Quick Links

Once a week we round up some of the reader questions we've answered to share with everyone. This week we're looking at how to bulk edit the authorship on Microsoft Office docs, set up port forwarding on your router, and remote controlling your Android phone.

Bulk Editing the Authorship of Microsoft Office Documents

2011-10-03_153807

Dear How-To Geek,

I have an MS Office problem that's been bugging me since forever. The Office computer I'm using was once a co-workers, and as the first user he's the "Author" of all the documents. I need to change this. I've got thousands of Office files, and have managed to alter the Author name of about 1/8 of these files to reflect my name... but doing it manually is exhausting.

Is there a way to change the default Author Name of files, and to apply this change to all files in a folder, the Computer et cetera??

Sincerely,

Office Editing in Edison

Dear Office Editing,

The first thing you want to do, if you haven't done so already, is to go to Word Options --> Popular --> Personalize Your Copy of Microsoft Office and change the default Author name to your name to ensure future documents are labeled right.

As for editing the old documents, you may want to check out this one-trick-pony application called Microsoft Word Document Properties from Easy HR. We tested it out on your behalf and it works like a champ for the simple property editing you want to do. Don't bother filling out the information block on the page; you can just click the download link and grab the file. Install it, search for the Word documents within the directory you specify, and then you can change the Author to your name. We'd highly recommend copying a dozen or two documents to a test directory before running it on your entire document collection.

Configure Your Router for Port Forwarding

map-internet-check-01

Dear How-To Geek,

My new network setup involved a router (for the first time! I know, I know! I'm late to the party) and apparently to get some of my apps to function right I need to set up port forwarding. The only thing is I don't really know what the heck I'm doing. Is port forwarding like getting your mail forwarded? Is that a terrible analogy? Help!

Port Baffled in Buffalo

Dear Port Baffled,

It's not a bad analogy at all. Port forwarding is simply where your router takes a data stream (whether coming out of your network or into it) and links it to a new port number. It's a little switch-a-roo that happens inside the router to keep everything running smoothly even though the ports you're displaying to the world and the ports you're using inside your network aren't the same. We've actually got an in-depth guide explaining port forwarding and how to configure your router to take advantage of port forwarding here. It should answer all your questions and help you get your router running the way you want it to.

Remote Control An Android Device

2011-02-02_155838

Dear How-To Geek,

This might be a First World Problem but it's the problem I've got. I don't like breaking my concentration to pick up my Android phone in order to respond to texts (we use them a lot in my job) or other phone-based tasks. I like staying focused on the monitor in front of me! How can I remote control and remote view my Android phone? I'd like to be able to plug it in to the computer to charge and simultaneously remote control is with my mouse and keyboard.

Sincerely,

Android Tweaking in Texas

Dear Android Tweaking,

It might be a very specific problem to have but it's a problem we have a solution for (and it's something we do around the office for exactly the reasons you describe: focus and ease of use with a keyboard and mouse). We use the Android SDK plus Java-based Android Screencast. It's not exactly the most intuitive system to setup but it is really easy to use once you've done the initial configuration. Check out our guide here.


Have a pressing tech question? Shoot us an email at ask@howtogeek.com and we'll do our best to help.