October 31, 2024

Google Sheets: Issue with Formula in Table referencing value in same row by column name

I share here an issue I have faced with Google Sheets when using a formula in a Table that references a column by name.

October 17, 2024

Teams Link to Group/Meeting Chat

I explain in this post how to get links to Microsoft Teams Group or Meeting chat and how to store it as Favorites using the PowerTools.

October 8, 2024

How to set your working hours and location in Teams

I share here a recent learning.

October 1, 2024

Confluence: Move a row in a table

I didn't know this one and it is a time-saver.

September 5, 2024

OBS: Circular Camera

I share here a (renewed) learning: how to add a circular camera in OBS Studio.

Google Slides: Share Presentation Read-Only

This post describes how to share a Google Slides presentation as Read-Only,

July 18, 2024

Battery Monitor PowerTool

This page provides documentation about the Battery Monitor PowerTool implementation.
It is a Work-In-Progress

June 19, 2024

Work Certificate Evaluation with AI

I share my recent experience of using AI to check my work certificate.

Generate Calendar Events from Email Program description using AI

I share here the use of AI for a practical use case to get events from an email into my calendar.

June 6, 2024

Free URL Redirector

I share here some resources for Link Redirector solutions and make a short demo/ setup tutorial for Boomerang.

June 4, 2024

Can not join Teams Meeting

I share here an issue I have with Microsoft Teams Meeting.

April 23, 2024

Jira PowerBI: Automatic renaming of Columns to real field names

I share here how I have improved my Jira PowerBI Template to automatically rename the field columns by the real field names instead of their Ids.

Handling Web.Request Errors in PowerBI M language

I share here how I have improved my PowerBI Jira Template in respect of field selection flexibility.

PowerBI Formula.Firewall Error: how to handle

I share here how I have solved this PowerBI error.

April 17, 2024

Greenshot Issue: Print Screen Setting overriden by Snipping Tool

I have stumbled upon an issue for using Greenshot with Windows 11.

April 9, 2024

Confluence Navigator

This post is a work-in-progress. Comment if you are interested and want to see this finished soon.

Structuring and navigating in Confluence can be quite cumbersome, especially if you have multiple dimensions or categories in your knowledge base.

I share here some best practices and tools to leverage complex knowledge structures in Confluence.

March 15, 2024

Confluence Chrome Extension

This post briefly announces my Chrome Extension for Confluence Cloud.

March 13, 2024

Chrome extension: Get storage data

I share here a recent learning about Chrome extension programming and getting storage data.

Confluence Numbered Headings in Chrome Extension

Following-up on a previous post (that was using a poor approach with bookmarklets), I share a better solution to number headings in Confluence using a Chrome Extension.

Chrome Extension: Popup with clickable links

I share here some recent learning about how to make links in the popup of Chrome extension directly clickable.

February 27, 2024

BigPicture: Get Children

I share here how to extract the children issues below a specific one in a BigPicture WBS / Gantt diagram.

February 26, 2024

Universal Date Picker with Calendar Week supporting Atlassian Tools (Jira, Confluence,...)

I have shared some time ago a small script for a universal date picker with calendar weeks displayed. Now in Jira and Confluence the date format is fixed to mm/dd/yyyy. Moreover, Confluence has a specific way of formatting dates. So I have adapted the tool to better integrate with Jira and Confluence. 
I share here the result.

Confluence Expand Version Information

I share here a small AutoHotkey script to provide a nice Confluence version information with a link to it.

February 20, 2024

R4J: Copy Children Jql

I share in this post how to quickly copy the Jql for issues contained by multiple folders in R4J tree using the Atlasy PowerTool.

February 9, 2024

Jira Cloud New Issue View and Quick Edit Hide when empty fields (Cloud Regression)

We have recently migrated our Jira from server to the Cloud and today I have hardly missed a feature related to quick edit of fields.

