November 11th, 2008 · Comments Off
Sometimes, I feel like a real geek because I always get excited when a new application or new version for one of my installed application comes out. The first question I ask myself: does this new application or version improve and/or increase my productivity when performing certain tasks? What features have been added, removed or modified and how can I take advantage of these features?
Many people download a new software application or install an upgraded version and start using it, just out of the box. What they don’t realize, is the fact that most software makers have only the basic features enabled. Software makers try to make the product attractive and user friendly for as many users as possible and know that the average person is computer illiterate and have difficulties with adapting change.
Take advantage of advanced features
Take time to look at advanced and additional features that an application can offer you. Study at least the preferences or options menus that can be found in many applications under the Edit or Tools button in your standard toolbar.
Just take a look at all tabs and buttons available under these menus and ask yourself the question: “What can this option do for me? Will it improve or increase my productivity?” I am sure you find a few options that you want to enable in every application that are normally in standard installation not available.
Let me give you an example. I view old news articles that are scanned and sent to me in PDF format. This format is being used with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader application. Sometimes I want to have a close up look of the photo in the news article so I have to zoom in.
By enabling the feature: “Make Hand Tool use mouse-wheel zooming” I can zoom in and out of the page by the scrolling the wheel in the middle of my mouse. This is quick, easy and convenient.
Some preference or option settings are obvious; the name of the setting provides you an explanation. If a particular option is not clear in what it can mean for you, don’t hesitate the help file.
Click on image to enlarge
Adding and changing toolbars
Another critical element of every application is the toolbar. Again, often, only the standard toolbar is displayed when you start the application for the first time. Take advantage to add and modify toolbars in all your applications so you don’t have to go into all the menus to select a tool. You will be surprised how many opportunities you have missed in the past and much time this will save you.
I take modification of the toolbar a step further. After I have added a toolbar, I modify the toolbar by removing and adding feature buttons. Many applications allow you to right mouse click on the toolbar and have a “customize” or “more tools” button that you can use to your advantage.
From now on, when you have to go into a certain menu a lot to perform an action, add the button for that action on the toolbar.
Conclusion
Take time to learn the advanced features of your application. Invest some time to get to know the options and features that are available well. It will save you time in the long run. You also will have a laugh when you see family, friends and colleges fumbling around in the application that you are so familiar with. A geek like me, also checks the “What has changed since the previous version log” or simply named but that is a subject for another article..
Tags: Education · Productivity · Software
November 1st, 2008 · Comments Off
Many professional business documents are published in PDF format. PDF stands for Portable Document Format. Many applications use PDF file size because of its file size friendly footprint. In addition, you can’t modify a pdf file without modifying certain file parameters. The PDF format is a legal file format used by many lawyers. PDF was developed by Adobe Acrobat in 1993.
Create your own PDF work environment without spending a single penny on the software
In order to create PDF files, you must have a PDF application or virtual printer driver that supports this file format. There are several PDF applications available that won’t cost you a penny. I will share with you my favorite setup.
My favorite PDF work environment setup includes:
- PDFCreator or Bullzip PDF application
- PDF-T-Maker
PFD Creator (http://www.pdfforge.org/)
PDFCreator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it like a printer in Word, StarCalc or any other Windows application. PDFCreator is very user friendly.
Key Features (as described on pdfforge.org):
- Create PDFs from any program that is able to print
- Security: Encrypt PDFs and protect them from being opened, printed etc.
- Send generated files via eMail
- Create more than just PDFs: PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, PS, EPS
- AutoSave files to folders and filenames based on Tags like Username, Computername, Date, Time etc.
- Merge multiple files into one PDF
- Easy Install: Just say what you want and everything is installed
- Terminal Server: PDFCreator also runs on Terminal Servers without problems
- And the best: PDFCreator is free, even for commercial use! It is Open Source and released under the Terms of the GNU General Public License.
Bullzip Printer (Bullzip.com)
The Bullzip PDF Printer works as a Microsoft Windows printer and allows you to write PDF documents from virtually any Microsoft Windows application. You can even make a programmatic link from other software applications to this virtual printer application.
Key Features (as described on bullzip.com):
- Print to PDF from almost any Windows program.
- Runs on Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/XP x64/2003/2003 x64/Vista/Vista x64/2008.
- Supports 64-bit operating systems.
- Direct output to the same file each time or prompt for destination.
- Control if the printer should ask if you want to see the resulting PDF document.
- Control output and prompts programmatically.
- Setup can run unattended.
- Graphical user interface.
- Password protect PDF documents.
- 128/40 bit encryption.
- Quality settings (screen, printer, ebook, prepress).
- Set document properties.
- Watermark text, size, rotation, and transparency.
- Superimpose/background documents.
- Appending/prepending documents.
- User interface control.
- Command line interface to all settings.
- COM/ActiveX interface for programmatic control.
- Support for Citrix MetaFrame
- Support for Windows Terminal Server
- Multiple output types supported: BMP, JPEG, PCX, PDF, PNG, and TIFF.
PDF-T-Maker (transcom.de)
One PDF feature that is missing in almost every free pdf application is the feature to create bookmarks and hyperlinks in your PDF documents. Bookmarks and hyperlinks make PDF files very easy to navigate and much more professional looking. PDF-T-Maker can create bookmarks and hyperlinks for your Microsoft Word documents. PDF-T-Maker will show up in Microsoft Word as an Add-In.
Combine all pdf applications together to create a complete pdf work environment solution
With PDFCreator or Bullzip plus combining PDF-T-Maker, you have a complete solution to develop professional PDF files for free!
Bookmarks and table of content in PDF files
You can create a table of content in your PDFfiles easily by using the Microsoft heading styles. If you need a tutorial about using Microsoft Styles, please visit the site of MVP Shauna Kelly. I don’t believe there is a site that better describes how to use styles within Microsoft Word. PDF-T-Maker is using the 9 default style headings in Microsoft Word for the table of content.
Protect your produced work
You spend a lot of time to create a professional document and you want to protect your document from being copied and reproduced by others. The combination of PFDCreator and Bullzip will provide you all the protection you need. Encrypt your files, set permissions on files if readers can print or copy and paste your information, set a strong password on your file and add a watermark for authenticity.
Tags: business
