marypcbuk

Handy hint. In Windows you can use the COPY command in the CMD command window to merge CSV files that didn't start as the same file (like bank statements!) so COPY *.CSV ALL.TXT. Rename the file to a .CSV to open it in Excel. Saves $20 for an app to do it or half an hour with VB.

I need to write captions for all the images in a folder and rather than copying down the titles by hand, I thought 'how can I grab the text?'. There are utilities that will export the directory listing to a text file, or I could copy from a command prompt if I remember the appropriate incantations - or I could use OneNote 2007. First I used the screen clipping tool to select the folder listing in Windows Explorer, giving me an image of the text. Then I right-clicked on the image and choose 'Make Text in Image Searchable'. Once OneNote has OCRed the text I can right-click and choose 'Copy Text from Picture'. I can use this to grab long error messages on screen or to get text out of a logo, or a streetname from a map... For real OCR I have real OCR software, but launching that takes as long as typing in the list of file names by hand, and OneNote is always open already. Very nifty...

There are two search boxes in my Windows XP taskbar. There's the Windows Desktop Search bar, which helps me find documents on my PC; I also use it to type URLs into and to get to specific LJ and flickr users because it's easy to create shortcuts for regular expressions in URLs. Then there's DQSD which searches Google, tells me the day and date without making the toolbar three lines high (I use this about as often as I do Web search because it's more in my line of sight than the fancy clock on the wall), lets me do basic sums and comes with several regular expressions for looking up things like currency conversions. I haven't set up my own DQSD regexps because I'd have to code them in XML and life is considerably too short. There's not enough overlap to get rid of either of them. Lucky I have two 17" LCDs side by side then...

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Entries tagged with timesaver

Pesky tax time made easier with Excel

Instant OCR in OneNote 2007

Boxes, little boxes, and they don't look all the same

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March 2022

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