February 8, 2024

Confluence Quick Open

I share here a solution implemented in the Atlasy PowerTool to quickly open Confluence pages by search query.

February 7, 2024

R4J Bulk edit/ delete folder including children issues

I describe in this post how to e.g. delete a folder and all its children issues in R4J.

Confluence Numbered Headings

I share here a solution to have numbered headings in Confluence,

January 31, 2024

Confluence Cloud insert image from web

I share here a workaround to insert web images in the Confluence Cloud new editor.

December 12, 2023

Excel Transpose Data

Excel challenge: How to transpose data in Excel from horizontal to vertical
I present here a solution beyond using the Transpose Excel function based on Power Query.

November 13, 2023

Quickly End/Leave Teams Meeting (PowerTools Shortcut)

I share in this post how to quickly leave or end a Teams meeting using the Teamsy Launcher in the Teams PowerTools.

November 12, 2023

Can not record/stream Teams window with OBS (New Teams)

I have stumbled upon an issue with the new Teams client when trying to record a Teams Meeting window with OBS-Studio. I share here my learning and a workaround I have found for it.

November 3, 2023

GitHub Link to Function in file

I have learned something great today, how to link to a function in a GitHub File.

Teams Shortcuts: Start/Stop Meeting Recording

I share in this post how to start/stop a Teams Meeting recording within a Launcher / Hotkey.

Teams Shortcuts for Push-To-Talk (with the Mouse)

This post explains a feature implemented in the TeamsShortcuts PowerTool: how to trigger Push To Talk via Mouse Click.

Teams Quick Switch Meeting Background (Teams New)

I have explained in a previous post how to import meeting background images to the New Microsoft Teams Client. Now I have added a nice feature to quickly switch backgrounds from the Teamsy Launcher.

October 27, 2023

Teams PowerTools Client Language Handling

I have improved how to support the use of a different Teams Client language than English.

October 24, 2023

Teams: Quick Share Screen (with second monitor)

Currently if you are in a Teams meeting on Windows using the Desktop app, it is quite cumbersome to quickly share your screen - specially if you use 2 monitors. I present here a better solution and improvement ideas.

October 23, 2023

Teams New: Switch Tenant with a Hotkey

Introduction

Teams Shortcut to Set Status Message

I share here a new feature implemented in the Teamsy Launcher, how to quickly open the Set Status Message window in the New Teams Client. 

October 20, 2023

Update Teams PowerTools for Teams New Client

I have updated the Teams PowerTools for the Microsoft Teams New Client.

This is a quick fix/ implementation. I will finalize along the usage.

Import Teams Meeting Backgrounds (Teams New)

In the Teams New Client the import of Meeting Backgrounds works differently.
I have implemented some features in the Teams PowerTools to support it.

How to duplicate a Teams Channel Meeting?

I wished today I could duplicate a Teams Channel Meeting but couldn't find a solution for it.

October 4, 2023

New PowerTool for Atlassian Tools

Let me introduce a new member in the PowerTools family: I have named it "Atlasy". 
It improves UX and productivity with the Atlassian-based tools like Jira, Confluence, R4J.

September 29, 2023

Jira-Excel Integration for bulk edit based on R4J Excel Plugin

I have presented in the R4J German User Group on 2023-09-20 how we use the R4J Excel Plugin to bridge Jira and Excel.

September 20, 2023

How to open Teams Meeting Chat

This one Microsoft Teams Trick seems not known by everyone. You can open a Teams Meeting Chat without being in the Meeting and even if the Meeting Chat wasn't used during the meeting.

September 19, 2023

Hotkey or Script to enable or disable Focus Assist in Windows 10

I was looking for a solution to set the Focus Assistant mode e.g. to Do not disturb by script, at the best with AutoHotkey. I share here finally how I can do this.

Teams: Mute notifications during Meetings and Calls

I was looking for a way in Teams to Mute notifications during Meetings and Calls.
There is a quite new setting option for this.

