Following Microsoft Teams Channels: Show/Hide and Notifications Guide

There is no doubt in my mind that Microsoft Teams is a better platform to organize and control communication than e-mail. What’s the problem with e-mail? As Byron Patrick wrote in the Journal of Accountancy, e-mail “results in locust-like infestations of individual e-mails overwhelming inboxes, eating up user time, and creating innumerable opportunities for confusion and delay.”

Microsoft Teams channel list

With topic-specific channels and threaded messages, Teams can help you stop drinking from the fire hose of information. To give an example of a CPA firm environment, a team may have channels for departments (audit, tax, advisory), clients, service lines, industry specialties, and maybe a fun “watercooler” channel full of cat pictures. It’s worth spending some time adjusting what channels are shown and your notification settings. If you’re not familiar with how to do either of these, check out these pages from the Microsoft site:

The key is to go through your list of channels and individually adjust these settings to strike a balance between being responsive and productive. If you have notifications turned on with banner and feed for every channel, your day will be filled with interruptions. I created a table that might be helpful for you as you do this:

I want to be immediately aware of anything new
It’s important for me to be responsive in this channel
Show the channel
Notifications: banner and feed
I don’t want to miss reading any messages but…
I don’t need to see them right away
Show the channel
Notifications: only show in feed
I may want to read this channel occasionally, but…
I don’t care if I miss reading messages
Show the channel
Notifications off
It’s not my department, expertise or interest
It’s unlikely I’ll ever read this channel
Hide the channel
Notifications off

A couple friends and I started a Facebook group called “Microsoft Teams for CPAs.” If you want to share ideas and best practices for using Teams within an accounting firm, we’d love for you to join us!

Tools for CPAs working remotely: IPEVO Document Camera

As many CPAs and accountants transition to working remotely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, some may be searching for equipment and software that help them get the job done outside of the office. There are some things I would consider essential: a computer, webcam, headphones, and a second monitor (if not more). Could a document camera be a useful tool to add to that list? Well, maybe.

Check out IPEVO’s website and you’ll see that their document camera products are primarily marketed for use in a classroom setting. It’s a high-tech replacement for the clunky overhead projectors I remember from elementary school. In live presentations, I mostly use PowerPoint or demonstrate functions from software shown on the screen. With all of my materials in electronic form, I can’t think of a time I wished I had a document camera in a live presentation, though there may be accountants out there who may use one this way.

The usefulness of a document camera goes beyond live presentations. One thing accountants do frequently is document capture. There are a few ways I currently do this:

Where does the IPEVO document camera fit in? With an 8 MP camera, the image quality is comparable to my iPhone and good enough for recordkeeping. My iPhone works great for taking a picture of a single receipt, but holding the phone steady for a batch of receipts can become tiring. With the document camera, I can easily take pictures in rapid succession. For things that don’t fit in my document fed scanner, such as pages from a book or a spiral notebook, the document camera is ideal. It may just render my flatbed scanner obsolete except for photographs I want scanned at top quality and resolution. The document camera is so much easier to use and faster than a flatbed scanner.

I’ve also found the document camera helpful in videoconferencing. Though it’s now rare for me to have paper rather than documents in electronic form, I can remember a few awkward moments holding up a paper up to the webcam (“can you read this?”) or saying, “give me five minutes to scan this in and send it to you.”

It is plug and play. As soon as I plugged in the USB cord from the document scanner to my computer, it appeared as a video device in Zoom. I do a lot of demonstrations and training for mobile apps, and found it to be fast and easy to put my phone under the camera (see image below). Sure, I could also join a Zoom meeting from my phone and show the phone’s screen, but I initiate almost all calls from my computer and it takes time to get the app going on the phone. Another downside of the Zoom mobile app is that it won’t show where I’m tapping with my fingers. Because of these advantages of the document camera, I plan to use it frequently for showing my phone.

The picture on the left is a computer screenshot from Zoom, using the IPEVO document camera as the video device.

There are other fun uses too. I’ve always wanted to do a time-lapse sketch and post it to YouTube. With sports and other group activities on a hiatus, I’m going to need to find some new hobbies!

Disclaimer: IPEVO provided me with a complimentary VZ-R HDMI/USB Dual Mode 8MP Document Camera to try out with no strings attached. I was not given any compensation nor does my website contain any affiliate links.

How to control outdoor Christmas lights without getting cold

I enjoy sharing technological solutions to common problems on my blog and I hope this one makes someone’s holidays a little better. I remember the moment inspiration came to me. It was late at night and I was ready for bed. The temperature was frigid and it may have been snowing. My wife reminded me that the Christmas lights in front of our house were still on. As I grudgingly put on my coat, boots and gloves before venturing outside, I thought to myself, “there must be a better way!” I already had smart plugs inside my home to turn on or off lamps with a phone app or Amazon Echo (my smart plug of choice is the WeMo Mini, though there are many others that operate similarly). So why not use one of these to control my outdoor lights? Well, these smart plugs aren’t waterproof and designed for outdoor use, so I needed an enclosure. I did some searching and found a SOCKiTBOX weatherproof electrical box which was big enough to hold a smart plug along with a small outlet adapter. With the smart plug in the middle, between the chord providing power from the wall and each set of lights connected to the outlet adapter, I’m able to control all the lights from a single smart plug. Christmas smart plug Now I’m able to have some fun with the Christmas lights. With the WeMo app, I can automate turning them on and off with a set schedule. Or, when I have no desire to go outside and freeze, I just say, “Alexa, turn on the Christmas lights.” After I set up the outdoor lights this way, I plugged the Christmas tree into a smart plug as well. The kids get a kick out of asking Alexa to turn the tree’s lights on or off, which is great as long as they don’t get carried away. Treating Alexa with respect is an important part of staying off the naughty list.

Spending less time searching for what’s lost

Misplaced items produce negative emotions like nothing else. I’ve felt the frustration of not being able to find matches when it’s time to light the birthday cake candles, the anxiety of my eyeglasses falling behind the dresser, and the panic of not knowing where my phone is when it’s time to leave for work (only to realize it was in my pocket the whole time). Over the last few years, technology has helped me quickly and calmly find those things that commonly vanish:
  • For a lost phone that’s nearby, nothing is easier than making it sound right from your wrist. I’ve used my Apple Watch to ping my iPhone countless times. Another trick is to use a skill with an Amazon Echo to call a phone with simply, “Alexa, find my phone.”
    Tiles for finding lost things

    Tiles

  • I have several Tiles (see picture above) I can slip on a key ring to sound upon command from the Tile app on my phone. If a Tile is within Bluetooth range, it will play a tune until I find my keys, wallet, or whatever I’ve tied to the Tile. If the Tile isn’t within Bluetooth range, the app will tell me where it last had contact with the object (for example, that I left my briefcase at the office). Now, if I could just figure out a way to attach a Tile to my TV remote without duct tape…
  • I know people who are constantly forgetting their passwords, or writing them down and losing them. Stop those bad habits and use a secure password manager like LastPass.
  • Receipts are easy to lose, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Since I’m an accountant, it should come as no surprise that I’m ultra-organized and completely digital with my personal finances. This comes in handy when I’m at the auto repair shop and asked when I last replaced the tires. Hubdoc has helped to automatically organize my financial documents, and one of its best features is recognizing the text within receipts. So all I have to do is search my Hubdoc account for “tires” and wallah!
With these tools, I can confidently say with my best Liam Neeson impression, “I will find you.”

I blocked ads on my home network and it was easy as Pi

Good riddance, “one weird trick” and other annoying forms of clickbait advertising (you know who you are).  I installed Pi-Hole on my Raspberry Pi and it’s made a world of difference in my web browsing experience.  It doesn’t block every ad – I still get ads on YouTube and sponsored posts on Facebook – but it blocks practically all the ads on the news sites and blogs I read.  It also seems to be very effective eliminating in-app ads on mobile devices. I discovered Pi-Hole on Twitter, where I try to follow and learn from people who are tech-savvier than I: So, do you want to do this too?  This post isn’t a tutorial. You can find several walk-throughs on Google and YouTube. I’ll explain some of the basics though. First, you’ll need a Raspberry Pi. No, that’s not mispelled, and it’s not the delicious desert you had too much of last night. A Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive and versatile computer the size of a credit card. I bought a kit on Amazon with a case and power supply for around $50.  In the picture below, my Raspberry Pi is in the clear case to the right.  It’s connected to my router through an Ethernet cable. Raspberry Pi After setting up the Raspberry Pi and giving it a static IP address, you can install Pi-Hole with one line of code from https://pi-hole.net.  Pi-Hole becomes your DNS server, in other words, it directs your Internet traffic as long as you tell your connected devices to go through it.  The Raspberry Pi’s IP address is important to remember.  For each connected device you want to block ads on, you’ll need to modify the network settings and change the DNS server to the Raspberry Pi’s IP address. The only downside I’ve heard of is that some sites seem to require ads to appear, in which case you just need to temporarily change the DNS settings to visit that site.

