Category: DigiTips

DigiTip 59: Remember to Stay hydrated with the My Water 💧

Shân Saunders DigiTips Leave a comment

Forgetting to stay hydrated while at Uni or work? This DigiTip is for you. Staying hydrated is a major part of wellbeing as it influences how much energy you have and helps you to stay focussed. 

My Water has a free version which will send you notifications at set intervals reminding you to drink to reach your goal for the day. Alongside this you are also given statistics based on how you are doing for the week with your water intake. There’s also an Achievements page that shows what milestones you’ve hit and how to achieve more. When reporting what you have drank on the free version you are given the option of selecting water, coffee or tea which will return different amounts to your water progress based on the water balance of the drink. 

Below are some screenshots from the app that show some of these features. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!  

DigiTip 58: Take Ctrl of your Headings in Word ⌨️

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Word Leave a comment

Sometimes, it can be a pain swapping from different headings in Word but with DigiTip 58 it doesn’t have to be a pain anymore!  

Use the simple shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + S to easily swap between all the different heading styles available in Word.

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

International Day of Forests 🌲

Shân Saunders Digital creation, problem-solving and innovation, Digital proficiency and productivity, DigiTips, LinkedIn Learning Leave a comment

Today – 21st March 2025 – is International Day of Forests and to celebrate we’re revisiting all our blogposts and DigiTips related to nature! 

  1. Plant your Productivity with the Flora app! 🌼: Available on iOS and Android, Flora is an interactive productivity app where you can store to-do lists and build positive habits.
  2. DigiTip 40: Get More Connected to Nature with Seek by iNaturalist 🔎🌼: You may come across birds, plants, fungi, and amphibians that you can’t identify. Using image recognition technology, the Seek by iNaturalist app will help you take your knowledge of nature to the next level! 
  3. Nature at your fingertips: My favourite apps for exploring the outdoors 🍃🌻: To enhance your outdoor adventures, I’ve compiled a list of my favourite free apps that will hopefully spark your curiosity and deepen your appreciation for nature.
  4. DigiTip 4 – Increase your productivity whilst helping the planet with the Forest App 🌱: Do you want to increase your productivity whilst helping the planet? The Forest App will help reduce your procrastination and distractions whilst giving you the extra incentive to stay productive, by growing trees and earning virtual coins to unlock new plants depending on how long you have stayed productive for.

DigiTip 57: Counting Specific Data in Excel 🔢

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Wanted to count how many times a name appears in a column alongside other conditions in Excel? With DigiTip 57 we can show you the formula to get this done. 

First you will need data similar to that shown in the screenshot where you have multiple columns of information where you want to count how much of a certain criteria exists such as names or dates for example. 

To do this we are going to need to use the COUNTIFS function in the formula tab, this is shown in the screenshot below.  

This takes the criteria range which in the example is the column of names and then the criteria itself which in the example would be the name Chris at E2. Also include in the example is another criteria range of the column of gifts and the criteria of Chocolate. This will then go through all the information and count only when these two criteria are met.  

This could be useful on a larger scale for tracking any number of things that are happening on a spreadsheet. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 56: Personal PowerPoint with Cameo 🎥

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

If you want to take your presentations to the next level you could try inserting a cameo, learn how with DigiTip 56! 

A cameo is a recording of yourself talking through your slides and presenting your PowerPoint.  

You can view how to do this through the video below. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 55: Focus Mode in Windows 11 ⏱️

Shân Saunders Digital proficiency and productivity, DigiTips Leave a comment

Struggling to focus when you’re trying to get work done? DigiTip 55 has what you are looking for with focus mode in Windows 11. Focus mode is a new feature for Windows 11 that has multiple features to help you try to concentrate on your work. These include: a timer that can be set to whatever time you need with the default set to 30 minutes, hiding the badges on taskbar apps, hiding the flashing on taskbar apps and turning on do not disturb. 

To use this feature, you need to go to Setting -> System where you should see Focus. Once the options are selected as how you want them you just need to click ‘start focus session’ and a timer should appear in the corner of your screen which you can cancel or pause at any time. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 54: Googles Trick and Treat! 🤸🏻‍♀️

Shân Saunders DigiTips Leave a comment

Did you know that there are Easter eggs features on Google? Now you do with DigiTip 54! 

If you go to Google and type “do a barrel roll” the screen will rotate.  

Watch the video below for a quick demonstration.  

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 53: Using Morph in PowerPoint 🧑🏻‍💻

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Do you want to make your PowerPoints more Dynamic? DigiTip 53 Will help you to do that by using a transition in PowerPoint called Morph which can give more flow to a PowerPoint by giving smooth transitions to shapes and text changing in the slides. 

  • First Open up PowerPoint 
  • Then create two slides, one with normal text and in the following slide split up the letters of the word across the slide. I did this by using multiple text boxes. 
  • On the second slide go to the transitions tab and choose morph 
  • Then still on the transitions tab go to effect options and choose characters 
  • From there press F5 or go to the slide show tab and click on from beginning where you should now by pressing space see the morph transition take place. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!  

DigiTip 52: Strikeout Star! ➖

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Have you ever wanted to cross something out in Excel? Sometimes you don’t want to delete or hide the cells. DigiTip 52 has a quick shortcut to help you out! 

Simply select the relevant cell(s) and use the shortcut: Ctrl + 5 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

DigiTip 51: Become more effective with MS Teams by using commands ⚡ 

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Teams Leave a comment

Do you want a faster and more efficient way to navigate MS Teams, for example to let your colleagues know your status on Teams or send a message? DigiTip 51 can show you quick commands to do just this. For this DigiTip we will be using the forward slash commands in the search bar on Teams.  

  • First open MS Teams. 
  • Next, we will need to access the search bar at the top, this can either be done by pressing ctrl + e or by just clicking in the search area at the top. 
  • Then if you press / you will receive all commands available to you to use. 
  • After you have chosen the command you want to use you just have to press enter. 
  • An example of one of these would be /busy which is a faster way of setting your status to busy. 
  • Another example, /chat will give you a follow up option of selecting who you want to send the message to and what you want the message to be, all in the search bar. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!