SearchMaster Newsletter & Update Alert
From Jim & Lynda Barker Juneau, Alaska
Lynda 03
Lynda Barker, RDR:

Friends, I have been a court reporter for a very, very long time. (Don't ask.) Though, like you, I use SM every day to look up cities, drugs, attorneys, doctors, etc., the tools in SM that I use the most often are the
Titles & Proper Nouns
index and the Career Index.

Immediately upon completing a transcript but before sending it out to my client, I use SM to create a Titles & Proper Nouns index. Why? To ensure that my CAT spell-checker (and my eyes) didn't let conflicts in the spellings of proper nouns slip by unnoticed. I continue to be amazed that, in spite of my background, training, experience, and my very best efforts when scoping and proofreading my transcripts, such conflicts come up on a fairly regular basis --  "Steven Brown" and "Stephen Brown," for example. When I create the Titles & Proper Nouns  index, though, I see, one right underneath the other, "Steven Brown" and "Stephen Brown," which alerts me to the fact that I have two different  spellings of the same person's name in my transcript! Frankly, I wouldn't dream of sending transcripts out to my clients without first creating an SM Titles & Proper Nouns index, and neither should you.

Another tool I am finding to be nearly indispensable is my SM Career Index, a wildcard-searchable index of every word and every name in every transcript I've produced over the past 15 years (I save all my ASCIIs in SM.) And when I search my Career Index, it shows me -- in two seconds -- not only the spelling I was looking for, but the names and dates of the transcripts in which that word, name, or proper noun appeared.

Take my advice: Once you start using SM's Index Magic features, the increased accuracy and consistency of the spellings in your tran-
scripts will make you (and your clients) very happy campers. Trust me.



 

 
27 Updated Glossaries for You Today!
Click the News & Updates tab at the bottom of SM's main screen.
Click Update My SearchMaster. When you see black text on the white screen,
click the Update Me Now button at the bottom left corner of the screen.
When you see the list of files, click Update Me.
Facebook & the SearchMaster Newsletters 

We are now archiving the SearchMaster newsletters on our Facebook page, which you can access directly from SearchMaster 11 by clicking the little Facebook icon at the bottom right corner of SearchMaster's main screen. (It's the little f icon between the E and the G.)
                                    The SearchMaster Info Pass!

Though SearchMaster was designed to allow you to conduct your research without going to the Internet, there are times when you need more information than SearchMaster provides. For instance, you've looked up the spelling of a drug name in SearchMaster, but you need to know what that drug is for. What to do? Right-click the drug name in SM and then click Google!
 
In SM, you looked up the spelling of a doctor's name or an attorney's name, but you also want that person's address, phone number, and/or firm affiliation. What to do? Right-click that name and then click Google!
 
You needed the spelling of a word, so you looked it up in SearchMaster. How do you get the definition of that word? Right-click the word and then click One-Look Dictionaries!
 
SearchMaster & Your CAT Program

When you've looked up a reference in SearchMaster, and you want to paste that reference directly into your transcript, simply click the line that contains that reference, in SearchMaster, switch over to your CAT program, click your cursor where you want that text to appear, then press Control+V on your keyboard. Bingo! There it is!
 
In order to take advantage of all the powerful new Index Magic features in SearchMaster, you will need to save an ASCII copy of each of your transcripts in SearchMaster's ASCII folder. Your CAT program can do that for you automatically if you change your CAT program's ASCII export settings so that when you create ASCII files, they are automatically sent to the C:\SRCHMAST\ASCII folder for you! (Or the D:\SRCHMAST\ASCII folder, depending on where you installed your SearchMaster.)
 
Want help setting that up, or with any other feature in SearchMaster? Call me!
 
Safety Alert! Read This Very Carefully!
 
Other than a virus, what is the most dangerous piece of software that can be found on any computer? Any version of Adobe Reader previous to Version X. Yep, that's right. Unpatched Adobe Readers have become one of the favorite tools that miscreants use to plant viruses on your computer without your knowledge. So what to do?

First: Open your Google, type "Adobe Reader dangers" and educate yourself on this very, very important topic. Don't think it's imporant? If you get slammed with a virus, you will.

 

Second: If you like Adobe Reader (I do) but want to be protected from viruses that can be transmitted to your computer via PDF files, at the very least make sure that your Adobe Reader is up to date. The latest version of Adobe Reader is Version X. If you have any version of Adobe Reader on your computer previous to Version X, you have left the door to your computer wide open to possible virus infection. 

 

Third: Consider uninstalling Adobe Reader from your computer and using an alternative PDF reader like Fox-It Reader or Nuance's PDF Reader -- neither of which, owing to the much smaller user base, is as susceptible to transmitting viruses as old Adobe Readers.
 
How you respond to the very real threat of virus infection via an Adobe Reader that hasn't been updated to the latest version (Version 10.1.2) is up to you. Those who are exposed to the most danger are those who have any version of Adobe Reader previous to Version X.

To update yor Adobe Reader, click HERE.

You have been warned, my friends. Either conduct yourselves accordingly or you may wake up one day and find that life has taken a very, very nasty turn.

Disclaimer: I do not provide installation, uninstallation, or tech-support advice concerning this very important subject. Educate yourselves and stay safe!
Toll-free Support: 888.461.7475
 

Wanna make a friend real happy? 

 
You have SearchMaster, and you love it. Right? Click the "Forward email" link below, forward this newsletter to as many friends or coworkers as you like, and tell them that if they would like to acquire SearchMaster at a $100 discount, to call my toll-free number -- 888.461.7475 -- and mention the discount code. And what is the discount code? Your name!

 

That's all there is to it.

 

Offer expires Feburary 20, 2012.