Virtual Desktops, the Windows 10 tip that could change your life

It can be a challenge to organize your workspace when you have multiple monitors and dozens of programs open at the same time.  It can feel much like having stacks of paper on your desk in complete disorder.  Virtual Desktops in Windows 10 is like rolling a messy desk out of a room and rolling in a clean one, all in the fraction of a second. I use the feature to group similar programs together, with the windows arranged how I like them among my monitors.  For example, I might have my time entry and practice management windows open on one desktop, while I have tax and document management programs on another desktop.  Switching between the two desktops is quite a bit quicker than shuffling, minimizing and maximizing windows. It’s also an easy way to hide all my running programs if someone enters my office for a meeting.  I simply launch a clean desktop, and open any programs pertinent to that meeting. Even though it all can be done with a mouse, the key to maneuvering Virtual Desktops quickly is learning the keyboard shortcuts.  For example, holding down the Windows, Ctrl and left or right arrows will switch between desktops.  The keyboard shortcuts and detailed instructions can be found on this post about Virtual Desktops on the official Windows blog.
Virtual Desktops

Virtual Desktops

 

Awesome Apps for Accounting: IF by IFTTT

IF by IFTTT (“If This Then That”) has been an extremely useful tool in my web automation efforts. Through this website and app, I create “recipes” so that when a certain event happens in one app, an action is automatically triggered in another app. I use it for some social media activities, for example, posting Instagrams as Twitter photos.  Here’s another one: by sending a text to my phone number, I can turn the volume up.  Since I mute my phone often, this one is a life saver when it decides to play hide-and-seek between the couch cushions. Business owners and accountants could use IF to create custom alerts and make accounting easier.  Here are a few I found:
  1. A business owner using Square point of sale software to accept credit card payments might want to be alerted when large refunds are issued.IFTTT Recipe: Refunds over $____ send an email to any address you choose  connects square to gmail
  2. A company using Stripe to process online payments can add each sale automatically to Google Sheets.IFTTT Recipe: If New Stripe Payment to Add Row to Google Sheets connects stripe to google-drive
  3. Do you ever forget to pay your phone bill?  If you get the bill via e-mail, this recipe will put an appointment on your calendar to pay it.IFTTT Recipe: When I get an email about my phone/internet bill, my calendar reminds me to pay it within 5 days connects gmail to google-calendar
  4. It’s not easy to keep a manual mileage log, but IF pairs Automatic (a device you plug into your car) with Google Drive to document your miles.IFTTT Recipe: Automatic - Milage for Tax Deduction connects automatic to google-drive
  5. Based on your iOS location, this recipe will log your work hours.IFTTT Recipe: Log work hours to a google spreadsheet connects ios-location to google-drive
It’s disappointing that there isn’t any accounting software listed in the IFTTT channels.  There could be many useful accounting recipes. It would be cool if an e-mail were automatically sent to a bookkeeper if a bank account hasn’t been reconciled for two months, or if an income statement could automatically be posted to Dropbox every month. Could this be something we see in the near future? If you use IF in your business and have great tips to share, please leave a comment below.

