Directive Blogs

There are a bunch of shortcuts that most (if not all, at this point) of us should already know… cut, copy, paste, new tab, things like that. These are the basics. However, if you really want to show off for the boss—blowing them away with your efficiency and professionalism—some more advanced options are also handy to know.

Let’s go over some shortcuts to take advantage of:

If you want to impress the boss, it helps to make yourself look as impressive as possible. One way to do this is to be particularly engaged and responsive in your email practices… and to accomplish this, it helps to keep your inbox organized and managed.

Let’s go over some simple tips that you can use to show off how professional you are with your emails as you use Gmail.

With the holiday season just around the corner, you’ll be spending a lot of time on the Internet trying to find the perfect gifts for the loved ones in your life… but do you actually know how to find exactly what you’re looking for? Today, we want to give you a holiday gift in the form of a guide on how to make the most of Google’s search functionality.

We’ve seen firsthand how the shift to remote work has revolutionized business operations. However, one area still causes friction for many business owners: the virtual meeting. A poorly executed remote meeting isn't just a time-waster; it can drain productivity and disengage your team, damaging your company culture. Today, we outline a few tips that show that with the right strategy and tools, your remote meetings can be even more effective and engaging than their in-person counterparts.

The cut, copy, and paste commands are some of the most frequently used keyboard shortcuts in the modern office, but do you actually understand how they work? They make use of the clipboard, but not many people know what the clipboard is or how it functions. Today, we want to demystify the clipboard and break down how you can make better use of it on your Windows device.

Are you making the most out of every single mouse click you make? The navigation peripheral has a lot of hidden functionality that you might not realize exists. Today, we want to go over some of the ways you can make each mouse click matter just a little bit more, as well as how you can use these tricks to save a little time and be a bit more productive.

Have you ever heard of mouse keys? It’s an accessibility feature of Windows 11 that lets you control your mouse cursor using the keyboard. It’s helpful for when your mouse stops working, or if the batteries die and you don’t have another you can use. Here’s how you can make the most of mouse keys for your Windows 11 PC.

The average email inbox can easily become packed with so many unwanted messages… not necessarily spam, per se, but threads and feeds you’re just no longer interested in. Fortunately, there are capabilities baked into Gmail and Microsoft Outlook alike that allow you to remove these messages from your concern.

Tips are great as long as they actually work. Business owners need more technology tips than just about anything else, whether that is app-specific or general care of technology. We try to do our best to provide useful tips a couple of times a month, but this week we wanted to focus on what is probably the most important tip we can provide.

You probably use Google more than you care to admit, so what if we told you that you could be getting even more value out of your Google searches? Today, we want to share some strategies to customize your Google search results by making your searches more effective from the outset.

Take it from us: technology, for all its benefits, can be frustrating.

That being said, it can bring a lot of value to your business when implemented and maintained properly. 

Let’s talk about some quick habits you can deploy to make your workday much easier when working with business technology.

It’s easy to let issues with your technology cause productivity to crash and burn, especially when you’re in the thick of a major project or a complex task. Frustration is all too common in the office, especially where technology is concerned, but it doesn’t have to ruin your day or kill your productivity. Today, we want to discuss how maintaining your composure is the best way to address these issues.

If you’re reading this on the day it's posted, it's Wednesday. How often have you had to rewrite the same messages, over and over, in your internal reporting and client interactions so far this week? Probably quite a bit, and certainly more than you’d prefer.

The trouble is, this is all wasteful. Not only does replicating this message over and over spend valuable time, but it also uses up mental energy… plus, simply copy-pasting can easily lead to errors and oversights. Fortunately, modern email platforms offer templates that can be used to generate consistent and quality messages. Let’s review how.

If you feel like you never have enough time to work through your to-do list, you’re far from the only one. If you make small adjustments to the way you tackle everyday tasks and responsibilities, you might be able to change your productivity habits for the better. Today, we want to explore just that: how you can make the most of your workday with simple, easy tricks.

How often do you find yourself feeling the weight of your agenda putting pressure on you, stressing you out, and—counterproductively—distracting you from the task you’re currently working on? Believe it or not, one of the best ways to power through and stay on track is to step away and take a minute to get your stress back under control. 

The Snipping Tool is a handy little utility application integrated into Windows that provides users with significant screen-capturing capabilities.

Let’s review how to use it and how it can prove valuable to your business.

Most of us use our internet browser every single day without thinking twice. Open tab, type something, click stuff, maybe panic a little when 42 tabs are open. Your browser can actually do a lot more for you, including saving you time and keeping you organized. This month, we thought we’d give you three browser tips that can seriously help you.

It’s no secret that Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers in the world, if not the most popular. Still, most people don’t use the browser to its full potential, and they leave so many wasted opportunities to save time and resources on the table. Today, we want to highlight some of these tips, but also a couple of features that perhaps you didn’t know existed for Google Chrome so you can continue to get more value out of it as a business and productivity tool.

QR codes are a handy way to direct someone to the right place online, like your business’ website, but did you know that they are also pretty easy to make? Let’s go over how you can whip up your own with the help of Microsoft Excel.

With remote work remaining popular, employees can benefit from flexibility and work-life balance, but at the cost of certain challenges on the business side. The big one is security, as your network ends up spread out across multiple locations rather than siloed in-house. Here are three rules you should consider when planning out how to approach remote work.