Tax season just ended, and you probably filed your return with either the CRA or the IRS. So now what?
Even though you may be taking a deep sigh of relief that it’s over, don’t be too quick to celebrate. There are still a few things you can do to ensure that next year goes a bit more smoothly.
Here are 3 things you’ll want to keep in mind after you file your taxes.
Believe it or not, as advanced and cutting edge as CAD industry workflows seem to be, they evolve and change slowly, if ever. And one thing that certainly never changes for CAD designers is time.
It becomes an even more precious commodity when it’s intertwined with a company’s productivity and deadlines are a priority. As you can imagine, to change up CAD workflows and systems costs not only time, but money and resources, as well.
One such work trend in the CAD industry, for instance, is cloud based technology. Though cloud based tech is heavily advocated in other industries, cloud based CAD is a highly debated topic in the CAD niche. CAD professionals, in fact, are generally resistant to it.
The resistance to cloud-based CAD technology is growing. Robert Green, Cadalyst.com columnist and CAD consultant, sums up the issue of the resistance to Cloud-Based CAD that covers the growing trend in the industry.
In sum, there are key business trends that are keeping companies from implementing them. This skepticism is for a few reasons, the overarching theme of them being data centralization on the cloud.
Online CAD tools and software flavours have only been coming out over the past few years. And, as with any industry, full adoption of it relies on many existing factors including: cost, software ownership, network security, and prioritizing risk reduction over cost reduction.
Other notable factors include the fact that the cloud is a slow internet-based platform, which will primarily affect the commonly bloated file transmissions the CAD industry is known for. And quite obviously, using such a platform puts users who don’t have the best connection or hardware at a disadvantage.
Naturally, the topic of Green’s article incited a number of comments and reactions from CAD readers. One significant point readers highlighted is that CAD users “don’t appreciate having their software choices dictated to them. The level of disdain for software companies forcing a cloud-based software model onto their customers is palpable.”
It’s also understandable. How one designer works will always play a major role in deciding what new, more advanced workflows and software can be implemented. Not the other way around.
Flight Homes’ timber designer, Paul Erickson, is a real world example of this freedom of software choice in action. And in his case, his choice of software gave him the weekly advantage he needed for projects each week, something that wouldn’t have been possible if the software was chosen for him.
Flight Timber Products Ltd. is a leading construction company in the United Kingdom. The Flight Timber team struggled with re-entering their PDF drawings manually into AutoCAD, the main productivity and time killer.
“As successful engineering service providers, the Flight Timber team regularly deals with a variety of PDF files,” says Paul Erickson, designer for Flight Timber Products. “Every employee in the company has their own document management workflow and preferred software.”
And as a CAD designer himself, he tested out a number of converters which never generated the results he needed. He finally discovered and chose Able2Extract as his preferred PDF converter.
In this case study, we take a close look at exactly what the effect of choosing one’s own tools has on a personalized CAD workflow. Paul Erickson cites benefits from using Able2Extract, which include:
Read the full Flight Homes case study here and read about how one PDF tool became the data extraction solution for one CAD designer.
When you have the Internet, your productivity can increase drastically. It all depends on how you use it.
If you constantly work on the Internet, then you probably already know all about IFTTT (If This Then That), the online service that automates your daily tasks by connecting popular web services that you use every day.
And IFTTT recently got Office 365 signed on as a service. Now a few of your favourite Office 365 apps are available as IFTTT channels: OneDrive, Mail, Calendar, and Contacts.
Knowing how often you use Office 365 yourself, you can imagine what kind of automated tasks are possible. In this blog post, you’ll learn how to start up your collection of Office 365 IFTTT recipes for some of the most simplest and common tasks you do on a daily basis.
Remember—if you don’t see a recipe that works for you, you can always create your own when you sign up to IFTTT.
Networking can be considered an art, which admittedly sometimes, requires help in not only remembering people, but proper networking etiquette, as well. Set a calendar reminder to follow up with new Office 365 contacts when you add them on.
Sometimes your schedule can be too hectic to remember the standard follow up tasks–esecially for meetings. Well, if you’re a Trello user, there’s a recipe that will allow you to create task cards reminding you to follow up with meeting notes.
Hate it when you get caught in the rain? If you aren’t in the habit of checking the weather forecast, this neat little recipe can check in for you. It can give you an automatic Office 365 Calendar reminder to take your umbrella if rain is predicted for the day. Don’t ever get caught unprepared ever again!
Who doesn’t love group lunches at the office? In workplaces where everyone is spread out among departments, you can save yourself a trip around the office and instantly inform your co-workers that their food has arrived. This “Do” Button Recipe isn’t your traditional “if this, then that recipe.” Instead of combining two actions, you use a single “Do” button on your phone to send an email to their inboxes.
If you’re expecting an important email, you don’t have to sit around and wait for it. With this recipe, you can get iPhone notifications when you receive a high priority email in your Office 365 Mail inbox. This is a great way to free up your time and let IFTTT keep an eye out for you.
This recipe can help you save attachments you receive to your OneDrive account, allowing you to create an online database that makes it easy to store and find any important files you receive.
Where would your productivity be without your music? If you’re a SoundCloud user, you can collect your favourite music and access it directly from your computer with this recipe that lets you download liked tracks on SoundCloud to OneDrive.
If you love taking pictures or are into photography, then you’re probably posting your shots to Instagram on a regular basis. With this recipe you can automatically save your Instagram photos to OneDrive and create an instant backup of all your photos.
