Paste Special—What is It and Why to Use It!

Everybody knows how to copy and paste (or cut and paste, as some of us prefer) — right? Actually, I would say wrong.

When you copy (Ctrl + C or right click, copy) or cut (Ctrl + X or right click, cut) something, it is placed in a virtual clipboard. Keep in mind that this action copies EVERYTHING about what you have selected. Some copy extras that come along…..

  • That extra space before or after the text you really wanted to select.
  • Any formatting involved including font, color, line spacing, etc….
  • Any tone-on-tone programming code that you cannot see but “selected” as part of the text.
  • Any embedded hyperlinks.
  • If copying from a website, various HTML coding.

The extras will cause SIGNIFICANT issues when you paste. If you are pasting into a presentation, word processing document, or spreadsheet; these extras cause major issues that have to be fixed manually most of the time, which can be very time-consuming.

All of these issues are avoided using paste special. When you paste (Ctrl + V, or right click, paste) a little typing clipboard typically shows just after you paste and disappears as soon as you click or select something else. If you instead click on that clipboard icon, you will see your paste special options.

The most useful one is — text only. Using this commend will bring the text you were interested, without the extras, so the formatting of your pasting location will apply. You can also see these options when you right-click and instead of selecting paste, choose one of the specific pasting options.

The 2nd most useful is paste as image. Even if you are bringing “text” sometime, you want it to appear EXACTLY as it does in the source copy location. Pasting as an image will bypass any formatting commands and give you basically a screenshot of the material.

If you are copying from a spreadsheet, various additional options exist because of the calculating features. Sometimes you just want the equation not the result and other times the opposite. Both are options using various paste special features. When inputting equations in a spreadsheet, the “$” means to lock the row or column information of the equation when copying. This prevents spreadsheets from automatically adjusting the equation based on where you are copying it to.

Using these features can save you considerable frustration and time when using the copy/cut/paste features of various applications.

Printers — Which One is Right For You?

There are many features you need to consider when looking at a printer. Start by answering the following questions?

  • Do I need/want color, or will black and white fit my needs?
  • How often do I print — some almost every day or go 2 or 3 weeks printing almost nothing and then use it?
  • How much do I print (i.e., # of pages per month)?
  • Do I require scanner and/or fax features?
  • Do I require duplexing (i.e., printing on both sides)?
  • What is the largest size of paper I need to print?
  • How long do I keep/plan to use the device?
  • Where am I putting it — next to the computer it is going to support OR some distance away?
  • Does the printer need to support multiple users/devices?
  • What am I printing — photos, documents, secured information that due to industry requirements cannot be wireless or cloud based printing service?

Once you have answered those questions, selecting a printer should be easy!

Let’s take paper size. Most printers cannot print more than letter or legal width paper. If you need something bigger, you will need a device with wide format features. HP has a nice multifunction device (MFD) that can handle up to 11×17 paper (https://a.co/d/3YWR5hA).

If you require fax and scanning features, then you need to consider only MFD hardware. Multiple options exist. Remember that these machines will be larger than a printer only device because of the scanning glass.

Duplexing — read the printer specs carefully! Some printers will say they can duplex but require you to take the 1st side printing paper out and put it back in flipped over for printing the 2nd side. This is very annoying….especially if you are printing multiple copies.

If you are printing something that cannot go through a network or cloud service, then make sure your printer is connected via a USB cable and check the settings to ensure the manufacture doesn’t upload a copy to their cloud to enable other features.

If you plan on keeping the device at least 3 years, stick to a major brand. There are some excellent printers in off-market brands, but the issue will be getting ink/toner at a reasonable cost as the device gets older. Talking about ink/toner supplies. Nothing wrong with off-brand consumables, BUT not all of them are created equal. Some will significantly decrease the quality of your prints….(especially if you are not a heavy user), therefore it takes a while to finish off an ink/toner consumable, will experience leaks that damage the printer.

Every printer normally states how many pages it is designed to print per month. Do NOT exceed this recommendation. Regular usage above the design will cause the printer to have an “early death”.

