FAQs: Gmail, Calendar, DRIVE (EN)

• 1. How do I best work with attachments?

     1. Save as PDF, in the Chrome print screen

     2. Can I set my downloads to give me an option to choose where they save on my computer?

        1. Chrome Settings > Advanced > Click the button under Downloads section

     3. Upload to Drive

• • • 1. Send url/link

      2. Send email to external user as Word document

• 2. How do I best create and modify tables from Excel in Gmail?

• • 1. Use Sheets, copy and paste

• 3. How can I tell if I’ve responded to someone or forwarded an email?

• • 1. Use a label or a star to signify

• 4. How do I change the subject of an email to start a new conversation?

• • 1. In the Gmail reply, there is a drop-down at the top right of the message.  Choose “edit subject” from that menu

• 5. How do I keep track of my tasks and reminders?

• • 1. Emails can be linked to tasks by selecting the message > More > Add to tasks.  At the end of the task, there’s an arrow where you can set a due date

    2. Under My Calendars in the calendar, there’s a calendar called Reminders.  At the end is a dropdown, choose “Switch to tasks” to see the tasks appear on your calendar at the right

    3. You can also use reminders by choosing the same dropdown and “Switch to Reminders”, which follow you from day-to-day if not completed

    4. You can go to keep.google.com to see your included Notes program if you prefer to take care of your tasks that way

CALENDAR

• 1. How do I invite someone to another person’s event?  Can I forward invitations?  

     1. In Google, you don’t forward invitations; if you do, the person won’t have any way to put the invite on their calendar besides to recreate it.  You must INVITE others to the calendar event.

     2. How do I push the event to my calendar if someone does forward an invitation?  

        1. You must contact them and ask them to invite you, or create the event manually.  This will level off as people learn not to forward event invites.

     3. Am I notified if someone invites others to my event?  How can I see the new additions and who’s coming?

• • • 1. There isn’t a notification when someone invites others to your event, but you can see when they accept if you have turned on notifications for event responses, and check the guest list any time.

• 2. How do I add information to another originator’s event?

• • 1. You must contact the meeting originator and ask them to allow you to make edits to their event, or to add your new information themselves.

• 3. How do I Propose a New Time?

• • 1. Next to the guest list it says Email Guests, which you can change the Update to say Propose a New Time or Reschedule.

• 4. How do I see my coworkers’ availabilities?

• • 1. Next to the Event Details tab in the event screen is a tab “Find a Time”.  Click on Find a Time to see all your coworkers’ calendars side-by-side to see who is available.

• 5. How do I see who booked a conference room?

• • 1. Other calendars dropdown > browse interesting calendars > More > drop-down resource, subscribe to its calendar.  Now it shows under Other Calendars and you can see who Created the event

• 6. How can I stop Concur from pushing other people’s travel onto my calendar?

• • 1. Calendar > Settings > scroll down, Events from Gmail > uncheck add automatically box to stop Gmail from auto-pushing events to the calendar

MOBILE

• 1. Can I turn off Conversation view on my mobile device?  

     1. No but options are being explored, for now let’s focus on learning the functionality behind conversation view

  2. Can I print from my mobile device?  

• • 1. Your company's tech resources need to reroute this behavior

• 3. How do I receive meeting notifications on my mobile device that make noise to alert me of meetings?

  4. Can I get my scanner / printer / external device to behave like it did in Outlook?

• • 1. Your company's tech resources need to reroute this behavior

• 5. How do I get my contacts on my mobile device?

• • 1. Your company's tech resources need to reroute this behavior

• 6. How can I join a meeting from my mobile device if text is in the Where field?

• • 1. Make sure you don’t put anything besides the call info the Where field; if there is text there, Google reads it as an address and won’t prompt the auto-dial feature

• 7. Can I mark a message as unread on my mobile device?  NO

How can I flag messages for follow-up later?

There are several strategies for flagging messages for follow-up in Gmail:

• 1. Use the "*" to tag messages that need follow-up and use the "Starred" label view to review those items.  Un-star them when completed.

  2. Apply a "Follow up" or "To-do" label to messages that need special attention.  Enable the "Multiple Inboxes" lab and add the following to one of the "Panes": label:Follow up OR label:To-do. These messages will now always display along with your regular Inbox.  Simply remove the label on messages to remove them from view.

  3. Turn a message into a "Task" by opening the email and clicking the "More" option and selecting "Add to Tasks".  Once you add an item to the tasks list, assign a due date.  Finally, enable the display of your "Tasks" calendar in Google Calendar to see your "Tasks" in your calendar.  To enable your Tasks calendar, you must go under My Calendars to Reminders.  On the drop-down there, choose “Switch to Tasks”.  You can only view Reminders, or Tasks, at one time, but not both - though it is possible to use both.

How can I designate a message as "Important" or "Urgent"?

Gmail does not directly include this feature.  To enable something similar, it is recommended to have everyone pre-pend their subjects like this:

Important:  Subject of email

Urgent:  Subject of email

Then, in your Gmail "Filters" area, create a new Filter to look for "Important: " or "Urgent: " and then apply a label called "Important" or "Urgent".  Finally, set the color of this label to be one that will stand out in your Inbox and be easy to see.

How can I "recall" an email that I have sent?

Recalling email rarely works in the real world.  Once the message is delivered, it is not possible recall it once people have opened it.  Gmail does provide an "Undo Send" feature, however.  To enable this feature, go to General Mail Settings, select “Enable Undo Send” and configure the time of message delay there.

I always have to change the font, color, or size of my text. How can I make these settings permanent?

In the Gmail General Settings, there's a box named "Default Text Style".  If you change the font, size, color, etc. there it applies to future messages unless you choose to reset to the default text style. Remember to click “Save” at the bottom.

Is there a way for Gmail to know which message, in a conversation, to open up at when I return to it later?

Yes, locate the individual message you want to start reading from the next time and click the "arrow" on the right side of the message and select "Mark unread from here".  When you open the conversation, next time, Gmail will open to this particular message in the conversation.

Why don't I get copied on messages I send to a distribution list in Gmail?

Gmail treats distribution lists slightly different than Outlook. You will not receive a copy if you are the sender or even if you are a member.

My Gmail is freezing up, what should I do?

Try clearing your browsing history and cache and restarting your browser. If that doesn’t work, contact ITCS for resolution.

How do I switch from conversation thread to viewing emails individually?

Navigate to general mail settings, and under Conversation View, select “Conversation View Off”

If I want my email organized, what's the best way to do this?

The easiest way to manage your Gmail is to "Archive" anything that you no longer need to take action on.  However, you can also create some labels to help you classify your email.  You can get as specific as you like, but selecting "big buckets" is often the best option.  For example:  "Customers", "Team", "Projects", "Expenses".  A few labels might be enough because you can then locate your emails through Search.  

You can also assign stars of different colors to represent different stages of your emails within your work flow, for example "red star" can be used to mean "needs immediate attention", and "orange star" can be used to mean "waiting on an external response", and so on.

How do I set my out of office message?

Navigate to general mail settings, and under Vacation Responder, set your out of office message and preferences. See this demo for more info.

I receive a lot of email every day. How can I best manage my Inbox?

There are many ways to manage your inbox, but the two techniques that will have the largest impact is to:

1) Enable Priority Inbox and then use the "Mark Important" and "Mark Not Important" options to train Gmail about which types of emails you need to regularly respond to.

2) Create filters to apply labels to emails automatically or apply labels when you are reading your email so you do not have to do it later.

With these two techniques, you should be able to tame your inbox significantly.  You would keep an eye on the Priority Inbox content throughout the day and then read the non-important emails during breaks or before/after your day.

I like using keyboard shortcuts. How can I see what they are?

