http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogList.asp?sort=organizer&schedule=12 Today's technology was designed to make our lives easier and to help us to be more productive, but for many people, it has created a whole new set of challenges. This blog will look at electronic tools for organizing your work and your life, as well as tips and techniques for managing email and electronic information. Thu, 6 Aug 2009 08:45:14 EST en-us http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2481 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2481 Thu, 6 Aug 2009 08:30:00 EST One of the biggest challenges most of us face these days is information overload. Whether it's staying on top of trends in your industry or monitoring mentions of you or your business online, it can be pretty time-consuming to check for new information on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are online tools that will automatically run searches for you and send you the results. Probably the most well known of these tools is Google Alerts . You simply enter the keyword or phrase you ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2469 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2469 Thu, 30 Jul 2009 08:30:00 EST A few months ago I blogged about Using a Virtual Notebook to Organize Your Ideas . Never having used such a tool, at that point I was basically sharing some of the information I'd gathered on the subject, but while writing that post, I became especially interested in Springpad , especially for the purpose of organizing recipes. I've tried many different systems over the years, and found none of them to be 100% satisfactory. Here are a few things I've done: As a young ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2449 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2449 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:30:00 EST For years there have been a number of websites which enable you to connect with old classmates. Probably Classmates.com is best known, because of their aggressive marketing techniques. The problem with Classmates.com is that although you can browse member profiles, you have to pay if you actually want to communicate with anyone. Once they sent me a free seven-day pass, which I kept on file so I could check it out when I had time to make the most of it. When I started receiving quite ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2394 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2394 Thu, 2 Jul 2009 08:30:00 EST No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you! Are you having a hard time believing that after extolling the virtues of Outlook , ACT! and other powerful personal information managers, I'm now suggesting that you use Excel ? Well, it's like this... The trouble I have with electronic scheduling is that something is either an Appointment to take place at a specific time, or it's a Task which, even when it has a deadline assigned to it, is completely separate from my ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2372 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2372 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:30:00 EST One of my organizing pals, Jacki Hollywood Brown , recently told me about some neat software for managing your wardrobe, called Dress Assistant . Dress Assistant is like an electronic version of your closet. You can enter all the items in your wardrobe, including shoes, underwear, and accessories. For each item, you indicate whether it's worn during the summer, winter, or spring/fall (mid season), and enter any other notes that might be helpful to you. To form outfits, you ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2352 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2352 Thu, 4 Jun 2009 08:30:00 EST Through some of my colleagues in the Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection forum, I learned about a really cool tool to help organize computer files. Called Folder Marker , it allows you to change your folder icons from standard yellow to your choice of a variety of dark or light colours. Even better, it lets you assign specific icons to indicate priority (high, normal, or low), project status (approved, pending, or rejected) and work progress (planned, half-done, done). The program is ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2336 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2336 Thu, 21 May 2009 08:30:00 EST When you use a paper planning system such as a Day-Timer , Filofax , or Franklin Planner , you usually have one or more sections for writing notes about things you're working on, as well as ideas for future projects. If you decide to make the transition to Microsoft Outlook or another electronic personal information manager, you may find yourself lost, because although Outlook does allow you to create and store notes, you can only enter text, so it's impossible to ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2310 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2310 Thu, 7 May 2009 08:30:00 EST It's no secret that I'm an Outlook user, and have invested quite a bit of time learning all the things it can do over and above email, and sharing what I learned in my e-book, Maximizing Your Time With Outlook 2003 . However, even though Outlook has more power than a lot of users realize, it just can't compare to a full-fledged Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) like ACT! or Oprius . For example, if I enter a birthday or anniversary in one of my contact records in ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2295 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2295 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:30:00 EST Do you print out documents and emails? How much printer paper do you use over the course of a year? Have you ever considered the impact of your printing habits on the environment? Since this is Earth Week, please take a moment to ponder these facts: Paper accounts for 42% of industrial forest use. Americans use more than 50 million tons of paper each year, consuming more than 850 million trees. Paper fills up 30-40% of American landfill space. As paper ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2270 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2270 Thu, 9 Apr 2009 08:30:00 EST Here it is, April, and we all know what that means! For