IT Tips - May 2015

IT Tips – May 2015

 

We skipped spring and went straight to summer here in the Berkshires. I’m not complaining… In fact, it’s more akin to bragging…

 

What’s Inside:

Tech Section

·         Pin Documents for Easy Access

 

 

Pin Documents for Easy Access

Ah, Windows 7. You are like the ’91 Chicago Bulls: the foundation of an era of greatness. No Michael Jordan fans in the house? Pippen? No? Oh… What I’m saying is Microsoft did some of its best work with Windows 7 (and carried it over into Windows 8).

The future of Google's world-dominating robots…

In fact, so many new features were added in Windows 7 that I’m still getting to them 6 years later!

This month I have a quick, easy and very useful tip for everyone.

First, let me ask you a question: Do you like to make things easier for yourself? If you’re a human being, then I think I know the answer. If you’re a robot, please don’t take over the world…  
 

You can “Pin” commonly used documents to save time!

Similar to how Windows 7 (and 8) allows you to pin commonly used programs to the taskbar, you can also pin your files for easy access! That’s right, you can create what is essentially a favorites list for the files that you use the most.

This applies to many programs such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc…), Internet Explorer and Notepad. It works in Windows 7 and 8 (Windows 10 too but that’s a secret – don’t tell). 

How do I do this “pinning” and what does it look like?

Am I the only one who sees Dr. Evil air-quoting every time I see quotation marks?

There are two ways to pin documents. Both methods require that the program used to open the document be pinned to the taskbar:

1.       Right-click a pinned application and click the little thumbtack next to a recent document (it must have been recently accessed).

2.       Drag and drop the document onto the pinned program icon on your taskbar (like Word).

 
First, method one.

Programs pinned to your taskbar will show you a list of “Recent” documents when you right-click them. You can pin these recent documents by clicking the little pin icon next to the document name. 

Simply right-click the program and then click the little pin next to a recent document that you want to pin.

Watch me pin some documents here:

 

To UN-pin the document, just click the pin again. Like this:

 

On to the second method.

Now that you’ve seen the first method, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “How the heck can I pin a program that isn’t in that ‘Recent’ list?” 

Take a chill pill; that is what method two is for.

 

You can simply drag and drop the document onto the corresponding program on your taskbar.

Like this:                                                                                                                    

 

Again, with this method you’ll need to drag the document onto the program that is used to open that document type (.doc to Word .xls to Excel etc…). 

To UN-pin, you’ll just need to follow the same steps as before:

 

But wait! There's more!

Experiment with right-clicking your pinned programs. You may be surprised by the little gems that appear. Internet explorer, for example, allows you to pin commonly visited websites (like StarWars.com DUH!).

 

Have a great month, everyone!

-Keith

Please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email if you have a something that you think will make a good tip. You’ll get credit on the blog for your contribution and I might give you a high-five