- CCing my EA
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- 💻 All Tech Tips
This post is running compilation of all of the Thursday Things Tech Tips sorted by reverse chronological order.
This way you don’t have to dig through your old emails just to search for a specific tech tip you wanted a refresher on. 👍
Table of Contents
Use Perplexity for web searches and answering questions 🔎 (2/20/2025)
Last week, I shared a tech tip on how you can use ChatGPT with your writing, which is kind of its bread and butter.
However, ChatGPT is not necessarily great for web research or answering questions because it’s trained on past data and you’ll often receive outdated (or simply wrong) answers.
That’s where Perplexity.ai comes in!
Perplexity delivers:
Up-to-date information. Perplexity provides current information including even for live events
Easily digestible information. Perplexity consolidates information from multiple sources and presents it in an easy-to-read format
Direct answers with citations. Perplexity responds directly to your search queries (as opposed to giving you a bunch of websites to sort through), complete with source citations for sanity checks
I feel like Perplexity is what search engines were supposed to be, but it’s hard to really convey its benefits without seeing it in action. So, here’s a query I made on both ChatGPT and Perplexity (beginning with ChatGPT) about the recent passage of the Global Executive Assistant Mobility Act of 2024 and its effect on the international career opportunities for EAs.
Pretty good! But here was the same question asked with Perplexity.
Yup, I made that piece of legislation up. There’s no such thing as a “Global EA Mobility Act of 2024”. 😛
While ChatGPT hallucinated an answer that sounded legit, Perplexity correctly identified the legislation as totally fabricated!
I highly recommend trying Perplexity as your go-to search engine for a day to see whether you like it. There’s no need to create an account to use it a few times either.
Please lemme know how you end up liking it!
Training ChatGPT to edit your writing ✍️ (2/13/2025)
In response to our 2025 State of AI in the Executive Assistant Industry report, many EAs emailed me asking for practical AI use case examples.
So, I’ll show you how I regularly use AI to help me edit my writing! It’s a two-part process: you first train the AI to learn what you’d like for it to do, and then you actually apply it.
For example, let’s say I’d like to use ChatGPT (the most popular AI tool EAs use) to help me edit an email I’m sending out to organize a company offsite.
Here’s exactly how I’d do that:
Tell ChatGPT to learn what it can from a webpage teaching email tips
In this case, I found an article by Indeed on email etiquette: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/email-etiquette
Have ChatGPT to remember what it learned
This way you can reuse this particular bot for any future emails you want it to edit. You’ll know you did this right when it says “Memory updated”.
Ask ChatGPT to apply what it learned to your email draft
You can quickly write the main points you’d like to get across in your email without worrying about proofreading or perfect grammar. That’s kinda the point of having an AI editor. 😉
That’s it! ChatGPT will spit back an edited version of your email draft
I highly discourage using exactly what ChatGPT spits out. You wouldn’t accept every single edit a human editor suggests, so don’t do that with AI either. That said, it’s a pretty great editor, right? :)
Extra tip: You can train your ChatGPT bot to learn from more than one resource as well! If you found, say, 5 resources you thought all had golden writing lessons you’d like to use in your writing, you can have your AI learn and then apply all of those in one go!
I hope this helps you speed up your future writing efforts. As mentioned in our 2025 State of AI in the Executive Assistant Industry report, of the EAs who are currently using AI tools, 86% are already using ChatGPT. If you haven’t started playing with it yet, today is a great time to give it a try! 💪
Manage multiple email addresses with Wavebox (1/23/2025)
This Tech Tip comes from Kelsie Jorgeson, founder and owner of TwentyFive.8.
Kelsie replied to our Jan 9th issue with the above email, which prompted me to ask her to flesh out this great Tech Tip below. Enjoy!
As a virtual executive assistant managing multiple clients with different branded email addresses, Wavebox has been a game-changer for me.
It consolidates emails, chat platforms, and notifications from services like Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Teams, and more—all in one window.
Wavebox not only streamlines communication, but it also integrates with tools for scheduling, project management, and file sharing, helping me stay organized and efficient.
