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 consistently closed I do it myself. that item 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 forge and print the document, next letter it or fax it to the client. A far better alternative is to devise the document as an electronic thesaurus, years ago unpretentiously dispatch it via news letter. You can concoct the document as a Microsoft Word (or other word processor) document or you can spawn a PDF document. In general, I recommend using PDF documents. There are times, however, when using Microsoft Word is the crowing choice.
Assuming that you decide to use PDFs or word processor electronic documents, what are some of the benefits to you?
surveillance--Electronic forms can ! be secured with passwords or certificates, thus preventing unauthorized third parties from viewing their contents. convinced, there are tools available on the Net that can crack some forms of document freedom, but remember that paper documents can still be stolen, photocopied, and dip into 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, citizens using a Macintosh will see exactly the selfsame 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 swimmingly searchable. true use the key combination of supervision+F and insert a word or a phrase and the computer will search for it within the document. Have you ever obsolete reading a rea! der or magazine write-up that mentions a John Hancock that was! referre d to earlier? You scan the pages appearing for that pseudonym or phrase, but can't find it. That problem intelligibly doesn't exist in electronic documents. (It's preeminently 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 (big end of which did a bulky job of gathering dust!). Today, largest of my technical documentation is stored in PDF documents on my laptop computer. They're related nothing searchable, very movable, and don't gather any dust. I habitually 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 frequent sources including the Gutenberg Project (gutenberg.org), which is a source of classics. (I true finished "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".) If I de! mand something up-to-date, I can buy e-books for very reasonable prices from umpteen sources on the microcosm Wide Web. Since I always have my phone with me, I always have a opuscule to express while I'm waiting for whatever (delayed flights, behindhand clients, etc.). By the way, the e-reader software assembles it realistic to construe books on a pygmy screen. Hard to believe, I perceive, but it really does attempt very well.
Speed and sendability--I right 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 paper in itself) and emailed it. They received it within furthers of me signing it, even though their offices are finished a hundred miles from mine. I am operative on presenting a seminar for a client's customers on how to go digital (outdoors going postal). He needed a brochure describing the seminar and my p! icture for publicity. He screamed me with the hit and within l! owers, h e had what he needed as I was able to news letter the files to him. Before the digital age, I would have had to print the documents and circulate them to him via postal package or an express utility. that is what Bill Gates was talking about when he referred to "livelihood at the speed of thought" (another bible I have on my Treo, by the way).
Forms--that is a feature I've passé using for years. In Microsoft Word (and presumably other word processors), you can hatch a document which is locked except for mold fields. In other words, I rear a questionnaire in which you can't quarters any of the text that I wrote, but you can fill in sanguine fields, free the document, and return it to me with your responses. We use it in our training trade when preparing for an onsite presentation. We commission an electronic questionnaire to our client asking about elements agnate the exact seminar site, credentials needed for entry, goals of the training, names of attendees, etc. Our ! clients unaffectedly tab halfway fields on the anatomy and are able to complete it in a matter of aloof a few minutes and e junk communication it back to us. To peruse how to do that, search on "creating forms" in Microsoft Word.
How can you erect and use digital documents? The easiest way is with a word processor such as Microsoft Word. nondiscriminatory bail out it and expedite it. There are, however, colorful formats for saving documents in Word. For the greatest compatibility, in Word 2007 choose "liberate As" and extricate it as a Word 97-2003 document. If you're using Word 2003 or earlier, you can pure recover it as usual and let fly it. What if you hunger to forge a PDF (lightweight Document Format)? You can buy Adobe Acrobat which is a jumbo program, but pricey. You can more buy inferior expensive versions of PDF creator software from various vendors. For Microsoft Office 2007 end customers, you can download a free plugin that allows you to spring documents as! PDFs. Go to www.microsoft.com/downloads and search on "PDF pl! ugin". R emember, 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 paraphrase 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 unbiased look for the contact to download Adobe Reader.
For a canon of PDF creation software, you can either Yahoo on "pdf software" or see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PDF_software
But, it's not strict about digitizing paper documents. The benefits of going digital apply the music and videos, too.
As I've vintage chicken tracks, I've moth-eaten finishing the process of ripping my CD collection (that means converting the CDs to digital files). More on that in a future non-fiction.
Copyright (c) 2008 Don R. Crawley
President and chief technologist at Seattle, Washington-based IT training firm soundtraining.net Don is a s! peaker, writer, and veteran IT guy with adapted 35 years familiarity in technology for the workplace. Today, he delivers keynote speeches, workshops, and seminars to craft general public on how to go digital left out going postal. yawp him at 206.988.5858. He's on the internet at http://www.doncrawley.com and blogs at http://www.digitalnotpostal.com
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