Business and Careers Institute blog

PAUL’S LIFEHACK: Coordinate multiple calendars for work and home

Chief Blogger — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:30:04 +1100

Did you know you can . . .

Use Outlook's Calendar to coordinate your children's soccer matches (or your boardroom meetings), and share the calendar with all the other mums and dads (or executives)?

We're not simply talking about adding the match schedule into your calendar. We mean:
1. create a whole new calendar in your outlook profile,
2. call it the name of your beloved team (The Mighty Under 12 Tigers)
3. Add the date, time and location of every match.
4. Insert a Google map for each location.
5. Email the calendar to all the parents by clicking on "Send a Calendar via Email . . ."

Parents can either print out the calendar or add the attachment (ics file) to their own Outlook profile. Those with with SmartPhones, iPhones or Blackberries can carry all the details with them.

Now there will never be confusion over the match schedule; but there may still be disputes over who was supposed to bring the oranges.

BONUS: insert last year's match photos and merge/print with a wall calendar template. Sell the calendar to families at a sausage sizzle fundraiser

LEARN MORE at out one-day workshops in Outlook 2007.

Paul's new year's resolution suggestions

Chief Blogger — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:19:05 +1100

New years resolutions:

1. Go through my inbox and move emails to folders and archive old emails.

2. Create document templates to speed up report generation.

3. Link spreadsheets to avoid copy and paste.

4. Extract leads from database ready for marketing campaign.

5. Enrol in a course with Business and Careers Institute to learn how to do all of the above efficiently!

Paul’s tip: Avoid the "scroll nightmare"

Chief Blogger — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:33:00 +1100

Ever tried to select a large chunk of text that goes over several pages. It can be a nightmare when you are scrolling up and down trying to get to the right spot.

Here’s an easier way:

1. Single-click to position the cursor at the beginning of your selection.
2. Scroll to the page containing the end of you selection.
3. Hold Shift and Single-click after the last character in your selection.
All text in between will be highlighted.

Simple! Give it a go. You can avoid the "scroll nightmare" forever!

Goofy gadget: USB Vacuum Cleaner

Chief Blogger — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:20:00 +1100

We’re suckers for goofy gadgets. Check this one out. It’s a teeny tiny vacuum cleaner that you plug into your USB so you can vacuum the keyboard!

Do you need one? No! But it’s kind of cool.

How to keep prying eyes away from your screen

Chief Blogger — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:35:00 +1100

You’re working on a document that contains sensitive information. But nature calls and you need to go to the loo. Or you desperately need a caffeine hit.

To lock your PC to prevent prying eyes from reading your screen, all you have to do is press:

[Windows key] + L

The [Windows key] is located between the CTRL key and the ALT Key at the bottom left of your keyboard.

Then to unlock, just type in your Windows logon password. This is safe, secure and simple.

PAUL'S TIP: The magic of Alt + K in Outlook

Chief Blogger — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:02:00 +1100

Let Outlook do the checking for you. It can be embarrassing to incorrectly address an email. This keyboard shortcut is recommended more as a habit than a time-saver.

After you have typed all of your email recipient addresses, hold Alt and press K. This will check all of the addresses to ensure all of the required components are included.

1. Name
Outlook checks the name is there. (But note that it does not check the name is correct.)

2. @
This universal symbol identifies the text as a “mail to” address and separates the name from the domain.

3. Domain name
This could be a company name such as Cocacola or an internet service provider's name such as bigpond.

4. Domain extension
Preceded with a period such as .com or .gov.

5. Country extension
Preceded with a period for all countries other than USA, such as Australia .au or New Zealand .nz.

When Outlook finds a recipient address that does not contain four out of the five items above, you will be prompted to edit the address or select a name from your address book.

By pressing Alt + K just before you send, Outlook will alert you to the problem before potential embarrassment.

TIP: The best time-saving tool - EVER!

Chief Blogger — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:59:00 +1100

I had no idea how much time it would save me. "Format painter" is the little brush that looks the icon in the picture on the right:

You'll find it in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. If you have formatted some text with several format properties such as bold, italics, blue, indented, 14 point, and you want many other paragraphs to adopt the same formatting - it could take you a while if you format each section manually.

Remember Paul’s mantra: If it's slow and tedious, there must be a better way.

All you have to do is:

Highlight the text that has the correct formatting and double-click the Format Painter. Yes, you can double-click to lock the tool on.

Then highlight any text you want to adopt the same formatting. And voila! It’s done. Remember to click the format painter again to turn it off when you're done.

Try it now!

Five things Microsoft Word can do (that you've probably never thought of!)

Chief Blogger — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:53:44 +1100

FROM PAUL:
You may be familiar with Microsoft Word, but you may not know it’s much more than a word processor. Most of us know the basic functions of Word, but we don’t use most of the features it has to offer. It only takes a few minutes to learn some simple functions that can help get more done in less time – and create professional looking documents.

1. Watermark your company logo – an effective branding strategy

Would you like to subtly brand your document with your logo or another image? You can do this by creating your own watermark.

A watermark is usually just a faded picture at the top (the header) or the bottom (the footer) of your document. However, you can place text or an image in a text box in the centre of the page while you are editing your header or footer. Using picture effects, you can “washout” your logo or clipart and the result will simulate a subtle watermark on every page. This can be done in Word 2003 and it’s even easier with the Watermark tool in Word 2007.

