Today’s Speakeasy Solutions Newsletter Topic:
General Computer Support & Tips.
Selecting all text or items in a text area or page, using the task bar to switch between Windows, sorting email messages in MS Outlook and using the find & replace feature in MS Word.
Keyboard Shortcut of the Month
The Shortcut
< Ctrl + a >
This keystroke sequence will select all text and items of the window and/or window’s region currently in focus.
There are times that you wish to select all the text within a text field (i.e. an EMR, specific database entry, webpage text region). Or perhaps you wish to select all the text through an entire webpage or document. The mouse equivalent is to right-click and choose [Select All] (if available) from the list of choices. However, you may find it faster to use the keyboard shortcut (< Ctrl + a >).
If you need to select all the text within a specific text region, ensure that the cursor is somewhere within that region. If, on the other hand, you wish to select everything throughout an entire webpage or screen, ensure that the cursor focus is not within a specific text area, but in a neutral position outside a text area. If you wish to select all the items within a document, the window need only be in focus. Once everything is selected that you desire, you may proceed to cut, copy, delete, apply formatting and so forth.
Efficiency Tip of the Month
The Tip
Using the Task Bar to Switch between Windows
If you routinely have a number of Windows open (i.e. Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Excel etc.), you need not minimize specific Windows in order to view another window. All you need do is click on the appropriate window shown on the taskbar.
The taskbar is (unless otherwise situated) found on the bottom of your screen, sharing space with the Start Button on the left-hand side and the current time on the right-hand side. The taskbar may also contain application shortcuts; much faster to activate than minimizing all windows and clicking on an icon on your desktop, or searching through the Start Menu.
Once an application has been opened, its window shortcut will reside on the taskbar, appearing as a rectangular button, with the name of the window displayed. Clicking this window shortcut will bring this window to the forefront view.
Windows 7, moreover, has the ability to give you a “peek” at the entire window in miniature form. Learn more about peeking at your Windows.
In lieu of using Dragon to switch between Windows, simply click the appropriate Window button on the taskbar to bring it into view!
Outlook Tip
Sorting Email Messages
Depending on the number of email messages in your inbox, sent items folder, or your personally set up file folders, executing a search within Outlook may be time-consuming. Moreover, you may not recall a person’s precise email or spelling of their name.
One of the methods that I employ (if, for example, I am searching for all email sent to a specific individual), is sorting by the recipient (or in Outlook’s case, [To]). Given the aforementioned example, proceed to the Sent Items folder. Then click on the To column header to sort email by ascending, and if clicked again, email will sort by descending order. The same methodology can be applied to Subject, Date, Importance, Attachment – virtually any aspect of an email that is displayed in your preview list.
If you cannot recall the name or email address, jump down to the first letter of their first name as well as their last name.
MS Word Tip
Find & Replace
The find & replace feature in MS Word saves time for a multitude of purposes.
The keyboard shortcut for this feature is < Ctrl + h >. Once the find & replace dialogue box appears, you may wish to click the [More >>] button in order to extend the dialogue and access additional Search Options (most notably, [Format] and [Special]).
Consider the following reasons for initiating find & replace:
- replacing a word or phrase,
- replacing line breaks with paragraph marks,
- italicizing a specific phrase throughout the document,
- removing unwanted marks or characters,
- and much more.
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- All past newsletters can be found in this archive.
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