5 Productivity Tips for Computer Users

• Quickly Move Information around Documents and Emails
• Gain Back Space on your Office Document
• Use One Click to Open All the Websites You Frequently Use
• Make Your Website Mobile Friendly
• Finding Needles in Excel Haystacks 

Hurrah ! Spring is on its way with longer evenings, green growth in the garden and birds building nests. Productivity means getting more done with less effort. Start using these computer tips to get more from time spent at your computer. If you have a tip to share please email me.

Quickly Move Information around Documents and Emails

Forget copy and paste. For example open an email that contains information you want to move. Side by side open, for example, an Email you want to move the information into. ‘Left Click’ your mouse button, or ‘Double Click’ your selection of a word, line, paragraph, or page that you want to move, and release the mouse button, then ‘Left Click’ your selected area and ‘Drag it’ to the new document or spreadsheet or email where you want it to go.

If you simply want to ‘Copy’ rather than move it then press the ‘Control Key’ at the same time as you ‘Left Click’ on the mouse and it will move anywhere you want. Once you lift your finger from the mouse, it will stay where you drop it. And remember if you are not happy with you last action then simply press ‘Control plus Z’ to undo. This works with all Microsoft Office programs and emails.

Gain Back Space on your Office Document

Across the top of your Office Document you have a Ribbon with all the Office Commands available to you. You probably only use a selection of these commands frequently. Save time by having these frequently used commands to hand.

First ‘Right Click’ on any of the commands that you use frequently, from the drop down menu select ‘Add to Quick Access Toolbar’. When you have finished all your selections, minimise the ribbon, by ‘Right Clicking’ on it and Select ‘Minimise Ribbon’.

Your selected commands are now in one tidy line across the top of your document. You can add further commands to that by ‘Right Clicking’ and selecting ‘Customize Quick Access Toolbar’. Set up your workspace the way it best suits you and you will save lots of time.

Use One Click to Open All the Websites You Frequently Use

When you open your Internet Explorer browser, have it set so that it opens the websites you frequently use. ‘Left Click’ on the arrow to the right of TOOLS. (Usefully found at the top right-hand corner of your screen).

From the drop down menu select, ‘Internet Options’. In the ‘General Tab’, usually the first tab, see the section called ‘Home Page’. Into this box you can key in or copy and paste the website addresses, giving one line to each address.

What ever is on the list will open, when you open your Internet Browser. You can easily add or delete web pages as needed.

Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Mobile phones are being increasingly used to visit websites. Potential customers may be trying to find your phone number, your location, and your services on their phone. If your website is not mobile friendly it will take forever to view and navigate on a mobile phone. If it is too slow and unwieldy customers will be lost.

I found an easy way to ensure that when you visit a1computers.ie on your phone, it becomes mobile friendly. The company that provides this free service is listed on the bottom of our website a1computers.ie when you access it by phone.

If you don’t have a website, why not pass this tip on to friends or family who do! BTW you can use any wireless network that you have access to, to visit websites using your phone for free.

Finding Needles in Excel Haystacks 

In Excel use ‘Custom filter’ as the easy way to find selections from lists. You may have a list of email addresses and you want to find only those that contain ‘eircom’ or contain ‘yahoo’. Select (Highlight) all your data in the spreadsheet.

Open the top TAB called ‘Data’ and select the ‘Filter’ option. A dropdown arrow will now appear in the right of top cell of each column in your data. Click on this arrow to open the selection box. From the choices displayed hover over the ‘Text Filters’ (or Number Filters” for numbers) and a menu will appear to the right, choose ‘Contains’.

In the adjacent box type in *eircom, and in the box below type in *yahoo. Then select OK. Your selection will appear, you can copy and paste this list and save it as needed. To clear that filter again left click on the dropdown filter arrow and select ‘Clear Filter’ from the dropdown menu.

ANNOUNCEMENT 1:

Your emails with computers tips you have are most welcome. Remember ‘You don’t know what you don’t know till someone tells you’. Sharing a tip, brings joy to the giver and receiver.

ANNOUNCEMENT 2:

Why not visit A1 Computers to do some computer shopping in a relaxing atmosphere. Whether you plan to buy a laptop, printer, photo papers & inks or a mouse, we are here to help. Did you know we offer a FAST TRACK service?  If your computer or laptop needs to fixed fast or you want to recover your files, photos or music in a hurry, then please ask for the FASTTRACK service.