Automate My Monotony?
November 13, 2013 10:33 AM Subscribe
I write minor variations on similar reports pretty much everyday. Other than working from basic templates, what can I do to speed up, automate, etc?
Most days I'm writing work reports that are relatively lengthy and remarkably similar to one another. Beyond working from a basic templates, which I annoyingly have to adjust minor details of for each report, are there smarter options for handling this? For example, are there manageable ways of creating drop down options for specific sections/phrases, introducing some sort of predictive text, etc. that could be created by someone with moderate basic computer skills (or farmed out to a contractor at a manageable price)?
Most days I'm writing work reports that are relatively lengthy and remarkably similar to one another. Beyond working from a basic templates, which I annoyingly have to adjust minor details of for each report, are there smarter options for handling this? For example, are there manageable ways of creating drop down options for specific sections/phrases, introducing some sort of predictive text, etc. that could be created by someone with moderate basic computer skills (or farmed out to a contractor at a manageable price)?
Clipboard manager software might be of use for having a palette of pre-written sections and phrases.
posted by XMLicious at 1:01 PM on November 13, 2013
posted by XMLicious at 1:01 PM on November 13, 2013
Word has some spiffy (if awkward) format locking options that are available under the Developer tab (it's not visible by default, you have to opt in to displaying the extra tab). Once you layout your document, you can then lock the template down so the only thing you can do is fill in (or select) fields. This then allows you to tab or arrow down through the fields.
Annoyingly, if you create a drop-down, you can't start typing to jump to the first related option drop-down field (example: if you have a Yes/No drop-down, typing "y" won't select "Yes"). Also, arrow keys (up and down) navigate to the previous or next available field, instead of scrolling through drop-down options.
What is your end product - is it a word document you email or electronically file, or a "locked" format like a PDF or a physical print-out? I ask because in some ways it's easier to mess up a Word document form, as you can only edit certain fields, so you might not notice if you added an extra character in by accident. Of course, you could make the document read-only in a number of ways.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:36 PM on November 13, 2013
Annoyingly, if you create a drop-down, you can't start typing to jump to the first related option drop-down field (example: if you have a Yes/No drop-down, typing "y" won't select "Yes"). Also, arrow keys (up and down) navigate to the previous or next available field, instead of scrolling through drop-down options.
What is your end product - is it a word document you email or electronically file, or a "locked" format like a PDF or a physical print-out? I ask because in some ways it's easier to mess up a Word document form, as you can only edit certain fields, so you might not notice if you added an extra character in by accident. Of course, you could make the document read-only in a number of ways.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:36 PM on November 13, 2013
If you're on a Mac, TextExpander is your friend. On Windows, give Breevy a go.
You can type keyboard shortcuts to blurt out boilerplate text templates and also insert prompts for specific bits of text, so you can have things like Report about [insert blurb here] for [insert dude or dudette here] on [date XYZ] as a form that pops up when you type a certain keyboard shortcut.
posted by Gentlemanhog at 3:00 PM on November 13, 2013
You can type keyboard shortcuts to blurt out boilerplate text templates and also insert prompts for specific bits of text, so you can have things like Report about [insert blurb here] for [insert dude or dudette here] on [date XYZ] as a form that pops up when you type a certain keyboard shortcut.
posted by Gentlemanhog at 3:00 PM on November 13, 2013
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I'm doing some neat automation with PowerPivot. You set it up once, and you refresh the data source and all your pages refresh.
You can link Excel to PowerPoint presentations and/or Word and update those as well.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:45 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]