schwarz's blog

Track phone calls with Outlook's little-known Journal feature

Submitted by schwarz on

When you want to keep track of a project -- like who you communicated with, and what you talked about & decided -- but not all of your transactions on the project are email messages, you can use Outlook's Journal funtion to collect the info in one place. The Journal is an often-overlook feature of Outlook. It can create a timeline of transactions (phone calls, conversations, meetings, etc.) that can be linked to one of your contacts.

For details on how this might work for you, read more at this Productivity Portfolio 5-minute Tip.

Set your Windows folders so they all have the same view

Submitted by schwarz on

Windows XP lets you display the contents of folders in a variety of ways -- a detailed list of the files, as thumbnail images, etc. Each folder in the My Computer or My Documents folder can have its own view. That's useful for folders like My Pictures, because you can look at your digital photos in Thumbnails or Filmstrip view. But changing the view for every folder can be time-consuming.

If you prefer to have all your folder contents displayed in a particular way, you can save yourself some time by changing the view for all the folders on your computer at once.

Use a.placebetween.us to find a meeting place between friends

Submitted by schwarz on

Trying to find a meeting place between friends? Try using the Google Maps mashup called a.placebetween.us for your next get-together.

First, enter where you're coming from, then enter a city or an address for each member of your party. The map will begin putting blue "push-pins" on the map for each as you enter them.

Next, enter the type of place you want to meet -- like "coffee", "Mexican", "ice cream", "library", or even just the word "restaurant." A yellow push-pin will appear for each, along with details for each, along with driving directions from each person's starting location.

The Project Play planners are using this handy mashup to figure out where we could next meet -- we've always met in Fond du Lac, but the chocolate shop at which we stopped after lunch is soon to close. Using a.placebetween.us, Waupun Public Library (and Guth Candies) is the contender for our next meeting-place. :-)

Definr dictionary

Submitted by schwarz on

When I need the spelling or the definition of a word, I usually use my Merriam-Webster Dictionary Firefox addon. But when I saw Definr demo-ed at the "Have You Heard?" program at the WAPL conference I was wowed!definr logo

Definr is a single-page, super-fast dictionary lookup tool that suggests words as you type.

Start typing a word, and definr uses their word-completion algorithm to suggest possible word matches as you add letters.

To make it even more useful, you can add the Definr search extension to Firefox, and add a Definr link to your Firefox bookmark toolbar; go to the Definr Tools page for details.

Definr's free dictionary is based on Princeton's open WordNet 2.0.

I could have used this tool a few months back when I had trouble figuring out how to spell the word "apropos" (as in "apropos of nothing"), and when Firefox's built-in spell checker didn't have it, and after trying every spelling alternative I could think of, I IM-ed a colleague who knew how to spell it. (Thanks again, Karla!)

Add holidays to the Outlook 2007 calendar

Submitted by schwarz on

Bad news: the calendar in Outlook 2007 doesn't display holidays, unlike previous versions of Outlook.
Good news: adding holidays to your calendar is easy! Just follow these steps...

    1. Open Outlook
    2. Click Tools on the menu bar
    3. In the Tools dropdown menu, click Options
    4. In the Options dialog box, click the Calendar Options button
    5. In the Calendar Options dialog box, click the Add Holidays button
    6. In the Add Holidays to Calendar dialog box, click the box next to United States, and then click the OK button
    7. The Import Holidays window will open
    8. When a "The Holidas were added to your Calendar" confirmation dialog box pops up, click the OK button to close it
    9. Click the OK button to close the Calendar Options dialog box
    10. Click the OK button to close the Options dialog box

Customize your Outlook Calendar

Submitted by schwarz on

Did you know that your calendar in Outlook 2007 is customizable? Even though the default view might be Week, find out how you can make it Day or Month to suit your needs. And find out how to change it from a 7-day week view to a 5-day work-week view. You can also show more or less detail in your calendar. These and more custom settings are demonstrated in this 4½ minute video http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102392311033.aspx.

Non-bulleted Items Within a Bulleted or Numbered List in Word

Submitted by schwarz on

When you're creating a bulleted or numbered list in Word or PowerPoint, you might want an item to appear on the list without a bullet, like this:

  • Non- Fiction
  • Fiction
    Mysteries
    Romances
    Science Fiction
  • Audiobooks

To do this, press the Shift key and the Enter key; this will start a new line without a bullet.

The next time you press the Enter key, the new line will continue the bulleted or numbered list.

Tenth Anniversary - a time to look back & to look forward

Submitted by schwarz on

The Ides is taking a break this month as it prepares to change authorship from Jody Cleveland (who has written The Ides since 2003) back to Joy Schwarz (who wrote The Ides from 1998 to 2002).

From its first issue in January 1998, the focus of The Ides has been to provide software tips & tricks for use by staff at libraries in the Winnefox Library System.

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