PowerBI: How to import an Excel file located in a SharePoint

I share here a recent learning about how to load data from an Excel file located in a SharePoint into PowerBI.

PowerBI: How to reorder a Legend

I share here a learning about how to reorder a Legend in a PowerBI Chart.

September 12, 2023

Recording Teams Meetings with OBS and a Bluetooth Headset

I have stumbled again upon this issue with OBS for recording Teams Meetings using a Bluetooth Headset.

August 8, 2023

How to extend Teams PowerTools to support non English Client setting

I explain in this post how to extend or modify the Teams PowerTool to support Teams Client in another language than English.

How to get Teams Client Language Setting

I explain in this post a way to get the Teams Client Language programmatically - for both Teams Classic and Teams New clients.

Excel Index Match

I have stumbled recently again upon the Index/Match combo and forgot that the 3rd argument in MATCH is most needed and shall be set to 0.

August 4, 2023

AutoHotkey: How to wait for Browser page to be loaded

In the-automator Newsletter and recent YouTube channel, a way to wait for a Browser to be loaded was shared.
After some research, I share here a better way to wait for a browser page to be loaded. 

July 28, 2023

Jira: Quick Update Epic Link(s)

Post is currently in DRAFT. This post explains how you can quickly link issues in Jira to an Epic using an AutoHotkey script.

Spotify Music Recommendations

I have struggled to find how to get Music recommendation in Spotify Web.

July 27, 2023

RIP Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera passed away on 11th of July 2023. He is one of my favorite novel writer. 
If you don't know his work, I highly recommend it.

July 18, 2023

AutoHotkey: Dynamic ListView and Variadic Argument

I have learned something great and unobvious/ undocumented for AutoHotkey ListView GUI Element: you can use variadic argument to make a generic function to display elements in a Table format with multiple dynamic columns.

July 17, 2023

Excel PowerQuery: Get Named Cell Value for dynamic Web Request

I wanted to get data in Excel via a WebRequest and use in the Web Request Url a parameter defined in Excel in a Named Cell.

It took me some time to set this up and I share here my learnings.

July 10, 2023

End Teams meeting to stop recording cleanly

I have simply left a Teams meeting I was moderating and recording. (Shame on me) I share here something you should not forget.
Update: you can be friendly reminded if you use the Teams PowerTools.

July 6, 2023

Confluence: Personalize Mentions

I share here a way to personalize mentions in Confluence with Autohotkey.

June 30, 2023

How to make a ringtone from a song in Spotify

This post describes a way to convert a song in Spotify to a ringtone you can use for your mobile phone, using online free tools.

June 22, 2023

AutoHotkey Basic Authentification for REST API e.g. Jira

I have stumbled upon an issue in the b64 encoding function that broke the Basic Authentication when using a longer password e.g. API token.
I share in this post how I do REST API calls with a Basic Authentication example for Jira including the fix for this issue.

June 20, 2023

Jira Excel VBA Module with Basic functions

I share in this post some examples how to use Jira REST API from Excel VBA. This post is a WIP/Draft. If you are interested in me explaining more, leave a comment.

Microsoft Stream Playlists

I share in this post my first learnings about Microsoft Stream Playlist new feature.

June 19, 2023

Jira: Add multiple links using R4J Excel Add-In and VBA macro

I share in this post a way to add multiple links to Jira issues using R4J Excel Add-In and additional VBA macros. This post is a DRAFT/WIP quick version. If you have questions about it, please leave a comment to let me know and I will update it.

Workaround Copy/Paste images

Sometimes copy/ pasting images from one application (specially from Microsoft) to another does not work. I share here a workaround for this issue.

June 16, 2023

AutoHotkey Alternative to Browser Redirectors

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

June 15, 2023

How to automatically refresh Pivot Tables in Excel

I share a way to refresh Pivot Table automatically in Excel. Credit to Excel Campus

June 14, 2023

Jira: Create multiple issue links by script

This post describes how to bulk add a link to issues in Jira using the API. This a draft/wip version. Comment if you want me to finalize it.

