Google Shortcuts

Okay, here's one of my many tidbits of useful knowledge I've gained during numerous nighttime feedings, courtesy of Real Simple Magazine. Here are some tips on how to make your google searches more effective!

To find: PDFs, excel spreadsheets or powerpoint presentations
Use: filetype: pdf, filetype: xls, filetype: ppt
Example: Canon manual filetype: pdf
This would be really useful when looking for user manuals or other specific documents.

To find: a product you saw online (but can't remember where)
Use: intitle:"xxxxx"
Example: intitle:"Frye boots"
This would be helpful when you know the name of an item. Just be sure not to put a space between the colon and opening quotation mark.

To find: a specific phrase
Use: quotation marks
Example: "bikram yoga"
This is really helpful to narrow down your search results to more relevant hits.

To find: narrowed-down information
Use: a hyphen
Example: jaguar -cars -football
This search would help you find only info about the animal. You get the idea.


Other things you can do in Google:

• Calculations - no need to whip out the calculator. Type in "78 x .06" to figure out the sales tax on a $78 pair of pants.
• Conversions - this is useful for recipes (as well as physics, like I learned in college!), etc. Type in "cups in liter" to get the conversion.
• Track flights - type in your airline and flight number to see if it's on time
• Locate packages - simply enter your carrier and tracking number to get a direct link to the tracking page.
• Find addresses - type in a person's home phone number and google will give you their mailing address (if it's listed)
• Get movie showtimes - type "movies" and your zip code to see theaters and showtimes for the next three days
• Listen to songs - type in an artist and title, and a playable file will appear at the top of the results page.