Sometimes all you need in life is a perfectly formatted document to enable you to get the job done and done quickly! Whether that is a: order form, an invoice, a file note, a meeting note, a letterhead or a report. Simply, having a document specialist could be what you need. To ensure that your document works, how you want it to work. A professional document production specialist will be able to look at your current document and suggest amendments. And also what might need to be upgraded. They will therefore be able to provide you with a new template that works for your business today.
Standard Documents, Precedents & Templates
Are you using the same document precedent: over and over again? Do you copy and paste standard paragraphs into your documents?
If you do, then creating a standard template document could well be what’s needed. It will help improve the consistency and quality of the documents produced by your business. And will also save you time thereby improving productivity.
Sometimes, all you need is a fresh pair of eyes to see what works for your business today. A document specialist can help you do just that.
Word Formatting
Are you having issues with your Microsoft Word® document? Are you struggling to fix automatic numbering so it runs sequentially? You are not alone!
Table of contents, internal cross-referencing, fields and hyperlinking. These are all features of advanced document production. For some, simple document production tasks such as automatic numbering, tabulation and section breaks can prove difficult.
In a recent survey for “The Lawyer”, these challenges affecting legal professionals were documented:
“Some 30 per cent of survey respondents stated that they frequently find applying numbering challenging. Meanwhile, 29 per cent frequently find it challenging to ensure indentations are currently aligned…and almost 25 per cent frequently find it challenging to update a document to a house style”.
Document templates should be easy for all to use. This is even more so the case for those with basic Word skills. Templates should also be easy for collaborators whether in-house or third party. If document users and collaborators struggle to apply your house style, then it clearly does not work. A house style needs to match the skill set of those that use it. The same applies also to features like automatic numbering, cross-referencing and tables of contents.
The last thing you want is a document going to another user and coming back broken. You want them to have a document they can collaborate on successfully and for the formatting to stay intact. The last thing your organisation needs is the expense of fixing other people’s mistakes.
This is where a document production specialist can help.
Version Control
Staff Handbooks, HR documents, business policy documents and operational handbooks should be strictly controlled. Therefore, document version control practices here are often necessary. Together with some form of document protection.
Document version control management helps your business keep all its important files controlled. It makes sure everyone knows which version is the latest and can save time as:
- Employees do not need to waste time opening each version of a document to work out which is the latest version.
- Employees avoid accidentally working on older documents.
As well as coming up with a file naming convention, a document specialist would also ensure that your documents contained a document version control coversheet. This is so anyone accessing the file would know what they were viewing was the correct one.
For printed material, version control numbering could also appear on each page of a document.
Again, this is where a document specialist could provide advice and assistance on the best way forward.
Portable Document Format (PDF)
The benefit of PDF files are they work on all devices. However, sometimes you may need to convert a PDF to Word as you need to:
- create an editable copy of the original physical document for reuse or repurpose
- create editable sections of text from the original physical document(s) for reuse or repurpose
You may wish to create a PDF from Word to send to someone who may not have a copy of Microsoft Word®. Again these are all areas where a document specialist can assist.
Conversion from PDF to Word
Surprisingly, not all PDFs are created equally. Whilst some documents in PDF format, enable files to be converted to Microsoft Word©, some do not. This is especially true where image files of a text document have been placed into a PDF. This can also occur when files have been scanned using older scanners.
Where they do convert, the issue here is that often the formatting from the original document is rarely kept. Sometimes Word uses optical character recognition (OCR) to change the PDF to text. Where text has been poorly scanned in a document, it can mean that sometimes text can look like gobbledegook either in whole or part of the converted Word document. It can also mean that some words may not have been picked up correctly and inaccuracies occur.
So having produced a converted Word version of a PDF document is all good and well. To make it useable is a whole different ball game. Sometimes, it can be quicker for a copy typist to retype the document. Rather than actually try and sort out what has been produced from file conversion.
PDF documents which are protected cannot be converted unless you have a password.
Again, a professional document specialist can inspect your document and give you an idea of how to best proceed.
Conversion from Word to PDF
A document specialist can also format Word documents for you so they can be converted into PDF. So if you need a Word document converted into PDF, they can advise you on the best ways to structure documents. This is to ensure you get the best out of the PDF format.
PDF Forms
PDF forms are a great way to collect data from a customer. Therefore a document specialist would be able to help you create a PDF fillable form.
Copy Typing
We know there are times when people prefer to draft documents by hand. Then require a copy to be typed at a later date. Similarly, there are times in this modern world when copy typing of a document (or parts thereof) is needed. This is especially so when a document is in a different format than needed, locked from editing or copying. Or where the document exists solely in a physical form and where an editable, digital version is needed.
There are also times when you have a physical document and need a digital version with some minor changes. Often here it is quicker and easier to send it to a professional copy typing document specialist allowing you to get on with other tasks.
About OutSec
OutSec is the UK’s leading online transcription company whose business has grown substantially since its inception in 2002. We are now one of the most successful transcription companies in the United Kingdom.
OutSec provides secure outsourced transcription services to the medical, legal, property and surveying, universities, media and interviews, advisory boards, conferences & seminars, inventories, financial, corporate, HR, recruitment and Executive Search sectors.
Accounts are free, you pay on a per-minute basis (rounded to the nearest minute) on a pay-as-you-go basis, with no contracts or minimum spend. So why not open an account today?
We also provide a boutique Virtual Personal Assistant Service, Crystal Clara, for those who require a more personal and tailored service.
Why is Dictation More Efficient than Typing?
Well, interestingly it is because we can all speak faster than we can type:
“The average person types between 38 and 40 words per minute”.
A “good rate of speech ranges between 140 -160 words per minute.”
In other words, dictation is up to four times faster than typing. Therefore, simply dictating a document is more cost-efficient, giving you more time to dedicate your efforts elsewhere in your business.
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