May 19, 2023

How to synchronize Google Photos with Nixplay digital frame

Nixplay has changed its plan so that now you are limited to 100 pictures that can be dynamically synced from a Google Album.
I share here the workaround I use to bypass this limit. 

March 2, 2023

AutoHotkey Html Clipboard issue with Confluence

I have fixed last week in bug in my AutoHotkey IntelliPaste feature. This bug only occurred when pasting html formatted links to a Confluence page. It was converted to an image.

February 24, 2023

Microsoft Stream Playlist: Filter by Tags

I have struggle with building playlists for Microsoft Stream on SharePoint based on a tag attribute. I share here my experience.

February 22, 2023

How to get Url from OneDrive/ SharePoint file sync location? (improved)

In a previous post, I have described how to get the url from a sync onedrive file location, but the solution wasn't perfect and needed user intervention to correct the path in case a subfolder was sync'ed (instead of the root level of the document library).

February 20, 2023

Quickly Join Teams Meeting (using Outlook)

I share in this post how you can quickly join your next Teams Meeting using AutoHotkey or the Teams PowerTools. This implementation is based on Outlook Com integration.

February 17, 2023

Redirect links in browser to default browser (using BrowserTamer)

I present here some solutions to redirect links in a browser to a default browser.

February 13, 2023

Browser Tamer (Tool recommendation)

I share in this post a software recommendation for taming your different browsers.

SharePoint links incl. Stream automatically redirected to Microsoft Edge browser

Because I don't use Edge as default browser, Microsoft keeps bothering me, asking me to open Microsoft Edge when I click on e.g. SharePoint links. I share here my solution to avoid it.

February 12, 2023

Trouble with OneDrive sync

I had the trouble that one file didn't sync to my SharePoint from the local sync location.

It was annoying because I couldn't get the share link for this file.

I have found a workaround I share here.
Shortly the solution was to go the other way around (local->cloud vs. cloud->local)

I have opened the online destination location in the browser.
To do this from the file explorer, select the parent folder containing the unsync'ed file and select -> View online


In the browser then, upload the problematic file e.g. by drag and drop from the file explorer to the browser window.

This unblocked the sync issue.

February 3, 2023

Teamsy with Deckboard (free Stream Deck on mobile)

I share in this post how to configure a Stream Deck like the free Deckboard to command Microsoft Teams using Teamsy.
Deckboard allows to command your PC from your mobile phone and is free.

February 2, 2023

Goodreads: quick search by multiple shelves

I share here a way to quickly search in Goodreads in multiple shelves at once.

Goodreads view my reading progress

I share here a workaround to view past progress updates in Goodreads.

January 30, 2023

How do I embed a single file from a GitHub gist that include multiple files?

I had to look again for it so let me document it here. How do I embed a single file from a GitHub gist that include multiple files?

Outlook To Teams Group Chat (PowerTools/AutoHotkey)

In my last presentation for the Teams Community Day, Dennis Weber wished to have the feature implemented in the PowerTools to convert an Outlook Email or Meeting to a Microsoft Teams Group Chat with the possibility to select To or CC/Optional Addressees conveniently.
Previously one had to merge both To and CC fields manually.
This is now implemented.

January 25, 2023

Teams Favorites (Update)

This post explains how you can handle Favorites for Microsoft Teams Windows Client with the Teams PowerTools
A recent update allows to open favorites from the Teamsy Launcher i.e. an external application launcher is not required any more.

January 23, 2023

Teams Create Group Chat/ Open Chat

I describe in this blog post a nice functionality in the PowerTools to create quickly a Teams Group Chat or open a 1-1 Chat from a selection containing email addresses.

January 16, 2023

Goodreads to Notion

This post is a WIP/ WOL. Please comment if you are interested for me to share quickly a final solution/ want to motivate me getting this done.

