Blog
Archive for category: Network Services
Tame your Inbox, Use Outlook Rules & Folders
Posted by: Phil Beach in Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Technology on August 31, 2010
Almost everyone is inundated with email messages. Fortunately, there are a few tricks that I use every day to reduce strain on my own inbox. The most helpful of these is Outlook Rules & Folders.
The first step to make use of Outlook Rules is to implement an effective folder tree. The image on the right shows my Outlook folder tree. I frequently use email to communicate with my co-workers, making it beneficial for me to create separate folders for each of my associates. Your inbox folder structure should be unique to cover your particular organizational needs.
How To: Create a folder structure
1. Right click on Inbox
2. Select New Folder
3. Enter a name and select OK, the folder will appear below Inbox on your folder list
4. Additional sub-folders can be created in the same way
After setting up an effective structure, it's time to create Outlook rules to sort your incoming mail.
How To: Create Outlook Rules
1. Select Tools, Rules & Alerts...
2. Select New Rule
3. Select "Move messages from someone to a folder" & click Next
4. Select the person or distribution list & click Next
5. Select a folder & click Finish
Please note that this rule merely sorts based on who the message is from. It's possible, using the other rule types, to sort on a variety of the criteria including subject, sender, and message size. Rules become useful when you know a specific person, subject, or other criteria that is important to you. By creating a rule that recognizes one of these important messages and moves the message into a specific folder, you can alleviate inbox-overload.
Share this post:
Twitter Tips
Posted by: Phil Beach in Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology on August 26, 2010
It seems that tons of people know what Twitter is but at the same time overlook and fail to completely realize the benefit and value it could potentially add to their life, their business, or both. "How can I use Twitter?", and perhaps more importantly "how can my business use Twitter?" are important questions to ask.
Wikipedia defines twitter as a site that "enables its users to send and read other user messages called tweets", but this just scratches the surface. Twitter is a culture. It is millions of people listening to each other and communicating through random broadcasts of 140 characters or less.
Twitter could benefit your business. In the beginning, twitter users told what they were doing. Now, Twitter has evolved to encourage sharing what's on your mind. Twitter opens huge doors into what people are really thinking about when online.
In this issue of The Point, I'll explain the basics of Twitter usage. Keep your eyes open for part II, where I explain the benefits Twitter might offer to your business.
Sign up and first steps
Go straight to the Twitter homepage at twitter.com and sign up by clicking the big yellow Sign Up button on the right side of the screen. You will have to enter a few personal details, including your name and email address.
Follow someone
After signing up you will be presented with an screen that allows you to view popular Twitter users based on a variety of different interests. One of the cornerstones of Twitter is the concept of "following" someone, and no, we don't mean CIA agent style. To follow someone on Twitter is to simply monitor their posts so that you are notified when they post something. It's also possible to follow someone but shut off notifications of their posts - useful for controlling the flow of information from over-zealous tweeters - think how annoying "sitting down at my desk", or "just got to work" can get.
Your first tweet
After your account is created, you will be presented with a question - "What's happening?" The power of twitter resides in this small textbox. Type in something and click "Tweet", the rest is history, or is it?
Searching the Twittersphere
When you broadcast a tweet, even if you have no personal followers at all, the tweet will still be indexed and archived in real-time by Twitter. The tweet will be immediately available through the search feature. To search for tweets, type your query into the box on the right of your Twitter home page. As an example, a quick search for "twitter tips" returned hundreds of tweets pointing to useful blog posts and websites with great Twitter tips.
Re-tweeting (RT)
Re-tweeting is just that. Taking what someone else posted and re-posting it to your own followers. This can be useful if you know your own followers would be interested in something someone else said. However, the converse is also true - if your followers aren't interested, your re-tweeting could quickly become annoying.
To re-tweet, type "RT" followed by the originator's username and post. For example: "RT @example Great twitter tips!".
If you have any questions about Twitter, feel free to email them to me at pbeach@msiservices.com.
Share this post:
Get more out of Microsoft Word: Use Quick Parts
Posted by: Phil Beach in Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Technology, Windows on August 17, 2010
Microsoft Word keeps track of a large amount of information automatically and stores it for quick insertion later. These pieces of information are known as "Quick Parts" and include items such as the document author, creation date, and subject. This information is useful, especially when working on a document that references this information frequently.
Steps:
- Place the cursor where you want to insert the particular document property.
- Select the Quick Parts drop-down button from the Insert menu of Word 2007. Here is the button circled in red:
- Hover over "Document Property" and choose the appropriate document property from the list that appears.