With everything in one place, I’ve reduced the time I used to spend switching between apps and browsers.
For example, I manage 8 different email accounts—4 Gmail and 4 Outlook—for my clients.
Instead of logging in and out of multiple platforms across Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, Wavebox keeps me logged into all of them simultaneously.
Each inbox is easily accessible via a simple side tab.
At just $8/month, I feel like Wavebox Pro is totally worth the investment. It's transformed the way I work and boosted my productivity!
.new for New Google Doc/Sheet/Slide/Form (1/16/2025)
This is honestly one of my favorite tech tricks that I regularly use all the time.
Credit for this tech tip goes to Stef Betz!
Alex’s Tech Stack Series (Part 2 of 4): Emailing with Superhuman ⚡️ (1/9/2025)
Let's talk about the email tool that changed my workflow.
Quick disclaimer: I know premium email tools can be a tough sell. Some orgs prefer native Gmail/Outlook, and convincing IT to approve new email clients can be an adventure.
With that said, here's why Superhuman made it into my stack:
After trying a few different email tools, I found my perfect match. The Superhuman team has built what I consider the ideal command center for EAs who live in their inbox.
What I love about it:
Instant search that actually works (find any email in milliseconds)
Split inbox with shortcuts (triage 100+ emails in minutes)
Snippets that turn common responses into two-key commands
Follow-up reminders that never let important threads slip
Command bar for lightning-fast actions (my favorite: instantly scheduling emails)
Bonus hack: Combine Superhuman's instant intro feature with snippets. On your keyboard, hit Shift + Command + 'I' to acknowledge the intro and move someone to BCC all at once, then follow with Command + ';' to quickly insert your pre-written response template. Game changer for the endless intro emails we handle.
More tech stack reveals coming soon!
Even more time zones! (1/2/2025)
Today’s super quick tech tip is from a CCing my EA reader, Dawn Pallett.
This serves as a follow up to last week’s tech tip about multiple time zones in Outlook.
I figured another time-themed tech tip couldn’t hurt given the New Year vibes and all. :)
Long story short, Outlook is great when you’re working with just 3 time zones, but Time and Date’s World Clock Meeting Planner can do up to 12!
This is impressive since even our Vimcal EA calendar is currently limited to 5 time zones…
In Dawn’s words, “LIFESAVER!!!!”
View multiple time zones in Outlook! (12/26/2024)
Today’s quick tech tip is from a CCing my EA reader, Sarah Jangula.
In Microsoft Outlook:
Click File in the top left corner
Click Options in the lower left corner
In Outlook Options click Calendar
Scroll down and there is a Time Zone section where you can add additional time zones!
It makes coordinating meetings across time zones in Outlook so much easier and you can add 2 additional time zones and can switch them easily to accommodate needs!
The new times show up in your calendar next to your default time sets and then can easily be removed as well.
Turn Your EA Team's Restaurant List into an AI Concierge 🤖🍲 (12/19/2024)
Remember that handy +1 email trick for OpenTable bookings?
Today we're building on that with a quick way to make your team's shared restaurant lists more useful, especially when booking in unfamiliar cities.
Here's how to turn your team's shared restaurant spreadsheet into an interactive concierge:
Step 1: Start a new chat with Claude
Tell it you're an EA with a team spreadsheet of restaurants for traveling execs
Set the context!
Step 2: Upload your spreadsheet
Add the CSV or Excel file directly to your chat
Step 3: Chat naturally about your needs
Example: "Need a spot near DTLA for 4 people - my execs are meeting with a perspective client (2 people). Something Mediterranean would be perfect."
Pro tip: The more specific you are, the better. Include:
Number of people
Client dynamic
Location needs
Cuisine preferences
Any time constraints
I've attached screenshots showing how Claude instantly analyzed our team's restaurant list and suggested Bavel (plus a solid backup option).
Why this works:
No more scrolling through endless spreadsheet comments
Get confident recommendations even for unfamiliar cities
Makes the most of your team's collective knowledge
Saves you from pinging busy teammates for their takes
Update your passwords! 🔒 (12/12/2024)
With the holiday break coming up, this is a great chance to set aside an hour so you can change any compromised passwords.