I have the idea to use Notion for tracking my reading and especially take reading notes.
I use mainly Goodreads to manage the books I have or plan to read/buy and also its community feature to share with other reading friends.
Now I would like a seamless handling between both tools i.e. avoid manually entering of books in Notion and automatic synchronization from Goodreads to Notion.
Moreover, I would like also to track my expenses related to books.

January 11, 2023

Share To Teams

I share here a nice trick to share a Link to Teams.
It is implemented in the Teams PowerTools: Teams Shortcuts and Teamsy Launcher.

Opening external links from Teams in dedicated browser (bypass safelinks)

It seems to be a new feature now in the Microsoft Teams Client, that external (I guess non M365) links are wrapped/redirected in a  safety check whose url is  https://statics.teams.cdn.office.net/evergreen-assets/safelinks/1/atp-safelinks.html
It troubles me and I share here a workaround I have implemented in Teams Shortcuts PowerTool.

How to quickly open the startup folder?

I quite frequently need to open my Startup folders and have problems remembering this trick.
The fastest way in Windows to open the Startup folder is:

January 9, 2023

How to pop out Teams meeting chat?

This post explains how to open the Teams meeting chat in a separate (Teams) window, so you can for example monitor the chat on a secondary screen during a meeting.

Teams Community Day 2023: PowerTools Presentation

This post is documenting my keynote at Teams Community Day on 2023-01-26 (https://intellity.net/tcd_2023/)

December 15, 2022

ScriptRunner: Create Comment or Write Text Field with Links

I didn't find any documentation for this one.
I wanted in a ScriptRunner listener to document the action done by the listener with a comment in the impacted issue, with a link in the comment pointing to the user documentation.

You can do this easily by formatting links with [linktext|linkurl]

Here is an example of code for a comment:

commentBody = "[Listener|https://confluenceroot/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=375883539] labelled the issue with 'suspect_mod' because parent issue ${issue.key} had following fields changed while in Status 'Closed':" + commentBody

// flag current issue
def issueManager = ComponentAccessor.getIssueManager()
def user = ComponentAccessor.jiraAuthenticationContext.loggedInUser
def commentManager = ComponentAccessor.getCommentManager()


// Add a comment to issue
commentManager.create(issue, user, commentBody, true)

December 8, 2022

OBS Studio Audio issue with Bluetooth Headset

I have struggled today that starting OBS Studio for recording I could not hear my desktop audio via my Bluetooth Headset. I share here the solution I have found.

ScriptRunner: Listener triggered on field change

Wanting to trigger a script upon an issue update and specifically upon changes on specific issue fields is a common use case in Jira. I have learned recently the right way to do it.

ScriptRunner Listener for Suspect flagging

I share in this post how to implement a suspect mechanism in Jira using a ScriptRunner listener.

November 28, 2022

Chrome Extension Recommendation: Turbo Outliner

I share in this post a nice Chrome Extension to display a dynamic Table of Contents on any page

November 23, 2022

Confluence Task Report Macro

I share in this post some tweak to make the Confluence Task Report Macro easier to use.

November 7, 2022

Jira Workflow Triggered transitions

I share some learnings, concerns I've had recently concerning Jira Workflow triggered transition.

October 26, 2022

ScriptRunner Listener: Project Blacklist

There is no built-in way in the ScriptRunner UI to define a project blacklist. I share my learning here, how to do this.

October 14, 2022

Authenticator without mobile phone

I have learned recently a way to have an authenticator not only on my phone but in my browser on my PC - using a password manager extension.

October 12, 2022

Google Sheets: open sheet at the bottom

I was today fed up with Google Sheets not remembering the last edit location and always having to scroll down a big table to add an entry=row at the bottom of it. So I have looked for a solution to this pain.

October 7, 2022

ScriptRunner Listener for IssueLinkCreatedEvent or IssueLinkDeletedEvent: no current issue?

