Posts Tagged: folders

Windows Tips — 5 Comments
19
Oct 09

A quicker way to Rename folders and files in Windows

Windows XP, Vista and the upcoming version 7 continue to help us accomplish certain computer tasks more quickly.

One of my favorite features involves the renaming of files. You can still use the techniques I outlined in a previous tip, but renaming files can be even faster with the right steps. If you have the need to rename a group of files (for example a group of freshly downloaded pictures from your digital camera), you can select them and rename them in groups. Here’s how: Continue reading →

Email Tips — No Comments
18
Oct 09

Email Filters – Outlook Express

This tip gives you the tools you need to help organize your email with Outlook Express or Windows Mail. Using Filters is like having an assistant go through your email for you and sort it before you see it.  Click here for a previous tip on how to use filters to keep spam out of your inbox. Continue reading →

Email Tips — 11 Comments
3
Oct 09

Backup Outlook Express Email – Video Tip

This week’s tip also applies to Windows Vista users who use Windows Mail…which is basically Outlook Express with a new name.

I still recommend that emailers save their important pictures and documents sent to them via email to a folder on their computer for easier backup (see my video tip on how to do this by clicking here), but many people also save a great deal of email and don’t want Continue reading →

Windows Tips — 5 Comments
21
Apr 09

How to print the contents of any folder in Windows – Video Tip

Microsoft provides a set of instructions for adding the ability to print the contents of a folder in Windows XP or Vista, but the instructions will be over the head of many computer users. Years ago, I found and added a free folder print utility called FolderPrint to my web site. In all those years, however, I never provided a clear set of instructions on how to utilize that helpful little tool…until now.

You can download the Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 3 Comments
7
Mar 09

Any ideas on how to teach computer users about file management?

file cabinets
Creative Commons License photo credit: redjar

Over the 12+ years that I have been traveling to computer users homes and offices, I estimate that at least 70% of them have zero to very little knowledge about file management. File management includes knowing how to use folders and files and the difference between them. Programs DO NOT contain or house files and folders…they create the data and store them in a folder.

I’ve used the filing cabinet analogy, the desk analogy, the cooking analogy, and others, but none seem to really make sense. And without the solid knowledge of what a file and folder is and how they relate to drives, computer users falter with backup.

In my opinion, I think Continue reading →

General Computer Tips / Windows Tips — No Comments
4
Feb 09

Easy File Management – Video Tip

You can easily delete and rename files from within almost any computer program. 

To delete a file or folder:

  1. Click  File from the menu of any program
  2. Click  Open
  3. In the window that pops up, click ONCE on any document you want to delete
  4. Push Delete on your keyboard.  Repeat as many times as you would like.

To rename a file or folder:

  1. Click File from the menu of any program
  2. Click  Open
  3. Click ONCE on the file you want to rename
  4. Click ONCE more on the name of the file and you should get your blinking cursor allowing you to rename the file
  5. After renaming the file, hit enter on your keyboard

Backing up a file or folder:


First, when you save your files, you should always be paying attention to the top of the save window where the computer shows you where the file is being saved.

  1. Click File from the menu of any program
  2. Click Open
  3. RIGHT Click the file you want to backup
  4. Click Send To
  5. Click the corresponding drive letter for the USB drive, external hard drive, etc where you want to send a copy of the file.

Watch the short video below to see a demonstration of these techniques.

Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 3 Comments
27
Oct 08

Clean your inbox

stuffed inboxEmail truly revolutionized communication. The ability to retrieve a message from anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds is mind boggling. However, judging by the size of your inboxes (a poll I posted recently showed that 60% of email users had more than 100 messages in their inbox), you could benefit from some tips on how to keep your inbox clean.

I used to keep as many as many as 50 or so email stacked up in my inbox, but I always felt that I was behind in my work and consequently much of the email went unread and unanswered. A little more than a year ago, it all changed after I read an article that struck a chord with me called Email Zen. I immediately started practicing the techniques and suggestions in the article and found myself with a cleaner inbox and a better overall outlook (no pun intended) about email and my email communication. I continue to strive for the empty inbox and find that if i get more than 10, I start to get a little jumpy.

From reading that article and my own experience over the past eighteen months, here are my suggestions for reaching harmony with email:

  1. Employ a good spam filter. The best one available for Outlook, Outlook Express, or Thunderbird is Cloudmark Desktop, hands down. Don’t even bother telling me about another one…unless it is better than this one.
  2. Use Gmail instead of Outlook or any other email system. The tools available in Gmail make handling email a breeze, and the built-in spam filter with Gmail is phenomenal negating step 1.
  3. Learn to use filters to sort and manage your email.
  4. Learn to use built-in search tools in your email program to extract information from saved email.
  5. Unsubscribe from any online newsletters, forums, or email groups that you don’t actively read and never will. Remember NOT to unsubscribe from spam, that only brings more spam.
  6. Ask your email buddies who forward messages and jokes to you that you would like to be removed from their list…again, if you don’t actively read them.
  7. Respond to your incoming email as quickly as possible…preferably directly after you read it so that it is handled only one time.
  8. If you have a phone that is capable of checking your email, use it while in the bathroom, standing in line for lunch, waiting for an appointment, etc. Responding to an email on your phone will make your response brief and to the point and save you that time later when you return to your computer.

