Office Productivity Hacks

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Cloud Storage & File Sharing Platforms

Learn about seven "amazingly awesome open source cloud storage engines that you can use to access and sync your data privately for security and privacy reasons."
Access your data from all your devices, on an open platform you can extend and modify.
  • Pydio - Master Your Universe of Files
Pydio (formerly AjaXplorer) is a mature open source software solution for file sharing and synchronization.
File synchronisation. Version control. Self hosted. Client side encryption. Free and Open Source.

Google Apps

Select what you want to strike and click Alt+Shift+5. (Option+Shift+5 for Mac).
Ctrl+? to see other such keyboard shortcuts.

Google App Engine

A content delivery network, or CDN, is a system of servers spread around the world, serving files from the nearest physical location. Instead of waiting for a file to find its way from a server farm in Silicon Valley 8,000 kilometres away, I can receive it from London, Dublin, or Paris, cutting down the time I wait. The big names — Google, Yahoo, Amazon, et al — use CDNs for their sites, but they’ve always been far too expensive for us mere mortals. Until now.

Google Mail Merge

Yet Another Mail Merge

Google Drive

Google Sites

- k8oms: Yes, you can create a separate member's only site, make it private, invite your members as viewers and link to it from your main site.
- k8oms: You could (also) invite a Google Group to the site. All of your members would have to join the group. They would have to have Google accounts in order to join.

Google Voice

Instead of having to send out a conference number and access code to people calling in, you can now just ask them to call you at a preset time and you can conference them in as they call.

LibreOffice

Important Reminder When Working with Regular Expressions in LibreOffice:

With the Find & Replace window open, make sure to click on the "+" icon next to "Other Options" and check the "Regular expressions" tic box.

Do you want to add a blank paragraph after of each non-empty paragraph? Find .$ (dot-dollar) Replace with &\n (ampersand-backslash-n).
You need to click on the More Options button (bottom of Find & Replace dialog) and check the Regular Expressions box since \t is a regex code.

Keyboard Shortcuts

ShortcutWorld.com is an open, wiki-style Reference Database for Keyboard Shortcuts. Created and edited by Users like You.

Microsoft Office

Linking Data Between Files

Word Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Key command for inserting non-updating date in MS Word:
Alt-Shift-D + Backspace + Ctrl-Shift-F9

Quick Edit Sheets

EtherCalc is a web spreadsheet. Your data is saved on the web, and people can edit the same document at the same time. Everybody's changes are instantly reflected on all screens. No sign-up required; start writing instantly. Drag and drop a .csv, .ods, or a .xlsx file to import it.
Ethersheet is an open source tool to make collaborating on spreadsheets fast, easy and secure. You can also download the code on GitHub.

Dearly Departed Quick Edit Sheets

Unfortunately, EditGrid's service is ending May 1, 2014.[1]

Other Edit Pads (Non-Spreadsheet)

Firepad is an open source collaborative text editor you can add to your own website.
Your notes. Protected. Enter any URL, e.g. protectedText.com/anything - you find it - its yours! Encrypt all your notes, access anywhere. Simple. Fast. Free. No ads. Secure - don't trust us, check the code yourself.
Sync.in is a web based word processor for people to collaborate in real-time. When multiple people edit the same document simultaneously, any changes are instantly reflected on everyone's screen. The result is a new and productive way to collaborate with text documents, useful for meeting notes, brainstorming, project planning, training, and more.
TitanPad lets people work on one document simultaneously. "We are rescuing EtherPad for your use." No sign-up required; start writing instantly.

Screen Grabs

SharePoint

Have you noticed that--when working in SharePoint--the URL in your browser's address bar pointing to any SharePoint file or folder is a super-long, ugly mess? Good news! You can get a shorter, prettier URL for that file or folder, as the above tutorial explains.
Despite all the typos in the text of this tutorial, it is a pretty good step-by-step guide for moving files and folders around in SharePoint.

SharePoint Workspace

Microsoft SharePoint Workspace, previously known as Microsoft Office Groove, is a discontinued desktop application designed for document collaboration in teams with members who are regularly off-line or who do not share the same network security clearance. It is no longer included with Microsoft Office 2013 or Office 365, the latter of which includes Microsoft's OneDrive for Business instead. The latter does not fully replace the former.

Slide Decks

Web-Based Slide Decks Done Right
http://luigimontanez.com/2011/web-based-slide-decks-done-right/
SlideGo - Interactive Slides
http://www.slidego.com/home/
Speaker Deck
http://speakerdeck.com/
"Speaker Deck is the best way to share presentations online. Simply upload your slides as a PDF, and we’ll turn them into a beautiful online experience. View them on SpeakerDeck.com, or share them on any website with an embed code."
Prezi - The Zooming Presentation Editor
http://prezi.com/

Text Editors

Text Editor Tricks

To get to the Find in Files function, open up the Find / Replace dialog CTRL-H and click on the Find in Files tab.

Text Readers

Copy text and past it into YAKiToMe!'s web site text box, then press the "play" button. A computerized female voice will read the text back to you.

Tools & Resources

Source Citation

Generate citations in MLA, APA & Chicago formats for your bibliography. Save time by making a Works Cited page automatically!
Citation Machine automatically generates citations in MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian.

Email Validation Services

With this free email validation service, you can easily verify an email address and confirm if it is valid, properly formatted and really exists.
  • Verifalia (Online service that will check emails at about a penny a pop.)
Email address validation, email list cleaning, email list hygiene, email list scrubbing.
Validate single email addresses for free, or up to 100 email addresses with a trial account.

Reporting Tools

10 Tools for Creating Infographics and Visualizations
http://moz.com/blog/10-tools-for-creating-infographics-visualizations

Web Fax Services

Looks like it does not require account set-up for free fax service. Inserts ad on fax cover page.
Looks like it does not require account set-up for free fax service. Claims that it does not place ad(s) on fax.
Claim's it's "Truly Free Internet Faxing." Also appears to not require account set-up to use.
Further Reading

Miscellaneous Tools

File convert service between document, image, music, video, e-book, compressed and CAD formats. No account or signup required.
Zamzar Conversion Types

Web-Based Productivity Apps

(Scroll down the article a little ways to get to the discussion on productivity apps.)

Writing Resources

Bibliography | Cite | Citation

This media file contains a PDF with a side-by-side comparison of APA, MLA, and CMS styles.
The Purdue OWL: Citation Chart
How to format in-text citations.
Also See: Source Citation Tools on this wiki page.

Zip Codes

Map of the USA where you can specify a point and a radius to search within and return all the ZIP codes found inside that radius.

Zip+4 Lookups

Input entire address (minus zip) into text field and Melissa Data will quickly generate a zip+4 code.
Limited to 25 lookups a day to non-registered users, and 100 per day to registered users.
Must register to use this tool. Delivers zip+4 and cleaned up addresses in multiple address batches.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ EditGrid service is ending May 1, 2014
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