Productivity Sauce

Sync Files with Dropbox

Sep 15, 2008 GMT

Keeping files and documents in sync on multiple computers can be a real pain, but Dropbox offers a clever solution to the problem. This Web-based service allows you to seamlessly sync files and documents across multiple computers, and it offers a few other nifty features to boot. The key component of the Dropbox service is a client software. Once installed, it sits quietly in the System Tray and syncs files and documents in the Dropbox folder in your home directory with the Dropbox service and all the machines linked to your account. This way, you can work with your files and documents on any linked computer, and changes made to documents and files in the Dropbox folder are automatically...

OpenOffice.org on Puppy Linux

Sep 11, 2008 GMT

Puppy Linux is an excellent Linux distro for all occasions, but to turn it into a real productivity workhorse, you might want to install OpenOffice.org on it. Unfortunately, the Puppy software repository holds an older version of OpenOffice.org, but you can install the latest release of the productivity suite by following the steps bellow: Download the openoffice-2.4.1.sfs squash file. Move the downloaded file to the /mnt/home directory Choose Menu -> Setup -> Wizard Wizard -> Configure startup of Puppy -> Choose which extra SFS files to load at bootup. Add the openoffice-2.4.1.sfs file and make sure that the Ignore above user selection check box is unticked....

Five Useful Extensions for OpenOffice.org

Sep 08, 2008 GMT

Want to expand OpenOffice.org's default functionality? The official extension repository has quite a few extensions you can use to add some nifty features to the productivity suite. Precisely which extensions you might find useful depends, of course, on your particular needs, but there are at least five extensions that deserve a closer look no matter how you use OpenOffice.org.   The Bookmarks Menu extension adds the ability to bookmark frequently used documents, so you can open them in a few clicks instead of wading through directories. Better yet, the extension allows you to bookmark directories, macros, and even external applications. Using the latter, you can, for example,...

Extension Watch: Last Session

Sep 04, 2008 GMT

You can set Firefox to save the session on exit, so when you launch the browser again, it opens all tabs and windows from the last time. You can enable this behavior by choosing Edit -> Preferences -> Main and selecting the Show my windows and tabs from last time item from the When Firefox starts drop-down list.   But you probably knew that already. But did you know that you can add a similar feature to OpenOffice.org courtesy of the Last Session extension? This extension is a real boon if you often need to work on several documents at the same time. Using the extension is a no-brainer. When installed, the extension adds a new toolbar containing two buttons: save and Load....

Adding a Nifty Conversion Calculator to OpenOffice.org

Sep 02, 2008 GMT

A conversion calculator can save you a lot of time and unnecessary mouse clicks when you need to convert values in a document from the imperial to the metric system (or vice versa). Although OpenOffice.org doesn't have a built-in calculator, you can easily create your own one using OpenOffice.org Basic. Start with creating a dialog with three fields in it: NumericField1 -- a numeric field where the user enters the value to be converted ListBox1 -- a drop-down list containing a list of the available conversion options (e.g., Fahrenheit -> Celsius, Foot -> Meter, and so on) NumericField2 -- a numeric field which displays the converted value The dialog box should...

Collecting Data from Web Pages with OutWit

Sep 01, 2008 GMT

Web scraping is a clever idea, but extracting data from a Web page manually can be a real chore. The new OutWit extension provides a solution to this problem. Better yet, it allows you to save and export the scraped data, which makes it a great research tool. Although the extension is still at a very early stage of development, it has the potential to turn your favorite browser into a powerful tool for extracting and organizing data. The current version already boasts an impressive list of features, including data structure recognition, page and image link extraction, e-mail extraction, table and list extraction, and more. Although OutWit is a rather advanced tool, using it for simple...

Cooking the Productivity Sauce

Sep 01, 2008 GMT

Since this is the very first post, it makes sense to explain what this blog is about. So here it goes. OpenOffice.org, Thunderbird, BasKet Note Pads, FreeMind, TiddlyWiki -- there are a lot of open source applications and tools out there that can help you to be productive. But installing these programs on your machine won't immediately boost your productivity and make your daily computing more efficient. It takes time to get to know each application, and -- more importantly -- figure out how to integrate it into your workflow. Time that we often don't have. And this is where the Productivity Sauce blog comes into the picture. The blog will supply you with tips and tricks on using...