The feature becomes especially useful to allow a change to be reflected in multiple places throughout a document. For example, in the event of having to change your company's phone number, if each instance of your company's phone number had been inserted using the Quick Parts menu, the change would only have to be made to one of the instances. All of the other instances of the phone number would automatically be updated to reflect the change.
Share this post:
Microsoft Office Object Linking an Embedding (OLE)
Posted by: Phil Beach in Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Technology on August 03, 2010
How to link data to a Word document
There are more than a handful of features included within Microsoft Office that the vast majority of users simply don't know about. One of these features has the potential to be useful in several business scenarios - Object Linking & Embedding (OLE).
Object Linking
Object linking allows an Excel worksheet to be displayed within a Word document as a non-static, active object. When a change is made to the Excel file, those changes will be reflected on the linked copy within the Word document. The feature becomes useful in a variety of scenarios. As an example, a monthly status report could contain data that is maintained in a seperate Excel data file.
Object Linking Steps
First, copy the area of data from within the Excel worksheet that you want to display in the Word document. In this shot I have selected an annualized expense report for a demo company project:
After copying the data, open up the Word document and move the cursor to the place you want the Excel data to be displayed. Select the dropdown from the "Paste" button on the menubar and select "Paste Special", as shown below:
The selected portion of the Excel worksheet will then appear on the Word document as a linked object. Any future changes to that portion of the original Excel data file will be reflected by the copy inside the Word document. Just remember that if you move the location of the Excel data file, the object link will break. The final result as applied to my sample data is shown below:
Object Embedding
Object embedding, on the other hand, merely stores a static copy of the Excel sheet on the Word document. Any changes made to the original Excel file will not be reflected on the Word document.
Object Embedding Steps
To embed an object simply copy and paste the desired content as usual, but use the standard paste option - don't use "Paste Special".
Share this post:
How To Blog
Posted by: Phil Beach in General Business, Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Social Media, Technology on July 29, 2010
In the last issue of The Point, entitled "Blogs: Why and what's in it for you?", I persuaded my readers that they should blog. You can read that issue here. In this issue, I'll explain how to blog. Blogging boils down to three steps - 1) choose a topic, 2) decide where you will host your blog, and 3) begin writing posts that are search engine friendly.
Let's start with the first task - pick your topic. If you're starting a blog for your company, this might have already been predetermined in part by what your company does/what industry you're in. If your company already has one blog, determine if there's room for a new one with a different topic. For example, a financial services firm might offer a blog that talks about financial considerations and another that talks about company research. If there isn't an opportunity for a new blog, consider contributing to the current one. Contributing to an existing blog is an even more attractive option when you consider that a blog can have more than one topic. Blogs that have multiple topics which complement one another will appeal to an even larger audience.
Decide where you want to host your blog. Believe it or not, the vast majority of blogging services are offered free of charge. Certain hosts charge extra fees for more advanced features, but other sites offer everything for free, relying on the popularity of the site as a whole as their business model. If you are interested in creating a blog for your company's website, you might have to purchase relatively inexpensive CMS or blogging software that allows for the proper functionality in-house. Here at MSI, we host our website on our recommended CMS platform, which includes the capability to create blogs and add them to the site as needed.
However, it's also quite possible to host a company blog on a third-party blogging platform. These are also perfect for a personal blog. Here are a few of the best blog hosts:
- For its ease of use, simplicity, and enormous free feature set, http://www.tumblr.com/ takes the cake as the best blogging service I know of. To sign up just click the link - the home page has made it an obvious and simple task, as is Tumblr's style.
- In close second is the tired-and-true http://www.wordpress.com/, which has earned the respect of its dedicated user base. Sign up by clicking the orange "Sign up now" button on the right side of the home page.
Now that you've decided what and where you will blog, there are some basic guidelines for writing your blog posts that you should follow.
- Less is more. If you can describe something in 250 words or 500 words, go with 250 every time.
- Link as much as possible. This helps to boost your post's search engine exposure.
- Don't beat around the bush. Demonstrate your opinion strongly and clearly within the first couple sentences.
- Be consistent in the way you write your posts. If someone likes the way you write, they'll stick around for more.
Happy blogging!