If a printer is not going to be located within 5–10 feet of the computer/laptop it is supporting, you will need something with an internal network card. This allows you to connect the printer via your Wi-Fi network AND allows multiple users/devices to use the hardware.

The big question for most people is laser or liquid ink? Typically, lasers cost more for the initial device and when purchasing the toner, BUT the cost per print is typically less expensive. Lasers will normally print much faster. If you typically have a month or 2 with no printing, I recommend the laser because quite of few of the liquid ink printers will clog if they are not used regularly.

Some options:

Give me a call if you need some help figuring out the “right” printer for you!

Basic Branding Information

No matter how small your business, you should have a branding cheat sheet. This sheet should contain at least the following:

  • Fonts
  • Colors (noted in RGB, CMYK, HEX, and PMS formats)
  • Logos (in multiple formats and configurations)
  • Tag Lines
  • Company Values Statements

This cheat sheet should be provided to ANYONE providing social media, printed material, digital material, web content, etc… It should be updated regularly when new content is created. The branding cheat sheet should be used as a guide so that new content looks cohesive and works with the existing material.

I have a template I use to capture this information and can help you get started. Give me a call/text/email or reach me via my website’s contact me link and I will help make this happen.

Picture Files — When to Use What Format

For the average end user, whatever format a device or application/program creates as default is what you should use. Picture files will typically be much larger than any other format other than video/audio files. While there is some usage/feature overlap between file types, here are some of the basic picture formats or file types that can contain image content.

  • AI — Adobe Illustrator
  • BMP — Windows bitmap
  • EMF — Windows Enhanced Metafile
  • EMZ — Compressed Windows Enhanced Metafile
  • EPS — Encapsulated PostScrip
  • FPix, FPX — FlashPix
  • GIF — Graphics Interchange Format
  • FEIF — High-Efficiency Image File
  • JPG, JPEG, JFIF, JPEG-2000 — Joint Photographic Expert Group
  • RAW — Digital Camera Image File
  • PDF — Portable Document Format
  • PICT, PCT — Macintosh Picture
  • PNG — Portable Network Graphics
  • PNTG — Macintosh Paint
  • PSD — Photoshop Document
  • QTIF — QuickTime Image Format
  • SGI — Silicon Graphics Incorporated
  • SVG — Scalable Vector Graphics
  • TGA, TPIC — Targa
  • TIFF, TIF — Tagged Image File Format
  • WebP — Web Picture
  • WMF — Windows Metafile
  • WMZ — Compressed Windows Metafile
  • XML — Extensible Markup Language

I recommend the following usage guidelines:

  • Web or Digital Resources — JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • Printed Material — EPS or PDF
  • Clips from or to be inserted into Videos — JPG or PNG
  • Vector file formats should be used for print materials
    • If you don’t know which file formats are “vectored” then you need to contact a geek for help.
  • Raster file formats should be used for digitally used content
    • If you don’t know which file formats are “rastered” then you need to contact a geek for help.

Basic image editing software (i.e., red eye reduction, color corrections, make something transparent, etc…) is included in many devices or applications, but true custom image editing is a skill and art form that requires expensive applications, experience, and knowledge. Entire careers are involved in nothing but image editing. Today, almost all photographers include some image editing as part of their professional services.

For most users .JPG, .JPEG, BMP, PDF, PNG, TIF, and TIFF will be the formats they use.

Email — Best Practices and Etiquette

Have you ever been on an email storm? You know, where you receive 10 or more I agree, Yes, No Problem responses, and one person who writes a dissertation about how this is not something they personally like. Here are a few best practices that prevent this and other email related issues.

