THE DRAFTINATOR
Easy Templates You Can Insert Fast
“There are many more robots in your fleet, Harold,” I said.
“I love the Amazing AutoCorrector robot. But is there a robot that could pop larger, preformatted paragraphs or snippets of text into e-mail and documents for me?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I could definitely use that kind of robot because my team, Organizational Development, has developed highly effective e-mail verbiage for all of our leaders and salespeople.”
“What’s the problem?” I asked, sensing a big opportunity.
Harold sighed.
“Our people lose the verbiage. And we lose sales when our leaders communicate the wrong ideas or information.”
“Good news!” I cried.
I leaped onto my desk but got tangled in my cape and tripped, crashing to the floor. Luckily, the only thing that was bruised was my ego. I heard a muffled chuckle from my star pupil as I hopped back onto the desk.
“Good news!” I tried again. “Now, your people can and will use that important verbiage!”
“But how?” Harold asked, trying not to laugh at my klutziness.
“Harold the Hamster,” I said, “meet your next robot, the Draftinator. It will help you rapidly insert drafts, templates, and snippets into e-mail and documents.”
Harold looked around the room, half expecting a robot to emerge from my supply closet.
“The robot is here,” I said, pointing to his computer. I hopped off my desk and hoisted Harold back onto my chair.
“Show me one of the snippets you just mentioned,” I said encouragingly.
Harold opened a document titled, Important Sales Verbiage. I made a couple quick adjustments and then had Harold open a new e-mail.
“Now, click your mouse here, here, and here.”
Harold clicked as instructed, and his eyes opened wide with amazement.
“Pow!” he cried. “The snippet’s in the e-mail. I’ve been wasting so much time, cutting and pasting verbiage into e-mail messages. The Draftinator is going to save everyone time at Foster and Schrubb.”
“Agreed,” I said. “And I’ll show you how to use the Draftinator in Word, Outlook, Lotus Notes, and Gmail. That way you can spread the word to all the good people of Planet Earth.”
Harold peered at me suspiciously.
“Planet Earth?”
“There is a bit more to this costume than meets the eye, Harold. I’ll explain in a while, but first, it’s time for you to activate the Draftinator with a few easy steps.”
“Check!” Harold said, thumbing to the correct place in the ZIP! Tips book. “Let me try one now.”
“How about trying five?” I asked.
“Why five?”
“Repetition is the mother of all knowledge,” I said. “Here is the next core ZIP! Tips principle.”
CORE PRINCIPLE #4
See One. Do Five. Teach Ten.
“That makes sense,” Harold said. “You want me to watch one ZIP! Tip and then practice it five times to get the hang of it and then teach it to my team so everyone wins.”
“You’re a natural zipper.” I laughed. “Now get cracking!”
ROBOT: THE DRAFTINATOR
JOB: Rapidly adds commonly used snippets and passages to save tons of time and improve communication quality.
The Draftinator for Outlook and Word 2007, 2010, and 2013 (“Quick Parts”)
Note: Does not work in Outlook 2003 or Mac Outlook 2011.
• Highlight any frequently used text, graphic, or snippet within an Outlook e-mail or Word document.
• Click on Insert > Quick Parts > Save Selection.
• Name your selection and click on OK.
• To retrieve: Click where you want to place the Quick Part inside your e-mail or document.
• Click on Insert > Quick Parts and a drop-down menu will show all the Quick Parts you stored.
• Click on your item to instantly paste it into your e-mail or document.
• To delete or edit a Quick Part, click on Insert > Quick Parts, right-click on any item, and then select Organize and Delete.
The Draftinator for Gmail (“Canned Responses”)
• From Gmail e-mail, click on the gear icon in the upper-right corner.
• Click on Settings > Labs.
• Select Enable Canned Responses and click on the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.
• To create a canned response, open a new e-mail and enter your text, graphic, or snippet.
• Click on New canned response, name the response, and then click on OK.
• To use your canned response, open a new e-mail, and then click on Canned responses.
• Select one of the templates you have stored.
• Edit and Send.
The Draftinator for Lotus Notes (“Stationary”)
• From your inbox, click on Tools > Stationary > New Stationary > Message.
• Add your draft snippet and click on Save.
• Name your snippet and click on OK.
• To use, go to Tools > Stationary and double-click on your draft.
The Draftinator for Mac Word 2011 (“AutoText”)
• Open a Mac Word document.
• Create and highlight your snippet.
• On the topmost menu, click on Insert > AutoText > New.
• Name your snippet and click on OK.
• To use your snippet, go to the topmost menu and click on Insert > AutoText > Normal.
• Select your snippet as shown below:
