If you\u2019re like most people, you use Microsoft Office on a daily basis. It\u2019s integrated into much of what you do \u2014 from word processing to spreadsheets to presentations. But when you\u2019re strapped for time and want to take a few shortcuts to boost productivity, where should you start?<\/p>\n
There are dozens of shortcuts in Microsoft Office products. Learning a few easy ones and using them on a daily basis will help shave minutes off your hours \u2014 and all those minutes add up fast. Here are a few to test out.<\/p>\n
All those mouse clicks and that menu dragging eat up time. It might not seem like much, but when you think about how frequently those delays occur, it\u2019s more time than you think. Here are a few quick shortcuts you can use in a variety of Microsoft Office products, from Word to Excel to PowerPoint:<\/p>\n
Ctrl + C: Copy text<\/p>\n
Ctrl + X: Cut text<\/p>\n
Ctrl + V: Paste text<\/p>\n
Ctrl + Z: Undo<\/p>\n
Ctrl + R: Reply to an email<\/p>\n
Alt + R: Reply to all in an email<\/p>\n
Alt + S: Send an email<\/p>\n
There are also many email shortcuts that help you sort, filter, categorize and otherwise organize your inbox. Here are a few highlights:<\/p>\n
Set your notifications for only the most important emails.\u00a0<\/strong>Nothing kills productivity faster than the constant notification \u201cping\u201d of emails. But you don\u2019t want to miss anything important. In Outlook, you can customize your desktop notifications for only VIP messages.<\/p>\n First, turn off all desktop alerts under \u201cMail Options.\u201d<\/strong> You can then create a rule that triggers alerts for only specific email addresses.<\/p>\n Start using email templates.\u00a0<\/strong>Many people are writing the same responses to emails. So the next time you write an email, ask yourself, could this be a template? If the answer is yes, go to \u201cFile,\u201d then \u201cSave As\u201d and choose the Outlook template. To use the template, simply go to \u201cNew Items\u201d and \u201cClose Form\u201d to look in your user Templates in File System. Find the specific template that you saved and you\u2019re good to go.<\/p>\n Leverage Outlook to track your time.\u00a0<\/strong>If you click on the left navigation pane\u2019s \u201cMore\u201d button, you can view the \u201cJournal\u201d icon. From here, you can select from contacts and meeting requests to track your time. After this is set up, you can view a time line and log all events, which is a great tool for people who need to invoice clients or just want to see how their time is being spent.<\/p>\n