– Sharada Palagummi
World, particularly the ITC world, is abuzz with the word knowledge sharing. Most of us thoroughly agree that knowledge must be shared. Often, the sharing is viewed only in the context of the product development teams.
However, what about the users? We, the technical communicators, information developers, or whatever we prefer to call ourselves, are supposed to help our users in using our products efficiently. So, I guess we are the ones responsible to share our knowledge with the users.
Fortunately, sharing our knowledge with users is easy.
Let us study two samples of user instructions for the Edit menu of Windows Explorer. Let’s compare them for their content and be agnostic to language, presentation and formatting. The user I have in mind is someone who needs to learn how Windows Explorer works; not someone who is using it for some time.
Options of the Edit menu are explained in the following table.
| Option |
Purpose |
| Undo |
To undo the last action performed in Windows Explorer |
| Cut |
To cut a file or folder |
| Copy |
To copy a file or folder |
| Paste |
To paste the files or folders present in the Clipboard at the current location |
|
Options of the Edit menu are explained in the following table.
| Option |
Purpose |
| Undo <Delete> |
To undo the last action performed in Windows Explorer
The last action performed is indicated next to Undo. It helps to make sure that you are undoing the right action.
You can undo only the last ten actions.
Ctrl+z is the shortcut key. |
| Cut |
To move a file or folder from the current location
A cut item is placed in the Clipboard and remains there until another item is cut or copied.
The Cut option is enabled only if a file or folder is selected.
To cut multiple items, use the shift key if they are contiguous files or use the control key if they are not contiguous.
Ctrl+x is the shortcut key. |
| Copy |
To copy a file or folder
A cut item is placed in the Clipboard and remains there till another item is cut or copied.
If you copy a file, a copy of the file remains in the current location whereas if you cut, the file is removed from the current location.
Ctrl+c is the shortcut key. |
| Paste |
To paste the files or folders present in the Clipboard at the current location
The Clipboard of Windows Explorer contains only the contents of the last copy action. The Clipboard is not erased even after Windows Explorer is closed, or the system is hibernated or put in a standby mode. The Clipboard is erased when the system is restarted or shut down, or the current user logs off.
Ctrl+v is the shortcut key. |
|
So, there you are. It doesn’t take a Herculean effort to share our knowledge; does it?
About the Author
Sharada Palagummi has a Masters in Statistics, worked as a lecturer for 7 years and then, about 12 years ago, became a technical writer. She knows French, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese. She can be contacted at sharadap@integramicro.com.
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