Practice Tips - Tips and Tricks
Synchronize Microsoft Outlook with a PDA. If synchronizing your handheld computer to Outlook seems like an insurmountable task, there's a site on the Web that may help. Slipstick Systems, a web site dedicated to researching and solving problems with Microsoft Outlook, offers links to a number of synchronizing tools. See http://www.slipstick.com/addins/olpda.htm for more information.
Track e-mails received from, or sent to, a contact in your
Outlook Contacts list
It's easy: in Microsoft Outlook, go to Tools|Options. On the Preferences tab, click Journal Options (next to Contacts). In the Journal Options dialog box, select the e-mail message check box and then select the contact names whose e-mail you want to track. When finished, click OK. When you go to the contact's name in Outlook, click on the Activities tab and choose e-mail from the pull down menu, and you will see all the relevant e-mails.
Separate work from personal: create a second calendar in Microsoft Outlook
While viewing Outlook calendar, Go to File | New | Folder. Choose Appointment Items from the list. The new folder will be a subfolder of the main calendar. Move items from one calendar to another by dragging and dropping each item with your mouse. Any reminders set in the new calendar folder won't be received, because Outlook reminders only work from primary folders, not subfolders.
Highlight and find search terms in Web sites with the Google Toolbar. Download the Google Toolbar from http://toolbar.google.com/. (You will need Internet Explorer 5.0 or later.) Once installed, the Google Toolbar appears as a row below the address bar in Internet Explorer. Type your search term in the new toolbar and hit enter (or click the "Search Web" button). Google automatically highlights the terms in the search results and adds a new button on the far right of the toolbar that functions just like the Find feature in Windows. Click on the button to find the next occurrence of your search terms in the current document. Google adds a different button every time the search terms change.
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Track e-mails received from, or sent to, a contact in your
Outlook Contacts list
It's easy: in Microsoft Outlook, go to Tools|Options. On the Preferences tab, click Journal Options (next to Contacts). In the Journal Options dialog box, select the e-mail message check box and then select the contact names whose e-mail you want to track. When finished, click OK. When you go to the contact's name in Outlook, click on the Activities tab and choose e-mail from the pull down menu, and you will see all the relevant e-mails.
Separate work from personal: create a second calendar in Microsoft Outlook
While viewing Outlook calendar, Go to File | New | Folder. Choose Appointment Items from the list. The new folder will be a subfolder of the main calendar. Move items from one calendar to another by dragging and dropping each item with your mouse. Any reminders set in the new calendar folder won't be received, because Outlook reminders only work from primary folders, not subfolders.
Highlight and find search terms in Web sites with the Google Toolbar. Download the Google Toolbar from http://toolbar.google.com/. (You will need Internet Explorer 5.0 or later.) Once installed, the Google Toolbar appears as a row below the address bar in Internet Explorer. Type your search term in the new toolbar and hit enter (or click the "Search Web" button). Google automatically highlights the terms in the search results and adds a new button on the far right of the toolbar that functions just like the Find feature in Windows. Click on the button to find the next occurrence of your search terms in the current document. Google adds a different button every time the search terms change.
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Recycle your phone book ...
... and use your computer instead. Download free software from
BellSouth and access the contents of the phone directory without
actually downloading the whole directory. More accurate than other online directories, it even looks like a phone book. Besides convenience, you will gain the ability to link to business Web sites in the yellow pages. Plus, use "EZ-View" to magnify those tiny numbers. The directory is available free at http://www.realpageslive.com/. If your Internet connection is slow, a free CD-ROM is also available. What's more, phone directories for nine southeastern states are included in either version.
You don't need PowerPoint to make a basic slideshow with a PDF file. Using Acrobat (either the full version or the free Acrobat Reader) open a PDF file and press Ctrl+L to display the current document in Full Screen Mode. Use left and right mouse buttons to move forward and backward in the document; hit the Escape key to go back to the original view. Do more with PDF: check out loads of PDF products at www.planetpdf.com.
