4 Tips for Improving Tasks at Work
Too many meetings and increasing responsibilities mean I need to make the best use of my time as possible—without sacrificing quality. Saving bits of time can add up to a lot at the end of the day. I use the Tablet PC as my only computer and throughout the day it helps me work more efficiently and quickly. In this article I'll talk about how the Tablet PC helps me with 4 key tasks at work.
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Mark Up and Edit Documents
Do you edit business documents—memos, presentations, manuals, or other documents? If so, the ability to mark up documents in digital ink with your Tablet PC, and send those marked documents electronically, is incredibly useful. I can type edits onto a document, but there are several reasons that I find using digital ink more helpful.
| • | Ink markups on text document better convey the intentions of my points. I can draw arrows, circles, and use paint-style highlighting on the page to better communicate my edits. When I'm done, I can share the edited document electronically with anyone. Learn more about using ink in Microsoft Office Word.  Use Microsoft Office Word 2003 to mark up a document. |
| • | I often edit while I’m commuting or out of the office, perhaps at home in a comfortable chair. Typing can be difficult with a conventional laptop keyboard perched on my lap. The Tablet PC interface is easier to use, and more relaxing. It is just like marking up a paper document on a notepad in my lap, and just as comfortable. |
| • | If I’m in a meeting it’s easier to edit related documents. With the Tablet PC, I don’t need to bring out a noisy keyboard-based laptop. I can make my edits in pen with the Tablet PC in my lap or on the table like a paper pad. |
There are several programs you can use to mark up your documents.
Word 2003 comes fully pen-enabled for marking up documents, as does Excel 2003 and PowerPoint 2003. Learn more about using ink in Office programs. With Windows Journal you can also write over an image of a document. This is especially useful for files—such as Web pages, graphics, and photos—that can’t be imported into Word. Learn more about marking up documents on your Tablet PC.
Use Microsoft Office Document Imaging to mark up a scanned or faxed document.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming on a computer makes it easier to share your brainstorming sessions with co-workers and edit them electronically. Sketching on a Tablet PC enables this, and opens your creative juices by freeing you from the limits of a computer keyboard. The Tablet PC, used with other programs, can give you useful structure to your brainstorm sketches and give you more productive output. Here are some ways I use the Tablet PC to brainstorm:
| • | Share ideas in a meeting: In meetings I draw, sketch, and handwrite brainstorming ideas using Microsoft Office OneNote. I can then drag and drop ideas and reorder them as I prioritize them in an outline. I can even insert audio notes from our brainstorming session. I don’t need to take time to convert them to text because OneNote treats handwriting almost like text. Learn more about using OneNote with a Tablet PC for brainstorming.  Use Microsoft Office OneNote for brainstorming and manipulating handwritten lists. |
| • | Develop complex ideas and organize projects: For more complex projects I like to draw and handwrite mind maps and business maps—network-like diagrams that show how ideas are related. I use MindManager X5 from MindJet, which can be used with the Tablet PC. I sketch out ideas on my own or collaborate with co-workers. The software links items, converts handwritten notes to text, and converts brainstorming to Word documents. I find the software actually increases my creative output during brainstorming by helping to connect ideas.  Use Mind Manager and a Tablet PC for brainstorming. |
| • | Creating quick sketches: I use the Ink Art application in the free Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC to quickly create brainstorming sketches. For instance, in my consulting I often need to quickly sketch a business process flow. I used to do this on a pad of paper or even a napkin. With Ink Art I have an electronic sketch pad up in seconds. I can color, highlight, annotate, and then export and send the sketch off electronically. Ink Art is perfect for generating quick graphic art studies, on short notice.  Use Ink Art application in the Experience Pack to generate quick sketches and graphics. |
Prepare, Give, and Edit Presentations
Using PowerPoint to create and give presentations is becoming a mandatory skill, whether the presentation is for sales purposes or for internal communications. Compared with a conventional laptop and desktop, the Tablet PC can give you a significant advantage while giving, creating, and editing your presentations. Working with the Tablet PC helps me when:
| • | Giving presentations: With the Tablet PC, I give interactive presentations in which I write on and highlight slides for emphasis during the presentation. I also write notes on the slides from comments I received during the presentation or during on-screen brainstorming sessions. You can write on slides in PowerPoint; or use Windows Journal.  Marking up PowerPoint Presentations is effective both during presentations, and while editing them. |
| • | Creating presentations: Using the brainstorming tools listed above and the Tablet PC, I can create PowerPoint pre¬sentations quickly. For example, I can brainstorm my ideas in MindManager, or sketch out my slide flow and bulleted content ideas in OneNote. Then, I transfer those ideas right into PowerPoint slides. I often sketch my ideas right into PowerPoint using digital ink, and then delete the ink as I finalize the slides. |
| • | Editing presentations: Pen-based editing of PowerPoint presentations is an effective way for me to edit others’ work. Given the mixture of graphics and text in the typical PowerPoint document, typed edits can easily get lost on the page. Marking them in ink solves this problem. In addition, it’s also easier to make the edits in a meeting if you’re reviewing it with co-workers. |
Take and Share Notes
With OneNote on the Tablet PC, taking notes in your handwriting is as easy as doing so on paper. And the search capability in OneNote makes retrieving the notes light-speeds faster than with paper. I can leave my notes as digital ink, or convert them to text. And I can share them with co-workers in either format. With handwritten notes I can draw charts and diagrams that help me quickly communicate a concept.
I find taking meeting notes to be especially useful in OneNote because I often need to access those notes quickly in subsequent meetings. I carry months, even years worth of meeting notes with me. If needed, I can find notes from previous meetings, and find information buried in those notes in seconds. Because OneNote understands my handwriting as text, I can even search my handwritten notes. Learn more how Tablet PC and OneNote can work together.
If I am taking notes while researching or sharing notes with others, I often use the Snipping Tool, which comes as part of the Tablet PC Experience Pack. The Snipping Tool allows me to easily to clip portions of a document or Web page for highlighting in my notes, as well as for e-mailing the snip to others.
Example of extracted text and graphics using the Snipping Tool, which is available for free with the Experience Pack.
If I am taking notes on the run, the Tablet PC Experience Pack also includes a useful feature called Ink Desktop. This allows me to jot notes right on the Tablet PC desktop, without launching a full note taking tool. This is great for capturing key points from a hallway conversation.
Summary
The Tablet PC makes my daily work activities quicker, easier, and more productive. These are just a few of the ways. In addition, learn 5 ways the Tablet PC helps me be more productive in meetings.
 | Michael Linenberger
Michael Linenberger is the author of Seize the Work Day: Using the Tablet PC to Take Total Control of Your Work and Meeting Day, a book about making practical use of the Tablet PC in a business setting. Michael has been a management and technology professional for more than 20 years, most recently as a program management consultant at a large insurance company in Northern California, and as Vice President of Technology for Connection to eBay, an Accenture Service. As a management and technology consultant with Accenture, he has been advising and managing projects in the San Francisco Bay Area for clients such as: eBay, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Applied Materials, UPS, Adecco, and others. Before Accenture, Michael led the technology department at U.S. Peace Corps.
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