News from Tobin Solutions, Inc

The time needed to move between open documents and files is reduced when you can see more items at the same time. Dual monitors are especially useful when performing side-by-side comparisons, organizing files and photos, and having e-mail open on one screen while you're working on another.

Wide screen monitors are also able to provide more viewing area, but their cost can be higher than adding a second smaller screen to your existing system.

Things to consider:

*Two smaller screens might cost less than one large monitor;

*Two graphics cards (or one card with two monitor ports) are needed;

*Laptops have an additional monitor port to connect a second screen; and

*Display settings in the Windows Control panel need to be set to flow to two screens.

Auto-Save Can Save Your Day

Have you ever lost changes because you failed to save properly?

Several Tobin Solutions clients recently experienced the pain of losing work. One was working on a previously created document for 45 minutes when the computerfroze. She lost all her work because Microsoft Word did not automatically recover the changes she made.

"Save frequently" is one of the first things we hear about when working on computers, but many of us become lax because of built-in auto-save features.

However, for auto-save to work properly, a document needs to be saved at least once each editing session.

Tip: Every time you open a document, whether it is new or existing, save it immediately to start auto-save.

Microsoft Word will then save the document automatically every 10 minutes. If power is lost or the computer locks up, Word will automatically open a recovered version when it is started again.

The document might not have all recent changes, but you will not lose everything.

Make certain Auto Recovery in Office 2007 or 2010 is turned on by clicking the Office button or File and selecting the Options button in the lower right corner. Under SAVE, check the "Save AutoRecover information every x minutes" and change the interval time if desired.

Auto Recover

In 2003 or earlier versions select TOOLS on the menu bar, then OPTONS from the menu. On the Save tab check the AutoRecover option and change the interval.

Meet the Tobin Staff...

Pam Schaar, Team Leader and Project Manager

Pam Schaar has had a long career in IT. She remembers punch cards, the first Apple Mac, and was a big fan of VisiCalc.

Her BBA-Information Systems and Business Administration degree is from UW-Madison.

Since college, Pam has held a variety of technical and management positions-systems analyst to manager in communication and technology services-with firms such A.O. Smith Data Services, Touche-Ross (now Deloitte & Touche), Firstar Information Services (now US Bank), and Metavante (now FIS), where she was ultimately promoted to vice president of command center operations.

Pam joined Tobin Solutions in March of this year and is enjoying the fast pace and her many contacts with customers.

Her certifications include ITIL-Foundation Certificate in IT-Service Management, and Negotiation Skills. She has also completed Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training.

When not making sure all goals are achieved, every question answered, and all due dates met, she enjoys gardening, bicycling, shoe shopping, reading books on her Kindle, golfing, and time with children Troy and Ann and husband Ted - not necessarily in that order.

OUTLOOK TIP: Use Signature Files to Add Canned Text to Messages

The signature feature in Outlook can be used to insert frequently used text into the body of an e-mail message.

For example, I had a brief statistical report that had to be sent monthly to my manager. The report was fairly short, so I typed the basic wording for the report into a signature file. When needed, I added this signature file to the body of the message, then added the data for the month, cutting the preparation time to under 30 seconds.

To create signature files:

Open Outlook, select Tools, then Options.

On the Mail Formatting tab click the 'Signatures' button.

Create a new signature file (give it a short meaningful name).

Enter the text with desired formatting and save the file.

signature file

To use the signature:

Open a new message and click the signature icon on the toolbar or Ribbon

Select the desired file and it will be displayed in the body of the message where you can edit it to fine tune the content.

Unfortunately in Outlook 2007 and 2010 Microsoft has limited use to one signature file at a time. This means if you have a signature that automatically displays in all of your messages, when you add a new signature file the default one is replaced. To get around this, include a copy of your signature following the text in your new signature item. signature file-use2

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