Simply press SHIFT + ? to bring up a display of the shortcuts on your screen.  To use the shortcuts you must enable the use of shortcuts in mail settings.

What size and types of attachments can I use in Gmail?

Gmail has a 25MB total message size. So, the total message size including any number of attachments cannot exceed this limit. There are also some files that cannot be sent due to virus protection rules in Google. If you need to send a larger file, upload it to Google Docs and share it.

How do I change my signature so that on replies, it puts my signature immediately after my response instead of at the very end of the entire email chain?

By default, Gmail puts your signature at the bottom of the thread when it sends the email, even in replies. Some users like to have it appear imto the Gmail General Settings tab. Beneath the Signature text box, check the box that says "Insert this signature before quoted text in replies and remove the "--" line that precedes it."immediately following their message when replying. You can do this by going

How can I see my entire company address book or how can I email anyone in the company?

Your company directory can be viewed in your "Contacts" area. Select “Contacts” from the drop down menu in the top left corner of Gmail.   Locate the "Directory" item to see everyone in your company's address book.

When sending email to someone in your company, simply start typing their first name or last name to see a list of matches.  If you do not recall their name, browse the Directory as noted above.

How can I sort my email by Sender, Subject, Date, etc?

Gmail does not using sorting to locate email.  Make use of the powerful search options to locate your messages. Watch this demo to see how to quickly locate messages in Gmail.  

Is there a "read receipt" in Gmail?

Read receipts must be enabled as a feature for your company.  If available, the option will appear when sending a new email.  If you do not see the option, your Google Apps administrator has chosen not to enable the feature.

Can I share contacts with others?

You cannot directly share your personal contacts.  You can, however, export your contacts and then email the file to other people so that they can import them into their contacts.

GOOGLE CALENDAR

How can I "propose a new time" for a meeting?

Open the Calendar event, and under "Are You Coming?," select Maybe. Then do one of the following:

• • To propose a new time to the host only, enter your proposal in the Add a Note field. Note: all the guest will see this comment.

  • To propose a new time to all the attendees, click the “Email guests” link in the upper-right corner to send your new proposal in an email message to one or more attendees.

  • Reply to the owner of the event from the Calendar event in the Inbox, and suggest an alternative time.

Is there a limit to the number of people I can invite to an event?

The maximum number of attendees per Calendar Event is 500. When you view the calendar event, only the first 100 users appear in the guest list due to window size.

If you need to invite more than 500 people to an event, you will need to create duplicate events and place no more than 500 people in each. Once you have created the first event in your Calendar, you can create duplicates of the event using the Duplicate Event option on the More Actions drop down menu.

If you use a distribution list or group email list to invite attendees, remember that you are still limited to the 500 distinct recipients. So if the list has 600 addresses, it will need to be divided into 2 smaller lists before sending the invites.

Please remember that updates to a distribution list will not automatically carry over to your existing invitations. For example: let’s say on day one you invited all of marketing and sales to a meeting using a distribution list. On day two, an additional 20 people are hired and added to the marketing and sales distribution list file. In order to invite the additional people, you will need to open the event in your Calendar and use the Add: Guests.

How do I set up multiple reminders for upcoming meetings?

In the meeting details below the Event color, there’s an option to add as many notifications as you like.  In your default calendar under My Calendars (the first one that shows up), there is also a place where you can Edit Notifications, and choose your notification defaults.

How can I automatically see event invitations in my Calendar?

In order to see event invitations on your Calendar automatically, open your Calendar and click on Settings, Calendar settings. Go to “Automatically add invitations to my calendar:”, and select “Yes, but don't send event reminders until I have responded “Yes” or “Maybe”. Then click Save.  As invitations are received in your Calendar, they will appear with a “?” next to the time of the event, until you have replied.

How can I attach a file to a meeting event?

Open a Calendar event in the Attachment section, click on the “Add attachment” link . Select a Google document or upload a file from your desktop. Each guest must have sharing rights to the document.

