HTPS - Kids - Tech Tips & Tricks

Tech Tips & Tricks

To email the Tech Hub if you have a tech issue or question, click here: arstechhub@htps.us. ---Make sure you give DETAILS of the problem, I can't help if you are not clear with your Tech Issue--- and give your name and Student ID# if you know it. Let the Hub know what things you've tried to fix it yourself. CLICK HERE for Tips & Tricks to give it a try!

TROUBLE WITH GOOGLE MEETS? CLICK HERE for Troubleshooting Tips with Meets

CHANGING YOUR SCHOOL PASSWORD -

Changing your school password has important steps. You can try this yourself, or you can always go to the Tech Hub for assistance with the process if you can't remember your password. You DO need your old password to reset to new.

Part 1 - Changing the Password

Go to helpdesk.htps.us
Sign in with your username and password
Click the "Change Password" tab at the top
Enter your original password

5. Type the new password twice following the requirements listed. Each red X must turn to a green checkmark

6. Click "Change Password" button to finish.

Click here for Video tutorial on how to change your password.

CLEAR THE CACHE - You may not be able to open some videos or websites, your device is slow. and dragging. It's time to clear the cache to clean out junk that is probably getting in the way of normal operations. This should be done a few times a month.

On your Chromebook, open Chrome.
At the top-right, click 3 dots.
Click More tools > Clear browsing data.
At the top, select All time.
Next to 'Cookies and other site data' and 'Cached images and files', tick the boxes.
Click Clear data.

Some issues are not resolved by clearing the cache and cookies and you must reset Google Chrome. See directions below.

RESET GOOGLE CHROME - Restore your settings to the original defaults. Click here for Tech@Home Directions.

OR TRY THESE 3 STEPS!

STEP 1

At the top-right of the page, click the three dots and then choose ”Settings.”

STEP 2

On the left side of the Settings page, click the down-arrow next to ”Advanced,” and then choose ”Reset and Clean Up.”

STEP 3

In the box, choose ”Reset settings to their original defaults.” You will then receive a confirmation box, letting you know what will and won’t be changed or removed.

POWERWASH - A factory reset erases all the information on your hard drive, including items in your Downloads folder. Before completing these directions, check your downloads and camera folders for any files that you wish to keep. If you want to save them, please move them to your Google Drive so they are safely stored in the cloud. Click here for Tech@Home Directions, or this file in Drive.

BATTERY ISSUE - Device not turning on, not charging, or losing charge rapidly.

It could be hardware, and we'll have to take it in, but it can also just be the battery needs a jumpstart.
Hold the power button down until it turns ALL THE WAY off. Count to 10, then turn on again. It’s good to have it plugged in while you are turning it back on. This may jumpstart the device.
If that didn't work, make sure the wall outlet works. Test it with a lamp. Have your parents help.
You can try charging on the other side (there is a port on the right and left) maybe one side isn't working?
It could be a problem with the actual battery charger. Make sure there is no damage to it. Test a siblings' charger if you have one.
Powerwash - sometimes, factory reset will snap the battery into working. See directions above or click here.

CHECKING/UPDATING CHROME VERSION - Some difficulties happen because your chrome version is not up to date. It's important to always check the version and make sure it's updated.

1. In the lower right corner of your screen, click to open the Settings window.
2. Select the “Settings” icon (the gear in the upper row of the pop-up window).
3. Find “About Chrome OS” on the bottom of the left-hand menu, select it.
4. Your version number will be just below the Google Chrome OS title on top of the window. A button on the right of that number will let you check for any new updates, or install any updates that have been recently downloaded, but not yet installed.
5. If a download is required, click…a notice will appear to restart to update.

PROBLEMS LOGGING ONTO GENESIS - You may be shut out of Genesis or your login isn't working

Try a restart first to ensure your device is fresh. Shut down, count to 10, restart your device and try again.
Make sure you go to students.htps.us
Username is your FULL email address "yourID@htps.us"
Password is your daily password when you log in. TYPE SLOWLY and make sure you capitalize if needed (case sensitive)
If you try too many times unsuccessfully, you may be locked out. Email the tech hub if that happens (arstechhub@htps.us) or have your parents email Parent Portal Help Information: parentsupport@htps.us
If you didn’t sign all the documents, you may not be able to get far. IF that’s the case, go to the Documents tab and see the list that have not been signed. (AUP, Device Usage, Media Release, Student Handbook). You also may have unpaid fees. Check the error messages for details.

HOW TO DO A SPLIT SCREEN
As suggested by a student VK

See video at the bottom of this page for more...as well as expand the window to the right.

1. Open your first app and click the window size reducer button in the top-right corner of the window.

Click on the window resizing button in the upper right corner.

2. Drag the window to either side of the screen — you'll see a vertical line pop-up in the center of the screen, at which point you should release the window so it can automatically fit into that half of the screen.

Drag the window to one side of the screen.

3. Open your second app and click the window size-reducer button in the top-right corner.

4. Drag the window into the other side of the screen and release when you see that side of the screen gray out.

Drag your other window to the other side of the screen.

You can always go back to the typical window configuration by clicking the window-expand button in the top-right corner of either app window.

How to go split.pdf

MIC/CAMERA NOT WORKING ON MEET OR DEVICE - Some tips to check that your set up is correct or working during a Google Meet.

