I know, I know…it’s only been a few days since my last podcast. But I just had to try out my new Aweber Blog Broadcast feature that I’ve connected to this blog site. If all goes well, it will replace the emails you normally get if you’ve subscribed to this via the email option. I have noticed it seems to get confused by the video player I put in my posts, so we’ll see if I like it enough to keep it, or if I’m sticking with what I have. I’m still testing, but will keep you posted, especially because you’ll get another opt-in email.

Anyhoo…on to the new video tip.

Let’s talk about how to share your Outlook Distribution Lists with others. This is so simple it’s not even funny. If you have distribution lists and you want to send them to others, simply include them as attachments in your email to them. Once the recipient gets your email they’ll drag and drop the attachment to their contact folder in Outlook. Didn’t I tell you it was easy?!??!

Oh and absolutely, sharing a distribution list is not to be confused with sending your contact items.

The send method for contacts will depend on just how many contacts we’re talking about. Less than 30, I’d use the Send As vCard feature (select the multiple contacts>Actions menu>Send as vCard. The terminology is a little different in Ol2007, but it’s in the Actions menu area. If it’s a lot of contacts then they should export out as csv file, send to you, and you import them from the csv file.

Watch the video below to see this process in action.

Andrea Kalli

I based this video tip on a question that was emailed to me by someone who read a presentation I did a while back on utilizing Outlook for Contact Management

Here’s her question:

I enjoyed your tutorial on Outlook Contact Productivity. I have a question. How does one arrange to see company infomation when in an e-mail and pulling up one’s personal contact list to find a specific company name first and secondly, the user name options associated with that company? I have been searching for this information and it has been eluding me for months. Thanks so much for your insight!

 

This is one of those questions I’ve been asked many times over the years, which automatically makes it a perfect topic for a video tip.

I hope you find it helpful.

Andrea
Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC
www.virtualassist.net

Check out our E-Learning Center for affordable, on-demand video tutorials for Outlook and SharePoint.

Watch the video below:

 

As promised in an earlier podcast, here is the video demo of the Pinpoint Marketing Tool from www.pinpointtools.com. This great product will take your Outlook or Business Contact Manager to the next level in two very important areas:

• Marketing campaigns - Schedule your “drip” marketing by combining emails, postcards, and letters into campaigns to stay top of mind.
• Action Plans and Automation - Create Action Plans to be more efficient - enter a pre-defined set of tasks with just one click.

You really MUST see this in action! Watch the videos below - there’s a part 1 and a part 2 to keep the video size small. The video player has a Fullscreen Toggle button to see it better.

Andrea
Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC
www.virtualassist.net

Check out our E-Learning Center for affordable, on-demand video tutorials on Outlook and SharePoint

PART 1:

PART 2:

RECENTLY RELEASED!

Google has released a sync tool which provides an AUTOMATIC 2 way sync between your Google and your Outlook 2003 or 2007 calendar. It was easy to install and set up, plus it works! Just log into your Google calendar and you’ll see it at the top.

If you don’t want 2-way sync, that’s cool too. You’ll be presented with sync options.

Check out Google’s article on it.

First, download the application and go through the installation process.  Once installed, there are 3 options you can choose from:

2-way sync, applies changes to both your Google Calendar and Outlook calendars with each other
1 way sync where Google Calendar events will be presented on your Outlook calendar
1-way sync where your Outlook calendar events are presented on your Google Calendar.
Andrea Kalli
Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC
www.virtualassist.net

Outlook and SharePoint Training and Support
Podcast/Audio Production and Support

Check out the video below.

I’ve found that people have a general idea of what SharePoint is, but many have no idea how to apply it to their own business.
I’d like to share with you the top 20 ways that SharePoint can solve your common business needs. And I want to emphasize that these 20 are only a few of the many ways to utilize the SharePoint Services. Once you start using it, you will begin to realize the many other valuable benefits that can easily be accomplished by the everyday user.