How can I add "optional" meeting participants to a Calendar Event?

Open a Calendar event in the “Add: Guests | Rooms, etc.” section, click on the "Make some attendees optional" link. Click on the Person icon next to the optional participant's name.

How can I "respond with comments" to an event invitation?

Open a Calendar event and type a comment in the “Add a note or change a response” section. Type a note or change your response. This section is highlight at the top of the Calendar Event window. The comment appears underneath the person’s name in the guests list section for all to see.

How do I set my default event reminder?

Open your Calendar, click on Options, Calendar settings, and select the Calendars link. Select the Notifications link for your Calendar. Change the "Event reminders:" setting, then click “Save”.

How do I make my event private?

Open a Calendar event, in the Privacy section, select “Private”. Others will not see the event detail, only "Busy" when viewing your Calendar.

How do I add my Task pane to the Calendar view?

Open your Calendar, in the “My calendars” section, select Tasks. The individual tasks will also appear in the Calendar grid on the dates the tasks are due.

How do I create a tentative event?

Open a Calendar event, select Available in the “Show me as” section. The event appears with a question mark (?) icon in the Calendar view.

How do I create a calendar event from a Gmail message?

Open the Gmail message, click on “More actions” drop down menu, and select “Create event”.

Can I invite a mailing list from our corporate directory to a meeting?

Yes, you can invite any mailing list (group) from the corporate directory to a meeting. Each member of the group will receive an email invitation. Note, however, that the email invitation won't show all the members of the group. Also, the group members will appear in the invitation on each attendee's calendar only if you have permission to view the group's member list.

Will I get a notification if an attendee accepts my meeting invitation?

By default, notifications are turned off. But you can turn reminders on, and choose whether to receive a pop-up notification or an email notification:

- Access Google Calendar.

- In the upper-right corner of the page, click Settings.

- Click the Calendars tab.

- Under My Calendars, click the Notifications link for your calendar.

- Choose the settings you want.

- Click Save.

Can I see a list of attendees who have accepted my invitation?

Yes, open the event details to see who has accepted your invitation.

Can I create "live" links in my event description?

Yes, but only if you don't let attendees edit the invitation (don't select the "Guests can modify event" check box). Note that, as the host, you always can edit the invitation, the links won't appear as "live" on your own calendar. However, you'll see the live links in the event confirmation message you receive.

To create a link to a website in the event description, simply type the URL, such as http://www.google.com.

Can I edit just one instance of a meeting in a recurring meeting?

Yes. Open the instance that you want to edit, make your changes, and click Save. Google Calendar then asks you whether you want to apply your changes to just the selected meeting, all meetings, or all meetings moving forward.

Can I accept invitations on Google Calendar that are sent from another calendar program?

Yes. If someone outside your domain sends your an invitation from another type of calendar, you can typically accept the invitation from Google Calendar. If possible, Google Calendar inserts an Add to Calendar link in the invitation. Simply click the link, and the invitation is added to your Google calendar. Otherwise, if the invitation is in the standard .ics format (such as Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes invitations), you can download the .ics file and upload it to Google Calendar.

If someone shares their calendar with me, can I hide their calendar?

Yes, you can hide the calendar by clicking it in your list of calendars on the left of your calendar view.

If I want to access my manager's calendar, does that person need to give me permission?

Yes, if you want to access another employee's calendar, that person must give you permission, by editing the sharing settings for their calendar.

What level of access do others have to my calendar? Is my calendar public?

By default, your calendar is shared with everyone in your domain, and they can see your calendar's free/busy information only. However, you can turn off calendar sharing.

If you share your calendar with everyone at your domain, you can specify whether they can see only free/busy information or all event details. You can also share your calendar with specific people and give them one of the following levels of access:

- See free/busy information only

- See all event details

- Make changes to your calendar

- Make changes and share your calendar with others

GOOGLE DRIVE, DOCS, SHEETS, and SLIDES

What types of files can I save in Google Docs?

