Tips & tricks

Obsidian: [[links]] weave your notes into a network

Double square brackets create a link to another note — and backlinks show you where it's referenced from.

Obsidian: the daily note as a safety net for your day

One place where you dump notes, ideas, and links all day long. Sort it out in the evening — or don't; search will still find it.

Templates in Notion databases: a new entry, pre-filled

A record template pre-fills the structure — meeting notes, task briefs, client profiles. Set it up once, use it forever.

One database, many views: no more copying

The same tasks as a table, a kanban board, and a calendar. Notion views filter and display one dataset differently — nothing gets duplicated.

Align objects with the tool, not by eye

Select objects and let PowerPoint align and space them evenly. The difference between an amateur slide and a clean one.

Slide Master: change the font everywhere at once

View → Slide Master controls the look of the whole presentation from one place — fonts, colors, logos.

Copying formatting: Ctrl+Shift+C and V

Ctrl+Shift+C

The format painter has a keyboard version — copy the look of one element and stamp it onto the next.

Notion: Ctrl+P jumps to any page

Ctrl+P

Quick search finds a page by title and by content. In a growing workspace, it's the only navigation that makes sense.

Notion: the slash inserts anything

/

The / key opens the block menu — headings, tables, reminders, columns. Notion's core control.

Presenter view: notes only you can see

The projector shows slides; on your laptop you see notes, a timer, and a preview of the next slide.

PowerPoint: Shift+F5 starts the show from the current slide

Shift+F5

F5 runs from the beginning, Shift+F5 from wherever you are. Priceless when you're fine-tuning a single slide.

The B key while presenting: black out the screen, get attention

B

Pressing B during a slideshow blacks out the screen — the audience turns to you. W does the same with white.

Ctrl+Shift+V: paste without formatting works everywhere

Ctrl+Shift+V

In Docs, Gmail, and most web apps, it pastes plain text without foreign fonts and colors.

Shift+F3: change letter case without retyping

Shift+F3

Caps Lock stuck on by accident? Select the text and Shift+F3 cycles between lowercase, Title Case, and UPPERCASE.

Word without distractions: Focus mode

View → Focus hides the ribbons and leaves just the page. Writing without visual noise.

Find and Replace in Word: more than just text

Ctrl+H

Ctrl+H can also replace formatting, double spaces, and paragraph marks. Cleaning up a whole document in a few clicks.

Word: heading styles instead of manual bold text

Heading 1 and Heading 2 aren't just about looks — they power the navigation pane, an automatic table of contents, and chapter collapsing.

Text to Columns: Split a CSV Export Apart

Data separated by commas or semicolons crammed into one column? The Text to Columns wizard splits it correctly.

Paste Values Only: Formulas Out, Numbers Stay

Ctrl+Alt+V

Ctrl+Alt+V opens Paste Special — paste results without formulas, formats without content, or transpose a table.

Sum and Average Without a Formula: Just Select

Select the cells and look down at the status bar — the sum, average, and count are always right there.

Switching Sheets: Ctrl+PageUp and PageDown

Ctrl+PageDown

Move between the sheets of a workbook from the keyboard — no clicking the tabs at the bottom.

A PivotTable in Two Minutes

A revenue summary by month and category out of thousands of rows? Insert → PivotTable, then drag three fields.

Alt+= : Auto-Sum Below a Column

Alt+=

Cursor below a column of numbers, Alt+equals — and SUM is done, range and all.

Double-Click the Fill Handle to Copy a Formula All the Way Down

You don't have to drag a formula across a thousand rows — double-clicking the little black square copies it down to the end of the adjacent data.

A Drop-Down List in a Cell: No More Typos

Data validation turns a cell into a menu of allowed values. Task statuses or categories can no longer be typed wrong.

Removing Duplicates in Three Clicks

Data → Remove Duplicates cleans up a list of contacts or line items — and tells you how many it deleted.

Today's Date in One Shortcut: Ctrl+;

Ctrl+;

Ctrl+semicolon inserts today's date as a fixed value — unlike the TODAY() function, it doesn't change.

A New Line Inside a Cell: Alt+Enter

Alt+Enter

Enter jumps to the next cell — Alt+Enter creates a line break inside the same one. No more broken layouts.

Freeze Panes: Keep Headers Visible Even at Row 500

View → Freeze Panes keeps the table header locked at the top no matter how far you scroll.

XLOOKUP: Lookups Without VLOOKUP's Weaknesses

The newer replacement for VLOOKUP searches in either direction, doesn't break when a column gets inserted, and has a built-in “not found” fallback.