TECH treats
2018 MONTHLY TREATS
TECH TREATS TIP: You can hide Labels so that they don't appear in your Label List but they're not deleted. This can be done by clicking the down arrow next to the Label and selecting Hide in Label List. You can also do this by clicking on Settings and Labels. This would be a great way to organize in the new year. You could remove Labels from a previous year so that they don't clog up your Label List but you would still have them for reference.
FEBRUARY 2018
You're going to LOVE this easy way in GOOGLE CHROME to create a DESKTOP SHORTCUT for a WEBPAGE!
TECH TREATS TIP: After you create the Desktop Shortcut, click on the name and you can rename it something short and easy. The Shortcut icons might look different for websites but everything in Google will have the Google Chrome icon. This is why it's important to give it a short and easy name that's quickly identifiable, since all of the Google Shortcut icons will look the same.
TECH TREATS TIP: You could take a photo or a screenshot of any text, put it in Google Keep, and Grab the Image Text so that you have editable text. You can also access your Google Keep Notes in Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Drawings. All you have to do is click on Tools and Keep notepad, then click and drag anything in your Google Keep Notes over to Docs, Slides, and Drawings.
TECH TREATS TIP: Be sure to select some data before you click on Explore. You can type a question or choose from the questions listed. In my example, Google Explore created a pivot table in response to my question. If a formula is used to create an answer, you can click on "See Formula" and it will show the formula that was used. This is a great way to learn the formulas. Explore is also available in Google Docs and Google Slides. Wait until you see what you can do with Explore in Docs and Slides!
MAY 2018
Make life ROSY for others and CHANGE OWNERSHIP of your shared GOOGLE DOCS before you leave a campus or a district.
TECH TREATS TIP: Whether you're changing campuses or changing careers, you'll still want people to have access to the documents that you've shared with them when you leave. Instead of making them copy everything you've ever shared with them, you can Change Ownership of your shared Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawings, and Sites. If you have a lot of documents, save time by putting everything in a folder and Change Ownership of the folder. Everything in the folder will be changed over to the new owner.
TECH TREATS TIP: You can create a custom Text Rotation when you click on the Orientation button and select Format Cell Alignment. Adjust the dial or enter a number of degrees for a rotation that isn't one of the standard ones offered. Also, Text Rotation can be done on any cells, not just the column header cells, which is more common.
JULy 2018
AUDIENCE Q & A in GOOGLE SLIDES can take the HEAT off answering questions when presenting.
TECH TREATS TIP: When you no longer want to show a question to the audience, you can click on Present for another question or simply click on Hide for the current question. Also, instead of showing the questions to the audience, you can just view the questions and answer them while presenting. Audience Q & A can be turned off any time by clicking the ON button and switching to OFF.
TECH TREATS TIP: When you open Calendar from Gmail, you can see items on your calendar and create appointments. Also, when you open Keep from Gmail, if you have an email open and take a note, the Keep note will be linked to the email. (If you aren't using Keep right now, you should start! There's much more you can do with Keep and it all works with Google and on your phone!) Finally, when you open Tasks from Gmail, you can add Tasks and check off Tasks that you've completed.
SEPTEMBER 2018
It's as EASY AS ABC to create checklists using INSERT CHECKBOX, a new feature in GOOGLE SHEETS!
TECH TREATS TIP: The Fill Handle, which was used in the example to fill down, can also be used to fill across in a Google Sheet. Also, you can calculate formulas based on whether or not a checkbox is blank or checked. When a checkbox is blank, it shows a FALSE value in the formula bar. When a checkbox is checked, it shows a TRUE value. Formulas, such as COUNTIF, will be calculated using the TRUE and FALSE values.
OCTOBER 2018
Creating a SELF-GRADING QUIZ isn't scary with GOOGLE FORMS! It's a TREAT when the QUIZ does the work for you!
TECH TREATS TIP: If your Quiz has questions that you don't want graded, such as Name, Campus, etc., don't click on Answer Key for those questions. If no correct answer is chosen and no points are assigned to a question, it won't be graded. Also, you can save a little time creating your Quiz if you use the Google Forms Blank Quiz template. It can be found when you open Google Forms from the App Launcher.
NOVEMBER 2018
So GRATEFUL to have ADD TO MY DRIVE to help organize shared documents in GOOGLE DRIVE!
TECH TREATS TIP: If you open a shared document from an email or in Shared with Me, you will see the symbol to Add to My Drive by the title of the document. It's next to the star and in place of the folder icon. When you click on this symbol, you will be able to click on Organize and move the document to a folder in your Drive. Whichever way you use Add to My Drive, it's best to do it right away because you don't want to have to search for the email or search Shared with Me whenever you want access to a shared document.
TECH TREATS TIP: You can also select Pixels instead of Inches, when changing the Page Setup. Using the Pixels setting makes it so easy to create headers for websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, or for Google Forms, Google Classroom, etc. Don't forget to save whatever you create as a PDF or as a Picture. All you have to do is click on File, then Download As, and select PDF, JPG, or PNG.