Can’t keep track of the Facebook photos you’re in? Just connect the Facebook and OneDrive channels to stay on top of it. This recipe lets you save any Facebook pictures that your friends tag you in. It’s a neat and easy way to start your own collection of photos with your friends.
There are a ton of other channel combinations you can use with Office 365. It’s just a matter of making the connections between the services you use on a daily basis.
Got your own suggestions? Help expand on this list by sharing some of your own recipes.
Working via the cloud is unavoidable these days. Thanks to mobile devices, we’re finding more efficient ways of working while away from the office. In fact, a common productivity habit these days is to send the document you’re working on to Google Docs so you can edit them from anywhere.
Well, if you’re using Open Office to create those documents, we’ve got a great productivity tip for you. In addition to helping you convert PDF to Open Office, we came across an Open Office extension that will let you instantly export your Open Office files to Google Docs: OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs (OOo2GD).
OpenOffice.org2Google Docs is an extremely handy plug in that allows you to export, import and update your Writer, Calc, and Impress files to and from Google Docs.
The best part about this extension is that it simplifies the entire process and lets you do it right from within the Open Office suite itself. Take a look.
Installing OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs
To start exporting your files, you’ll obviously need to install the plug in first. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Download the OOo2GD extension by clicking on the Get it Now button. Save the extension to a location you will remember.
2. In Open Office Writer, go to Tools>Extension Manager…
3. In the Extension dialog, click on Add. Then browse, locate and select the OOo2GD extension you saved in step 1.
Once installed you should see it enabled in the extension list:
4. Restart Open Office. You’ll find the OOo2GD Add-On ready for you to add to your regular toolbar for quick one-click access to the functionality. Place it on your toolbar by clicking and dragging it to an empty spot on your toolbar.
Note: This is toolbar is optional. You can also access the functionality via File > Google Docs & Zoho.
How To Export Your Open Office Files to Google Docs
Now that you have the extension installed, you’re ready to start exporting your files to Google Docs. We put a quick step-by-step tutorial to help guide you through the process. To export your Open Office document,
1. Open the file you wish to export and click on the Export to Google Docs button:
2. In the pop up dialog, enter your Google Docs Account credentials
3. Select Convert to Google Docs format and Autoupdate. This will allow you to automatically set your file up for syncing and editing within Google Docs.
4. Click on OK. OOo2GD will then start uploading your file to your Google Drive.
5. Sign into your Google Drive account and locate the file
6. Click to open the file and you can then edit the document as needed within Google Docs
You can also quickly import Google Docs into Open Office in a similar manner. After clicking on Import to Google Docs, just input your credentials, click on Get list and you can select which file you want imported. Click on Open.
This extension is perfect and convenient for worker bees who need to take their work home with them. It eliminates the hassle of a USB key and toggling back and forth between saved copies. Do you have a favourite OpenOffice extension yourself? Which one helps you out the most?
Last year, PDF search engines were just breaking ground on the Internet. Back then, we were only able to find and review 3 PDF search engines—and all three were in beta. Needless to say, you couldn’t be particular about your tools or your search habits when there wasn’t much to choose from.
Fortunately, more than a year later, that has changed. Thanks to the continued development of online document management, essential tools, like document search engines, are gaining ground.
Now you can find more than just 3 PDF search engines.Here are a few more that we reviewed to add to the list.
PDFQueen
PDFQueen is a free unlimited PDF search and downloading engine with millions of documents in its database. To start searching for a PDF, you can use already inputted search term tags from their collection of Recent PDF Searches, or from their collection of Last PDF Searches by Countries.
Once you search, you’ll get a page that resembles a typical Google search result. Click on a file and you get a clean HTML version to preview directly on the site with the download link right above it.
Searches done by countries will give you a list of “popular ebooks” looked for by date, which might make tailored searches easier, but with a few more clicks.
PDF-Searcher
With one test run using PDF-Searcher, you’ll get the impression that this site is based on the social media user.To start, there are bookmarking and social network icons for quick access and linking with popular sites you use everyday.
Moreover, when you get your search results back, you not only have HTML and PDF previews, but also the option of previewing files in the popular Flash format powered by PDFMeNot.
Also, while the homepage may not offer suggested search tags, you’ll get those at the bottom of your results page if what you’ve typed in doesn’t give you the right results.
If you thought PDF Database.com was a bit more versatile, you’ll think this engine is a swiss army knife.Docjax gives you the option of searching for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files.For each search result, you can preview the file, download it and even rate it by clicking on the “Love It” icon.
This site is a bit cleaner than most.It offerstag clouds, recommended books andthe usual “most viewed,” “most loved,” “most downloaded,” etc., in separate menus and drop boxes, like a regular website.
As to searching for the right file, you get handy .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf tabs to instantly switch your search from format to format without having to toggle and re-search.
Rapid4Me.com
While its name might bring to mind the popular torrent, this Rapidshare Search Engine is catered specifically to PDF files and not media. Rapid4Me PDF search engine is pretty decent.Like PDFQueen you get a handful of handy tags to start off with.
Once you search, you’ll get ranked results that take you to an immediate PDF preview in your browser. If that annoys you, you also have the option to preview an HTML version first.
PDF-search.org
PDF-Search.org combines different features of the other search engines into one.It has the social bookmarking and viewing options of PDF-Searcher; the added dropbox of PDFDatabase.com for PDF, DOC, and PPT search options; and the country tagging collection of PDFQueen.
To boot, like docjax, you can toggle between formats in your search with a simple click and still have the option of viewing them in Flash.
Take a careful look at each PDF search engine. When you have a number of them to choose from, you’re bound to find one that suits you, and not the other way around!