Regularly changing all of your passwords is of course the safest option, but I understand not everyone wants to go through all 100+ of their accounts to change each of those passwords.
That’s why I recommend using a service like Have I Been Pwned to help decide which passwords to change.
Basically, you just input your email address and Have I Been Pwned will look through its database of leaked websites to see if there’s a match with your email.
If your email address matches, then that means the password you used on that website was leaked and you should DEFINITELY change that one.
For example, one of my personal emails had a match with Canva and it looked like this.
If hackers find a email + password combination, then they’re going to try that same email + password combination everywhere, from bank accounts to social media websites.
That’s why I made sure to immediately change not only my Canva password, but also check to see if any other of my accounts also used the same password.
And this is of course why it’s super important to never reuse passwords!
Stay safe out there y’all. 🫡
Send Personalized Emails with Mailmeteor ✉️ (12/5/2024)
Need to send 100+ personalized follow-ups after an event but don't want to spend hours copying and pasting? Here's how to handle it using Mailmeteor:
1. Set up Mailmeteor in Google Sheets:
→ Open Google Sheets
→ Click Extensions in the top menu
→ Go to Add-ons → Get add-ons
→ Search for "Mailmeteor"
→ Install
2. Create your spreadsheet with columns for:
→ First name
→ Company
→ Any personal details you want to reference
3. Write your template using variables:
→ {firstname} for their name
→ {company} for their company
→ {personaldetail} for specific notes
The beauty of this is you can send hundreds of emails that each feel personal - perfect for event follow-ups, thank you notes, or any mass communication that shouldn't feel massive.
Perfect for:
Event follow-ups
Conference thank yous
Holiday party notes
Client appreciation messages
Team updates
Pro tip: Add a "personaldetail" column for those little conversation notes that make follow-ups feel extra genuine. 😎
⌘ + Shift + T to reopen recently closed tabs 📑 (11/28/2024)
Back in September, I shared some shortcuts for opening (⌘ + T) and closing (⌘ + W) browser tabs.
Today, I’d like to share perhaps my favorite browser shortcut of all-time for reopening recently closed tabs.
On Mac: Hold down cmd (⌘) + Shift + T
On PC: Hold down Ctrl + Shift + T
Tip: Hitting ⌘ + Shift + T once will reopen your most recently closed tab, but if you keep hitting it, it will open your 2nd most recently closed tab, 3rd most recently closed tab, and so on until a limit of about 20.
Alex’s Tech Stack Series (Part 1 of 4): Note-taking with Circleback 📝 (11/21/2024)
I get asked about my tech stack a lot (comes with being "Every EA's go-to tech guy" I guess 😅). So I'm starting a short series showcasing the tools I rely on daily.
Quick disclaimer: I know AI tools aren't for everyone. Some orgs are rightfully cautious about AI, and getting new tech approved can be... interesting (I live this every day as a vendor).
With that said, here's why Circleback made it into my stack:
I met Kevin, one of the founders, at APC Vegas 2023. We ended up catching a show at the Sphere and became fast friends. Beyond being genuinely good people, Kevin and his co-founder built what I consider the cleanest note-taking UI out there.
What I love about it:
Super intuitive, never crowded
Quick 'send' button to share notes (did this recently with a group of EAs who requested the notes)
Smart tagging for easy search (design reviews, sprint plans, etc.)
Accurate action items after every meeting
Thoughtful, constant improvements
Bonus hack: Feeding internal meeting notes from Circleback into Claude to track team discussions over time.
Recently I asked Claude (more on this tool in a future post 👀) to find when we first discussed auto-deleting holds in our Vimcal EA sprint meetings, and it pulled the exact conversation instantly.
This isn't a paid plug for Circleback — I’m just sharing a tool that has become invaluable to my workflow.
More tech stack reveals coming soon! In the meanwhile, what tools do you swear by?
The Plus Sign Email Trick for EAs ➕ (11/14/2024)
This week's tech tip is inspired by a fellow CCing my EA reader, Stephanie Rohweder!