my American friends, the deadline to file your taxes is just a few days away! Still, things are a lot easier than they used to be. It's not so long ago that tax time meant gathering up the paperwork and the calculator and filling out a bunch of forms, then rushing off to the post office to make sure it was postmarked before midnight! Nowadays, we can purchase tax software online, let the software do all the math for us, and ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2243 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2243 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:30:00 EST One of my favourite websites is The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), and I wrote a post about it, Organize Movies the Easy Way , some time ago. Around the same time, I was delighted to discover a site called Internet Book Database (iBookDB), but I didn't mention it on my blog, because it was still fairly new and didn't have a lot of content yet. I've been back recently and am pleased to see that it has come a long way! Although not as powerful or glitzy as IMDb, ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2220 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2220 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:30:00 EST Does this title have you shaking your head? I confess, a few months ago I probably would have done the same. However, since I started using Twitter , my vocabulary is full of strange new words beginning with the letters TW. Twitter is of course the very popular social networking and micro-blogging service. (If you've never tried it, you'll probably get more out of this post if you first read my series on Twitter Basics which appeared on my personal blog.) Tweets are ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2189 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2189 Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:30:00 EST As you may know, before becoming a virtual assistant, I was a professional organizer, and for quite a while I offered both services. I had thought of somehow combining the two and helping people to get organized virtually, but although I was able to assist a few people this way, I couldn't really figure out a way to make it work. Fortunately, someone has! I've known Ariane Benefit and Suzanne Babb for several years through blogging and various online communities, and ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2170 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2170 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:30:00 EST Once upon a time, Windows included a simple personal information manager called CardFile, which basically functioned as an electronic Rolodex. Many people used it extensively to organize all types of information, so although it was no longer included from Windows 95 on, they transferred the program along with their data whenever they upgraded their computer system. The Bad News: It does not run on Windows Vista. The Good News: You can still access all that information ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2148 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2148 Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:30:00 EST Since I blogged about Jobfiler last year, I've learned about several much more powerful online job search organizers. If you or someone in your family is looking for work, using one of these tools will make it much easier for you to keep track of your applications, interviews, contacts, and follow-ups. JibberJobber was developed by IT professional Jason Alba during his own job search, when he was frustrated by the lack of tools for job seekers to manage and organize their job ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2134 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2134 Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:30:00 EST If one of your new year's resolutions was to lose weight, you're in good company – this is one of the most popular resolutions every year. Like so many other areas of life, you can use technology to help you track your progress. On SparkPeople , you'll find a number of tools to help you learn to live a healthier lifestyle, including: Nutrition Tracker – Enter what you eat, and it will calculate your calories, carbs, fat, protein, and other nutrients, and compare this to ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2111 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2111 Thu, 8 Jan 2009 08:30:00 EST Before getting into this week's topic, I'd like to take a moment to thank the hosts of this blog for selecting me as Organizer of the Month ! I will try to live up to this honour by continuing to post some great tips for using technology as an organizing tool. If you're an independent service provider, you probably devote a certain amount of time to social networking (If you don't, maybe you should start!), but if you're not careful, this activity can eat up your ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2099 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2099 Thu, 1 Jan 2009 08:30:00 EST One thing about writing a blog about technology is the speed at which information changes! A couple of the tools I blogged about over the past year, Blog Friends and I Want Sandy , aren't even available any more, and it wouldn't surprise me if there are others that have escaped my notice. My opinion about some of the products I've recommended has changed as well: Jobfiler The site hasn't been updated in several years, and it contains broken links ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2087 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2087 Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:30:00 EST I'm off today, celebrating with my family, but if you're not, or if you're reading this at a later date, I don't want to leave you with nothing to read! Instead, I'd like to recommend that you check out some of the other blogs here at OnlineOrganizing.com . Through various social networking sites, I've had the pleasure of getting to know Julie Bestry, whose blog is called Paper Doll, Tackling The Stacks And Piles , and Suzanne Babb, who has two blogs here: ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2073 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2073 Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:30:00 