You can practically save any file type in Google Docs, including .exe, .zip, videos, Office-type documents, etc.

Does Google Docs have a storage quota?

No. Storage capacity for employees is unlimited!

Can I allow users to view / comment on my document but not allow them to edit it?

Yes, users can be set up as "Can Edit", "Can Comment", or "Can View".

Can I prevent people from sharing my document with others?

Yes. There is an option to prevent editors from changing access and adding new people to a document you own. In your document, Go to “Share”, click “Advanced” at the bottom left side of the Share Window, then, Click the option to “Prevent editors from changing access and adding new people” at the bottom of the Share Window.

How do I avoid sending a notification from Drive when I share access?

Go to the share screen by clicking the Share button at the top right side of your document. Add the contacts you want to share the document with. Uncheck the “Notify people” box underneath the text box.

How do I set up my document to have all changes made in suggesting mode?

Go to the top right of your Google Doc. Just under the Comments and Share buttons, you will see  a pencil icon next to the word “Editing”. Click on the drop down arrow and it will bring up options  - “Editing”, “Suggesting” and “Viewing.” Select Suggesting if you want edits to become suggestions in your Doc, select Editing if you want edits to be directly inserted into your Doc, or select Viewing if you want users to read or print the final version of your Doc only.

Can many people edit the same document at the same time?

Yes, collaboration is one of the biggest benefits of Going Google!  There are limits to the number of people with whom you can share files, folders, and Docs editors (Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Drawings), as well as how many people can work together at the same time on a file:

• • Only 50 people can edit or comment on a document, spreadsheet, presentation, or drawing at the same time. Additional users will still be able to view the item, but they won't be able to edit it, and they won't be visible to others working on the item.

  • A single file, folder, or Google file can only be shared with 200 email addresses including viewers, commenters, and editors (doesn't apply to public items). If your needs exceed these limits, consider the following:

    • When possible, choose one of the public visibility options.

    • Share the document or file with a mailing list rather than individuals.

If you share a folder with a large number of people, you may notice a delay while permissions changes are applied to each item inside.

Can a document editor/collaborator delete my document?

No, only the document owner can delete a document.  If you delete a document that you do not own, it will simply be removed from your view.

What happens if I delete a document that is shared with others?

You will be asked if you want to delete the document for everyone or just for yourself.  In the latter case, you'll be asked to assign a new document owner.

Can I share a document with someone who does not use Google Docs?

Yes, you can share documents with anyone.  The person you share with will receive an email with a link to the document.  When they click the link, they will be prompted to create a password for their "Google Docs" account, which will give them access to any Google Docs shared with them.

Can I import documents from Word, Excel and Powerpoint?

Yes, you can import documents from those applications.  However, you will likely need to adjust how the document looks due to some features not being available in Google Docs.  If you need to retain the formatting then you should use the Google Office Cloud Sync tool to edit your document in Microsoft Office but still share/store the document in Google Docs.

Spreadsheets

How can I create cells that are colored based upon values?

Use the "conditional formatting" option under "Format".  You can create rules for what color of text and background cell color you want based upon the value in the cell itself.

How can I create cells that only allow users to enter specific values?

Use the "validation" feature under "Data" to provide users with a list of choices for the cell and then uncheck "allow invalid data".

How can I copy the "validation" or "formatting" rules from one cell to another?

Use the "Paint Format" tool in the toolbar.  Simply click the cell you want to copy and then click the Paint roller icon.  Then select the cells you want to apply the formatting to.

Can I be notified if any changes are made to the spreadsheet?

Yes, you can set up notifications that can notify you immediately if something is changed, or you can opt for a summary email once a day that contains all the changes made to the spreadsheet that day. You can even specify to be notified only if something changes on a certain sheet, a range of pre-determined cells, whether editors or collaborators were added or removed and if someone submits a new form. These notification settings are found under the Tools menu.