  • If the email has 10 or more people OR is likely to receive multiple responses that not everyone should see, do NOT fill in the TO portion. Instead, place all the recipients in the BCC option. Some email systems do not automatically show the BCC or CC options, so you may need to either change your default email settings OR select/expand the sending options on your email. Everyone will receive it with their name/email in the TO field (even though that is not what you used) and if they reply it will ONLY come to you…..even if they use REPLY ALL,
  • Do not send emails with attachments greater than 10 MB and staying below 5 MB is a good idea with non-corporate accounts (i.e., free email accounts used by the average user not from their employer). If you need to “attach” large files, upload them to a cloud storage location and provide only an access URL in the email. Emails that are too large will get “stuck” in cyberspace and never arrive at the recipient.
  • Remember to BCC yourself (i.e., personal account) when dealing with HR or some other work email that you will need if you are no longer employed by that company. An example would be an email stating reporting a conflict to HR about paid time off/vacation approval conflicts, your resignation email, or final listing of equipment distribution/turn-in on your last day.
  • If you work in a regulated industry with information handling requirements, all emails should have a disclaimer about how to handle if the recipient is NOT the intended person.
  • Use the read receipt and send receipt features. Most users never change the default email settings, which is to automatically respond with this information WITHOUT notify/asking permission of the recipient. Especially read receipt is a great way to know if someone has taken the time to not only receive an email but opened it and read it. Since this feature is typically “real time”, this is a great indicator of when you should call someone to follow up.
  • Do NOT use polling or other features that are specific to one type of email software. For example, the polling feature is great in Outlook but if you are sending it to anyone not using Outlook, they will not see the polling content. Typically, this means do not use these features when sending outside your company.
  • Use encrypted systems like DocuSign if you need to send or receive information with Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Standard email does NOT meet this standard. The state of California holds companies responsible for identity related damages, therefore emails with this content are a potential liability risk.
  • Remember that many users have various support staff who can see their email and/or calendar. Make sure you do NOT include information in subject/title lines that might cause conflicts (Ex. Information about termination of XYZ employee, Layoffs for tomorrow, etc….). Most companies have email/calendar privacy feature, but most users forget to use them, so assume their support staff will have access.
  • Do NOT send .zip files via email. There are ways around these limitations, but .zip files/folders cannot be scanned by most email antivirus tools, therefore the email will be blocked and never received by the recipient.

Use my contact me feature if you don’t have my information on speed dial if you have additional questions or situations I have not covered here

Anyone Looking for an Alternative to Microsoft Office?

Microsoft Office and the Apple equivalent software package are robust monster programs that if you do these types of activities regularly or work with files created by these packages frequently — you need to purchase the application suite. If you are a small time user who just needs to be able to view, save, print, or make some modest edits without using complicated programming then there are multiple “free” options.

Probably the most useful and known alternative is Open Office Org. This package uses a very similar interface, and therefore you will not need “training” if you are already familiar with Office or the Apple equivalent. It can even change the default save to format to be compatible with something MS-Office users can open without issues. Just remember that anytime you convert files from one system/type to another, you should expect the more complicated features to need some cleanup. Open Office Org has programs for each of the MS-Office suite applications.

Some other options are: LibreOffice, Free Office, Caligra Suite, WPS Office, Zoho, Only Office, Office Online, and Google Workspace. Most of these are “online” applications only, so no internet means no ability to work. Many users have Google email and therefore already have the Google Suite available. Just go to the Google website, in the top right corner click on the nine dots. Now you will see a list of all the applications available from Google.

If you require something with LOTS of stock images and some basic to moderate photo editing features, take a look at Canva. You have to pay for the more advance features, but the “free” version is pretty extensive.

WARNING: Remember, nothing is REALLY free. Most of the time, if you read the user agreement carefully for the free applications on the cloud, you will find that any content you create they have a right to use. If you are working on sensitive or competitive information, these solutions are probably not a good idea.

Give me a call, text, email if you need some help figuring out the “right” alternative for your needs.

Copy and Paste Options

In the Windows environment, we have the Paste Options (historically known as Paste Special) feature. Apple has a similar function, but all the examples/how to information in this post will be Windows based.

Paste Special is a really powerful tool that will help keep your sanity. When we select text, a picture, or really anything a chose to copy it…..we are getting whatever the human eye cannot see as well. Typically, this is only formatting, but it could be a virus, for example when you are copying from a public location like a website. Even if it is formatting, most of the time you do NOT want to bring it to your destination file, email, etc….

