What You Don’t See Will Hurt You!

The turn on the non-printing characters lecture is soon to be posted, I can feel it in my bones.

Until then – let me remind you – click the Show/Hide button to toggle the non-printing characters in your Word document.

Viewers for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Get your viewers here:

Word 2003 viewer – replaces Word 97 and all previous viewers – you can open, view, print and copy all MS and Mac Word files, and files saved in many other formats.

Excel 2003 – replaces Excel 97 viewer – you can open, view, print, copy Excel 2003, 2002, 2000, and 97 workbooks.

PowerPoint 2003 – replaces PowerPoint 97 – MS says this lets you view presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and on up. No mention of copying or printing.

We’ll be posting soon about some of the intricacies and myths of WordPerfect to Word.

Typewriter Tool for Adobe Acrobat 7

Rick Borstein of Adobe Systems, Inc. explains the use of the Typewriter tool in Adobe Acrobat 7 in April 2006 Law Practice Today article. The tool allows you to fill out forms not containing form fields for your input. He explains how to get the tool, how to use it, and how to enable the tool for users of the free Adobe Acrobat 7 Reader.

More Adobe Acrobat links:

Acrobat for Legal Professionals – Rick’s blog

Adobe Acrobat Solutions for Legal Professionals – information, white papers, case studies

Welcome …

Greetings!

Welcome to Tips, Tricks, and Techy Tidbits – a collection of software shortcuts and tips; links to various tech, tech-law, and law blogs; and whatever else interests me enough to pass on. The Pages links to the right take you to my business, ABC Consulting.

In early 2005 I left my role as Help Desk and Software Trainer at Cincinnati, Ohio’s oldest law firm and struck out on the solo consulting path. I am a software instructor, a “PC productivity coach”, and a big fan of being smart about how we work.

I represent the human side of technology.

Litigating with Adobe Acrobat

In Litigating with Adobe Acrobat: Part 1,  Joe Kashi describes some of the ways Adobe Acrobat has helped his litigation practice grow.  He describes Adobe Acrobat as " … a transformational technology …"  Read more at Law Practice Today, and stay tuned for Joe's Part II.

Starting a New Law Firm/Macs vs PCs

There's a discussion over yonder at David Swanner's South Carolina Trial Law Blog around his February 8th post – How to Start a New Law Firm – involving Macs vs. PCs; case management software; and research needs. Useful stuff, this. Enjoy.

A Fool and His Blog

Bless the fool in the forest and his April Fool's Blawg Review Prequel!  Set aside a good 15 minutes to enjoy this post – I've been laughing so hard there are tears in my eyes. 

Check here and here on April 3rd for Blawg Review #51 brought to you by George M. Wallace of Pasadena, California.

Road Trip Thoughts

I often drive to and from my assignments. I work with people, end users just like you and me, generally at law firms. I help them improve their digital karma. 🙂 A week at a firm post-upgrade is total immersion in people. My peeps engross me with their questions, concerns, perceptions and needs, what's working, what's not, why, best approaches, solutions. Whew! It's a combination of training, support, and end-user advocacy requiring my all. And I love it. Love people, humor, most folks' earnest desire to do good work and become more efficient. But, by assignment's end, recharging is a necessity!

So, it's a great pleasure for an extroverted introvert to contemplate 500 miles and 10 hours by oneself, CDs aplenty, atlases by my side so I can trundle down the skinniest lines on the map. No stringent deadlines, no internet connectivity unless I make a point of finding a hotspot. My Subaru Forester fears no road (I do – but that's another story.)

Most recent drive was from Franklin, NC to Manassas, VA and back. Gorgeous, awesome scenery. Incredible to drive north of Asheville, NC up I-26 to Tennessee and then Virginia – the ascent brings you near "America's roof" Mt. Mitchell and very large chunks of mountains. I live in the mountains and even I was impressed. I-81 parallels VA SR 11, so I meandered along 11 for awhile. Lovely to open the windows and hear … almost nothing. Once off the interstate the smells of greenery and soil and hay become evident. I couldn't resist the lure of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, so I hopped on for a bit, visited the Peaks of Otter at milepost 86, and descended down 43 into Bedford, Virginia and then took 29 north to Manassas. Was it worth the 2 hours it added to the trip? Of course.

The return involved taking in Skyline Drive, in the Shenandoah National Park, only half an hour from my hotel in Manassas. Through 105 miles I saw maybe 6 – 7 cars, many deer, several quail, and a few turkeys (the birds – not tourists.) It was early, the fog had not completely burned off, very atmospheric. An excellent way to start the day. Skyline Drive ends at 105 miles and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins, but I had to get serious and get home. Too much time away from my sweetie and too long in the car seat! It was time to load the CD player and hit I-81. It's a good sign when I cross my state line and the sun breaks through the clouds, blue skies abound, and all around I can see ridges, mountain after mountain. Home again.

Random Thoughts

• Subaru Foresters Rock! I will never buy a different car. My Forester is hitting 100,000 miles and I expect to own it at 250,000. We'll see!
• So sue me if this sounds sappy – this is a beautiful land – see as much of it as you can.
• Ordinary people doing ordinary things lift up my heart – day-to-day life, chopping wood, carrying water, being in the moment.
• Rediscovering music long ago packed away is much fun!

Road Trip Hits

• Spirit of Love by Majek Fashek (Nigerian musician/reggae afrikan sounds)
• Tit Galop Pour Mamou by Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys (Cajun!)
• The Trojan Story Trojan Records 2 CD compilation (ska, rock steady, blue beat)
• Soweto Collection World Beat No. 3 (South African music)
• Living on the Other Side by IIIrd Tyme Out (bluegrass gospel)

So where have you visited lately?