As an additional bonus, the accompanying audio podcast includes a description of what SharePoint Services is, the key components of it, how you can get it, and how much it costs.

A special treat for my listeners and readers is a coupon for $10 off the $24.95 online SharePoint Services Power User video training course (Product name: wsspu30). If you want to skip right to the coupon code and details, scroll down to the bottom of this post, look for ADDITIONAL GOODIES.

Shall we get started? Let’s see if you can find a few productivity solutions here that you’ve been trying to find for your own organization.

With SharePoint you can:

1. Store all your emails on a secure and centralized Website for easy archive.

2. Keep a central task location for assigning tasks to team members. These tasks will automatically show up in your team’s Outlook 2007 To-Do List. Those tasks will also link to your projects so you can easily find out what tasks are still open for each project.

3. Organize large events and store the related documents, assigned tasks, and generally post anything and everything related to the events. It will also integrate with Outlook for added efficiency.

4. Collaborate with team members on all documents and stay on top of who did what. Earlier versions can easily be restored in case someone has made too many mistakes. Projects can also be linked to related documents.

5. Assign tasks to your team members, and automatically notify them that they have a new task. Alerts are sent when there have been updates to the tasks.

6. Quickly manage all projects for your team or organization so there’s no need to explore buying an expensive project management solution.

7. Use the efficient check-in / check-out management feature to sort your documents.

8. Implement a help ticket resolution for your organization or  team without breaking the bank.

9. Start a private company blog to communicate and share ideas with your team that’s viewable only by those you give access to.

10. Gain more control over your company’s documents with the content approval function.

11. Offer training materials to your teams, clients, and/or partners in a password-protected Website that can be accessed anywhere in the world.

12. Offer a secure and private place to share documents and other information with clients and/or partners.

13. Access and work with your data using your Internet-enabled mobile phone for added convenience while traveling or out of the office at client meetings.

14. Create better team communication and brainstorming sessions where everyone can participate when their schedules permit.

15. Centralize where company and team project announcements are posted. Everyone will receive a notification via email or mobile phone automatically, anywhere in the world.

16. Work offline on the files, project tasks, tasks, discussions, contacts, calendars, blogs, etc. and then sync the updated information later on.

17. Create “central” documents (and syncronize), so all team members, clients, and/or partners are able to work on the same document and make changes. Updates are accessible with a click of a button. Everyone can then sync back to the “central” document and have all edits merged into that single document.

18. Easily add custom fields to any area and capture the information that’s most important to your company, all without the help of a web designer or IT person.

19. Pull up and update Microsoft Access 2007 database from a local desktop and sync information to a central location that can be accessed from any where at any time.

20. Create a project dashboard where on one page you can view and filter on common project elements, such as: project details, project documents, project tasks, project issues, project calendar, project milestones, project lessons learned, project risks, project change orders, and more.

On top of it all, you won’t spend a fortune to meet these communication, collaboration, and organizational needs.

Don’t even get me started about the integration features between SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office 2007 - particularly Outlook 2007 - IT’S INCREDIBLE!  A few of the ideas above do require Office 2007.

Keep in mind that a little training goes a long way in increasing productivity in the products you use in your business. I highly recommend taking the time to learn this efficient and effective tool and watch your productivity, along with your profits, soar!

ADDITIONAL GOODIES:
As promised, here’s a link to my website where I have a long list of SharePoint Hosting companies

Here’s a link to the ELearning Center and the special Coupon Code which entitles you to $10 off for listeners of my podcast and readers of this blog. It is 6D5DBCEA17 which expires on April 15, 2008. This coupon can only be redeemed for the online SharePoint Services video training course (wsspu30), with over 10 hours of video tutorials. This makes the course cost only $14.95 per person for one year access. (Offer has expired) And just so you know, registration is required to enroll in courses at the ELearning Center site. There is no cost for registration.

Happy SharePointing!

Andrea Kalli

Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC

www.virtualassist.net

Listen to the podcast below: