Did you know…
In a survey of 1,000 middle managers of large companies in the US and UK, 59% said they miss important information almost every day because they cannot find it though it exists within the company.
~Wall Street Journal, 5/14/2007
Productivity & Organization Tip on Electronic Filing:
Do you find yourself frequently frustrated by your organization (or lack thereof) of files and folders on your computer? Are you equally frustrated with Windows search feature? Well, have I got a tip for you!! Though many people ask if I can come and help them organize their electronic information, I always steer them first to a free solution called “Google Desktop”. Google Desktop works by indexing everything it can find on your computer; files, emails, websites. Then when you want to find something, simply press your CTRL button twice to bring up the Google search box. You then enter a keyword or phrase for what you are wanting and it will bring back everything it can find on your computer related to your keywords. (It will also search the web from this search box.) The keyword or phrase doesn’t have to be part of the file name or email subject; it simply needs to appear somewhere in the content of the file or email to be found. It is just like using Google for your computer!
It is a free download – simply go to http://desktop.google.com/ and download the program. It will take a little time for it to index everything but it runs in the background so you can continue to work. Additionally, I have tried this at a client and it also brought back matching files that it found on the shared servers, not just my computer’s hard drive.
If you try it, let me know how it works for you. Even better, if you can give an estimate of how much time it saves you, I’d love to hear it!
A Thought to Ponder
“Organized people are just too lazy to look for anything.” ~ Unknown
What you said…
In my last newsletter, I encouraged you to tell something to “Go away”. Below are some of the responses I received. Maybe it will inspire you as well!
- Randy said he was going to tell his laptop and work to “Go away” on Sundays!
- Mary said she told her appointments to “Go away” for the weeks before and after Christmas so she could focus on reading, relaxing, and enjoying Christmas.
- Kelly said she was telling some of the Christmas events and parties to “Go away” because if she attended all of them, she wouldn’t enjoy any of them.