Sue Darby, MOS

I got to thinking about how to “save” good snippets of language used in the e-mails I send and vaguely remembered a new feature that Word 2007 (earlier versions do NOT have this feature and I am not sure how it works in 2010 as I don’t work in it) has and went hunting for it in Outlook too. It’s called Quick Parts. How it works:

1.   Write something really cool that you know you’ll use over and over again

2.   Highlight it

3.   Go to the Insert tab and look for the Quick Parts drop down

4.   Add the item to the Gallery with a name of your choosing

5.   Next time you need to tell someone the same thing such as “you are missing blah blah blah”  you can simply insert the pre-written language that explains it in detail

No more wasting time typing it over and over again for common things! Thought this might help us work smarter not harder! Pass it on if you know of someone else it can help!

Sue Darby, BS Business, MOS
Certificate in Fashion Design
Microsoft Office Master Certified
Alpha Beta Kappa Honors Society
Business Owner & Webmistress

Was it worth it to study for my Microsoft Office 2003 Certifications. In short, YES! Although almost as soon as I got the 6th one the State upgraded to Office 2007 which had some big changes. At first I resisted but as the Borg say “resistance is futile” and besides once you get used to the new layout there are some really great things that 2007 can do.

Office 2003 had it’s quirks and made a great tool to learn the advanced topics such as mail merges and charts but 2007 is easier to use. I studied for months to learn all the ins and outs of Pivot Tables and Mail Merging and the time was well spent even though I no longer use the older program. I now use both Mail Merge and Pivot Tables liberally at work. In fact it has changed how my unit does things dramatically saving time and energy for the unit.

One letter at a time for addresses and labels is just too tedious for a grouping of 30+ letters that have to go out once a month… a half day’s work for one person… what a waste that was! We now mail merge large mail outs that have to go snail mail and just today got the go ahead to mail merge to email! What a time & money saver that will be!

Hand counting specific forms and then reporting on it without graphics to aid in understanding… a thing of the past! Our databases can generate the reports and Excel tweaks the results into something visual that can be understood easily by laymen!

Will I seek the 2007 or the 2010 certifications? I’m unsure right now but I know having a deeper understanding of the more advanced features is well worth the effort of learning!

Sue Darby, BS Business, MOS
Certificate in Fashion Design
Microsoft Office Master Certified
Alpha Beta Kappa Honors Society
Business Owner & Webmistress

I am a State of Alaska File Clerk and have found that my projects in the last  year has caused a HUGE backlog and for some things to get buried under the clutter and paper piles!

Clutter on your desk is a great distraction and time waster. It also buries the truly important items that might have to be dealt with sooner rather than later. Clearing your desk at least once a month or more and organizing your piles of papers and other items into some sort of folder system is a great way to increase productivity.

I’ve found over time that if it’s in a drawer it gets forgotten and the same goes for piles. Just today I cleared my desk and found some forgotten items that should have been taken care of and will be after lunch! In the meantime the piles of things to file or sort have been moved into some semblance of order and a basic plan to attack the months of back files that need to be made and placed in drawers has formed.

My basic plan….

Tackle part of the alphabet at a time so for this week and likely next I will be tackling A-L of the provider files that I handle. I have the simple to file paperwork already in alpha order in a nice rolling cart.  I have some new files I need to make and label to go with those and then I’ll spend the rest of the day, week and even month getting those files crammed into overstuffed drawers… although I have ideas for how to unstuff the drawers but that will be for another post.

The reason it’ll take so long to get everything into the drawers is that each drawer is so crammed that nothing more can fit and so files have to be repeatedly shifted to make space. This is a very slow process with only one clerk to do it all.

I’ll have to keep plugging away at this until all the files are in the drawer once more… the never ending battle except that about this time last year I had it nearly caught up and then various things started to blow up and my skills were needed for a lot of other projects. We shall see how well my plan works in the coming weeks!

Sue Darby, BS Business, MOS
Certificate in Fashion Design
Microsoft Office Master Certified
Alpha Beta Kappa Honors Society
Business Owner & Webmistress