Share this post:
Simplified: Working with Images in Microsoft Word
Posted by: Phil Beach in Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Technology, Windows on July 06, 2010
Have you ever found yourself fiddling within Microsoft Word for an extended period of time attempting to have an image display as you had imagined it would? Many individuals are familiar with Microsoft Word's image-inclusion capabilities, but not everyone knows what to do once the image is there. Thankfully, the most recent versions of Office have introduced helpful new ways of working with images. In Microsoft Word 2007 specifically, it's possible to easily change the way text wraps around an image, the image's location, and the image's stylization all with relative ease.
First off, a quick overview of how to include an image into your word document is in order. Simply select "Insert" from the menubar at the top of Word, and then click "Picture". The button is circled in red below:
Once the image appears on the page normally, single click it to enable the Picture Tools "Format" tab on the menubar - it button will appear to the right of the "View" tab. 99% of the tools you need to make an image work for you are included within this interface. Here is a screenshot of the open "Format" tab, click the image to view it full-size:
Text Alignment
By default, images are included in line with the text. With this option, you could think of each image as occupying its own division or paragraph on the page. There are many options for how text will behave relative to the image. For example, if you want the image to fall into place next the document content on the right, with the text wrapping around the left side of the image, select "Square" under "Text Wrapping" and "Align Right" under "Align". You can quickly send an image to a common placement by choosing an option from the "Position" menu.
Eye Candy
Word makes it easy to add simple elements of design to your image inclusions. The easiest way to utilize these options is to select one of the "Picture Styles" from the "Format" tab. As an example, I selected the "Reflection" option to stylize the screenshot I used in the beginning of this guide below:
Cropping and Resizing
Word even includes tools to allow for simple cropping and resizing of your images, even after they've been inserted into the document. On the far right-hand side of the "Format" toolbar you can find the self-explanatory tools within the "Size" grouping.
Share this post:
Can’t find an email? Part II
Posted by: Phil Beach in Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Technology, Windows on June 25, 2010
Getting the most out of Outlook's search features
In a previous issue of The Point, the frequently overlooked "Instant Search" feature included within Microsoft Office was introduced and explained. Instant Search includes some helpful tools to find an email quickly on a spur-of-the-moment basis. However, Outlook includes yet another search feature, Search Folders, which opens up an even larger world of search capabilities.
Search Folders has two primary benefits: 1) It allows you to save time if you frequently search for the same thing and 2) it can act as an organizational tool, sorting Outlook content based on specific criteria.
Search Folders are located on the left side of the Outlook window, below the typical mail folders. To create a Search Folder, right click the Search Folder parent (circled in red below) and select "New Search Folder..."
The following window will appear:
Depending on the rules you select on the New Search Folder window, email will be filtered from within the Inbox into the new folder. For example, if I wanted to see every message I had flagged for follow up I would select "Mail flagged for follow up" as the Search Folder rule, then click "OK". The new Search Folder would then appear in the Search Folder tree, similar to this:
The "For Follow Up" folder will automatically update from now on to show all the emails I have flagged for follow-up. It keeps a running total of the messages I need to follow up on to the right of the name in green text. In my example above, I have one message to follow-up on.
The capabilities of Search Folders do not end here. In fact, all of the filtering options included in Instant Search are available when creating a new Search Folder. Be sure to check out some of these filters including searching by who the message was sent to, what its subject was, or even the message size. One particularly handy filter is the "Create a Custom Search Folder" option, which allows you to filter messages based on a custom text string.
Share this post:
Cloudy with a Chance of Mail
Posted by: Phil Beach in General Business, Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Technology, Windows on June 22, 2010
A Worthwhile Cloud Solution
Most professionals have heard of "the cloud" before. However, like many hyped technology terms, it can be both overused and misunderstood. The majority of business owners just want to know if the cloud can benefit their business. One cloud-based service in particular, Hosted Microsoft Exchange, is emerging as a solution which provides real value for businesses of all sizes.
Here are the benefits of Hosted Exchange to consider:
- Enhanced mobility: Hosted Exchange offers very reliable mobile solutions. Hosted Exchange servers are located in data centers with multiple and redundant high-capacity Internet connections - they are easily accessible through the Internet, even on an international scale. If the data center ever experiences an issue with their Internet connection or server hardware, the solution is usually as simple as off-loading the work to one of the other redundant servers or Internet lines. This feature appears to be increasingly desirable as mobile workforces become a more integral part of business.
- Flexibility and collaboration: Hosted Exchange encompasses all of the benefits of an in-house Exchange server. If your business does not have an Exchange server, but instead uses POP accounts to receive mail, there are several potential benefits of moving to a Hosted Exchange platform. For example, with a traditional POP account, each new email is downloaded by the first device to access it. This means that if a new message is received by your Blackberry, it will not be received later on by your desktop. Exchange allows each device to store a "copy" of the message - even if one device downloads the email, it will still be downloaded to your other devices. Other advantages include the enhanced mobility mentioned above, calendar collaboration, and contact sharing.
