I'm a big believer in "eating my own dog food". In other words, if I'm going to recommend something to you, it's mainly due to I do it myself. that column is all about digitizing as legion of your paper documents as you can. There are several ways to digitize your documents. Suppose you drive for to share a document, perhaps a proposal, with a client. Traditionally, we would fashion and print the document, formerly printed matter it or fax it to the client. A far better alternative is to invest the document as an electronic notebook, subsequent modestly commission it via post office. You can effect the document as a Microsoft Word (or other word processor) document or you can concoct a PDF document. In general, I recommend using PDF documents. There are times, however, when using Microsoft Word is the first choice.
Assuming that you decide to use PDFs or word processor electronic documents, what are some of the benefits to you?
safeguard--Electronic forms can! be secured with passwords or certificates, thus preventing unauthorized third parties from viewing their contents. indubitable, there are tools available on the Web that can crack some forms of document compact, but remember that paper documents can still be stolen, photocopied, and go through by unauthorized individuals.
Format consistency--Although that doesn't apply to all electronic documents, PDF documents maintain the consistency of their format beyond all platforms. In other words, community using a Macintosh will see exactly the synonymous document as those using a PC. The formatting is consistent from one platform to another. The formatting of word processor documents, however, can nickels as they move from one computer to another.
Searchability--Electronic documents are facilely searchable. rigid use the key combination of restraint+F and breeze in a word or a phrase and the computer will search for it within the document. Have you ever unfashionable ! reading a preprint or magazine theme that mentions a head that! was ref erred to earlier? You scan the pages seeing for that agname or phrase, but can't find it. That problem honestly doesn't exist in electronic documents. (It's unaccountably true in technical fields with lots of acronyms.)
Portability and conserving space--As a technologist, I used to have shelves and shelves of technical books and documents (best of which did a husky job of gathering dust!). Today, max of my technical documentation is stored in PDF documents on my laptop computer. They're coolly searchable, very haulable, and don't gather any dust. I customarily have my laptop with me, so no matter where I am, I have an entire library of documentation with me. I've even started reading electronic novels. I carry a Palm Treo 700p. The E-Reader software is free for it and I can download free books from teeming sources including the Gutenberg Project (gutenberg.org), which is a source of classics. (I virtuous finished "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".) If I wish something in,! I can buy e-books for very reasonable prices from numberless sources on the Web. Since I always have my phone with me, I always have a pamphlet to go over while I'm waiting for whatever (delayed flights, behind clients, etc.). By the way, the e-reader software composes it realistic to expound books on a inadequate screen. Hard to believe, I be expound, but it really does sweat very well.
Speed and sendability--I equitable signed a contract with a client to present some video training. They emailed me the agreement, we worked out some of the terms, and I signed it electronically (the subject of electronic signatures is a whole old saw in itself) and emailed it. They received it within supportings of me signing it, even though their offices are up a hundred miles from mine. I am practical on presenting a seminar for a client's customers on how to go digital (outwardly going postal). He needed a brochure describing the seminar and my picture for publicity. He whooped me! with the suit and within lessers, he had what he needed for I! was abl e to subscription the files to him. Before the digital age, I would have had to print the documents and route them to him via postal communication or an express servicing. that is what Bill Gates was talking about when he referred to "craft at the speed of thought" (another leaflet I have on my Treo, by the way).
Forms--that is a feature I've outworn using for years. In Microsoft Word (and presumably other word processors), you can constitute a document which is locked except for plan fields. In other words, I invest a questionnaire in which you can't spending money any of the text that I wrote, but you can fill in self-confident fields, salvage the document, and return it to me with your responses. We use it in our training occupation when preparing for an onsite presentation. We give off an electronic questionnaire to our client asking about characteristics double the exact seminar locus, credentials needed for entry, goals of the training, names of attendees, etc. O! ur clients intelligibly tab centrally located fields on the figure and are able to complete it in a matter of fair-minded a few minutes and subscription it back to us. To enroll how to do that, search on "creating forms" in Microsoft Word.
How can you construct and use digital documents? The easiest way is with a word processor such as Microsoft Word. aloof set free it and rush off it. There are, however, distinctive formats for saving documents in Word. For the greatest compatibility, in Word 2007 choose "bail out As" and salvage it as a Word 97-2003 document. If you're using Word 2003 or earlier, you can true bail out it as usual and wire it. What if you yearning to compose a PDF (portative Document Format)? You can buy Adobe Acrobat which is a voluminous program, but pricey. You can further buy deficient expensive versions of PDF creator software from various vendors. For Microsoft Office 2007 consumers, you can download a free plugin that allows you to recover doc! uments as PDFs. Go to www.microsoft.com/downloads and search o! n "PDF p lugin". Remember, saving your document as a Microsoft Word document is the easiest way to do it, but PDFs preserve formatting and are readable on nearly any platform.
How do you scan PDFs? Nearly everyone has the free Adobe Reader software installed on their computer. If you don't, it's a free download from acrobat.com impartial look for the yoke to download Adobe Reader.
For a calendar of PDF creation software, you can either Yahoo on "pdf software" or surf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PDF_software
But, it's not fair-minded about digitizing paper documents. The benefits of going digital apply the music and videos, too.
As I've old-fashioned manuscription, I've oldfangled finishing the process of ripping my CD collection (that means converting the CDs to digital files). More on that in a future essay.
Copyright (c) 2008 Don R. Crawley
President and chief technologist at Seattle, Washington-based IT training firm soundtraining.net D! on is a speaker, writer, and veteran IT guy with gone 35 years observation in technology for the workplace. Today, he delivers keynote speeches, workshops, and seminars to craft society on how to go digital beyond going postal. screak him at 206.988.5858. He's on the web at http://www.doncrawley.com and blogs at http://www.digitalnotpostal.com
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