It’s that time of year when we look back on what was and ponder what is to come. The year 2009 brought a number of significant tech developments — the iPhone as a legitimate business tool (AT&T’s bandwidth issues notwithstanding); the Cloud’s emergence; grandmothers embracing social media; Windows 7 — all of which promise to change the way we work.

Still, all our readers cared about was learning how to use a secondary axis in Excel, how to change BlackBerry calendar views, and why help desk techs are so surly.

Here’s a list of our top 10 posts from 2009. Read and enjoy.

10. Get It Together: 5 Ways to Stay Organized in Outlook
9. 5 Lessons to Learn Before Outsourcing
8. A Kinder, Gentler Help Desk
7. Top 5 Most-Asked Help Desk Questions
6. 7 Productivity-Boosting iPhone Tips
5. Out of Office, Out of Mind
4. How the Help Desk Earns its Bad Reputation
3. Follow the Format: 5 MS Word Tips for Managers
2. 4 BlackBerry Tips Every Manager Should Know
1. Management Tool Best Practices: 3 Excel Tips that Promise Charting Greatness

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admin Year in Review BlackBerry, Excel, FACEBOOK, How To, iPhone, Outlook, Social Media, the Cloud, tips and tricks, Twitter, Windows Mobile

There’s no doubt mobile devices have altered the way we work. According to Pew Internet and Research, almost half of American workers report doing at least some work at home, and about 20 percent say they do job-related tasks at home every day.

Accessing your e-mail using keyboard shortcuts takes productivity one step further.

In preparation for the holiday, here are some tips to help you keep your mobile work time to a minimum while you’re enjoying the family feast:

For the BlackBerry

Filter Incoming Mail

Say, for example, you receive a daily report that you will not read or deal with on your phone and would prefer to just handle it back at the office. Can you create a filter for that?

Of course you can. Here’s how:

1. Click on the Messages icon to open your messages, then click the trackwheel or Menu button and select Options.

2. Select E-mail Filters.

3. Click your trackwheel or Menu button, select New and then type a filter name. Read more…

admin Mobile Devices, Time-Saving Tips BlackBerry, holiday, iPhone, Outlook, productivity, Thanksgiving, tips and tricks, Windows Mobile

I don’t need to remind you that clean, polished correspondence is important. You’re a manager, after all. Here’s a rundown of some recent PC Helps e-tips that will ensure you churn out error-free copy, no matter the medium.

Manually Check Spelling in Office Apps
If you composed your document without turning on automatic spell checking, or if automatic spell checking is not an option, you can check spelling whenever you wish. The steps are nearly identical in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, Visio and Project.

Press the F7 key on your keyboard for an even easier way to the start the Spell Checker.

1. Click on the Tools menu (Office 2007: Review tab), and select Spelling or Spelling and Grammar.
2. The Spelling dialog box opens with the first error highlighted.
3. If the word is correct, click either the Ignore Once or the Ignore All button.
4. If the word is incorrect, select the correct word from the Suggestions area and then click the Change button.
5. Repeat until all errors have been corrected.
6. A message box will pop-up telling you the spelling check is complete. Click OK.

Shortcut:
Office 2000, 2002, 2003 and Project 2007, Publisher 2007 and Visio 2007. Press the F7 key on your keyboard for an even easier way to the start the Spell Checker. The Spelling Dialog box will appear, continue with Step 3 if there are errors. (Russell Hatton & Mary Hazel McDermott)

Automatically Check Spelling

If you often forget to check your spelling manually, you may need to turn it to automatic. Here’s how:

Word 2000, 2002, 2003 Read more…

admin How To Contextual Spelling, grammar, spelling, tips and tricks

By far, the most common Outlook question we get here is how to free the application from the shackles of a full mailbox. When you reach the mailbox size limit, your ability to send e-mails is the first to go. For any corporate worker, that’s akin to not having a computer at all.

Often callers want help clearing enough space to send the e-mails that are waiting in the Outbox; they have no time to go over proper mailbox maintenance – deadlines are looming, meetings have started. Read more…

admin How To, Outlook How To, Outlook, tips and tricks, Worker Productivity

IT blogs are ablaze lately about whether the iPhone has graduated from dawdling device to legitimate business tool. One camp says the iPhone is just too pretty and trendy to use for work; the other side says it’s much more conducive to productivity than any buggy smartphone. Even venerated researchers are weighing in. According to a Forrester report released in April, workers who use iPhones are “happier and more productive.”

Who knew a gadget could have such power? Read more…

admin How To, Mobile Devices, Time-Saving Tips, Worker Productivity, iPhone iPhone, tips and tricks, Worker Productivity