Timely Tips February 2009 -- Yet Another Killer Keystroke Combo

CTRL-ALT-PrtSc Captures Those Computer Screens!

Well, that pretty much sums it up! Press down the "Ctrl", "Alt" , and "PrtSc" keys down simultaneously on your Windows-based PC, and whatever active window you are working in on your PC will get copied as a graphic image into your computer's clipboard. Go into any document (like an MS Word or MS PowerPoint document), get to an active page, and then either do an "Edit" - "Paste" combo from your program's drop down menus, or just do a "Ctrl-V" keystroke combo (Paste), and that graphic image will get pasted into your document. Try it - very cool!

Many times, you can edit these graphics files right inside MS Word or PowerPoint, but sometimes those photo editing options are pretty basic, so here's the PLUS part of this month's Timely Tips. Open up your MS Paint tool (usually hiding inside of your "Accessories" menu in your full "All Programs" list near your "Start" button), and paste the selected graphic into your MS Paint tool (once again with a "Ctrl-V"). Then, immediately do a "SAVE AS" in MS Paint and save the file as a JPEG (.jpg) to your "Pictures" folder in your documents files. Then, close Paint and open your favorite photo editing software (I use Kodak EasyShare and also HP ImageZone). Then, I can manipulate the picture to exactly the image I want it to be using the onboard photo editing options.

Now, if you are doing this stuff on just a rare occasion, the suggestions above work great. But if you are doing this kind of stuff all the time, I recommend you use one of the commercial screen capture software tools. Probably one of the very best is from a company based in nearby Okemos, Michigan. TechSmith's SNAG-IT is a GREAT screen capture software tool that will allow you to quickly automate the suggestions I gave you above, and allow you to do much more.

So, grab those screen images and have some fun!


IN CLOSING ...


Keep an eye out for me in coming weeks at client events at Central Michigan University, Wayne County CCD, U. Michigan, and conference events in Detroit, DC, Chicago, San Diego, as well as another visit to Prague. Wish some warm weather up our way in Michigan - we need it!!

Until next time, Stay Timely!

Timely Tips January 2009 -- Two NEW Killer Keystroke Combos

Over the years, I've found out that my keystroke combo tips have been some of my most popular issues of Timely Tips. Well, I've got two dandies for you this month:

The first keystroke combo I want to share this month is one I actually learned from my wife Jana. I just happened to be watching her surfing the web a couple weeks ago, and she did a quick little keystroke combo that launched a new tab in her Firefox browser. I immediately yelled out, "WHOA -- What did you just do?!?" She said, "I hit CTRL-T in combination with my browser open - that launches a new tab on your browser."

This is a very handy keystroke combo, especially if you are cross-referencing two sites (Expedia vs. Orbitz) and/or if you simply want to keep your individual personal and e-commerce e-mail accounts both open in the background. CTRL-T works to launch a new tab in both Firefox and Internet Explorer, and my bet is that it would also work in many other popular browsers. Try it out and drop me a note.

The other keystroke combo I'm sharing with you I actually learned by accident. I happened to be about to do a "Shift-Delete" to some junk e-mail that had come into my Outlook account, but in a flurry of fast fingers, I instead hit "Shift-Insert" and got a bit of a surprise: the items in my computer's clipboard auto-launched into a brand new e-mail message, in the body copy field. (Yes, that's right - when I hit "Shift-Insert", a new e-mail popped open, and the text in my clipboard populated the body text area.) So, out of curiosity, I then went to the Notes function in Outlook, and tested the same thing - yes, it also auto-launched a new Note, with the clipboard text in the body. In Contacts and Calendar respectively, you have to actually open a new item to use "Shift-Insert", and in MS Word and Excel, "Shift-Insert" actually works just like "CTRL-V" (Paste). So, if you copy something into your clipboard that you want to send by your Outlook e-mail, just open up your e-mail function in Outlook, and hit "Shift-Insert" - it will save you a step or two.

Try both of these handy timesavers and send me a note if you find any additional capabilities with them, or other programs they work on.

Watch for me next week at University of Michigan HRD and Central Michigan HRD (remember you can call CMU HRD to request attendance [with a fee of course] at next week's program even if you are not a CMU employee), and watch for me in coming weeks in Chicago, Phoenix, Tucson, Davis, San Diego, Atlanta, Detroit, and DC (not a bad start of the year, eh?) Hope to see you soon - Stay Timely!

Sincerely,


Randy