Helen Bradley's Project Woman blog highlights a useful Photoshop hint: if you've created a grid using the vanishing point filter in Photoshop but no longer want it, just click on the relevant panel and hit the backspace key. Like many a Photoshop trick, this is rather obvious when you know it but hard to discern if you don't.

My Word 2007 installation is filled with macros and keyboard shortcuts, but I'd never realised that it was also possible to implement those within Outlook, which uses Word as its email editing interface. Microsoft's Word Team Blog runs through the gory details (essentially, you have to store customisations in the NormalEmail template edited through Word, while for macros you need some object tagging so that Outlook doesn't lose the plot when you try and run them). One point the post doesn't note: you can't edit the template while Outlook itself is running without serious file permission dramas. It's a distinct nuisance that Microsoft's design approach means you have to define keyboard customisations separately for Word and Outlook -- integration is meant to be a selling point for Office -- but at least it gives you a way of avoiding the painful Ribbon keyboard shortcuts.

It's easy to consider yourself a keyboard shortcut master until one morning you hit the wrong key combination and something exciting and new happens. Just this morning, I discovered a handful of new keyboard shortcuts on my Mac that I had never heard of but that I plan to integrate into my workflow ASAP.

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Te How-To Geek offers up a AutoHotKey-based application that turns hidden file showing on and off in any version of Windows. The small application runs in the background from startup, and can be set to activate with any key (Win+H being the default). For those who do a good deal of file copying and system wrangling, it's a serious time saver that's probably worth the less than 2MB memory taken up by the utility. For a Visual Basic-based solution of similar convenience, try CyberNet's own utility as well.

Windows only: Reader Juliana created a simple but extremely useful AutoHotkey script that creates a new folder in Explorer with a quick keystroke of Ctrl+N. If you're an AHK user, you can download the script source here and just copy and paste it into your own AHK script. (This is a great compliment to the Better Rename script, for example, which brings Vista-style renaming to XP.) If you're not an AHK user, you can still add the shortcut sugar to Explorer by downloading the executable (linked below). It may not change your life, but if you're a shortcut lover, it certainly adds a much-needed feature to Explorer.

Windows only: Free application HotKeyz makes it simple to create and manage keyboard shortcuts to run special commands or launch any file or folder on your computer. Most of what you're likely to do with HotKeyz can also be accomplished in one form or another using as-you-type application launchers, but if you prefer memorizing a quick keyboard shortcut to the invoke-and-type style app launchers, HotKeyz makes it all very simple. Apart from basic file and folder launching, HotKeyz does offer a lot of advanced commands for controlling windows, locking or shutting down your workstation, adjusting the system sound, and tons more. Personally, I find a combination of keyboard launch shortcuts and as-you-type launching is the way to go. The gold standard app launcher Quicksilver has shortcut triggers built in, so if your app launcher doesn't, HotKeyz might be worth a try.

Decoder runs through a useful tip for anyone regularly finding themselves navigating the same IVR prompts (on a calling card, for instance): using the pause function found on most Nokia models, you can type ahead through the relevant menus. Combine that with a speed dial key and you've got one-key convenience. As the video demonstrates, you may need multiple pauses depending on the length of the voice prompts, and some trial and error will probably be involved. For most Nokia phones, pause is accessed by pressing the star key three times; if you've got similar shortcuts for other manufacturers, share them in the comments.

Microsoft's Outlook Team Blog kicks off a series on making Outlook your main working environment by noting how you can customise the calendar view. Say it's Thursday and you want to see what's on for the next seven days: week view is no good because the days are split, but month view may not offer enough detail. The secret is to hold down Ctrl and select the days you want (which don't even have to be consecutive) in the date picker in the top-left corner. The method isn't perfect -- you can't pick across multiple months -- but it's a handy way to see just the entries you want. Something not mentioned in the post: there are some less-than-entirely-intuitive keyboard shortcuts for switching between standard calendar views (Ctrl-Alt-1 for day view, Ctrl-Alt-2 for weekday view, Ctrl-Alt-3 for week view, or Ctrl-Alt-4 for month view).

Entering accented characters is always a bit fiddly if you're running an English-language OS and have a standard keyboard, but the BlackBerry has a pretty neat way of handling it: hold down the letter key and move the scroll wheel until the accented version you require comes up. Instant accent heaven, though I guess it would be a tad fiddlier on the Pearl. (And yes, I wouldn't have needed to discover this if my current trip hadn't meant accented text was suddenly the order of the day.)

Editor: Say hey to Keir Thomas, author of the new book Ubuntu Kung Fu, who stopped by to share some of his best material from the book. Thomas writes:

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