Docs

Can I create additional "styles" for my document?

At this time Google only permits the use of the pre-defined styles.

How can I create a table of contents?

A table of contents can be automatically built if you use the "Styles" to define your sections.  Then, simply go to the top of the document and "Insert" a "Table of Contents" and the section will be built automatically.

How can I create "jump" points to various parts of the document?

You can create "bookmark" locations in the document and then use "Insert Link" and refer back to a previously created bookmark to take your user to the designated location.

Presentations

What type of video content can I add to a presentation?

Currently you can only insert YouTube videos in presentations.  There is an option to search YouTube for your video or you can paste in a specific URL to a video.

Can I incrementally reveal bullets on a single page?

Yes. This is done by right clicking the border of the text area you want to reveal incrementally, and selecting Incremental reveal.

How do I add and view speaker notes?

To display or add these notes below each slide in the new version of Google presentations, go to the View menu, and select Show speaker notes. Any presentation collaborator with view access to the presentation will be able to view these notes. Any presentation collaborator with edit access to the presentation will be able to view and edit these notes.

Can I customize slide transitions?

Yes. You can make moving from one slide to the next a little more interesting with transitions. You can add or modify slide transitions in the Animations pane. To enable the Animations pane:

- Go to the Slide menu and select Change transition.

- Go to the View menu and select Animations.

- Go to the Insert menu and select Animations.

The Animations pane is split into two levels. At the top, you’ll see transition options. Use the drop-down menu to select a slide transition for the selected slide. Choose the option below the drop-down menu to apply this transition to all slides in the presentation. At the bottom, you can apply animations to text and objects.

GOOGLE GROUPS

What's the difference between a user-managed group and an admin managed group?

Admin controlled groups can only be created by the domain administrator. User groups are enabled by the domain administrator when they enable Google Groups for Business. These groups allow users to create new groups, manage memberships, moderate posts, and modify group permissions.

How are these different than a group in My Contacts?

The groups created in My Contacts are not shared across your domain and can only be seen by you. As a result, no one else will be able to send to groups that you create under My Contacts.

How many groups can I be a member of?

There is no limit the the number of members a group may have or the number of groups a member may join.

Can I create a Group?

When you open the Group application, you may see a red button that says CREATE GROUP.  If you see this button, you can create Groups in your organization.

Where do I view all the Groups in my organization?

To view all Groups shared with everyone in the organization, go to your Groups application and click the Browse all option.  Some Groups are not shared with everyone, and are hidden from the Groups directory.

How do I join a Group?

There are many ways to join a Group.  If you go to the Group discussion board, it may only allow you to contact the owner of the Group.  You can write the Group owner an email requesting to join.  Other Groups will have a Join button on the discussion board.  Click the button and you will be a new member.

Why don't I see the Group when I am composing a message?

Group addresses take 24 hours before they are accessible in the type-ahead field when composing a message.  Also, the Group must be shared in the Groups directory for it to work in the type-ahead fields.

What Groups am I a member of?

To view all Groups that you are a member of, go to your Groups application and click the My groups option.  Here you will see a list of Groups, that you are the owner, manager or member of.  

Can I remove myself from a Group?

Yes, go to the Group application and click on the My groups option.  Select the Group you want to leave.  On the discussion board, click the My settings button in the upper right hand corner.  From the menu, select the Leave this group option.

I am part of a Group that receives a lot of email that I don't read.  Can I change what email I receive from Groups?

Go to My groups and click the Edit memberships button beside each Group.  From here, you can change the delivery settings for all the Groups you are a member of.  Some members select the No email option and visit the discussion board to review the posts.

I created a new Group and shared it in the Groups directory.  Why can't I see it?

Groups do not show up in the directory or in the type-ahead field in Gmail for 24 hours from the time they were created.

How do I create a Group in a different domain?

Currently, users can only create Groups for the primary domain.  If you need to create a Group for a different domain, you need to make a request with the IT Dept.