I have struggled a bit with implementing a Link Listener with Jira / Scriptrunner and share my learning here.

September 30, 2022

Microsoft Stream issues with .mkv files / Best practice recording with OBS

I have stumbled upon some issues in Microsoft Stream due to my use case of recording with OBS-Studio.

September 7, 2022

Jira Admin: How to order Workflow Transition Buttons

I share in this post how to set the order of the Workflow Transition Buttons in Jira.

Jira Admin: How to reuse an existing transition in a workflow

It is a bit tricky to find: I explain  in this post how to reuse an existing transition in a Jira Workflow.

September 6, 2022

Jira: How to display Workflow Diagram with all Transition labels

I had to look for how to display a Jira Workflow as Diagram with all transition labels and since it isn't obvious let me document it here.

Teams Meeting: Toggle Fullscreen with AutoHotkey

I have tried in a previous post to trigger Teams Meeting actions including Fullscreen with AutoHotkey and the UIAutomation library unfortunately not successfully. I present here another approach to toggle Fullscreen based on the undocumented native hotkey F11.

September 5, 2022

Teams Meeting Actions like fullscreen with AutoHotkey

I have tried to answer a user request to be able to set a Teams Meeting in Fullscreen with Autohotkey.
This is how close I could come using UIA. Unfortunately the click on the Fullscreen button is not working.

August 9, 2022

ScriptRunner: set custom field with change visible in the history log

I had some troubles to get the changes done in a ScriptRunner listener visible in the issue history. I share in this post my learnings.

August 5, 2022

Jira Quick Search

While working on a Jira issue sometimes you want to run a quick search for an issue within the same project. Unfortunately, the native Jira quick search function does not limit the search within the current project.
I share here a way to run a quick search from an issue within the same project. It is implemented in AutoHotkey and available in my PowerTool QuickSearch functionality.

August 2, 2022

Jira Dashboard Tip: Use Text Gadget for sharing Quick Links

I share here a Jira Dashboard best practice that is to use the Text gadget for sharing Quick Links.

August 1, 2022

Jira: Issue Template

I was looking for a solution to create a Jira Issue with a prefilled Description aka. Issue Template.
I share here my learnings and solutions.

UIAutomation: Easily access properties

This video (How to easily access properties from UIA - YouTube) by The.Automator-s is a bit obsolete especially see here (t=417)



With one of recent Descolada's update in the UIAutomation library, you can now access the UIA properties directly.

I asked him about this handling in this issue and he nicely updated his library.

For example you can directly use .Name to access the 'Name' Property; no need to use the counter-intuitive .CurrentName anymore (as shown in Joe's video).

I recommend you keep your local UIAutomation library synchronized with the repo or check regularly for updates.

July 15, 2022

Confluence Partial word Quick Search

I share in this post an annoyance in Confluence Search and how to workaround it using the NWS PowerTool QuickSearch feature implemented in AutoHotkey.

July 8, 2022

Shortcuts for Microsoft Teams Meeting Reactions (improved implementation based on UIAutomation)

I have shared in a previous post how to run Teams Meeting Reactions with a hotkey or command with AutoHotkey; this solution was based on ImageSearch/ FindText. I present here an improved solution based on UIAutomation.

PowerBI and Charticulator

I have come to learn recently about Charticulator, looking for the possibility to draw Scatters plots with categorical data. It seems to be a Microsoft opensource extension for more powerful charting and can be easily added to PowerBI Desktop.

July 1, 2022

Using UI Automation AHK Library to Control Microsoft Teams

I have recently learned (thanks to Joe and Isaias) about another way of automating programs with AutoHotkey based on the UI Automation API.
I give it a try here with Microsoft Teams. 
This post is a DRAFT.

Get Microsoft Teams Meeting Window using UIAutomation

I have shared previously how to get the active Teams meeting window with AutoHotkey with 2 ways: one prompting the user and an improved one using FindText.
I share now a better, more robust solution based on the UIAutomation library.