- Cost: Hosted Exchange is typically offered at a monthly flat-rate, charged per mail account. This may be appealing if your business is concerned over the up-front cost of purchasing a dedicated Exchange server. However, even if you already have an in-house server, the increased mobility mentioned above is often enough of an advantage to justify the switch.
It is important to consider your businesses needs and future carefully when comparing Hosted Exchange to your current office solution. Our staff is always available to discuss cloud, email, and mobile solutions. If you would like to discuss these considerations with us please dial 973-448-0070 or email sales@msiservices.com.
Share this post:
Can’t find an email?
Posted by: Phil Beach in General Business, Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Technology, Windows on June 14, 2010
Getting the most out of Outlook's search features.
Email has evolved. As the demands of the workplace have shifted to accommodate technology, business owners have realized the importance of holding onto their emails. Outlook has become a priceless database of information and communications. However, this database is only as good as the user's ability to navigate through it and find what they need, when they need it.
Microsoft refers to it as "Instant Search", and it could be one of the best features frequently overlooked by Office users. It allows you to search through various email fields simultaneously and in real time.
Here is a screenshot showing the location of the Instant Search box:
To use the feature, simply begin typing anything that you know was in the email. It could be the name of the person you sent it to, the subject line, a word a phrase you used in the body of the email, and even the name of an attachment. As you begin typing, Outlook will automatically begin filtering messages within the currently selected folder, displaying the results, and highlighting the matching text in highlighter yellow. To search within all mail, including sent items and drafts, click the dropdown arrow next to the magnifying glass and select "Search All Mail Items".
This type of generic search will typically be all that is required to find an email. However, the software also allows you to "lock-in" a specific search criteria. For example, this feature becomes useful when you know an email is from "Client X" and want to restrict results to that client. To use this feature, click the drop-down arrow next to the search box. You can then enter in "Client X" into the "From" field. I have locked in Client X as "From" and "Proposal Suggestion" as the subject in the example below:
Instant Search is just one of many helpful features included within Outlook. Keep an eye out for future advice on better utilizing Microsoft Office for your business needs.
Share this post:
Tips for Buying a New PC or Laptop
Posted by: Phil Beach in General Business, Network Services, Tips and Tricks, Technology, Windows on June 08, 2010
There are certain financial pitfalls associated with purchasing new computer systems that many small businesses frequently and unnecessarily fall into. Specifically, money is often wasted on underpowered hardware, a lack of bundled software, and inadequate warranties.
Many users fail to fully understand what the computer is needed for and what it needs to be able to do. Instead, many individuals will simply purchase the PC that they believe offers the best value and ignore hardware specifics. The bottom line is that different applications and deployments have different horsepower requirements. Here are a few things to avoid:
- Intel Celeron processors - Often bundled with cheap PCs, Celeron processors simply don't have the power for business use. A processor that offers excellent value is the Intel Core 2 Duo.
- "Home" or "Basic" editions of software - These editions are just what they say they are, often lacking business network capabilities. For business use, we ship Windows 7 Professional with new PCs whenever possible.
- Less than 4GB of memory - As time goes on, the memory demands of software will only increase. 4GB is enough to meet requirements today and to be prepared for the demands of future applications.
The second common pitfall has the potential to add to the cost of any new PC. Software is expensive, and it's even more expensive when it is not bundled with your new PC. For example, if you know you need to use Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations, this Basic version of Microsoft Office will not suffice. Instead, you'll have to upgrade to a version that includes PowerPoint, such as Office Small Business Edition. A comparison of Office Editions can be found here. Most PC vendors will have an option to bundle software with the purchase at a significantly discounted rate. Try to take advantage of these opportunities when they are presented to you.
The final pitfall also introduces more cost to the new system down the line. Make sure your new PC is covered by an adequate warranty. The diversity of warranties is such that it would be impossible to discuss all of their ins and outs in this short correspondence. Let's take a look at what adequate protection means. We have found the typical life expectancy of a new PC to be 5 years. The cost of the warranty is not insignificant at $100-$200, but a typical repair such as a new hard drive or memory upgrade could run as high as $600 including service. As such, we sell all new PCs with a three year warranty that includes an option to extend for an additional two years. We recommend that you consider doing the same.
Share this post:
Recent Blog Posts 
