Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• Tips and tricks for Outlook 12

  Melissa MacBeth, who designed task and time management features in Outlook 12, discusses how she uses those features . It's a great read for anyone doing GTD or something similar, and shows how Outlook 2007 can help you be more productive. (As I've said in the past, I'm definitely a big fan. If you haven't gotten the beta yet, I strongly encourage you to check it out). Tags: productivity , Organization , GTD , Lifehacks , Microsoft , Office 2007 , Outlook Posted Jun 18 2006, 06:11 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Productivity, Outlook Tips

• Office 2007 allows you to paste unformatted text

  Using Word as your e-mail editor in Outlook 2003 is nearly impossible... it's just SOOOO much slower. Of course, in Outlook 2007 you don't have a choice, but it's much faster than in the past. One of the best new features though - something which may exist now, but I certainly can't find it - is the ability to have "Paste Special -> Unformatted Text as the default. No need for, say, PureText (which, by the way, I recommended back in 2004 ). Under Editor Options -> Advanced, you'll see the following options. So you can finally - at least within Outlook and Word - have Paste Special -> Unformatted Text as the default option for paste! Tags: Office 2007 , Office , Office-2007 Posted Jun 07 2006, 06:46 AM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Productivity, Outlook Tips

• Windows Desktop Search 3.0 beta released for Office 2007

  Microsoft has released a beta of Windows Desktop Search 3.0 intended for use by those in Office 2007. This version is just a preview of the engine and doesn't include the desktop search application. Searching is now integrated into the Office 2007 search tools - no more additional toolbar. It is very fast even compared to the much-improved Outlook 2007 search. The search are updated in real-time as you type, but without the flicker of the built-in search. If you are using the Office 2007 beta, I encourage you to check out this beta. Posted May 10 2006, 06:46 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Productivity, Outlook Tips

• Office 2007 Themes

  I really like the new Office 2007 themes introduced in Beta 1 Technical Refresh compared to previous versions using the temporary gray skin. It took me awhile to find where to change the theme in Outlook - it's under Editor Options. The theme looks a little different in Outlook, though it's possible (probable) that this may change in the future. My only complaint is that the the title bar is a littel paler than the toolbars (since it doesn't have the left icon giving it weight there). It's almost as if the application doesn't have focus - I think these two colors should be reversed, giving the toolbar more weight. I was initially excited about the new black theme. It looks very nice here, although it does feel a little harsh in use. It also appears that not all of the application has been skinned - see the status bar with black over dark gray text. OneNote, the only other Office program which I really spend significant time in, doesn't yet have themes. It's not getting the ribbon so not... Posted Apr 03 2006, 05:28 AM by Tim with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Productivity, Outlook Tips, Innovation

• Some tips on getting your inbox to zero - and keeping it there

  Some very good tips for those of us obsessed with a clean inbox. Merlin has a series of posts at 43 Folders entitled " Inbox Zero ". Articles of Faith (the philosophy behind an empty inbox) Five sneaky e-mail cheats Where filters will and won't help Delete, delete, delete I also second Scott's new rule : move everything you are copied on to a "Maybe" sub-folder. I've been using a similar rule myself at work for awhile now, where e-mails I'm copied or on from information-only lists get treated differently from those addressed to me. If you're not on the To line, e-mail etiquette suggests there is nothing for you to do - so why include this e-mail in those which have to be processed? That ties in, I guess, to e-mail ettiquette - when replying to a list of people, put everyone you expect to take action on the To line and everyone else on the CC line. If everyone did this the office would be a better place... Remember: Is it an action item? Do, Delegate, or Defer. Otherwise, File or Delete... Posted Mar 23 2006, 03:28 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Productivity, Outlook Tips

