Timely Tips November 2013:

Gmail Capabilities Comparable to Outlook

*And a fun app that may be useful for all of those Thanksgiving leftovers

November 2013

Are you ready for the holiday? I sure am. One more client event today for the Iowa Society of Association Executives, and then I try to race home tonight to beat the holiday travel rush starting tomorrow.

Since it is a holiday week, I'd like to keep this month's Timely Tips short and sweet (like those pies you'll be eating later this week!) Let's talk about how Gmail now has many of the features that I've been teaching in Outlook for years that help you better manage your e-mail, and a fun app for all of those Thanksgiving leftovers:

Important Gmail capabilities now similar to MS Outlook

This is ALWAYS the place to look for your Timely Tip!

Did you know that Gmail offers many of the same e-mail management capabilities as MS Outlook? These capabilities allow you to convert e-mails into Tasks, Calendar events, and new Contacts. Of course, you'll be doing all of these actions in the Google suite of productivity apps (Google Tasks, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts), but even if you aren't using this suite for work, it may give you a nice option for your personal items and to keep your work and personal separate. You can even now create "Canned Responses", which emulates my strategy for using your "Signatures" tool in Outlook as an "automated e-mail tool". (By the way, if you'd like a quick refresher on how to do these conversions in Outlook, check out my most popular tutorial video on YouTube featuring Outlook "drag and drop" and Signatures -- nearly 44,000 views!)

You can open an e-mail in Gmail, and then use the "More" button in the top bar to change that e-mail into a Google Task or Google Calendar event. This will convert the e-mail as appropriate into a Task or Calendar event. And, if you hover your pointer over the sender's name, you will be given options to add them to your Google Contacts and/or invite them to link up with you on G+. The ability to convert e-mails into related tasks, events, and contacts is one of the key ways to help keep your inbox under control.

And, when you have Gmail open, if you go under the Settings tab to the far left (looks like a little "gear" icon), you can enter into the "Labs" section for Gmail. Here, you can find the "Canned Responses" tool, which allows you to save messages you use frequently for later quick use. Do you have any messages or info you seem to send out over and over again? Use Canned Responses like Signatures in Outlook to automate this valuable process.

I'll probably do a video tutorial on these critical Gmail tools in a future issue. But I encourage all of you Gmail users to check out these options now!

What am I thankful for?

Well, first and foremost, my family. They are the base that everything I do comes from, and without the full support of my amazing wife Jana nearly 10 years ago, I would not be doing what I'm doing now.

Second, all of you! I just counted up, and as of today, I will have delivered 120 individual client sessions in 2013! That is insane! Thank you to all of you that have continued to be supporters over the last several years -- I give my thanks to you.

Have a wonderful holiday break

I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday break. I myself will be off the road for more than a week, so I'm hoping to really kickstart my workout program this week to help counteract all of the food on Thursday!

Enjoy this time with your family and friends.

Until next month, Stay Timely!

Sincerely,

Randy Dean
Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC
http://www.randalldean.com

PS: Please consider joining my networking list on LinkedIn -- http://www.linkedin.com/in/randydean (would love your recommendation!) and/or becoming a Taming E-mail fan on Facebook here. Follow me on Twitter @timelyman. (And I'm on YouTube & Google+ too.) ;-)

App of the Month

Dinner Spinner

Dinner Spinner is available on both Google Play and the ITunes App Store.

What if you had an app that would give you fresh menu ideas with your leftovers and items just sitting in your pantry and refrigerator (including all of those Thanksgiving leftovers)?

Well, you have it! It is called Dinner Spinner, and it allows you to enter in ingredients you already have in your home, and "spin" the app to get new menu options. Here is info on Dinner Spinner on Google Play, and here is info on the ITunes App Store (note a few negative comments about issues with the new IOS 7 operating system.)

I actually have been told about this app by numerous attendees over the last year or so, so it seemed a perfect time to share to you. Drop me a line with the coolest recipes Dinner Spinner shared with you.