Three TIPS that will make you more productive and less stressed: Web Browsing…text change…“Unsend!”
- Keystrokes will make your web browsing simplified, more efficient and enjoyable. Learn some simple ways to avoid being cornered by your mouse.
- tEXT cHANGE – Whether changing a simple sentence to a Title or correcting your caps lock error, this tip will make it easier.
- The ability to call back that email that went out too soon, too hasty, too offensive, too ungrammatical, to un-proofed! An “oops” key would be helpful.
Keystrokes for smoother web browsing (in IE, Firefox & Chrome):
- To open a new Tab: <Ctrl><T>.
- To close any open Tab: <Ctrl><W>.
- To move from one Tab to another: <Ctrl><Page Up> or<Ctrl><Page Down>.
- To reopen a recently closed tab: <Ctrl><Shift><T>.
- To find specific text in a web page: <Ctrl><F>.
- To increase or decrease the size of the text: Hold <Ctrl> and press “+” or “-” respectively. Return to 100% with Ctrl+0 (zero)
- To open a link in a new tab: Hold <Ctrl> and click the link.
Easily change text case in word.
Highlight the text you want to change the case of and press Shift+F3. As you continue to press F3 (while holding the Shift key) your highlighted text will cycle through three changes from all upper case, to all lowercase, to the first letter of each word capitalized. Which appears first depends on the text you’ve highlighted.
There are actually 5 text case changes available from Windows. To see all five variants in one convenient place, you simply use this progression of key-strokes: Alt+O+E. This will bring up the Change Case dialogue box. You can add a third letter to select quickly the particular variant you want. S-Sentence Case, L-lower case, U-UPPER CASE-, C-Capitalize Each Word, G-tOGGLE cASE. Be sure to highlight the text to change first.
Gmail Has “Unsend” Ready to Use Now!
Gmail has a feature which allows you to “undo send.” Really, it is a “delay send” feature, which is ok because, as we all know, once the email is sent there’s no way to haul it back to your desktop Inbox. The Facebook sage put it this way, “I do my best proofreading 5 seconds after I’ve sent my email.” Most mistakes glaringly grab your eye and wrench your gut the instant you send. Not 30 seconds later.
Gmail has offered this experimental feature since 2009. Now it’s officially a regular part of Gmail.
There are other solutions.
- Never write something that might be an embarrassment.
- Write the email without putting the To: address in place until you really are ready to send – like after 24 hours of reflection.
- Write the body of the email in Word, a non-sendable medium. Then, when spell check and grammar check and reflective check have had time to crawl past the hot pace of your irritation, copy to Gmail!
Speaking of spell and grammar check, there are times when the desired recall may be for a misspell or bad verbal tense. The Unsend is ideal in such a case. Although, arguably so is a separate write in Word. But we’re often in a hurry.
How do you enable Gmail’s Unsend feature? Find the Settings cog icon in the upper right hand corner of Gmail (not your internet browser). Select “Settings.” About a third of the way down the Settings page you’ll see the “Undo Send” section. You can choose between 5, 10, 20 and 30 second windows of Unsend time lapse. Make sure you hit “Save Changes” at the bottom and you’re all set.
One big caution is in order. If you click anywhere on the Gmail page you lose the ability to Unsend. For example, you cannot move on to your next email, suddenly have a change of heart about the former email and then come back to it. You can only use the Unsend button during the timeframe you selected without performing any other Gmail action. If you move on to some other function, you lose the ability to access the Unsend option. You can’t even “view” the regrettable email without sending it on its way. However, if you click “Undo,” the email becomes a draft in your draft folder and is available for viewing and editing and resending when appropriate. If appropriate!
The feature can be very handy for those who send a lot of emails. Call it psychological, but there something different about proofreading a draft before sending and reading over what you just sent. The extra time spent in re-reading what you’ve just sent can actually save time and effort. And embarrassment!