"I use this for conference RSVPs so I can manage all the event confirmations, location details, and timing updates in my inbox while keeping the registration under my exec's name."
Ever need to book multiple dinner reservations for different execs on the same night? Or RSVP to the same conference for multiple executives? You probably want all the booking confirmations in a single inbox, yours.
Oftentimes you can't use the same email address for multiple registrations, but most of us don't want to check numerous inboxes or have our executives bothered by unimportant emails. So what can we do?
Here’s the hack:
Add "+1" before the @ in your email
The system reads it as a new email
All confirmations still route to your original inbox
Examples:
Perfect for:
Multiple OpenTable reservations
Conference RSVPs for different execs
Free trial signups
Event registrations
How to type emojis ❤️ ✅ ⭐ (11/7/2024)
I love emojis because they just add personality to an otherwise mundane email.
Ever notice how much harder it is to type emojis on your computer vs. your phone? Not anymore!
Here how you can pull up the emoji panel with your computer:
On Mac:
Press Command (⌘) + Control (⌃) + Spacebar
or
Press Fn + E
On PC:
Press the Windows Key + Semicolon (;)
or
Press the Windows Key + Period (.)
Extra tip: Sometimes the emoji search isn’t great, so an alternative hack is to Google the emoji you want to type out (e.g. “New York”), highlight and copy the emoji, and then paste it as plaintext.
Use a Pic of Your Messy Meeting Notes to Create Polished Notes & A Follow-up Email ✍️ (10/31/2024)
If you've ever had the experience of trying to capture strategy session notes from a pile of sticky notes or whiteboard scratchings (or just your own messy handwritten notes!) — this tip is for you.
Step 1: Take a picture of your notes
Step 2: Upload your pic(s) to ChatGPT or your AI chatbot of choice, using a prompt like this:
“Transcribe these messy post-its from a strategy session into coherent, well-structured meeting notes. Put the notes in complete sentences and use headings to separate key topics.”
Step 3: Iterate until you're happy with the notes, then prompt ChatGPT to draft your follow-up email:
“Write a follow-up email for all attendees summarizing the meeting and actions/next steps. Put the actions up front.”
Adding international holidays to your calendar 🥳 (10/24/2024)
If you’re scheduling for executives across different countries, it’s often a lot to juggle between the various holidays of each country.
Thankfully, Outlook and Google Calendar have both made it super easy to add international holidays to your calendar!
Vimcal EA users will be happy to learn that once your holiday calendars have been added to Outlook or Google Calendar, they’ll sync right over to Vimcal EA too. ;)
On Outlook:
1) Click “Add calendar”, which is right above your calendars
2) Go to the “Holidays” menu item
3) Add any countries whose holidays you’d like to keep tabs on
On Google Calendar:
1) Click the Gear icon and select “Settings”
2) Under the “Add Calendar” menu item, you’ll want to select “Browse calendars of interest”
3) Add any countries whose holidays you’d like to keep tabs on
You’ll now see every single holiday for those countries right on your calendar!
Bonus: If you’re a sports fan, you’ll notice you can also add the calendar of various sports teams via the “Sports” section.
Tip: For better organization, I recommend choosing different colors for your native country’s holiday calendar vs your new international countries’ holidays calendars.
Night Shift and Night light 💡 (10/17/2024)
Are you having trouble sleeping at night? You probably heard that looking at your screen before bed can delay your brain’s release of melatonin by up to 2 hours.
The best solution is to simply avoid screens before bed, but more often than not, that’s not an option with work piling up and messages coming in late.
Thankfully, Apple and Windows have built in features that help with this called Night Shift and Night Light.
On Mac:
1) Go to System Settings (Apple logo in top left corner → System Settings)
2) In System Settings, enter “night shift” in the search box and select “Night Shift options”
3) Set your schedule to “Sunset to Sunrise” and click Done.
On PC:
1) Select Start (Windows logo) and enter “Settings” in the search box
2) In Settings, Go to System → Display → Night light
3) Turn on “Schedule night light” and select “Sunset to sunrise”
Note: The more warm you set the color temperature and strength, the less blue light (which keeps you awake) you’ll receive and so the better you’ll sleep. 😪
Create Custom Shortcuts for Lengthy Texts 📜 (10/10/2024)
Tired of retyping blocks of text or constantly switching tabs to copy-paste? Check out TextExpander!