Metadata is the hidden information embedded in software such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and WordPerfect. From metadata, one can learn the identity of the person generating the document; document creation, revision, deletion and access dates; tracking of document changes; and comments. Examples of law firms inadvertently sharing this kind of info are increasing. Don't subject yourself to embarrassment or worse. If you must e-mail documents in their native format (in order for editing to take place), invest in a metadata "cleaner" - iScrub http://www.esqinc.com/products_iscrub.asp, for example. Whenever possible, save documents as a PDF file, which poses less of a risk. For more information on metadata, see http://tinyurl.com/hx34 and http://tinyurl.com/3yan9.
Print PDF documents faster
There is a check box on the print options pop-up menu that has the caption "Print as Image" -- this should not be checked in Acrobat 5. In Acrobat 6, this option is on the Advanced Print Option pop up menu. Printing as an image will slow you down, particularly with scanned documents. In addition, there is a "Advanced" button on the same print options pop up and one of the options on this screen allows you to downgrade the quality for speed. For text based scanned pages, you probably will not notice the difference. You will find with most scanner/fax/copier combination machines that there is a "Quality" feature where you can choose the pixel density of your scanned document. These can range "normal" (100x200) to "fine" (400x400) to "super fine" (600x600) and then the highest quality which is "photo quality." A single page of text scanned in "normal" quality could average about 15KB in size and the same page in "photo quality" could be as much as 2MB ... which could slow printing down somewhat. Keep in mind the print speed specs used in advertising laser printers are referring to plain text printing which is a walk in the park in comparison with graphics and/or PDFs.
There is a check box on the print options pop-up menu that has the caption "Print as Image" -- this should not be checked in Acrobat 5. In Acrobat 6, this option is on the Advanced Print Option pop up menu. Printing as an image will slow you down, particularly with scanned documents. In addition, there is a "Advanced" button on the same print options pop up and one of the options on this screen allows you to downgrade the quality for speed. For text based scanned pages, you probably will not notice the difference. You will find with most scanner/fax/copier combination machines that there is a "Quality" feature where you can choose the pixel density of your scanned document. These can range "normal" (100x200) to "fine" (400x400) to "super fine" (600x600) and then the highest quality which is "photo quality." A single page of text scanned in "normal" quality could average about 15KB in size and the same page in "photo quality" could be as much as 2MB ... which could slow printing down somewhat. Keep in mind the print speed specs used in advertising laser printers are referring to plain text printing which is a walk in the park in comparison with graphics and/or PDFs.
Keyboard shortcuts for changing paragraph text alignment as you type. These shortcuts work in both Word and WordPerfect. Put the blinking cursor at the beginning of the text that you want to align. Then, use one of the following keyboard shortcuts: press Ctrl + E to Center text; press Ctrl + L to Left align text; press Ctrl + R to Right align text; and press Ctrl + J to Justify text. (Note: does not work with keyboards set in DOS mode.)
Give your computer mouse a rest.
When surfing on the Internet, one frequently has to go to the Address bar to type in a new website address or "URL." You can, or course, use your mouse to do this. But did you know there's another (and for some people, faster) way to jump to the Address bar without your fingers leaving the keyboard? In both Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers, simply press ALT+D. This moves the cursor to the Address bar and highlights the current URL. Just start typing in the new URL and it will appear (replacing the current one). Hit Enter when you are done. If you just want to edit the current URL, press ALT+D, then hit the END key to keep the current URL displayed. Then you can use the cursor keys to move through and edit the URL.
When surfing on the Internet, one frequently has to go to the Address bar to type in a new website address or "URL." You can, or course, use your mouse to do this. But did you know there's another (and for some people, faster) way to jump to the Address bar without your fingers leaving the keyboard? In both Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers, simply press ALT+D. This moves the cursor to the Address bar and highlights the current URL. Just start typing in the new URL and it will appear (replacing the current one). Hit Enter when you are done. If you just want to edit the current URL, press ALT+D, then hit the END key to keep the current URL displayed. Then you can use the cursor keys to move through and edit the URL.
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