Software tips
None of this is expert advice. It's what people worked out for themselves, usually the hard way — what actually helped, and what they'd tell someone standing where you are. Take what fits and leave the rest.
If you only read a few
Post PowerPoint lectures as PDFs to save students time.
It will save your students a lot of time.
- PDFs are larger files and take up more space.
one person who lived it
Click the speaker icon on a Chrome tab or right-click the tab and select 'Mute Tab' to silence audio without pausing playback.
- This action mutes the sound but does not pause the media.
13 people, independently
Use Chrome to read PDF files.
It works well enough for some users.
- One user reported browser crashes when opening PDFs.
one person who lived it
Bookmark '.new' shortcut URLs in your browser's bookmark bar to create new documents with a single click.
It reduces the steps required to start a new document.
2 people, independently
Email important PDF backups to yourself to protect against hardware failure.
Flash drives or hard drives may fail.
one person who lived it
Use PDF24 Creator to manage and edit PDFs for free.
It allows the end user to edit a PDF without bothering others.
one person who lived it
Do not zip .docx or .xlsx files further, as they are already compressed.
The new formats are already zip files, so zipping them is redundant.
one person who lived it
Save local copies or use a secondary service like Dropbox for important documents stored in Google Drive.
Google may confiscate files (e.g., if they suspect sensitive data like SSNs), potentially locking you out for days.
one person who lived it
Do not redact sensitive information in a PDF by simply highlighting text black or scribbling over it before sending.
PDFs work in layers; the underlying text remains selectable and copyable, allowing recipients to reveal hidden data instantly.
2 people, independently
27 more on this
Delete emails and notifications unless you know the sender or were expecting the communication; do not click suspicious links as they are likely scams.
Most unsolicited emails do not pertain to you and often contain scam links.
one person who lived it
Use vector graphics formats like SVG or EPS for line drawings, graphs, and diagrams to maintain quality at any scale.
Vector graphics represent lines as lines rather than an array of pixels, ensuring they remain crisp.
one person who lived it
If your local hardware fails while working on a thesis or major project, use Overleaf for collaborative editing to save your work.
One person reported it saved their work when their laptop had issues during their masters thesis.
one person who lived it
Send resumes as PDFs to preserve formatting, unless the employer specifically requests another format like Word.
Resumes sent in other formats can get mutilated in formatting.
- Employers may specifically ask for Word instead of PDF; failing to follow specific instructions can result in not getting a callback.
2 people, independently
Enable 'Safe Reading Mode' in your PDF reader software to reduce risks from potentially malicious downloaded PDFs.
It reduces the risk of uncertain PDFs.
one person who lived it
Enable autosave in every program used, setting the interval to at least 10 minutes, especially for unstable applications prone to crashing.
Prevents data loss from crashes or user error.
one person who lived it
Paste an image URL into the 'File name' field of an upload dialog to download and upload it simultaneously.
This automatically downloads the file to temporary storage and uploads it.
one person who lived it
Use LaTeX with a template for document formatting to ensure consistent auto-formatting without needing deep knowledge of the tool.
It auto formats the document to the requirements you need.
one person who lived it
Avoid using PDF as a primary image storage format.
PDF is a container that may store images in various formats (JPG, PNG, EPS), giving you no control over the internal representation. Additionally, saving non-vector source files as PDF does not make them vector-based and only complicates the process.
one person who lived it
Avoid clicking links inside PDFs found via search operators, as they may lead to malware sites disguised as legitimate downloads.
Malicious actors may create one-page PDFs with download instructions leading to virusware websites.
one person who lived it
Download Wikipedia articles as PDFs for offline reading on e-readers or tablets by clicking the 'Download as PDF' link under the 'Print/export' section.
This saves the article in a readable format for use without an internet connection.
2 people, independently
Bypass print restrictions on protected forms or images by opening the image in a new tab and printing it to PDF.
one person who lived it
Do not assume JPEG files degrade over time; digital files do not lose quality due to age.
Time does not affect the quality of digital files. Quality loss occurs only when JPEGs are edited and saved repeatedly.
one person who lived it
Ask recipients what file format they need before sending documents rather than assuming PDF is always best.
Recipients may need text-based documents for content management systems, whereas image-type PDFs cannot be processed without re-typing.
one person who lived it
Screenshot the PDF, paint over sensitive areas, rescreenshot, and paste into a new document.
JPG and PNG images do not save separate layers, so information underneath is lost.
one person who lived it
Press Ctrl+S frequently while working, such as every few lines or after every period.
5 people, independently
Use Microsoft Word as your main program for drafting papers to use its reference tools.
The built-in tools for inserting citations and automatically generating works cited lists are valuable.
one person who lived it
Set intermediate deadlines and start assignments early rather than waiting until the last minute.
Unexpected issues like printer failures or store closures can prevent last-minute completion.
one person who lived it
Verify the quality and framing of phone-scanned documents before submitting them for official requirements.
Poor quality, shaky, or blurry scans are often rejected, which can cause significant delays in processing timelines.
one person who lived it
Save Office documents as PDFs before printing them on different computers to ensure formatting consistency, ensuring fonts and pictures are embedded.
Office versions may differ between computers, and unembedded fonts or pictures can cause malfunctions.
one person who lived it
Keep original image editor files (such as PSD or XCF) alongside exported images to preserve quality during edits.
Native image editor formats preserve image quality while editing, allowing for better results if photos need to be modified later.
one person who lived it
Save schoolwork to OneDrive (Skydrive) to automatically sync between computers, keep files available offline, and edit them using free Office web apps.
Files sync automatically, are available offline, and are editable online.
one person who lived it
Avoid storing professional documents, especially those related to confidential projects, in public cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox.
Big companies might be interested in obtaining information about new developments from your company.
one person who lived it
Store large or high-resolution images in a separate folder rather than embedding them directly into documents.
Keeping originals in a folder ensures you have the unaltered image available if someone stretches or distorts it within a presentation.
one person who lived it
If remembering color codes for different sites is difficult, organize your bookmarks alphabetically instead.
It may be more efficient than relying on memory for colors.
one person who lived it
Avoid emailing company documents for use on non-company or client computers, as this may violate security policies and lead to termination, especially with sensitive data.
one person who lived it
Use 7-Zip to open and extract Office files directly without renaming the extension.
3 people, independently