Let’s say you’re always copy-pasting the following block of text from a doc:
Meeting Agenda:
Top of Mind [5 minutes]
TOPIC1 [duration]
TOPIC2 [duration]
TOPIC3 [duration]
Please be sure to send me your top of mind updates and any topic requests by end of day, Wednesday.
Thank you!
Natalie
Instead, just type "@agenda" after pressing cmd (⌘) + backslash (/) on Mac or ctrl + / on Windows. That's it!
To set this up, all you’d have to do is:
Download TextExpander
Create a New Snippet in TextExpander
Copy-paste your block of text into the body
Add the abbreviation, “agenda”.
Best part? It works anywhere on your computer, not just in specific apps!
Did you know Gmail offers keyboard shortcuts functionality? Here's a step-by-step guide to enable and use Gmail shortcuts:
1. Enable keyboard shortcuts in Gmail settings:
→ Click the gear icon → See all settings → Scroll to "Keyboard shortcuts" → Select "Keyboard shortcuts on"
2. Learn these baseline shortcuts:
'c': Compose new email
'r': Reply
'a': Reply all
'f': Forward
'e': Archive
'x': Select conversation
'#': Delete
'/': Search your inbox
3. Master advanced shortcuts:
'g' then 'k': Go to tasks
'g' then 'i': Go to inbox
'g' then 'c': Go to contacts
'g' then 'd': Go to drafts
'*' then 'a': Select all conversations
4. Use the '?' key anytime to see a full list of available shortcuts
Pro Tip: Combine shortcuts! For example, 'x' to select, then 'e' to archive multiple emails in seconds.
Streamline Your Meeting Follow-ups with AI 🤖 (9/26/2024)
We've all been there: drowning in lengthy email chains, trying to extract crucial information for our execs. It's time-consuming and often overwhelming to digest every thread, identify next steps, and compile relevant info.
But what if AI could do the heavy lifting for you?
Here's a step-by-step guide to supercharge your post-meeting process:
1. Gather your meeting notes or email chain.
2. Paste the content into Claude AI (it handles long-form text better than some other AI tools).
3. Prompt Claude with relevant questions, such as:
→ "Can you please turn this into a short, digestible summary?"
→ "What are the key action items from this conversation?"
→ "Are there any deliverables mentioned that I should prepare?"
4. Review Claude's responses and refine as needed.
5. Use the AI-generated insights to draft follow-up emails and schedule next steps.
Pro Tip: Ask Claude to suggest personalized talking points for each participant in your follow-up communications!
Lock your computer 🔒 (9/19/2024)
Did you know closing your laptop doesn't automatically lock it? Here’s a quick way you can ensure your laptop is locked.
On Mac:
1) Hold down cmd (⌘) and control (⌃)
2) While holding both, press Q
Note: Be careful! cmd (⌘) + Q alone will quit your current application, so make sure you’re holding that control (⌃) button down!
On PC:
1) Press the Windows key and L
Your screen will lock instantly, keeping your work secure.
Please remember to always lock your screen when stepping away from your computer, even for a short time. It’s a small habit that can prevent big security risks.
3 useful browser shortcuts (9/12/2024)
Following up on August 22nd, 2024’s Tech Tip about navigating between browser windows and tabs, here are three more shortcuts to help streamline your browsing:
⚡ Shortcut #1: Open a new window
1) Have your browser open
2) Press cmd (⌘) and N on Mac or Ctrl and N on PC
⚡ Shortcut #2: Open a new tab
1) In your browser window
2) Press cmd (⌘) and T on Mac or Ctrl and T on PC
⚡ Shortcut #3: Close a tab
1) On the tab you want to close
2) Press cmd (⌘) and W on Mac or Ctrl and W on PC
Tip: Think "N" for New window, "T" for Tab, and "W" for close (or "wipe away").
To see these shortcuts in action, check out the attached video.
