Inside ASI-AP

Shortcuts to Applications
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Windows provides keyboard shortcut options to easily access preferred applications – this is similar to the quicklauch toolbar except that you can launch without the mouse. The shortcuts are CTRL+ALT+X = where X is a specific key for that application.

For example I use CTRL+ALT+W to open Word, CTRL+ALT+E to open Excel and CTRL+ALT+Q for Query Analyzer, CTRL+ALT+T for Terminal Server.

To create a shortcut of X for internet explorer:
1. Find the Internet Explorer on the Start>>Programs menu
2. Right Click (instead of Left Click) the application name on the start menu
3. Choose the Properties at the bottom of the Right Click menu
4. On the properties screen, choose the Shortcut tab
5. In the Shortcut Key field, press the letter ‘X’
6. Press OK to save the properties change

To activate the Internet Explorer – Hold CTRL+ALT+X and IE will open.

How to enhance My Places for MS Office
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I found this in a newsletter sent to Marketing a couple of years ago and it saves me time looking for regular network and local directories.

My Places is the shortcut area on the left of the File->Open menu found on many applications. It has five shortcuts by default however you can add an unlimited number of places using Office XP/2003. What this means is you can create your own places for directories you use all the time. For example I have:
- Customers = N:\Melbourne\Customers
- Customer Care = N:\Customer Care
- Dashboards = D:\My Documents\ASI Stuff\Customer Care\Dashboards
- Melbourne = N:\Melbourne
- iMIS Stuff = D:\iMISStuff

I don’t need additional mapped drives or to look through the dropdown process in Open File dialog boxes – so I save time to go to regular file locations to save or open.

To add a place to your Places Bar from Office XP or 2003:
1. Open any Office Open or Save As file explorer window.
2. Browse to the folder you want to put on the Places Bar. You can use local or network folders.
3. Left Click select the folder, but don't open it. Use Shift+Click or Ctrl+Click to select several folders and then choose Tools->Add to "My Places".
4. Choose the Tools menu and then Add to "My Places" from the dropdown menu.
5. The folder name will now appear in My Places at the bottom of the list
6. Right clicking the short cut allows some options including:
a. Re-order by choosing move up or move down.
b. Rename the shortcut
c. Make room for more icons by choosing Small Icons rather than Large