2. Create a blog with Microsoft Word

Blogging has never been easier. If you think about it - a blog is really just text and images with links on a page. So type your blog like you would any other document, journal or report and publish it to your favourite Blog provider by simply clicking “Publish” on the new Blog Post ribbon in Word 2007.

We recommend TypePad or WordPress, but you can add any Blog provider by simply entering their URL in the accounts window.

3. Add a cover page for impact

First impressions are important. Here we’re talking about a professional cover that includes complimentary colours, images and tag lines. Oh, you’re not a desktop publisher or graphic designer? Neither are we – but when you choose the Cover Page tool from the Insert tab in Word 2007, you will be presented with some predefined, very professional cover pages that will enhance your product brochures, reports or thesis.

4. “Overline” a heading with style

Lines on a page can clutter the document, but a simple underline that separates a header, footer or chapter heading can be quite effective. Here’s what not to do: don’t use the underline tool and don’t draw a line. That’s right. Don’t use the underline tool.

The best method is to highlight the entire paragraph and use the border tool to place a line from margin to margin under, or even over your heading. This is most effecting when “overlining” the footer. If the number of words increases, don’t worry. The line will move accordingly.

5. Compare document revisions

When you want to combine or compare revisions from multiple authors, it would be good to see the original document, the revised document and a summary list of the differences - all on one screen. The Compare and Combine tool (found on the Review tab) can present your documents in this manageable view and allows you to combine the two documents into one; with control and flexibility. You can even scroll through both documents simultaneously. This is a very handy tool that will help you see the differences in the documents at a glance.

About the author: Paul Neale is a director of the Business and Careers Institute in Sydney – Australia’s leading centre for software training. To learn more about how to use Word, Excel, Outlook and other Microsoft applications so you can grow your business, double your productivity and upskill your team, sign up for our FREE newsletter “Productivity Plus” at http://www.bcinstitute.com.au/

Business and Careers Institute in the media

Chief Blogger — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:06:51 +1100

We've had such a great response to the article on the Business and Careers Institute in The Mosman Daily. Thanks to all the people who rang and emailed - especially those of you who have signed up for our newsletter or enrolled in one of our courses!

Holding back evolution

Chief Blogger — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:45:59 +1100

FROM PAUL:
Did you know the "QWERTY" keyboard was designed to slow down typing? True. The typewriter keyboard was originally laid out in alphabetical order, but typist's skills advanced so quickly that their pounding fingers would jam the hammers together.

Despite many attempts to completely redesign the humble keyboard, the QWERTY layout remains the preferred input device today. This is an example of a bottleneck in the information technology revolution.

Trumpet players are the first to tell you that you don't need 26 individual keys to type a phrase. Scuba divers type their observations using just one hand on their five-key keypad and, with practice, they exceed typing speeds of 100 words per minute.

Why do we persist with backward technology?
Why has the PC keyboard not evolved - while other technologies have been reinvented ten-fold? The simple answer is in this paradox of metaphors: "While familiarity breeds contempt, old habits die hard."

I would never have predicted that I would be writing a blog post discussing the psychology of stale technology, but it seems this subject is more about the consumer's unwillingness to explore new methods and less about the emergence and availability of improved technology.

The irony here is that I am currently typing this on the touch screen QWERTY keyboard of my new Apple iPhone. That's right - I'm typing the whole article just with my thumbs. Many Apple customers have returned their iPhone out of frustration with the QWERTY touch screen keyboard, contrary to Apple's promotion of this interface as a feature superior to the alphanumeric keypad on other phones.

Is this the most efficient way?
I have to admit that when I began typing messages with my iPhone, I also found it difficult at first. You see, the keys are smaller than one's thumb pad so it's easy to accidently touch the neighbouring keys. Would Apple release the iPhone to the market with this design flaw? Probably not. It’s more likely a case in point that the consumer has not taken the time to learn or adapt to Apple's recommended method of input.

Similarly, every time Microsoft release a new version of windows or MS Office - the "fumbling" begins. We explore menus, toolbars and option boxes, leaving a trail of mental breadcrumbs just in case we get lost.

We apply several tools and rely heavily on the "undo" button when the result is not the expected outcome. Does that sound familiar? Perhaps so familiar that you are reluctant to upgrade.

You still get your work done with the current software and the thought of doing it differently has the potential of missing deadlines. These discomforts are stronger than the promise of improved efficiency and increased productivity - especially if the method for "adapting" requires breadcrumbs.

How did the programmers intend it to be used?
I'm on a train at the moment and I'm typing very quickly on my iPhone now, not because of practice, but because I have put into practice the method that has served me well when attempting to master new software and gadgets - further to my mantra - "How did the programmers intend it to be used?"

Think about it this way … When applying a software tool, if the process is slow and tedious, then I am probably not using the tool correctly, or perhaps I am "using a hammer when I really need a screwdriver."

The attitude of "Yeah but it still works and it got the job done" is really not acceptable anymore. May I be so bold to suggest that it is this attitude that bottlenecks the evolution of technology and inhibits our productivity?

PS: The history of the QWERTY keyboard was sourced from The Powerhouse Museum where my son pointed out one of the oldest personal computers, which happened to be the very same Commodore VIC 20 that I owned during my primary school years. My wife and I are now reluctant to make future visits to museums.

Paul Neale
Tech Evangelist
From my iPhone