How MS PowerPoint Master Slide Works in a Presentation

The idea of a PowerPoint Master Slide is a basic one that MS PowerPoint shares with other presentation applications like Adobe Captivate. What is a master slide? A master slide is a template that displays certain fixed elements on every individual slide. When you need changes in those fixed elements, all you need to change…

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How to Use Google Tasks to Increase Your Productivity

Tucked conveniently right inside Google Mail is the personal productivity booster Google Tasks that I use to keep track of all kinds of different tasks. I for example use Tasks regularly to keep track of various article ideas and writing projects. To launch this nifty little utility, log in to your Google Gmail account (free)…

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6 Different Ways to Distribute Large Technical Documents

© 2011 Ugur Akinci Large files have always been a distribution headache for technical writers. PDF files, book files of all kinds, PPT files need to be planned and generated always with an eye towards their distribution. If your files are too big to send around, review and approval processes will be jeopardized. Here are…

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How to View Two MS Word 2007 Documents Side by Side

© 2011 Ugur Akinci Imagine you have a legal document and its slightly altered version and you’d like to see both versions side by side and compare them by scrolling both of them simultaneously. Or, imagine a friend of your has sent a translated document and asked you to read and make a comparison to…

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6 Future Career Paths for Technical Communicators

There are not one but multiple future career paths for technical communicators. Technical communication is changing rapidly like any other thing in our world. Report by The Writers Block A new report by The Writers Block, “Technical Communication Landscape Survey Report (Bangalore, Karnataka, India)”, lists the following future specializations for technical communicators: Technical writing Instructional…

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Encrypting a Word document with a Password

Encrypting a Word document is the process of protecting it from unauthorized access. It is a good idea to encrypt MS Word documents if you are going to send them over email or upload them on the internet. There are two ways to encrypt MS Word documents with passwords. One way is to use the…

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TECHNICAL BOOK REVIEW: “Survey of Technical Communication Landscape in India” by TWB

“Survey of Technical Communication Landscape in India, 1st Biennial Report (2011-12)” by The Writers Block (TWB), one of India’s outstanding technical communication training and outsourcing companies, is an authoritative reference volume that all technical communicators should read. Despite its cover price ($499 or 22,797 Rupee), this 158-page report succeeds in giving a detailed snapshot of…

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