June 30, 2022

How to embed a single file from a Gist

This is a nice trick to know - see example of usage in this post:
you can embed a single file from a Gist containing multiple files by adding ?file=filename to the URL in the embed code.

PowerBI/ PowerQuery: How to get Jira Issue Field Value by Name

I share in this post my learnings and code regarding how to get a field value of a Jira issue in PowerBI/ PowerQuery.

June 27, 2022

Jira: ScriptRunner: Constrained Create Issue Dialog for quick deriving Issue with link action

I have struggled a bit with the ScriptRunner "Constrained  Create Issue Dialog" feature and share here my learnings.

June 24, 2022

How to communicate IT infrastructure downtime

I share a a best practice how to communicate an IT infrastructure downtime (e.g. because of maintenance activity) within an organization.
This time (yes) I recommend using Outlook for this use case but not an Email ;-) 

May 30, 2022

Confluence: Subscribe to RSS Feeds in Outlook

I have struggled to get this work: how to subscribe to a Confluence Feed e.g. Blog in Microsoft Outlook Client.

May 19, 2022

Confluence: Save Page As Template

I have struggled today in Confluence to save a page as a Space template.

Edit PDF Documents (Drawboard PDF Freeware recommendation)

Sometimes I get PDF documents to be filled but they aren't editable with the default Adobe PDF Reader.
I have learned today a solution for this pain point:

Confluence: Include Page adapting Heading Levels

The Confluence include page macro is missing a feature to adapt heading levels.

How to restrict links in Jira?

I was looking for the possibility in Jira to restrict links e.g. the link type 'is tested by' shall only be possible between issues from type Requirement to type Test. 
(It is quite a common feature in PTC ALM Windchill RV&S former Integrity Lifecycle Manager to be able to define links to work only between specific source and target issue types)

May 18, 2022

Outlook: Change meeting time if not organizer

Following scenario: I got a meeting invitation but the meeting took longer than the planned time e.g. 50min instead of 30min. I would like to update this meeting in my Outlook calendar to reflect the real time used for it.

May 9, 2022

Rectal Earache (Authority Principle)

We (humans) are so crazy. I had to laugh reading in Influence by Robert Cialdini, in the chapter about the Authority Principle - The Allures and Dangers of Blind Obedience:
Take, for example, the classic case of the “rectal earache” reported by Cohen and Davis in an interview. A physician ordered ear drops to be administered to the right ear of a patient suffering pain and infection there. Instead of writing out completely the location “Right ear” on the prescription, the doctor abbreviated it so that the instructions read “place in R ear.” Upon receiving the prescription, the duty nurse promptly put the required number of ear drops into the patient’s anus.

Obviously, rectal treatment of an earache made no sense, but neither the nurse nor the patient questioned it. The important lesson of this story is that in many situations in which a legitimate authority has spoken, what would otherwise make sense is irrelevant. In these instances, we don’t consider the situation as a whole but attend and respond to only one aspect of it.

April 7, 2022

New Microsoft Stream

I have learned recently that there is a new Microsoft Stream. I share here my learnings and experimentation with this new version.

Browser Select (Tool recommendation)

I highly recommend this piece of Software Browser Select free open software available in GitHub.

I mainly use it because I have different Jira or Atlassian tools instances (Jira/Confluence...): one instance per customer. And each instance requires specific login that I manage to isolate via a specific Browser Profile.

I used it as well because some web-based tools were only working in an old browser and not in my default browser.

March 25, 2022

Confluence IntelliPaste Search Links

I have updated my NWS PowerTool so that now it also IntelliPaste Confluence Advanced Search Links in a nice format.

Confluence Quick Search

When working or reading in a Confluence Space, most if the time you want to search in this Space only and only in the pages. You might want also to run a search using labels as an additional filter.
The normal way of doing this is not so obvious or user-friendly.
I present here a better solution based on AutoHotkey that is implemented in the NWS PowerTool.

