Thank you Stephen Nipper!
March 30, 2006
Thank you muchly, Stephen Nipper of Boise, Idaho! Read his kind words at The Invent Blog – on March 28th he included Tips, Tricks, and Techy Tidbits on his list of blogs to keep. We're in special company – he also included the most excellent PDF for Lawyers and Adrianna Linares' I Heart Tech.
Stephen is a Registered Patent Attorney with Dykas, Shaver & Nipper, LLP and if his name is familiar to you it may be from his TechnoLawyer IP Memes column. Check out his post for his list of keeper-blogs and links to his thoughts on using "probation folders" to trim down the RSS overload.
Keeping Track of Unread E-mail – Part I
March 25, 2006
We all organize our e-mail differently, because we all work differently and have different needs. BUT! A common complaint is “My Inbox is overflowing!” and a common request is “Organize me!” This post introduces you to using rules to organize e-mail into folders rather than letting it all flow into your Inbox.
I’d like to suggest if you organize your e-mail into folders and sub-folders (especially if you use rules to move incoming e-mail into folders) you create search folders that show you your unread personal e-mail, unread business e-mail, and unread subscriptions and newsletters.
Here’s an example … looking at the screen capture below, we see that right now I have 15 messages in my Inbox, none of which are unread. I have custom Search folders that examine Client-Contact folders, and I can see there is no unread mail there. Likewise, other custom search folders display the embarrassing truth that I have 681 unread newsletters (I’m a newsletter junkie and way behind on spring cleaning) and 7 unread personal e-mails. Because I rely heavily on rules to keep my Inbox clear, these custom search folders ensure I don’t miss any new client or new contact e-mails. Stay tuned for Part II of this post where we learn how to create these custom search folders!
A Place for Everything …
March 25, 2006
Rather than wade through a full inbox, why not create rules that automatically move incoming e-mails into a folder, for your review at a convenient time?
The biggest objection to this is … if new e-mail isn’t in your Inbox, won’t you have to waste a lot of time clicking through folders, looking for important new mail? No … you can also learn to create search folders so you can quickly see where new e-mail is, so you don’t have to worry about looking through the folders. Read the rest of this entry »
Take a Break – Stretch at Your Desk
March 21, 2006
Too much time at your desk can mean tight shoulders, stiff neck, and achey back. Not to mention too much work makes Jill a dull girl! I can understand hours spent at one’s desk, sometimes with nary a break. If you can squeeze in a 5 minute stretch break, you’ll find your thoughts clear and maybe that sore spot mid-back will ease up. Herewith, from Yoga Journal online, a set of six stretches you can do at your desk, explained easily (if I can do them without re-reading the instructions, you can too!) Enjoy!
A Tale of Spike, Corruption, and Change …
March 12, 2006
A client recently had problems with a Word 2003 document containing tracked changes. The problems were such that I suspected general corruption of the document. One remedy in this situation is to copy everything except the last paragraph mark – which is where the corruption may reside – and paste into a new, blank document.
But – remember – the document contained tracked changes. A simple copy/paste will not preserve the tracking. What to do? SPIKE! Spike, you ask? What the heck is spike? Read the rest of this entry »
Select All Except the Last Para Mark
March 12, 2006
Quick method for selecting everything except the last paragraph mark in a Word document for those of you handy with a keyboard … [Why would you want to do this?] Read the rest of this entry »
You’re the boss – pasting formatting (or not) – MS Word
March 10, 2006
Yes, right, I hear your groans. You must become better acquainted with Word in order to exert your own influence on the Word-beast. Keep reading my blog and you’ll soon acquire an arsenal of tips that’ll help you prevail.
How often do you copy text from one document to another (all the time?) After you paste, does some formatting change? Yes? All the time? Often enough to be annoying?
And how often have you dismissed a pesky little button that pops up next to the pasted text? It looks like this:
This is the Paste Options button – your chance to be the boss!
Hover the mouse pointer over the button, notice a change in appearance and a drop-down arrow?
Centering a Title Above Your Excel Spreadsheet
March 10, 2006
Have you ever struggled with centering a title above an Excel spreadsheet?
Creative approaches abound – typing extra spaces in front of the title to “push” it over, dragging a text box until it seems to be centered above the spreadsheet, etc. Creative, yes. Time consuming, YES! Practical, NO! Once you widen or narrow some columns, that title you so carefully forced to “center” above the spreadsheet will be awry.
Here’s the real deal …
Read the rest of this entry »
Easy way to make columns the same width
March 10, 2006
What’s a quick way to make several columns of a MS Word table the same width?
- Select the columns by placing pointer above column, watch for downward pointing black arrow, then press and drag across columns to be selected.
Read the rest of this entry »
Silly at midnight …
March 10, 2006
I just visited Bonnie Shucha’s WisBlawg – From the UW Law Library and can’t stop laughing at the post Einstein Wrote What? Thank you, Bonnie!
Two Monitors are Better than One
March 9, 2006
I left a comment at Strategic Legal Technology – under The Benefit of Dual Monitors. Read Ron’s post and imagine what you could do with 2 monitors. Would you enjoy the benefits of better organization, more easily tracked e-mail, calendar; time keeping at your finger tips?
A few more links if you’re not convinced:
The Invent Blog – http://nip.blogs.com/patent/2005/06/dual_monitorsho.html
South Carolina Trial Law Blog – http://nip.blogs.com/patent/2005/06/dual_monitorsho.html
LawLibTech – http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000497.html
Top of the line resource for PDF
March 9, 2006
I love this site! PDF for Lawyers — How to use PDFs in the practice of law – Tips & Techniques is devoted to PDF. Got a question about e-Filing, OCR, PDF, digital signatures? Start here. Well written posts and excellent links make this a valuable PDF resource.
From CIO Today, Microsoft Takes On Google and Yahoo With New Search Technology. Windows Live Search will help users find information faster and organize it better.
Improving as a Presenter
March 8, 2006
12 Steps to Becoming a Charismatic Speaker
From EllenFinkelstein.com. Also from Ellen Finkelstein, an excellent page of links, super for anyone who wants to rev up their usage of PowerPoint.
