Parallels and Excel keyboard shortcut issues

I got Parallels so that I could seamlessly learn Windows Excel keyboard shortcuts for my MBA classes, on my Mac OSX Mojave Mid-2015 machine.

I didn’t want to dual-boot, because I saw my friend you before and it seemed arduous. That’s the opposite of what I need right now. Less barriers, not more.

Finally I came across a solution: https://kb.parallels.com/125000

Essentially, shutdown your Windows install > right click the Parallels icon in the dock > Select Configure. Navigate to the Keyboard and Mouse option. Change the Keyboard dropdown to “Optimize for Gaming”.

Boot up the VM of Windows and test out the keyboard shortcuts in Excel.

Mine worked. If yours did not, there is a secondary step in the KB link around this Keyboard/Excel shortcuts topic from the Parallels’ team.

How to OCR an image PDF to be able to TTS

I used FoxIT PhantomPDF with the OCR add-ons.

Step 1. Download FoxIT PhantomPDF for Mac (I used the trial as I’m hoping to get an education discount)

Step 2: Download the OCR Public add-on
Instructions: https://www.foxitsoftware.com/blog/how-to-install-ocr-in-foxit-phantompdf/

To download the Foxit OCR Add-ons, click here. Then follow the steps as shown in the image below:

1. Select the red “Foxit PhantomPDF” tab, then scroll down to the bottom of the page.
2. Select the OCR Public Add-on download
   
   * Note: You can download both of the add-ons at the same time, but you HAVE TO install the OCR PUBLIC first

Step 3. Install FoxIT PhantomPDF

Step 4: Don’t try and open the .fzip add-on files. Open FoxIT PhantomPDF > Help > Install Updates . Select the OCR Public Add-on and install it.
https://kb.foxitsoftware.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040658011-How-to-Install-FZIP-File

Step 5: Download the OCR Lang efig add-on
Instructions: https://www.foxitsoftware.com/blog/how-to-install-ocr-in-foxit-phantompdf/

To download the Foxit OCR Add-ons, click here. Then follow the steps as shown in the image below:

1. Select the red “Foxit PhantomPDF” tab, then scroll down to the bottom of the page.
2. Select the OCR Language Add-on download

Step 6: Open FoxIT PhantomPDF > Help > Install Updates . Select the OCR Lang efig Add-on and install it.
https://kb.foxitsoftware.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040658011-How-to-Install-FZIP-File

Step 7:

• Find Convert in the top menu (it is beside Home)
• Find the “OCR” item in the ribbon
• Select a file
• (if your file is greyed out try “Select Multiple”)
• (if you get an Error/Warning message, try the round about technique to get the PDF if a different state.)

Roundabout technique:

(My issues was there was a passcode. I couldn’t read the warning in the FoxIT Multiple file select. I had downloaded Adobe Acrobat on a trial to try the same thing, and it provided me with the correct error. But, FoxIT is cheaper and great service so I went back to them for the process.)

The technique is something I learned from

“How to remove password from a pdf file” by howtotutorialsin

FOR THE RECORD: I’m only doing this for accessibility reasons and I do not suggest doing this for nefarious reasons.

On your Mac, go to the .pdf in Finder. Right click on the file. Open with > Google Chrome.

Go to Print > Print as PDF.

Return to FoxIT OCR and attempt the process again.