As I've said before, content I share on The Tech-Letter is one I have used in the past and received some sort of value from. Every so often, a tech-tool or another comes really in handy, as was the case for me last week. I wanted to make the image above for one of my projects, but had no idea how to go about it (and I am definitely not a Photoshop expert). 

For those curious, I used Facet to add an overlay to my background (i.e. make everything behind me darker), Photopea to add text (my name) and place some of it behind my body, and I used Figma (future tech-letter 😉) to fix up the rough spots. So... all in all... I'm shocked this newsletter isn't being purchased by top tech companies. I also made a Facebook ad/image using Visme, which took me all of 10 seconds. 

That being said, today's tech-letter is about getting things done faster— specifically if you use Google Docs. Get excited.

I don't want to say I've spoken about the importance of shortcuts before... but I definitely have. 

For those who use Google Docs frequently (for work or play [but honestly, who's out there using Google Docs for fun?]) gSweets is a Google Chrome/ Brave extension that supercharges your workflow with shortcuts; unfortunately, this doesn't extend to any of Google's other apps, but Docs will do for now.

Once you add this extension to your browser and create a free account, you invoke the shortcuts using the forward slash ( / ) and instantly get a list of quick commands you can select. 

So for instance, instead of writing down: "THE TECH-LETTER" as a heading, then having to go to font size and increase it to make it stand out... 

THE TECH-LETTER

... quick select one of gSweets' shortcuts to get that done faster. 

At this point you might be thinking "Prithvi, it's changing a font size. It takes 2 seconds". You're absolutely right, if you're writing an essay that involves 1 header, this probably isn't too much of a gamechanger for you. But for those who write documentations or papers with multiple sections, you might want to reconsider.

Also, of course, there's more than just headings. 

Headings, lists, dividers, images, tables, GIF (pronounced GIF), tables, and even emojis. 

By the way, if you do decide to add an emoji or a GIF, gSweets opens up a mini window where you can search for something specific or scroll through popular ones. gSweets even has an Unsplash integration, my favourite source for high quality images. P.S. are you seeing how we're coming full circle with all of these tech-tools?

Last week's tech-letter was long, so I kept this one short and sweet (unless you found it short and mean, then I apologise). 

gSweet is a free-to-use Google Chrome/Brave extension that lets you use shortcuts to do things that would otherwise take a few extra seconds each time. From text related shortcuts (headings), to lists, and even the creative stuff (tables, images).