clip Organizer will open and you'll see your clips.

 Note   Clip Organizer organizes your clips by keyword, type, and so on. However, if you're having trouble finding the clips you downloaded, look in the Downloaded Clips folder in the Microsoft Clip Organizer — they're all in there and you can organize them as you wish.

Procedure #2: Copy one clip at a time and paste it into your document

Now, if you want to use a clip right away, you can copy it into your document. This is a good way to use a clip if you know you want to use it just this one time.

1. Right-click the thumbnail clip and click Copy. Or, in the Preview window, click Copy.
2. In your document (or whatever program you want to add the art to), on the Edit menu, click Paste. You can resize it to whatever size you need.

Procedure #3: Drag clips into your document

You can also drag a clip — whether it's a photo, a sound, or whatever — into a document.

1. Click the thumbnail image of the clip you want, and then drag it to your document.
2. Position your mouse cursor at the place where you want to add the clip, and then release the mouse button to drop the clip into the document.

Now you know how to get the clips from the site onto your computer. But what if you're still having problems? You have choices you can make to try to solve your most thorny issues.

Find additional help about using the Clip Art and Media site

You can take many different routes to get the help you need when it comes to downloading clips, using them, importing them, or just about anything else you may want to do when adding art.

Built-in Help

Your first stop should be to click the Help button at the top right of the Clip Art and Media site. From there, a little window will pop up offering information ranging from how to download clips to your computer to what the ActiveX control that we require you to download in order to use our site is about.

Discussion groups

To access the newsgroup, click the Read our newsgroup link on the left side of the Clip Art and Media home page. After you reach the Microsoft Office Discussion Groups site, you'll see a number of discussion threads. Each thread contains a series of related messages that either respond to an earlier message or address the overall topic in some way.

• You can read the posts in this discussion group in a number of ways.   If you click a plus symbol by one of the threads, that thread expands so that you can see the original post and all the responses to it. If you click a minus symbol, the thread collapses so that you just see the subject line of an individual post within the thread.
• Ask a question or post a message  When you're ready to ask a question (or, good for you, answer a question), a few steps are involved.
1. Click New, and then choose Questions, Suggestion for Microsoft, or General comment. A message form appears in which you can ask your question or share some information regarding clip art. Your question will appear in the list of discussion threads.

    Note   You do need to sign into your Microsoft Passport account in order to post a question or comment. If you aren't already signed in, you will be prompted to do so. And if you don't already have an account, we'll walk you through it (it's free).

2. Likewise, to reply to a question or comment, simply click a message and then click Reply. Your message will appear as a reply when you click on the plus sign next to the original discussion thread posting.
3. Use the Clip Art and Media discussion group to interact with fellow clip art users and Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs), get your questions answered, learn more about clip art, and share ideas. It's your community!

 Note   I also want to point you to a column I wrote called Crabby's Office Community courtesy chat which is an etiquette guide of sorts that lays out some of the playing rules when it comes to being a part of an Office Community.

Give us feedback

Maybe a clip offends you. Maybe you wish there were more racy images available to you. Maybe you think there aren't enough clips of men in kilts; maybe you think there are too many. Whatever your issue is, someone is always reading your well-crafted and polite feedback. (But keep in mind that old adage about how you can catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar, OK? We flies enjoy our sweetness but are willing to take in a bit of sourness in order to get you what you want.)

Suggest new content  In the left-navigation pane of the Clip Art and Media site is a link to Suggest new content. Click that link and you are whisked away to a page that lets you offer a short (3 words or less) title and a good-sized (650 characters worth) description of a clip that you think needs to be in our database.

Comment on this Web page  If it's the entire Clip Art and Media page that really bugs (or thrills) you, you can tell us about that too. Click the Comment on this Web page link in the left-navigation pane, and you can give us a real earful about what you like, what you don't like, and what you'd do to make things better if you ran the world.

Report a problem  If you have an issue with the page rendering, downloading a clip, or even getting a clip into your document, you can tell us about it.

1. On every page on the Office Online site is a Contact us link — on the Clip Art and Media site it's in the left-navigation pane under the heading Things To Do.
2. Click the Contact us link, and when you reach that page, under the heading Feedback and suggestions: Tell us what you think is a Report a problem on this Web site link.
3. In the drop-down box at the top, select Clip art and Media...and kvetch away.

So, as you can see, you have many ways to either get more assistance or offer feedback about the media we provide or the site we keep them on. So go on: Give us feedback. We take it very seriously (and never personally...never).

Legal issues

On a final note, I get a lot of questions about how you can use these clips, meaning...are they free? Basically, yes, they are free for you to use unless you are redistributing them for profit. For more information about the legalities of this, read the End-User License Agreement (the one that you agreed to before downloading your first clip).

And there you have it: The best tips and tricks I can think of to help you make the most of all the art we provide for you on the Clip Art and Media site. Now, fly, be free, and prosper through art.

Tip of the week: Buy Crabby's new book

Okay, let me admit this right off the bat: This isn't a tip. It's a shameless self-promotion. I, your dear Crabby Office Lady, have published my first book with my friends at Microsoft Press. The book comes out May 17th (available for preorder on the site listed below on May 10th, and RIGHT NOW at some other book-selling sites).

Now, I want each and every one of you to consider buying a copy (or two or five). It's based on the column, yes, but there is a ton of useful information, new jokes, and even some personal info about Crabby herself. I wrote it for anyone who works in an office and needs a little humor break along with their technical advice. Sure, it's about using Microsoft Office, but it's also about dealing with office life in general and the struggles we all go through in order to earn that paycheck. Honey, I'm right there with you. If I weren't, well, I wouldn't be the Crabby Office Lady, now would I?

So go on — buy the book: The Microsoft Crabby Office Lady Tells It Like It Is: Secrets to Surviving Office Life. You won't be sorry. It's short, it's funny, and it's (hopefully) helpful. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And please, write to me at crabby@microsoft.com and let me know what you thought of my book. I can take it — I am the Crabby Office Lady, after all. And if you can't let out all your crabbiness on me, who else is there?

"We all know that art is not the truth, art is a lie that makes us realize the truth." — Pablo Picasso

About the author

Annik Stahl, the Crabby Office Lady columnist, takes all of your complaints, compliments, and knee-jerk reactions to heart. Therefore, she graciously asks that you let her know whether this column was useful to you — or not — by entering your feedback using the Was this information helpful? tool below. And remember: If you don't vote, you can't complain.

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