• Why ABC is no longer published in an email version
• How to read ABC offline
• How to Save an Article as a Webpage or Plain Text
• How to print ABC
• How YOU can help keep ABC free 

Why no more email?

For three years I published both an online version and a plain text email version of ABC, which is a lot of work and very difficult because ABC articles often contain many necessary pictures and tables to make the tutorials clear and helpful, so adapting this to plain text email was always a challenge. But, since many subscribers wanted a version they could read without being connected to the Internet, I slaved away at it. 

Then I started receiving complaints from subscribers telling me the email version was too big and could I please publish it four times a month instead of once, in smaller installments.  I tried to explain that ABC is more of a magazine than a newsletter and my schedule doesn't allow me time for ABC every week ... I can give ABC one block of time from my schedule, but I can only do this once a month.  However, the complaints continued to come.

Then, with the recent increase in SPAM on the net and all of the filters that people and ISPs are using, ABC wasn't getting delivered to many people, so people were writing to me asking me to try alternative ways to break through their filters.  I tried and tried, but couldn't seem to please some people who insisted it was my problem and not theirs.

And then the final straw ... people were subscribing to ABC, then forgetting they subscribed so when ABC arrived in their inboxes, they were reporting it as SPAM to their ISPs and now MY email address was being blocked when I tried to send mail to anyone using that ISP and this just made me damn mad!

Finally, I just decided that ABC's format and content are not suitable for a plain text version and I don't want to do an html email version because that would be even harder to get through the filters, so, for now anyway, ABC is only available to read at this site. I am investigating some other alternatives, like RSS, and time will tell.

I apologize to the readers who prefer to read ABC while disconnected from the Internet, and for them, I offer the following suggestions at this time:

1. Read ABC offline (this requires a pretty fast computer and lots of hard drive space)
   1. Go to the ABC's homepage and use Internet Explorer's Favorites menu to add  ABC to your Favorites.
   2. Put a check where it says "Make available offline".
   3. Click on the Customize button.
   4. Choose how many levels of of "links deep" you want to include (I recommend 3 levels so you include all articles, but if you are short on hard drive space, 2 levels will include most of what you want). Click Next.
   5. Specify a schedule for updating the page (remember ABC is updated monthly) or choose to synchronize manually. Click Next.
   6. No password is needed, so click Finish
2. After you mark your favorite pages for viewing offline, you can view them offline by following these steps:
   1. Before you disconnect from the Internet, on the Tools menu, click Synchronize.
   2. When you're ready to work offline, on the File menu, click Work Offline.
   3. In your Favorites list, click the item you want to view.
3. When you choose to work offline, Internet Explorer will always start in Offline mode until you click Work Offline again to clear the check mark.
4. If you clear your web cache from Tools>Internet Options, understand that if you put a check in the "Clear Offline Content" box, ABC's content will be erased and you'll have to download it again.

Save an Article as a Webpage or Plain Text

Another option is to make a folder on your hard drive, then go to any article you want to save and use the File menu to choose Save As.  In the dropdown at the bottom that says "Save As Type", you can choose one of the options and then can read it offline later.

Print your favorite articles

Another alternative is to print the articles that interest you.  To do this, just go to that article and select Print from your browser's File menu.  In Internet Explorer's Print Dialog Box, there is an Options tab where you can choose to print linked files also, so you could go to the table of contents page and print from there, including the linked articles, but that may be more printing than you actually want, so I recommend only printing the articles you are most interested in.  However, if you choose to print ABC, remember that ABC is copyrighted.  Read this to understand what this copyrighting entails.

Help keep ABC free

• Support the advertisers and sponsors by visiting their sites. 
• Visit the writers' websites and let them know you learned about them through their ABC articles.
• Donate to ABC through the PayPal button on the right sidebar.
• Contribute your own articles and tips.  All help is welcomed.  Just send them to linda@personal-computer-tutor.com
• Bookmark ABC and come back often.
• Recommend ABC to your friends

And thank you all for your loyal patronage.
Linda

Linda Johnson is a college instructor of all of the Microsoft Office Programs, as well as Adobe PhotoShop and Windows. She also teaches online distance learning classes in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word at Eclectic Academy. She has worked helpdesk and teaches and lectures at many local businesses and tech schools in her area. Support this newsletter by checking out Linda's eBooks, MS Word MAGIC!, Book I: Fonts, Fun & Formats and Book II: Table Wizardry, How To Get Started As a Software Trainer, and her newest series of MSOffice eBook Tutorials and CD