Integrating with the cloud

One of the biggest changes to any of the programs you might launch from Office 2013 is this push towards cloud computing. We're going to explore it now, starting with Microsoft Word. As you can see, I've opened up a document called No Obstacles Home Recipes. If you have the exercise files, you can open it up to follow along with me, but really any document will do at this point. Next, we're going to go up to the File Tab, and I want to show you a couple of defaults. First, we'll go down to Open and click there. On the right-hand side under Open, you'll always have quick access to Recent Documents that you've worked on.

After that, the next default is SkyDrive; and you'll see the cloud icon next to it because this is cloud computing. SkyDrive is storage space in the cloud with your Windows live account, which is free, seven gigabytes of free storage space. You can always purchase more if you need it. So, by going to David Rivers' SkyDrive, it knows my name because I'm logged in as David Rivers. I have access to my Recent Folders in SkyDrive. Click, Browse, and you'll be able to see the default folders.

You get a Documents folder, a Pictures folder, and one for sharing called, Public. Now, of course, you can create as many folders as you like, creating your own folder structure all in the cloud. Let's click, Cancel, and go back to the left-hand side and click, Save As. Look what the default is at the top here for saving your documents. Again, it's SkyDrive. By selecting it, you can go to Recent Folders and browse just like we did for opening files. All right, let's go back for a second here.

We'll make a quick change to this. Let's just scroll down in our document and all we're going to do is take out the word Valued. We'll hit, Delete and now we'll go back to File. We'll click Save As; make sure your SkyDrive is selected. Now, if you haven't already logged in or set up your account you might be prompted to do so right now. Once, it's all set up, you'll have it as an option just as I do, and now, we can choose a folder such as Documents. When you select it, you're going to notice the same name and the location.

Let's click, Save and you've now just saved your document to the cloud. So, what's the big advantage? The big advantage is you now have access to it from any device that's connected to the Internet, anywhere at anytime. So, it could be another computer in another location connected to the Internet. It could be your Smartphone; it could be your tablet. As long as you're connected, you'll have anytime, any access to your documents. All right, so that's Microsoft Word, and if we switch to any of the other programs, let's go over to Microsoft Excel for example, where you may want to begin or start a brand new notebook.

This is a new Blank spreadsheet. You can see Book1 at the top. If I go up to the File Tab, under, Open, you can see the same layout. There's my SkyDrive. If I go to, Save As, look what's at the top, the default. Again, it's my SkyDrive. We'll click the Back button. Let's try one more. Let's go to PowerPoint, where again, we can start a brand New presentation. Go up to the File Tab, you're going to see a very consistent and familiar layout under Open. There's your Recent Presentations; but then again, SkyDrive is next. Go to, Save As.

There it is at the top, the default, your SkyDrive or the cloud. We'll, hit the Back button to go back and leave it at that. So, this is a push by Microsoft. You're going to get used to this cloud computing push, because it is a great advantage if you're connected, to have anytime, anywhere access to your files when you need them.