One of the top companies of the twentyfirst century, and the only one with the honourable distinction of being a verb as well as a noun, is Google. While the speed that results are returned at matters less and less as time goes on (1 – 10 of about 79,600,000 for save time with Google. (0.15 seconds) … Wow. Really.), there are plenty more impressive ways to save time with everybody’s top-bookmarked website. What’s even better, most of these are free … only costing you a little precious time to learn to use them! Here are our top tips for this time-saving website.

Google has a huge range of time-saving ideas

Google 411

Google went mobile with their new 411 service a while ago, to help you find businesses without a phone book … or internet connection.

Skip Intro

Several months ago, Google added a Skip Intro link to their search results. This is especially handy if you are surfing company home pages where two-minute long flash epics that take twice as long to load are common. Look to the right of your result title in Google to see if this is applicable to the site you want.

Google's Skip Intro Feature

Google Docs

Start using Google Docs instead of saving all your files to your hard drive. This is especially handy if more than one person has to work on a document – you’ll save time and bandwidth emailing things back and forth, and also eliminate those little Save/Save As issues, with an autosave feature. Not to mention the fact that you’ll save time by having a lightning-fast machine, with all of its hard drive space free!

Google Talk

Instead of emailing, which has inherent delays, Google Talk provides secure IM and VOIP, just like Skype. You can instantly see whether people are online, and get your questions answered without the obligatory ‘Hi’s, ‘Hope you’re well’s, etc.
With Google Talk, you can also drag-and-drop files onto the chat window for instant file transfer, without futzing around with email.

Google Sites

If you have simple information that needs to be shared on the web, you can save the time and expense of hiring and arranging for a website designer by using Google Sites. You need no HTML knowledge, and there is added functionality if you pay for Google Apps Premier already.

Google Sites Example

Spreadsheets in Google Docs

Data collection and compilation is ridiculously easy with Google Docs spreadsheets. If you have a survey to send out, or reports to gather with standard answers, simply create a new spreadsheet in Google Docs. Click on the Share tab, and then the Invite People Button. In this dialog, choose the Fill out a Form radio button, and then you can start creating your form. Choose your Recipients to send the form to, and when they fill it out the data is automatically collated in your spreadsheet. Why didn’t somebody think of that before?!

Google Calendar

No need to ring somebody at the office to check your calendar while you’re away – just send a message to GVENT (48368) with ‘Next’ for the next calendar event, ‘Day’ for all of today’s events, and ‘NDay’ for all of tomorrow’s events, and the info will be texted back.

Google Alerts

Instead of regularly checking the internet, or certain pages, for developments relating to your work, let Google Alerts do the data-mining for you. No matter how good your intentions when using the internet for research, there are always delays. Use up to 1,000 Alerts to cut down those delays, by having info delivered straight to your mailbox in a neat little bundle. You can use Furl or another online bookmarking tool to sort and filter your website alerts.

Google Chrome Shortcuts

There are two types of people in this world … those that think with the index finger on their right hand (mousie), and those that think with a combination of their left-hand pinky and index (leyboardy!). If you’re a lefty, or a keyboard user, here is an exceptionally handy list of 46 shortcuts for Google Chrome, to save using that pesky mouse. Google Chrome is Google’s expansion into the browser market, as part of a plan for world domination … mwah hah hah hah haaaa!

Many of these hints are available in Nancy Conner’s book Google Apps: The Missing Manual, which you can get from Amazon for about $16. Alternatively, Google will tell you all about them for free!

Do you ever curse, rail and scream at your computer for wasting your time… more specifically, at the internet? Every time I find that I’ve been following links in Youtube ‘Related Videos’ for more than half an hour, every time I forget to change my status in Skype and get hassled with messages, and every time I sit through 45 seconds of pointless pictures loading on a front page, I let rip! Then I slink back into the room shyly, put out my arms, and tell the internet … ‘I’m sorry … let’s never fight again!’.

Curse you, internet, for wasting my time again!

You don’t have to go through all of these constant relationship highs and lows with the web, though. Here we give you some handy hints for making your web surfing faster and more efficient.

The best way to save time on the internet is to discipline yourself not to be distracted by extraneous links -or use a tool to control your unnecessary browsing. However, even when you are your most focused, Terminator-like self, there are still ways you can make your netsurfing more efficient. So, “Come with me, if you want to live” … more efficiently!

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Interruptions at work are like little landmines scattered throughout your day. You hit one of these interruptions, are thrown fifty meters into the air, fly off in whatever direction the wind is blowing, and then have to make your way back through dense scrubland to your original path. What a soldier! Most of us make this trip at least ten times a day, depending on the culture and size of our office. Dr Gloria Marks, of the University of California Irvine, says that it usually takes between 6 and 20 minutes to recover focus after an interruption. Yowsa!

Learn how to disarm these insidious interruptions

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