Software Product Features

Earlier this week I attended 2 different seminars on how to get the most out of the software products I use daily in my job. I will confess that I didn't learn a lot but I discovered several new features that I didn't know about. It got me thinking about how to figure out what features are available in the many different software products we all use.

The first method of discovering new product features is when we do something new. This week I put together a Google Doc's document and needed one section to have 2 columns while the rest of the document just needed that standard single column. In Microsoft Word and other word processing software, there is a "Columns" icon. All you need to do is select the text you want to put into multiple columns, click the columns button, and select how many columns you want. In an effort to reduce screen clutter, Google decided it didn't need a column icon. Instead I just needed to select the text, click on the "Format" menu, and a drop-down menu showed a number of additional options, including columns. I correctly assumed the feature existed but didn't know how to use it until I had a document that required it.

The second method of discovering new product features is attending seminars outlining product features. This is what I did this week at work. We spend a lot of money with certain companies and they always want to make sure we are happy with our purchases and that generally includes taking advantage of all features. Unfortunately not everyone spends large amounts of money on software and don't have access to these seminars.

The third method of discovering new product features is through Internet searches and product videos. Perhaps you are trying to calculate something in a spreadsheet and the video you are watching shows you how to do the calculation but also shows some new features that you didn't know about. I find that very helpful.

Finally, there is the method of watching somebody doing something new that you have not seen before. Perhaps you are watching them edit a document and with a few keystrokes something amazing happens. Don't be afraid to ask them what they did. Then be sure to immediately give it a shot the next time you are working on a document. The best way to learn something new is to practice and so immediately trying something you have recently seen will reinforce the knowledge.

We all use quite a few different software products whether it is on our computers or on our phones. My personal estimate is that we really only use about a third of what the software can do. While we may not need all of those features on a daily basis, there are many more things we can do if we only know certain features exist.