EST Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2053 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2053 Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:30:00 EST Hi Santa, it's me again. When I went to the east coast with my dad last year, he brought along a GPS navigator. Although it wasn't infallible (it did tell us to drive into the forest once or twice), it was a great help, especially when we weren't on the main highway and when we needed to find a place to eat or fill the gas tank. That was the first time I'd seen one of those gadgets, and I realized it could really be handy when I'm going somewhere unfamiliar for a ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2037 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2037 Thu, 4 Dec 2008 08:30:00 EST Dear Santa, I don't know if you read my blog, but I hope you do, because there are a few gadgets I'd really like to have. I know I can write off the cost if I buy them myself, but they're probably not the biggest priorities for my business right now. The first one is CardScan, a small scanner which was designed especially for the purpose of scanning business cards. I've seen it in action a couple of times and it is really amazing! You just plug it into a USB port, ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2025 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2025 Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:30:00 EST A wise person once said, " Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today." It makes sense, doesn't it? Even if a task doesn't need to be done until next Wednesday, something might come up that day to prevent you from completing it, so if you're not busy now, just do it! But there can be drawbacks... If you're like me, you probably have occasional "catch-up" days, where you do follow-ups, respond to non-urgent emails, and the like. I usually do this on ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2000 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2000 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:30:00 EST Back in the early 1990s, I had an Amiga 500, and when I bought a new mouse, it came with a bunch of software, including a personal financial manager. I liked being able to track my expenses electronically, so when I switched to a PC, I bought Microsoft Money, which I used for several years. When I started my own business, I bought Quicken Home & Business, because there wasn't a business version of MS Money available in Canada at that time. I now let a professional look after my ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1981 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1981 Thu, 6 Nov 2008 08:30:00 EST There are a number of products available that allow you to scan your receipts and business cards into electronic format, but you are still left wondering how to store your original paperwork. I've just learned about a unique service called Shoeboxed that takes things one step further. With Shoeboxed , you actually MAIL your receipts and business cards to the company, who then scan them and upload the files to your secure online account. Receipts are automatically placed into ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1970 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1970 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:30:00 EST Do you find yourself sending out similar emails over and over? Maybe it's a message you send to new contacts after meeting them at a business networking event or trade show. Or maybe it's one you send when you receive an inquiry from a prospective customer. Whatever the nature of the message, you can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation by not sitting down and writing a brand new message every time. There are a number of ways you can do this, depending on the software ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1949 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1949 Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:30:00 EST For the last three years, I've been a member of the team who puts together Face to Face – Hamilton's Job Fair . Due to my strong organizing abilities, I was assigned the task of creating a schedule for the many volunteers who come out to help us on the day of the event. This involved addressing all of the following: scheduling over 40 people, who started and finished at different times staffing a number of work areas with needs that varied throughout the day making sure ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1926 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1926 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:30:00 EST Microsoft Outlook is one of the most widely used software programs for email, but if you're only using it for email, you're missing out on a great productivity tool! Here are a few ways you can use Outlook to keep track of your Contacts. Create a contact from an email message. Drag and drop a message onto the Contacts folder, and a new Contact will automatically be created, using the name and email address from the message header. The message body will appear in the ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1919 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1919 Thu, 9 Oct 2008 08:30:00 EST If you have an email account, you've probably had some. If your email address appears online, you've probably had lots. (If you don't have an email account, wake up – it's the 21 st century!) Yes, I'm talking about spam. Although Outlook and other software programs can be helpful in filtering these unwanted messages out of your inbox, it can be a real drain on your system (not to mention your patience!) waiting for them to download. For this reason, last year I ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1904 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=1904 Thu, 2 Oct 2008 08:30:00 EST After writing about my recent challenges with my electronic time management system , I received an email from Chantale Tardif of Organimax, suggesting that I give ACT! a try. I actually had the opportunity to use ACT! 6.0 in one of my past jobs, and I have to admit that it was one of the most amazing pieces of software I have ever used. It was far superior to Outlook in many ways, and I still remember some of those features now, although it's been over four years since I used it. ...