Platforms and Software You Use In Your Daily Work Lives That Have Hidden Features That Can Save Your Time and Money

We all have our favorite apps and platforms that we use on a daily basis at work or at home, whether this is our go-to email client, to-do list tool, or specific project management software. But did you know that many pieces of software and platforms incorporate little-known features that could potentially save you time and money? Plus, in most cases, they’re super easy to access and use, too!

From tucked-away translation tools to how to initiate God Mode, here’s everything you need to know!

Email Platform: Spike

Spike is fast becoming one of the most popular alternative email clients to Gmail or Outlook due to its innovative functionality and range of helpful tools designed to make workflow…flow.

However, if you and your team use Spike, you may not be aware of its game-changing team chat features, which can help your employees work collaboratively and boost productivity. To this end, the platform serves as an online workspace for multiple conversations, functioning similarly to a messaging app.

Even better, you can share this workspace with even outside organizations and individuals – all that’s needed is an email address – so that you can keep everyone on the same page and manage a project with ease, no matter its complexity.

Spreadsheet Software: Excel

The Sparklines feature was first introduced into the Excel suite back in 2010 but remains little known to any but the most experienced of users. It’s worth exploring, however, for its powerful insights and handy visual representations that allow you to view patterns and trends at a glance.

This feature provides a simple image representing trends across an entire row of data in a single cell – smart! Sparklines is extremely simple to use; to try this tool out, all you need to do is hit Insert, then choose your Sparklines type: Line, Column, or Win/Loss, and enter the target range regarding where you’d like the images displayed. And that’s it!

Cloud-Based Word Processor: Google Docs

Many of us use Google Docs to create, collaborate, and share documents and files. But did you know that it features a voice dictation tool? Simply head over to Tools, and you’ll find Voice Typing. Once clicked on, you’ll need to give the platform permission to access your device’s microphone, and then you’re all set! A Click to Speak button will appear, so you can record and pause as necessary. Voice dictation can be a super handy, quick way to get your thoughts down on the go or if you’re tight for time.

Another lesser-well-known Google Docs tool is the translate feature, which allows you to translate an entire document into any one of over one hundred languages! Again, head to Tools to find the Translate option; once selected, it’ll translate your document almost instantly as a new doc, meaning your original will stay intact and unchanged.

Project Management Platform: Asana

Asana is a project management platform used by many individuals and businesses to help them manage a project, task, or life in general! While the software offers a vast range of useful features and tools, there are some ‘hidden’ gems that aren’t as widely known, but that could save you a significant amount of both time and money.

For example, you have the facility to color code your projects in a variety of ways to help you get more organized and ensure you don’t miss an important message, meeting, or deadline. You can also create a custom icon for each project so that you can see, at a glance, where priorities lie or where there may be a risk of project overspending by using this tool in conjunction with your task list.

And here’s another Asana time-saving hack: deploy the keyboard shortcuts to streamline your workflow even further and simplify any task you’re working on.

System Maintenance: Windows

Have you ever heard of God Mode? Most people haven’t, and yet it’s an easy way to discover all the Windows’ maintenance features – it’s a folder that has access to the control panel of all the device’s operating systems.

To launch God Mode, you’ll need to create a new folder in Windows and rename it using a specific code depending on your OS – you can find the relevant code online. Once this is done, you’ll find over two-hundred settings listed within the newly created folder, ranging from Administrative Tools to Work Folders.

God Mode will allow you to, for example, apply advanced disc clean-up tools to create more space on your local drives and to optimize device performance using hard disc partitioning.

The Takeaway

We all take the software and platforms we use most often for granted and tend to look no further than the essential features we access on a day-to-day basis. However, taking some time to delve into the more ‘tucked away’ tools of these platforms can reveal useful solutions that can boost productivity, help to save money, and have us working smarter.

Explore today some of the tabs and menu items on the platforms and software you regularly use – you may find your new favorite hack that could help your whole day run more smoothly.