Category: TechTip Tuesday

At previous companies, when setting up the web applications that I used on a regular basis I would typically set up AutoHotKey shortcuts to launch the web applications in a Google Chrome app window using code similar to this:

Run, [path to chrome.exe] --app="[url to launch]"

However, when setting up my laptop at ServiceNow I didn’t have AutoHotKey installed right away so I decided to give Google Chrome tab groups a try. Since using them, I’ve really grown to like them and will probably not go back to the way I was doing it before because the old way cluttered up my taskbar.

To get started, right-click on a tab (or you can shift or control-click tabs to select multiple tabs) and choose Add tab(s) to new group. (I’m not aware of a shortcut key at this time).

Once you click that menu option, you get a popup like this:

Enter the name for the group and choose the color and press enter. (You can use the tab key to navigate to the colors and use the enter key to select the color you want, however you must be on the name field for the enter key to close the popup).

After pressing enter, you will see something like this (notice the colored outline on the tabs).

By single-clicking on the group name you can collapse the group and see something like this:

I typically have multiple tab groups defined and have found tab groups to be extremely useful. There’s only one problem that I would love for Google to add. I typically have a _start bookmark folder defined with things grouped into logical, at least to me, groupings and use the right-click Open all (#) menu option to open them all at one time. What I would love to add to this menu is an Open all (#) in a new tab group menu option, that would be awesome!

Hopefully, this tip was useful and can help you organize your computer a little easier.

12/15/2021 Update: Since writing this article Google has added the feature to open a group of favorites in a tab group:

To take advantage of this, I created the following AutoHotKey macro:

; win+2
#*2::
MouseClick, right
Send {Down}{Down}{Down}{Down}{Enter}
return

Enjoy!!!

This week, I’m continuing my series of Tuesday TechTips related to setting up my new laptop at ServiceNow with the hope that as I share how I am productive, it will help you out as well. One thing that I had to account for working for ServiceNow is that everything that is sent out from HQ is sent out referring to Pacific Standard/Date Time. I also have to account for my supervisor being in a different time zone (that changes in relation to mine) as well. Enter multiple time zones in Outlook.

To access this setting go to File > Options > Calendar > Time zones and you will see this screen.

I worked with folks in the UK, India, & Germany at different points of my tenure in my previous role. To accommodate, I would update my time zone settings based on which team I was working with most commonly.

Hopefully, this tip helps make your life easier, please share with your network if you find this helpful.

I’m continuing my Tuesday TechTips posts following setting up my new laptop for my new job this week with a post about Outlook categories. I have always been an avid user of categories but fairly recently changed my strategy. When the pandemic hit, a lot of us with already crazy schedules were slammed with even more meetings. I used to categorize my meetings by project but during the pandemic, I learned a new way to categorize meetings that has drastically changed the way I look at my calendar. I hope this helps.

First, to access categories, look at the Home tab in Outlook and you see the categories menu.

Click All Categories… and you will see this screen.

On this form you can create, edit, delete, and rename Color Categories, including assigning a shortcut key, which I highly recommend you do.

In the screenshot above you see my new scheme. For meetings, I have a three-category scheme (not pictured are two other meetings types that I use which will come into play in a future blog post, OOO & Blocking Time). The nerd in me had to use Blue, Purple, & Red because they make a scale that made sense in my mind. The labels are pretty self-explanatory but I have a couple of rules I try to follow.

1. Only one ___Must Attend (blue) may fill any given slot unless there is a chance where the meetings only overlap. If there is a conflict, it needs to be resolved or one of the meetings needs to be downgraded to a __Delegate (this decision can be made the day of).
2. When an appointment is marked as a __Delegate a meeting response of Tentative must be sent to the requestor and the meeting may or may not be forwarded to a delegate. Delegate really holds an “if possible” on the end of it but my intent is to not attend the meeting.
3. The Do not attend category is used for meetings where I know I have no intention of going, but for whatever reason I want to be aware the meeting is happening so I can follow-up if necessary.
4. Any number of __Delegate or Do not attend meetings may fill any given slot on my calendar.

Here’s how the categories look in practice:

Hopefully, this post was helpful, please let me know if there are other productivity/TechTips you would like to see in future posts.

As I’m getting my new laptop set up for my new job, I’m remembering a bunch of the tweaks I’ve made over the years to my setup so I’m sharing in the hopes that it helps you be more productive.

No one likes being in back-to-back meetings all jammed up against each other. In the past, I wrote an Outlook macro to chop the last 5 minutes off an appointment or move the appointment back 5 minutes off the 1/2 hour. Now, Outlook will allow you to do this without having to script any macros. I’ve seen two different iterations of this so your mileage may vary depending on which version of Microsoft Outlook you’re using at your organization. I’ll offer both screenshots below. Both screenshots are accessed via the Calendar Options menu by going to File > Options > Calendar > Calendar Options. In both cases, you select that you’d like to modify the length of meetings, then specify how.

Hopefully, this tip was helpful, please let me know if there are other TechTips you’d be interested in.

10/28/2021 Update: Due to the nature of the way my organization works, I have since shifted my setting to start meetings late. You will have to see what works for your organization.

I have also been made aware that this setting is not currently available for Macs. It is unfortunately only available on Windows PCs at this point in time.