3 Tech Tricks To Save You Time
Computers have revolutionised the way we work and are constantly getting quicker and more powerful. But despite these advancements, sometimes technology doesn’t feel like a helpful tool it was intended to be. Instead it can feel more like an unavoidable hassle, especially if you’re up against a tight deadline or the sheer volume of work has you chained to your desk.
That’s where we can help lighten the load. Our tech engineers are often sat zooming around pc operating systems, flicking in and out of settings or hopping from one virtual connection to another to ensure our customers computer systems are maintained and secure. So we thought we’d share some of the tricks they use to seamlessly fly through the IT labyrinth.
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The middle mouse button (wheel):
Ever had a browser open and wanted to open another page, but keep the one you’re on open? There’s the traditional method (once you’ve located your cursor): navigate to the top of the page and click the + icon. Or the tech savvy might: right click over a link in a browser and then select ‘Open a new tab’, but how about if this could be done in a single action, or mouse click! Well it can, and the trick is the middle button on your mouse!
Simply hover over the link in a browser and click the middle button (or wheel) – hey presto! You’ve opened the link in a new tab.
But the magic doesn’t just work in browsers, if you’re in an application such as (Word) and you want to open a new blank document, or bring up a list of recent documents, simply click the applications icon (located in your taskbar) with the middle button or wheel on your mouse and hey presto! Try it out – it works on most browsers and documents.
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Windows ‘V’
I’m sure we’ve all been here and copied and pasted (‘Ctrl + C’ followed by ‘Ctrl + V’) to add text and images into a document, and then realised:- I need to go back and paste something I copied earlier? Normally we’d scroll to the top of the document, find the content and repeat the whole copy and paste fiasco, before scrolling back to paste it in. But imagine you took a phone call or got called into a meeting before you finished and lose where you had got up to?
Well, here’s a little game changer that will instantly fetch the earlier saved content and paste it into your document without moving your cursor… ‘Windows key (
) + V’
Every time anything is copied, it’s stored in a virtual clipboard in chronological order. By clicking these keys, the clipboard pops open and allows you to scroll all your earlier copied content and paste with a single click into the document. Happy copy & pasting!
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Snipping Tool
Now this little feature from Windows 11 will change a lot of lives…
Have you ever seen an image or website that you want to copy and paste into a document?
Traditionally we’d use the Screen Print function which has its own ‘PrtScn’ button right? This took a picture of your entire screen which you could add to your document and then crop or edit as needed.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if you could speed this up? You can with the Snippet Tool:
To activate, simply press the ‘Windows button + the Shift key + S’. Your screen will go grey as it prepares for you to select the area/content with the white crosshair that appears. Once you’ve drawn your selection, its automatically put into the earlier mentioned clipboard, and is instantly ready for you to paste into any document.
Additionally, a Snippet Tool window will appear (bottom right of screen) for a few seconds, if clicked, a whole new bag of tricks opens, allowing you to crop, highlight, colour or open and edit in Paint. But the best trick of all, uses Microsoft’s language model and artificial intelligence. If the content you’ve copied included any text, the snippet tool can cleverly transcribe from the generated image and convert it to editable text! Just think how much time that could save you!
Welcome to your new, faster way of working!
For more information or help with any of these or any other IT hacks, please contact us here...