Use These Productivity Hacks to Improve Your Remote Work Tools

• When in a meeting, type command + I (on Mac) or Alt + I (on Windows) to open the Invite window to quickly add more participants. From the Email tab, copy the URL and send it to anyone you want to invite to the meeting. Or, click on “Contacts” to directly invite a colleague from your contact list.
• Zoom lets you record calls as videos. First, enable recordings under Settings. You’ll log into your Zoom account, click on Account Settings/Meeting Settings, go to the Recording tab and click on Enable Video Recording. Now, type command + shift + R on Mac, or Alt + R on Windows to start recording any meeting. And type command + shift + P on Mac, or Alt + P on Windows to pause/resume recording.
• To start a screen share, type command + Shift + S on Mac, or Alt + Shift + S on Windows. And to pause or resume a screen share, type command + shift + T on Mac, or Alt + T on Windows.

Virtual Backgrounds.

If you don't want your colleagues to get a peek into your home, use a virtual background on Zoom. Open your Zoom client, click on Setup and select Virtual Background. Either choose from the backgrounds provided by Zoom or click on + and choose an image from your computer to add it.

Skype

Did you know you can replace your landline phone with a Skype number and voicemail? Sign into Skype, go to the Account menu under Settings and choose View Account. Click on the Online Number tab and follow the prompts to set up a number.

To set up voicemail, click on the Voicemail tab and select “Activate my Voicemail Now.”

Purchase a calling plan that works for your needs from Subscriptions tab. Remember to leave Skype running on your computer or mobile device to ensure you can answer all of the calls that come through.

Google Calendar

While setting up a meeting using this tool is quite simple, you can create events without opening the app or website — you can do this straight from Google search. This functionality works both on the phone and the computer. On the desktop, start a search with "schedule" or "make an appointment" and Google will pop up with an option to create a calendar event right from the search results page. On your phone, you can use Google Assistant to do this.

Trello

Trello is a project management tool that uses Kanban boards to help you organize your tasks in the form of visual cards. Here are some keyboard shortcuts to help you be more productive:

• Press “e” while moving the mouse over a card to open quick edit mode.
• Press Enter to open the selected card.
• Use arrow keys to navigate from one card to another.
• Press “n” to insert a card below your selected one.
• Press the Space key while editing a card to assign it to yourself.

You can also turn your emails into cards and automatically transfer them to your boards. Go to your board, open the sidebar menu and then Email-to-Board Settings, and copy and paste the board’s unique email address into your email contacts. Then, when you receive a message that you’d like converted to a card, send it to your board.

Basecamp

A multi-purpose tool, Basecamp can be used for project management, scheduling meetings, assignment tracking, documentation and complete tracking from a single platform. Basecamp has a great feature to help you turn off the distracting notifications for one day — Focus Mode. Click on your profile icon in the upper-right corner and turn on Focus Mode. Everything from badges to notifications will be silenced until the next day.

Author

Neha De

Neha De is a writer and editor with more than 13 years of experience. She has worked on a variety of genres and platforms, including books, magazine articles, blog posts and website copy. She is passionate about producing clear and concise content that is engaging and informative. In her spare time, Neha enjoys dancing, running and spending time with her family.

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