The Crabby Office Lady

This column gives you 10 ways to ease your boredom while still being (arguably) productive using all that your brain and Office have to offer.

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If you think this column is about wasting time at work, think again, pal. It's about being productive while you waste time. I do understand that there are times when you may not feel like making one more cold call to one more cold person, reading one more souped-up resume, or squeezing out one more grant proposal. When I hit one of those spots and my mind starts to turn to mush, I breathe in, breathe out, click my heels three times, and start to play around with some of the Office tools at my disposal. Frankly, it's how I get a lot of my column ideas.

Idea #1: Perk up documents with clip art

No, this doesn't have to be gratuitous clip art that takes over the content of your message. But a little visual impact can make the difference between a dry (cough) document that encourages nap time and one that keeps their eyes open and sparkly.

• Take a tour of the Clip Art and Media site
• Organize your clip art and other media (training course)

Idea #2: Download templates for vacation planning

A smart company knows that happy, rested people are productive people. So whether you're planning to rough it with a backpack or wrap yourself in luxury at every four-star resort on our little blue planet, start planning your trip now. (Or, make it a last-minute thing and risk spending the July 4th holiday weekend tent-to-tent with strangers in a crowded public camp site.)

• Multi-country tour itinerary
• Camping trip planner
• Maps

Idea #3: Read a Crabby column

Yes, this can be educational and fun at the same time. Tell 'em Crabby sent you!

• Stand up straight and mind your e-mail manners
• Demystify e-mail terms and get on with your life
• Crabby's recipe for balancing your work and your life

Idea #4: Set up Outlook to get your personal mail too

If the hardworking Outlook team goes to the trouble of allowing you to create multiple e-mail accounts so you can wage all your spam wars on one battlefield, then you owe it to them to do just that.

 Note   One caveat: make sure you're sending work mail from your work account. You wouldn't want your manager getting your weekly status mail from your personal mail account, right TwinkleToes@yourdomain.com?

Outlook 2007

• Add or remove an e-mail account
• Read POP3 e-mail messages on multiple computers
• Review or change e-mail account settings

Outlook 2003

• Outlook Overview: Setting up e-mail accounts in Outlook
• Add or remove an e-mail account
• Specify which e-mail account to use to send a message

Idea #5: Use speech recognition and never be lonely again

Do you tire of typing but never of hearing the sound of your own voice? Then speech recognition is for you. With the proper setup, you can dictate text into any Office program and select menus, toolbars, and dialog boxes by using your voice. It's fun, it's easy, and it makes a great party trick at your 5-year-old's birthday party.

Speech recognition for Office 2003

• About speech recognition
• Examples of using speech recognition with Office
• Things you can do and say with speech recognition

Speech recognition for Office 2007

Speech recognition features are not available in the 2007 Microsoft Office system programs. To use speech recognition features, run Windows Speech Recognition in Windows Vista.

 Note   If your operating system is Windows XP, you must run a previous version of a Microsoft Office system program to use speech recognition features. In Excel 2007, you can use text-to-speech functionality, which is different from speech recognition. To use text-to-speech commands, see I can't convert text to speech, which includes the information.

Idea #6: Practice your PowerPoint techniques

Yes, in theory you can utilize every possible PowerPoint animation and page transition available, but you don't want your presentation to be confused with a video game or make your audience queasy. I suggest you try everything out  — the animations, the transitions, the color schemes, the various templates — and then figure out what works best for your content, your audience, and the point you're trying to make.

• PowerPoint without bullets
• Professionally designed PowerPoint templates
• Discover the power of custom layouts (Training)
• Watch some PowerPoint demos

Idea #7: Create a new e-mail signature

Yes, you can make your e-mail signature outrageously long, complicated, and with more information than the message itself. And yes, that can be funny…once. But just once. Your e-mail signature can be as simple as your name, or a "Thanks," or even a "Thanks" with your name and your home page URL in there too.

• Everything you need to know about creating signatures in Outlook
• Create great-looking signatures for your e-mail Training)

Idea #8: Frolic in the Research task pane

Learn obscure facts from the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia about everyone and everything from Abba Eban to Zulu bow music. Or, translate a note into Greek that you've written to your pen pal in Athens. ("Can you get us tickets to the Olympics?") Or, get real-time stock quotes, look up words or phrases in the Microsoft Encarta English dictionary, or become a better writer with the thesaurus.

Research services in Office 2007

• Where are the Research options?

Research services in Office 2003

• See what you can do with the Research service (training course)
• Demo: Real-world facts and figures in the Research task pane
• About research services

Idea #9: Learn your keyboard shortcuts

You don't know what a keyboard shortcut is? Well try this (then get right back here!): you know that little button with the Windows icon in the lower left and right of your keyboard between the CTRL and ALT keys? It's called the Windows logo key (crazy, isn't it?). Press Windows+M and see what happens...

Fun, huh? Here are some more. Boy, do these save you time and MHS. (Mouse-Hand Strain  — I just made that up. We love acronyms around here.)

• Keyboard shortcuts in the 2007 Office system (Training)
• Work with the keyboard in Office (Training)
• Keyboard shortcuts for OneNote
• Keyboard shortcuts for Visio
• Keyboard shortcuts for Outlook
• Keyboard shortcuts for Word
• Keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint
• Keyboard shortcuts for Excel
• Keyboard shortcuts for FrontPage

There are many more articles about keyboard shortcuts in other programs as well as information on how to customize them. My suggestion is to go to Office Online and type "keyboard shortcut" into the Search bar. Amazing what you can find.

Idea #10: Consider a career change

If you're bored at work, perhaps it's time to change jobs. Utilize the Office Online tools for jump-starting your career.

• Resume templates
• Reference letters
• Interview letters
• Develop your career or find a new one with Office

Work can be fun, too

Now you have no excuse to be bored (or get caught trolling Web sites you shouldn't be trolling). There is plenty out there (and in here) to do. It's just a matter of finding it. You may even have fun while you're at work. Imagine that.

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." — Dorothy Parker

About the author

Annik Stahl, the Crabby Office Lady columnist, takes all of your complaints, compliments, and knee-jerk reactions to heart. Therefore, she graciously asks that you let her know whether this column was useful to you — or not — by entering your feedback using the Was this information helpful? tool below. And remember: If you don't vote, you can't complain.

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