EA hack: No more time zone math! 🕒 (9/5/2024)
Today’s 2-part Tech Tip covers a tool that will save you an hour a day on scheduling meetings and converting time zones.
Part 1: Drag and copy availabilties
Instead of tediously typing out each time window you'd like to send someone, you can just drag them on your calendar and then copy paste.
Part 2: Convert up to 5 time zones instantly
To schedule across different time zones, just type out the city, country, or time zone before you copy paste the times.
Your selected times will automatically be formatted to each time zone.
Ok, you caught us red-handed… this is a shameless plug for Vimcal EA. 😳
With Vimcal EA, you’ll never do mental time zone math or manually type out time windows ever again!
What once took 5 minutes now takes 5 seconds.
Schedule a call to try Vimcal EA, a calendar built just for executive assistants.
Formatting flight search results with ChatGPT ✈️ (8/29/2024)
I had a call with an EA the other day who told me she spends 45 minutes/week converting Kayak search results to perfectly templated messages.
Enter: ChatGPT
ChatGPT is free (woo!) but I have the paid version ($20/mo). IMO, it's still a bargain because these 45 minute tasks can be minimized to 10 seconds.
Here's how:
1) Do your normal flight search.
2) Take a screenshot of the results.
3) Upload screenshot to ChatGPT and use this prompt:
"Format the top 5 results from the flight search attached into the following structure:
[DAY OF THE WEEK] [MONTH/DAY], [Departing Airport Code] -> [Arriving Airport Code], [Airline Code], [Number of stops], [Cabin], [Departure time] -> [Arrival time], [Price]"
4) Copy and paste the results to your email/message.
5) Send to your executive.
For all future flight searches, all you need to do is drop in new screenshots. This works for hotel results as well.
Give it a go!
Shortcuts to switch browser windows and tabs (8/22/2024)
A few weeks ago, I shared a tech tip on switching applications with ⌘ + Tab.
This week I’m giving you a 2-for-1, specifically for your browser!
⚡ Shortcut #1: Quickly swap between browser windows
1) Have multiple windows for the same browser open
2) Press Cmd (⌘) and tilde (~) on Mac or Ctrl and tilde (~) on PC
Pro tip: Keep the Command or Control key held down and keep tapping tilde (~) to repeatedly cycle through multiple open windows.
⚡Shortcut #2: Instantly switch between browser tabs
1) Have your browser open
2) Hold down Cmd (⌘) and Option (⌥) on Mac or Ctrl and Alt on PC
3) While holding both, use ← or → arrow keys to move left or right
To see these steps in action, check out the attached video. 👇
What's your favorite keyboard shortcut?
Stop re-typing your Full Name & Email ❌ (8/15/2024)
Isn’t it annoying to always be entering this information?
Not anymore.
Rather than typing ‘Alexander Bayer’ on ticketing sites, flights, appointment forms, etc… I type ‘semicolon + name’.
It’s free, and it’s easy.
Here's how:
1) On a Mac, open your System Settings.
2) Select the ‘Keyboard’ section on the left panel.
3) Click the Text Replacements button.
4) Add a replacement.
To see this in action, I’ve attached a video as well. 😎
⌘ + Tab to switch applications (8/8/2024)
I’ve noticed on Zoom calls that EAs regularly toggle between Outlook and 2-3 other applications. It's a very manual process, and it hurts to see.
Enter: ⌘ + Tab
⌘ + Tab (Alt + Tab on a PC) are 2 keys that already exist on your keyboard. But paired together, they create a shortcut that'll save you precious minutes.
The best part? It’s easy.
Here's how:
1) Hold down on the ⌘ key.
2) While keeping ⌘ held, press Tab once.
3) Continue pressing Tab until you reach your desired application.
4) Release ⌘.
This becomes particularly useful when bouncing between 2 applications, i.e. Outlook & your browser.
🫵 Do you have a tech tip you want to share?
What’s your personal favorite tech tip?
Email us about it directly at [email protected] so we can include it in a future issue!
And be sure to include a link to your LinkedIn page so we can give you proper credit. :)
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