March 23, 2022

Microsoft Teams Microlearning: Open Meeting Chat (after the meeting)

I share here quite a useful trick I use quite a lot.
After a Teams meeting, sometimes I want to post some updates or questions in the Meeting Chat portion (instead of sending an Email via Reply to all that could grow exponentially and also I won't be able to find easily.)

The common way would be to look in the Chat portion in Teams and search for the meeting chat there.
The search is not so convenient. Moreover there are some cases where the chat was not used and hence isn't available there.

The quicker way I recommend is to look for the meeting in your Calendar in Teams (not in Outlook: the option isn't available - only Join.)

There you will find by right-mouse clicking on the meeting the option to open the Teams Meeting Chat:

It is called: "Chat with participants" and will open the meeting chat. (without having you to join the meeting)


March 22, 2022

How to create a Jira issue by clicking on a link

I had to look again for it and hadn't documented it yet in my blog.

There is a cool way to create an issue in Jira with prefilled fields by simply clicking on a link I reference here.

March 21, 2022

AHKCon 2022 Topics for a presentation

I collect here a list of AutoHotkey topics I could make a presentation about at the AHKCON 2022 announced here for this summer:

March 11, 2022

AHK Conditional include

I share here some learning how to bypass "call to non-existent function" error to make dependencies optional.

March 9, 2022

Running AHK Script from the command line / Use Teamsy with the Stream Deck

I got this question "How to run the Teamsy PowerTool for Microsoft Teams from the Stream Deck using the command line". I had myself to look deeper at it and learned some stuff I share in this post.

March 7, 2022

Outlook Microlearning: Display Week Number

 This is how to display Week Number in your Outlook Client Calendar View:

February 16, 2022

Jira Partial Text Search

I have stumbled again upon this (conterintuitive?) search issue in Jira - so I have decided to write it down.

February 3, 2022

Excel: How to concatenate Table column with delimiter - only visible cells

I have the recurring need to concatenate values in an Excel Table but especially only unfiltered visible cells. (One common use case of mine is to get a list of Jira Issue Keys to easily link to multiple issues)
I explain here to solutions I know and share a VBA macro to do this in one click. 

January 24, 2022

Virtual Desktops on Windows: VirtuaWin (Tool recommendation)

I share here a tool recommendation for handling virtual desktops on Windows.

January 11, 2022

PowerPoint: Change Presentation or Selected Slides Language

I have updated my previous VBA based solution to change a language in PowerPoint: now you can change the language of the whole presentation or of selected slides only. In some cases you may have some slides in a different language e.g. English instead of presentation language in German.

MS Office Add-In How-To

I collect here some useful resources and tipp to work with Microsoft Office Add-In i.e. customize Office Ribbon.

December 22, 2021

Video Camera Effects in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams offers limited functionality for custom camera backgrounds e.g. animated backgrounds are not possible. I present here a solution that allows plenty of video effects. It is based on OBS-studio and its virtual camera feature.

December 21, 2021

Audio Effects in Microsoft Teams

In Microsoft Teams you can share your system audio if you are sharing/ presenting. But else it is not possible to share audio via your meeting microphone input. Well it is if you use a free software called VoiceMeeter. 
With this you can then share your system audio without presenting, through your "virtual" microphone, mixing your real microphone with some system audio. It becomes then easy to add audio live meeting reaction effects. With the Teamsy Launcher PowerTool, you can even assign a custom launcher keyword to it.

ScreenToGif: Great free software to generate Gif

I recommend here another free software to generate gif: ScreenToGif.

December 14, 2021

Outlook: Automatically Mark Appointment As Private (VBA)

I would like when becoming an appointment sent from my personal Google Calendar or containing some keywords like the firstname of my children to have them marked in my work Outlook as private automatically.
I explain here how I have achieved this using some VBA code.