Another good article for learning how to handle email in an efficient manner is Inbox Zero over at 43folders.com If you have some other techniques that you find work well for keeping email under control, leave a comment and share it! If you are one of the 60% plus who have 50 or more email in their inbox, give these techniques a try and let me know what you think.

Photo by PatrickO’Shaughnessey

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
16
Oct 08

My first year with Gmail

MailboxI closed Outlook and started using Gmail exclusively one year ago. At first, I thought it would be a good experiment to see what Gmail was really all about, but I was also fed up with Outlook and its limitations. It took me two or three weeks to wean myself of thinking of my email in the same way that I used to with Outlook. For the experiment to work, Gmail had to satisfactorily accomplish 3 key functions of email that I handled pretty well with Outlook:

  1. Spam filtering (I used Cloudmark Desktop with Outlook for years and am convinced that for Outlook/Outlook Express or Thunderbird users there is no equal).
  2. Aggregate all of my email addresses (5) in one system.
  3. Organize my email with categories (folders) and automated filtering for shifting email to their appropriate category/folder.

If Gmail could equal or exceed what I could do with Outlook, then I would consider it a success. Gmail’s spam filtering quickly impressed me. In fact, one year later, I can say confidently that Gmail’s spam filtering is superior to that of the Cloudmark system that kept me sane for years with Outlook. Feature #1, check!

I learned to use the Accounts feature in Gmail to successfully and seamlessly pull all my email addresses (and sort them) into my Gmail account. Beautiful; Feature #2, check!

Organizing my email, without the use of folders, proved to be the biggest learning curve. One year later, however, I am happy to report that the learning curve was worth it. Gmail’s Label system for organizing email becomes an astonishingly superior method of organizing email compared to folders once you get the hang of it. Combining the use of Gmail Labels and Gmail Filters makes organizing and managing email almost painless. Feature #3 check.

Since Gmail handled all my key elements of email use with aplomb, I stayed with Gmail and for the time being have no interest in changing. I’m always on the look out for a quicker, easier, and more intuitive to accomplish any technology task, but when it comes to email, every other service, in my opinion, has much to learn from Gmail. In addition to accomplishing all the things I need email to do, I find that the two other features that keep me tied to Gmail are the superior and quick searching ability and the fact that I have access to my email from any computer or phone in the world. Using Gmail made me start to enjoy email again and I know that I’m much more organized and responsive to my email than I was just one year ago.

To learn more about email, read my tip and watch my 3 how-to Gmail videos by clicking here. Do you have a Gmail story to share? If so, please post it below…good or bad.

Story photo by Tim Norris

Application Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 7 Comments
1
Jul 08

Solution to strange folders synchronizing error in Outlook 2007

I ran into a problem with Microsoft Outlook 2007 that I never seen. When Outlook was running, a small icon in the system tray was working like crazy on synchronizing folders. Synchronizing folders in Outlook 2007 is usually reserved for large office environments where users share calendars, contacts, etc. This particular computer user was on a standalone system.

The little icon itself wasn’t the problem, but the fact that it was trying to synchronize folders to nowhere ate up large chunks of computer power slowing down the system to almost unusable. After some web searching and poking around some of the tech web forums (nothing was found on Microsoft’s support site), I found that many other people were having the same problem, but no real solution was found.

Finally, as I was getting ready to leave the client’s office, with the promise of doing more research, I did one last bit of poking around in Outlook. Turns out that every time I closed Outlook, a message greeted me that an email wasn’t able to send and would I like to close Outlook anyway, I answered yes for the previous hour I was in the office. This time, I asked the computer’s owner how long that message had been stuck in the outbox and if he needed it. He replied that the message got stuck around the same time he called me for the appointment. I clicked the outbox folder, deleted the stuck email, closed Outlook, and restarted it and lo-and-behold, no more synchronizing folders!

To summarize, IF you have a problem with a slow computer AND you are using Outlook 2007 AND you have the mysterious synchronizing folders icon in the system tray, look for a stuck email in your Outbox.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 6 Comments
30
Apr 08

Gmail update

I started using Gmail exclusively as my email program of choice almost eight weeks ago and haven’t opened Microsoft Outlook since. I wrote about it three weeks into the process, and decided to give another update today.

As I mentioned in my first installment, I do have a Gmail address, but don’t use it hardly at all. Instead, I utilize a wonderful feature built into Gmail that allows folks with their own domain email (email through a web site you own like helpmerick.com, myflowershop.com, etc) to retrieve that email directly into Gmail. This allows me to benefit from Gmail’s great features while maintaining my own email addresses. I haven’t missed a beat not having Outlook (which I used for almost 10 years) because I have more mobility, searching power, and flexibility with Gmail than I ever did with Outlook. And I mention Outlook because that’s what I used, but no other email application can match the features and simplicity of Gmail. Yahoo Mail might run a good race, but it is mired in the traditional email paradigm.

Gmail broke out of that system of folders and single email addresses and introduced a catch-all system for all your email with powerful searching abilities, easy to use filtering, incredibly accurate spam filtering, and the introduction of labels (replaces folders), and threaded messages. Read my previous article that talks about some of these features to learn more. I wrote today’s short blurb about Gmail because many people have been curious if I stayed with it. The answer is a resounding yes, and I plan to continue using Gmail until an even better, simpler, faster, and more innovative solution presents itself.

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