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 September
2004
Dear Info
Select Customer,
Welcome to the new Micro
Logic newsletter. We will bring you:
- Tips & tricks -
useful things you can do
- Hot Features - key new features you might have
overlooked
- Philosophy - general strategies
- Basics - reminders of long standing features that you
might not use
The NEW Info Select 8
continues our goal of enabling you to focus all your
information processing in one unified environment. For more information
on Version 8 click here.
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this newsletter online.
Have you been to miclog.com recently? If not, please
stop by and visit! You are receiving this newsletter because you
have purchased a software product from Micro Logic Corp.
=== The Info Select Team ===
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Tips and Tricks
| Screen
captures
Info Select can store any image you see on your screen
in any program? Go to the program's screen or
dialog; press Alt + Prt Sc; in Info Select choose Edit Paste.
You can crop, resize, edit and even annotate the
image. This is great for emailing error message screens to your
IT department, helping a co-worker with software usage, etc.
Another idea. If you need to copy text from an image
into a Note you don't have to flip back and forth between the programs.
Just copy the image into a Note, type the text, and delete the image.
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| Optimize
Info Select's Memory Usage
You
can reduce the amount of RAM Info Select uses. This tip can improve
system
performance and reliability. First, in Tools | Options | View enable
two
check boxes: Show item-size bar-graph & When showing
size of a file add size of any child files. Then browse through
your
data deleting unneeded items, focusing on areas that have long bars on
the right side of the Selector. For Files (they have a floppy disk icon
next to them) you don't use often, right click and choose Close
on startup. That will prevent them from loading into RAM until you
specifically double click on them.
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Hot Features
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One-Click Tickler
In our humble opinion, the best feature of
Info Select 8 is the one-click Tickler. In older versions, it took a
few
clicks to use the full Calendar - just enough to make it cumbersome
when you're busy. Now, you can set a tickler with one single
click. Suppose you entered a Note or Topic to call someone and
you want to call them in a week. Just click on the 7th cell of the
one-click Tickler and the item will disappear for a week and reappear
when due. It's one of those improvements you'll wonder how you got
along without.
Give it a try!
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Email Reports
Did you ever think someone was not in
sync with your emails? Now you can get a graphic overview report of
email activity for any specific person. Just go to their Delivery and
click on "Map of activity." |
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Philosophy
Outlines
How
should an outline be structured? Not too deep. Not too shallow. One
theory suggests the average number of items in a Topic should be 7 -
but
take that only as a rule of thumb. There is no problem having
one item in some cases, or 1,000 in others. But if you only go one
level
deep you are not taking advantage of the power of outlining. And
if you
are going 20 levels deep, you're probably going a bit too far. |
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Action
Items
Is
it OK to bury action items inside Topics? Yes and no. Deep todo items
are less visible but putting todo items in the proper outline position
help you organize your activities - for example you might
put all action items for things to purchase in a "To Buy" Topic. Use
your judgment - sometimes it makes sense to outline action items but
the most urgent things should probably stay at the Overview level. Or
use the Todo icon so the item remains visible even if the parent Topic
is collapsed. |
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Basics
Outlining
We are often surprised how many users don't organize their data at all.
They
simply keep a long list of Notes and don't leverage outlining.
It's not the worst thing you can do - it was the only way to work in
the early DOS versions. But outlining is great - it gives you a
better sense of what your data is about. And it gives another way to
find things faster - you often don't have to search at all. So bite the
bullet - spend a few minutes reviewing the Outlining section of the
Help and start categorizing your information. |
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HotSpots
If you have already taken the plunge into outlining, HotSpots are
the next level. HotSpots allow you to outline in two dimensions instead
of one.
The result? It is much faster to drop items into the proper category
because far more categories fit on the screen! |
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Other products
Info Select for Palm
Did you know you can be reminded of Calendar events even when your away
from your desk? Pickup one of the low-cost Palm units for around $50
and Info Select for Palm. Then sync your Info Select for Windows
Calendar. For more on Info Select for Palm click here. |
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| DiskMapper
Are you finding that your backup media is getting filled
up faster than ever? Put your backup data under the view of DiskMapper.
You'll instantly see what's eating up all the space. Then delete or
compress the things you don't need. For more on DiskMapper click here.
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Stay up to date with Info Select
Are you using the most current version of Info Select?
Micro Logic releases minor updates several times between major updates.
Minor updates polish features and make corrections. Major updates add
numerous new features. Check for minor updates periodically at http://www.miclog.com by clicking on Minor
Upgrades. And check the main page for major new releases like
version 8 which will give you the newest set of time and effort saving
features and maximum compatibility and reliability.
Your Feedback Counts
Have a suggestion or an idea for a new feature? Please tell us
at http://www.miclog.com/suggestions/form.htm
.
Please do not reply to this newsletter. For contact
information please visit
http://www.miclog.com
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