• Back to Windows Desktop Search

  I've gone back and forth in the past between MSN Desktop Search and Copernic. One of the reasons I ended up sticking with MSN was the shortcut keys . Ever since I discovered ActiveWords , though, this hasn't been as important and I found myself once again gravitating towards the cleaner Copernic interface. Unfortunately, Copernic doesn't seem to work (yet) in Outlook 2007. (Yes, search is better in Outlook 2007, but I would prefer to have my results indexed outside of Outlook too). If you have the beta installed, it doesn't allow you to specify Outlook locations. As a result, I'm back to using Windows Desktop Search . It's much improved since I've last used it. The new look is cleaner than previous MSN versions, although I still prefer Copernic. What I'm really liking right now is the ability to view search results in Outlook. Very well done. Posted Mar 22 2006, 05:23 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Productivity, Outlook Tips

• Outlook Tip: Show incomplete tasks and tasks completed today

  If you're a heavy user of Outlook tasks, you're probably filtering incomplete tasks in the current view. Unfortunately, this also means that as soon as you mark a task complete, it disappears. If you decide later in the day that it wasn't actually done, you have to go dig through all of your previous tasks to mark it incomplete. More importantly, you also lose the sense of accomplishment from seeing things crossed off! My solution it to modify the filter to show only incomplete tasks and tasks completed today. To do this, you'll need to enable the QueryBuilder dialog . You can also change the second condition to include tasks from the past 2 days, the past week, or any other interval you decide. Posted Mar 15 2006, 05:04 AM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Productivity, Outlook Tips

• The Inkosphere is buzzing about TEO3

  I used the term Inkosphere recently and even though I'm sure I heard it somewhere it's never been used before - or since - at least according to Google. Until now . I just noticed that Marc and James put out On the Run with Tablet PCs #14 . For some reason, iTunes stopped getting new episodes right after New Years (#9), and I just assumed they hadn't been putting out new shows. Thankfully, I was wrong. Re-subscribed. One of the hot topics this week is Tablet Enhancements for Outlook and the forthcoming TEO 3 beta. There are a few screenshots in the shownotes. They also mentioned the recently launched GottaBeMobile , where Rob coincidentally has an exclusive Inkshow preview of TEO3 (and another one on the Research Assistant). Man, I can't wait. I just sent Josh another e-mail begging to be an alpha-tester, but right now I think it's limited to the Tablet PC MVPs. Sigh, I guess patience is a virtue. Josh is one of the few who makes me feel a little better about my schedule given what he has... Posted Feb 27 2006, 04:20 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Productivity, Outlook Tips, Tablet PC

• Using Exchange and FolderShare for ubiquitous access to your information

  I've mentioned in the past that I have an effective way to consume information , and also alluded to my use of FolderShare , but I never really discussed the system in its entirety. The problem I want to keep my desktop and tablet synchronized, including e-mail, contacts, documents, etc. I want it done seamlessly and without requiring any affirmative action by me. I need to be able to synchronize or access those files even when I'm not on the same network (which is most of the time). The solution It might sound like a tough thing to solve, but the combination of Exchange Server and FolderShare make it quite easy. Sure, it's not a perfect solution, but it's damn close. Exchange for the information When I have my tablet, I'm running the full Outlook client, connected to the Exchange Server via RPC over HTTPS. This means that all of my e-mail, contacts, and calendar information is live data. Not only do I get new items, but I can create new items, mark things as read, delete items, etc. During... Posted Feb 22 2006, 11:16 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Rants, Productivity, Outlook Tips, Web 2.0

• Implementing GTD in Outlook 2003

  I've discussed how I use Outlook search folders at length and, more recently, alluded to my use of how I combine this with colored flags and views to manage my e-mail and RSS subscriptions. What might not have been obvious, however, is that I use this system to implement GTD. I've been following the system, or at least its general principles, for awhile now. I took a half-day seminar with Jason yesterday. I told him I would pass along some of these things I'm doing, so rather than put them in an e-mail, I figured I'd share with all. In the latter entry, I discussed 4 primary ways I use these things. I still create tasks and do most of the major things specified by the GTD system, but for certain things that come through as e-mail/subscriptions and require little processing before being actionable, I use flags and search folders. Actionable Items Anything that is actionable gets a colored flag. I use the search folders without criteria to combine similar types of subscriptions or e-mails... Posted Jun 09 2005, 11:12 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Productivity, Outlook Tips