Ever spent a lot of time changing something you copied into the format of all the other stuff in your document or presentation? If you had chosen Paste Special — text only or no formatting — then you would automatically keep the formatting of your file. This is why some people can put together a presentation that looks really cohesive and others look like someone grabbed every font, color, or formatting option.

Best Practices

  • Use Paste Special — no formatting, text only, image only, etc… most of the time. Yes, this means that you can still use Ctrl + C for copy but when you use Ctrl + V…click on the very little icon that appears at the end of your paste. This will let you decide how you want to paste it. If you use right click copy and then right click paste, that option shows automatically.
  • Only copy exactly what you want — this means no extra spaces before or after. It is very frustrating when someone creates something like a spreadsheet or word processing document with sloppy copy and paste technique. It causes issues when attempting to use any automatic tools like Mail Merge, and users spend a lot of time removing the extra spaces.
  • Paste as an “image” if you want to ensure it looks exactly like it did at the source. This means someone cannot select it as text, even if it looks like text to the human eye but keeps the formatting of your new file from impacting how it appears.

Cell Phone — Organizing Screens

Do you have way too many icons on your phone screens? They can easily be organized. Here are some best practices and tips:

  • You can have more than one “home” screen. Most people should NOT have more than 3. Most phone models will create a new/additional screen simply by clicking on an existing icon, hold onto that click and drag it/move it to your home screen, now drag it to the right off the screen. This will generate a new or blank screen to drop the icon. If you have more than one screen, this is how you move icons to different screens.
  • Do not put EVERY icon on a home screen. If you only use something once in a great while, it doesn’t need to be on a home screen. Most models, when you swipe upwards OR hit a dedicated button at the button will open a list of everything install organized alphabetically.
  • The first home page or default page that opens when you unlock your phone should be the items you access all the time. Most phones have 3 to 5 icons at the very bottom that show on all home screens. For most of us these are the phone icon, text message icon, email icon, and/or calendar icon.
  • Icons should be organized into groups of similar apps. For example, my default home screen is frequent stuff, my 2nd home screen is work or business stuff, and my 3rd home screen is personal stuff.
  • On a home screen, a single icon can be a folder with multiple icons grouped together. This, for example, is the default configuration of Google apps. I personally don’t like having all my Google apps in one spot. Most of us want to pull out a couple of the frequently used ones and put them directly on the home screen (i.e., not within a folder).
  • To create a folder icon, just drag one icon on top of another. When you let go, a folder icon will appear with both icons inside. Drag additional icons on top of the folder to add them to the folder. To move an icon out of the folder, you open the folder, then drag just the one icon out of the folder. Clicking on the folder icon name allows you to change it or add one if the phone did not automatically generate a name.
  • If I don’t have enough icons to justify having a home page just for something like work stuff. I might make a folder called work and move all the work related apps inside it.
  • You do not need to fill all the spaces on a screen. Leaving some “white space” allows your eye to more easily see the relationships of stuff. This makes it much easier to find an icon.
  • Install an app that functions like a File Explorer on Windows or the Finder feature on a Mac.
  • Files and websites can be added to a home screen with an icon. Every model does is differently, so give me a call if you need help figuring out how to do it on your specific phone model.
  • There are LOTS of free apps but know who is your app author and understand nothing is really free even if it doesn’t cost money. For example, most of us do not want to install an app owned and operated by the Chinese government because of privacy concerns. In China, the government basically has unlimited access to company data. Many apps pay for themselves by using your activity and selling it. They protect your identity individually but sell large chucks of user data to 3rd parties. For example, this is why Facebook doesn’t charge you for creating a profile and using the app to socialize with friends and family. They turn around and will sell the data (in bulk and without individual names/identities) to companies looking for information. For example, if I am a boot maker, I want to know what is the average age and sex of people looking up information about boots. They also let companies buy ads for targeted audiences. For example, a realtor will pay for an ad on Facebook to ONLY go to people in within X miles of a certain location and who have a history of interest in homes or apartments. Most of us consider it a fair trade for getting to use the app at no $$$$ charge.

Give me a call and while I most likely need to be in person, I don’t mind helping you use these mini computers effectively that we call “smartphones”.