Facebook gems that are hard to find (a couple)

I’ve been finding and sharing some cool stuff about Facebook that is not obvious and sometimes hard to find when you go back later.  If you’ve got a Facebook Page for your business or art OR if you want the skinny on privacy, read on ~~

Connect your page to another page:  Your page can’t be a fan of another page, BUT you can post favorite pages on your page. This is a great way to promote others’ pages, especially those that relate to your page’s mission or content.  Your favorite pages show up in the left hand column, under your Page photo and Fans.  

To add a favorite Page, go to the page you want to add and select Add to my Page’s Favorites option under the Page photo (left column).   A pop-up will ask you which of your Pages you want to add this favorite page to.  Select your Page and you’re connected.

Privacy matters:  Found a great, simple-to-implement list of Ten Facebook Privacy Settings. I’ve already set up some Friend Lists to control who’s seeing what posts and photos. A colleague was delighted to hear she could manage who was tagging her in photos. Check out the list and let me know what you decide to make private on your FB profile.

Email-Triage your incoming messages in Outlook

Most women I know are running a business, managing a family, chairing volunteer activities, and doing about a dozen other major things. We have lots of different types of email in our inboxes. Our priorities for even looking at these different types messages usually vary, depending on the time of day or what else is going on.

Here’s one way of automatically sorting the incoming mail, so that you can open and deal with different types of mail in the priority that makes most sense, not as they show up in your general inbox. This is the method if you’re using Outlook 2003 email. Other full-featured email applications have similar features for triaging mail and even Google’s gmail has a very simple filter feature.  Stay tuned for a future post on Outlook 2007 triaging.

Girls’ Guide to Triage by Inbox Sub-Folders

Start by creating sub-folders in your Inbox for the different major categories of activities.  I recommend keeping the sub-folders at a major level of your life: Family, Business, each volunteer/board activity you’re involved with.

To create a mail folder in Outlook 2003 ~~

1. In Outlook, on the File menu, select New, and then select Folder.
2. In the Create New Folder dialog box, in the Name box, type the name for the folder.
3. In the Create New Folder dialog box, in the Folder contains box, click the type of folder that you want to create. Since you’re creating an email folder click Mail and Post Items from the drop-down menu. 
4. In the Select where to place the folder list, click on the Inbox, and then click OK.
5. In your folder list, you’ll now have a + sign next to Inbox and when you click on it, you’ll have the newly created folder under it.
6. Repeat for any other sub-folder you’re creating.

To define Inbox Rules in Outlook 2003 ~~

Now, set up the filter rules for automatically routing the incoming messages to the right sub-folder.  The easiest way to get started is to work with the messages already in your Inbox.

1. Select a message already in your Inbox that you want to base a triage rule on, right-click the mouse, and then on the shortcut menu, click Create Rule. In the Create Rule dialog box, select the check boxes for the options that are already filled in with information from your selected message. The option you’re most likely to select will be the From: option
2. Click the Move e-mail to folder check box.
3. Click on one of the folders you created earlier or click New to create a new folder to store the messages.
4. If you have other conditions, actions, or exceptions to the rule, click Advanced Options, and then follow the rest of the instructions in the Rules Wizard.
5. You can repeat Steps 1-4 for other messages in your Inbox that you want to triage.
6. When you’re done defining rules (for today or for the whole Inbox), run the rules: In Outlook, on the Tools menu, select Rules and Alerts.  Click on Run Rules Now.  On the Run Rules Now screen, select the rules you just defined, make sure it says Run in Folder: Inbox.  Click Run Now. 
7. Check your Inbox sub-folders to see if messages ended up where you intended.  New messages coming in will automatically go to the designated sub-folder in your Inbox, if the boxes are checked on the Rules and Alerts screen.  The sub-folders will appear bolded when there are new, unread messages in them.

Post a comment about your adventures in triaging your incoming messages.

Blog Debut: The Girls’ Guide to Technology at Work

In my networks, I keep hearing from women, highly competent in all the other areas of their businesses, that they are challenged by the technology on their desktops. They don’t know how to use it, or they’re frustrated by it, or, worst of all, “Technology hates me and the feeling is mutual”. 

Sound familiar?  Lots of women I know, especially those of us post-forty who didn’t grow up with computers, have mastered the other skills they need to run a business. Many are still undone by not knowing how to use the technology they have or how to select the technology they might need.  Many depend on male partners or children when they want to do something new with their PCs, laptops or handhelds.

 I’m creating and debuting this blog as a forum sharing a basic toolkit of technology skills that you need in your business. Even if you are blessed with a whiz-bang assistant who takes care of these frustrating and messy details, you will maximize this support when you know how to ask for what you need out of your technology. I hope to empower business women with tech-knowledge. 

Here are some of the areas I’m thinking about blogging on:

• Navigation skills – no matter what the application, there are some consistent rules/techniques for finding what you need
• How do you choose what application will best meet your business needs?
• How do you find help online?  How do you get what you need out of help?
• How do you get help from a live techno-specialist? What are the keys to a successful help session?
• Tips for hidden productivity gems in MS-Outlook (Email, Contacts, Calendar/Tasks)
• Tips for same in  MS Office Apps (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
• What else would you like to see or share?

I’d love to hear from you about what you most want out of your technology. What do you want to know? What is your biggest frustration? What does an ideal relationship with your technology look like?  Post a comment. Let’s start building your toolkit.