Three time-saving banking features

Online and mobile banking offer quite a bit more than bill pay, PDF statements and a summary of recent activity.  Some of the best time-saving features aren’t as well known, such as:
  1. Alerts.  It’s common knowledge that it’s a good idea to frequently monitor bank activity for errors and fraudulent activity.  I have signed up for e-mail alerts whenever there are international, Internet, phone or mail order purchases made with my debit card, as well as when purchases and ATM withdrawals exceed a certain amount in a given day.  For a credit card I use once a century, I get e-mails whenever charges exceed $0.01.  Alerts don’t completely replace my manual monitoring, but are more effective than daily booting up my computer, mistyping my password, re-entering the correct password, entering my PIN, selecting the checking account, perusing the recent transactions, and trying to remember what that $100 charge at the electronics store was for.
  2. Mobile Deposit.  Sign the check, open the mobile app, enter the amount, take a picture of the check, and it’s done!  Wow!  That was so much easier than finding a deposit slip, filling it out, driving ten minutes to the bank, waiting behind two cars in the drive-through teller line, and opening that pesky vacuum tube canister!
  3. Bank Feeds.  Today’s personal finance and business accounting software can connect to bank accounts and import transactions on a daily basis, and that’s just the beginning.  Xero, the software I use for my personal finances, easily creates and automatically classifies transactions based on a predetermined set of rules.  It’s been a much better experience than the poke-your-eyes-out manual data entry that I used to do!
What online or mobile banking features make your life easier?

My Feelings about Feedly

In my last post, I shared the news of Google Reader’s retirement on July 1 and suggested Flipboard as a possible replacement.  Feedly is next up at bat and it certainly doesn’t strike out. Feelings about Feedly Here are a few things I like about Feedly:
  • It was easy to sync with my Google Reader account.  I just entered my Google password and allowed Feedly access to it.
  • In addition to the mobile apps, Feedly has a Chrome extension for reading from a desktop or laptop.  The Chrome extension has a great interface for organizing feeds and has several viewing options.
  • It looks and feels similar to Google Reader, so there is not much of a learning curve.
  • The mobile app has day and night themes.
  • The mobile app opens web pages within Feedly and there is a tool to “remove clutter” that cleans up much of the web page content except for the blog post text.
A couple of drawbacks of Feedly are:
  • The Android “back” button often closes the app, whereas it would return to the list of feeds in Google Reader.  It’s just something I’ll have to get used to.
  • The shortened URLs start with feedly.com, making them slightly longer than bit.ly and Flipboard’s flip.it.
I am a big fan of Feedly’s Chrome extension.  On mobile devices, I prefer Flipboard’s navigation, but Feedly’s app has some great features and settings as well. Tim Gavin commented on my last post that he uses Flipboard for reading news and Feedly for reading blogs.  I agree with his assessment that Flipboard feels like reading a newspaper while Feedly is a more natural fit for reading blogs.  Tim’s suggestion is a home run.  Instead of choosing one or the other, I’ve decided to use a combination of the two products. Maybe I won’t miss Google Reader as much as I thought I would.

What I saw at CES, 2013 Edition

Today, I stopped by the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and added the following to my gadget wish list: Samsung Galaxy Camera The Samsung Galaxy Camera combines its 21x zoom and 16 megapixel sensor with the features of a tablet (4.8 inch touchscreen and Jelly Bean).  Engadget has a detailed review. 4K resolution Soon, high definition just won’t be good enough.  The TV in this picture has 4K resolution, or 3,840 by 2,160 pixels.  This is about four times the resolution of 1080p (1,920 by 1,080).  There was a noticeable difference in image quality when comparing TVs with the two resolutions side-by-side. Coming soon is a device from Delphi and Verizon that will plug into most cars and allow the user to track and monitor a vehicle through a web browser or mobile app.  The device keeps a history of the dates and miles driven for each trip.  This may be a helpful tool for business owners to keep a mileage log.  Plus, it includes a GPS and is a great way to keep track of your teenager. 3D printing is a technology I have heard about in the past couple of years, but it was amazing to witness it in person.  Check out some objects on Makerbot.com that have come from 3D printers. I saw Fujitsu’s new ScanSnap iX500, which has built-in Wi-Fi connectivity.  Using the ScanSnap Connect Application, a scanned document can be sent directly to a mobile device connected to a network. Also, I’m very happy with my new Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone.  Despite putting it through a full day’s work at CES checking e-mail and taking pictures, it has 41% battery life remaining.  It is great not having to pack a charger.