Tips & tricks

Text to an exact character count

Headline under 60, teaser under 300, column at 3,000. Models count characters unreliably — how to set a hard limit, verify it, and cut without losing facts

In-depth guide · 64 min

How to write an email people answer

A complete guide to writing emails: subject lines, salutations, formal and casual English, ready-made wording for ten hard situations, and prompts for AI.

In-depth guide · 34 min

AI in the newsroom: a journalist's guide

The hub for the whole journalism section: research, public data, writing, graphics, social media, and source protection. Eighteen prompts, one hard line.

In-depth guide · 59 min

A restaurant as a system: one menu that everything else is derived from

A complete guide with 25 prompts: turn your menu into a structured source of truth, then derive the printed menu, a QR menu on your website, social posts, and a staff cheat sheet from it. No more retyping the same soup in four places.

In-depth guide · 57 min

Vetting a business partner with Hlídač státu: a risk profile before you sign

A complete guide with 23 prompts: run a counterparty through the Register of Contracts, the insolvency register, corporate criminal records, subsidies and political party sponsorship via Hlídač státu's MCP server — then save the result as a versioned risk profile you update with a single prompt before the next contract.

In-depth guide · 75 min

An internal CRM with Supabase: a detailed guide from data to deployment

A continuation of Marta the roastery owner’s story: a complete beginner’s guide to turning contacts in your phone and orders in spreadsheets into your own CRM — from explaining what a database even is, through click-by-click Supabase setup and deployment on Vercel, to a cost reckoning with real numbers against off-the-shelf CRMs.

In-depth guide · 58 min

The Freelancer as a One-Person Agency: Brand and Business as a System

A mega guide with 23 prompts: portfolio and CV as data in git, generating a PDF CV, a website on Vercel, and a proposal in twenty minutes, a mini CRM for inquiries in Notion, and invoices through the Stripe MCP — one freelancer, one source of truth.

In-depth guide · 78 min

Your brand as a system: from brand voice through brochure and website to CRM

A complete guide for absolute beginners — with a glossary of terms, step-by-step account setup, and an honest chapter on real-world costs in dollars: turn a brand manual into a lasting Brand Voice document, a print-ready brochure in Affinity through Claude Cowork, a website on Vercel, and a locked-down CRM on Supabase. One company, one continuous story, 19 prompts to copy.

In-depth guide · 37 min

From pencil sketch to computer: what you can actually turn into vectors, CAD, and 3D today

A complete guide with 18 prompts: how to turn a hand sketch, a photo, or an old floor plan into an editable file that CAD, 3D, or layout software can actually work with — including scale calibration, an overview of MCP connectors (official vs. community), and a hard line between reference material and an actual project.

An external drive and File History: a backup that runs itself

Windows and Mac both have automatic backup built in — all they need is a drive. Hourly file versions, and a deleted file back in two clicks.

.new addresses: a blank document in one second

Type docs.new or sheets.new into your browser — and a new document opens right away. word.new and excel.new from Microsoft work too.

Shift+F5 in Word: jump to your last edit

Shift+F5

Open a document and Word dumps you at the start. Shift+F5 jumps exactly to where you last stopped writing.

Comparing two versions of a document: see the changes in color

Word and Google Docs can both compare two versions of a file and highlight every difference. No more reading contracts line by line.

Hidden formatting marks: why a document behaves strangely

Ctrl+Shift+8

The ¶ button reveals spaces, tabs, and page breaks. Suddenly you can see exactly why text jumps where it shouldn't — and what to delete.

AutoCorrect as a shortcut dictionary: long names from three letters

Teach Word that “dph” means “value added tax.” AutoCorrect can expand your own custom shortcuts across every Office app.

Alt+drag in Word: a vertical text selection

Hold Alt and drag with the mouse — Word selects a rectangle of text across lines. Perfect for deleting a column of characters that a normal selection can't grab.

WhatsApp to yourself: the fastest notepad you already have

A conversation with yourself in WhatsApp is a notebook and a bridge between phone and computer — links, photos, and files, no cable and no emailing yourself.

Pinning in WhatsApp: an important message stays on top

Long-press a message and pin it to the top of the chat — for 24 hours, a week, or a month. A meetup address or a door code never gets buried again.

Voice messages at double speed — and a check before you send

Tapping 1× switches a voice message to 1.5× and 2× — a three-minute monologue takes half the time. And you can listen to your own recording before it sends.

Bold, italics, and lists: WhatsApp can format text

Asterisks around a word make it bold, underscores make it italic, a dash makes a bullet. A longer work message suddenly looks like a document.

Stop sites from asking about notifications

The “This site wants to show notifications” popup can be switched off globally with one toggle. Sites stop asking — and you stop dismissing them.

Install a website as an app

Gmail, your calendar, or Teams can run in their own window with an icon on the taskbar — no address bar and no risk of an accidentally closed tab.

Shutting down isn't enough: Windows only fully resets on a restart

Because of Fast Startup, shutting down Windows isn't a clean stop — the system tucks part of its state away. When the PC misbehaves, only Restart helps.

Noise suppression: the mower outside your window stays yours alone

Zoom and Teams can filter out barking, keyboard clatter, and next-door drilling. Just switch noise suppression to high in your audio settings.

Turn on a notification for every card payment

A banking-app alert for every charge catches a forgotten subscription or a compromised card in the minute it happens — not a month later on a statement.

Android as a Windows webcam: you already own the best camera

A phone's camera puts the built-in webcam in its pocket. Windows 11 can connect it wirelessly as a regular camera for Teams and Meet alike.

A page from computer to phone: QR code or send-to-device

You don't have to email links to yourself. Chrome generates a QR code for a page, and Chrome and Firefox can both send a tab straight to your phone.

Wipe cookies for one site only — and stay logged in everywhere else

A site won't log you in, or it's stuck in a loop? Don't clear your whole history. Cookies can be wiped for just that one troublesome site.

Headphones with a mic for meetings: sound matters more than the camera

Colleagues will forgive a grainy picture, but not a booming mic sound from across the room. A mic near your mouth is the cheapest meeting upgrade there is.

Scheduled messages: write it tonight, deliver it in the morning

Slack and Teams can both send a message later — an arrow next to the send button, or a right-click. Write the idea down now, don't disturb your colleague.