February 2004 Efficiency Newsletter

Technology does not create productive people. We do.

Every month seems to go faster than the one before. Business has been excellent and we’re now looking to hire an advanced Word trainer. In the midst of the busy-ness we have also:

•  Spent three days at LegalTech in NYC learning about the trends in legal technology and developing strategic relationships with vendors

•  Purchased a Toshiba Portege m200 convertible Tablet PC and have begun developing training programs in OneNote and on Tablet PCs

Tip of the Month

Using Word with precision (the Alt key)

Ever tried to place something (a picture, object, etc.) in a document in Word or PowerPoint, only to find that it won't go exactly where you want it? Or maybe you've tried adjusting the width of a table column, the margins on a page, or the size of an object and been plagued by inexact widths/lengths. There is a solution:

The Alt key.

The next time you perform any of the above operations, simply press the Alt key at the same time. Specifically, by holding Alt and using your mouse to...

•  Resize page margins, you can adjust the margins to 1/100 of an inch and see a ruler explaining all the distances (try it!)

•  Move an image , you can place the image EXACTLY where you'd like it

•  Resize an image, you can adjust the image to a precise size.

•  Adjust table cell/column/row widths, you can make the cells an exact size (which makes it much easier to make one table identical with another!)

Tool of the Month

The Tablet PC

Anyone that's had a conversation with me in the last month knows how much of an impact the Tablet PC has had on our business. Being able to take notes without the annoyance of organizing/copying/storing paper...and without the intrusion of key-typing and an upright monitor--that alone is a selling point for those who regularly meet with clients or attend meetings. Tack on the fact that convertible Tablet PCs are fully functioning ultra-portable laptops and it’s hard not consider a Tablet for one’s next PC purchase.

But this is no free tool and it is a commitment to a new way of using a computer. If you’ve been curious about Tablet PCs and how they might affect your productivity or daily practices, feel free to give us a call. We’re examining the potential benefits of Tablets in all sorts of professional environments.

Visit thie Tablet PC home edition to learn more about this increasingly popular way of computing: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/default.asp