Camera/Mic Blocked - If there is a camera icon in the top URL section, there is an error or a choice to be made. Click to open new window.
Make some choices to allow or unblock. Choose Done.
When in a Meet, Click on the 3 dots to open options
Click on Settings to open up options for Audio/Video.
Make some choices under the options to ensure that you have the correct Microphone, speaker, camera. Do the tests until you find what works.

MORE CHECKS FOR SOUND/CAMERA - Meet or Not on Meet

Make sure you are NOT on mute (red mic bottom of Meet window).
Make sure your devices’ audio is NOT turned down/off (Settings window, lower right, look for speakers icon, check volume).
Refresh your window – circle arrow at the top left next to the home icon.
Restart the Meet – log out of the meet, and reopen the link
Restart your device – you’ll lose the meets and your open tabs, so use this as last resort.
Check your settings for the Camera - sometimes it's turned off. Open the camera app and see if it's lit, or try to record a video. See if you can toggle the camera to the screen (not keyboard).

MEET IS DROPPING OR STALLING - We know that students are having issues with Meets because there are too many tabs open. Close unused tabs that aren't needed (no YouTube videos or games open in the background) to decrease the processing pull, then refresh the device.

TIPS:

CTRL D - Turn on and off the Microphone
CTRL E - Turn on and off the Camera
Restarting the device and Clearing Cache is always a "Go To" when something is not working. It can jumpstart the problem and put everything back into place. When in doubt, try those options.

CONFIGURING HEADPHONES WITH NO MIC - When Mic isn't working correctly. Click here for Tech@Home Directions

GENESIS ATTENDANCE REPORTING - Student/Parent reporting Daily Attendance and Absence

To report yourself present or absent for the day.

1. Log into the Genesis Portal. STUDENT: students.htps.us or PARENT: parents.htps.us

2. On the Student Data > Summary tab, click on the Notify Attendance Office button.

3. The Notify Attendance Office screen will open. Select the appropriate attendance for the current day. Please note that you may only report as Present for the current calendar date. You may not report a student Present for future dates.

4. If the note is being submitted from a Parent Portal account, all students associated with the account can be reported present at one time. Select all applicable students.

5. Click Submit to Office to report the attendance.

Once the note is processed by the Attendance Office, the update will be visible in the bottom section of the Notify Attendance Office screen under the Submitted Notifications

KEYBOARD NOT WORKING, SHORTCUTS & TIPS - Check out this page of tips! Want EVEN MORE shortcuts? Go to Settings. Then scroll down until you see the keyboard menu. Then click keyboard, then click view keyboard shortcuts.

TOO MANY OPENED TABS? ORGANIZE BY TAB GROUPING
Thank you to Abbigale M for the suggestion and demo video

When you have a tab open, right click on it and click Add tab to new group.
Select the name and color of your tab group.
When you open new tabs, right click on them, and click Add to group, and select the group you'd like to add them to. The tabs in that group will be underlined with the color you chose.
After that, move them around within each group as you like.

chrome-tab-groups-in-line-image-v7.mp4

SET UP TO PRINT ON CHROMEBOOK FROM HOME

If you have a printer at home that is designed for Cloud Printing, you might have success using directions found here: Setup to Print from Home

If the directions do not work, the printer you have at home is likely not set for cloud printing. We do not have any more information regarding your personal printer.

PRINTING ON CHROMEBOOK FROM SCHOOL - HTPS UniFLOW

The Google Cloud Print service is being discontinued and will be unavailable as of January 1, 2021.

For us, this means that the printer on our network named "HTPS Cloud Print" will no longer be available. Therefore, anyone on a Chromebook will be able to print to a new printer named "HTPS uniFLOW". This applies to all students and a few staff who use Chromebooks.

If this new printer is not listed you may need to click "See more..." from the list of destinations the first time you use it.

This new printer "HTPS uniFLOW" will only work from a Chromebook, and will not accept print jobs when not connected to the HTPS network.

Additionally Google is removing the “Save to Drive” feature that used to be present in Chrome. If you used this feature you can simply choose to Save PDF and have it saved into your local Google Drive folder.

Additional Details (Including a change to the "Save to Drive" function) can be found here.

If you have any questions please reach out me from here (arstechhub@htps.us)

Find HTPS Uniflow under "SEE MORE"

DOCS NOT UNDERLINING MISSPELLED WORDS

The first thing you need to do is have a Document open and click on ”Tools” and then ”Spelling and Grammar.” Be sure there are checkmarks next to all three options

If these are checked, the next thing to do is figure out whether you are trying to spell check a new Doc you created, or if it is one you copied and pasted something into. Sometimes, the formatting from another page or document can mess with the settings in your Google Docs. In this case, I suggest you start a new Doc and then re-copy and paste the material using ”CTRL,” ”SHIFT” and the letter ”V.” This will paste the original material into your new Google Doc without the original formatting or code, and allow all of your settings – including Spell Check – to work properly.

HOW TO CONNECT YOUR BLUETOOTH DEVICE

Syncing devices with Bluetooth is a simple process, just make sure that your Bluetooth device is turned on so that your Chromebook will be able to locate and connect with it:

1. Select the time in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

2. Tap "Bluetooth."

Turn on Bluetooth.

3. If necessary, toggle it on — once on, it should automatically begin scanning for Bluetooth devices to pair with your Chromebook.

Your Chromebook should search for Bluetooth devices nearby.

4. Select whichever accessory you want to sync with.

If you aren't sure if you successfully paired the device with your Chromebook, select "Paired Devices" from the menu depicted above and look for that device.

If you're having issues with your Bluetooth, try turning the feature — or your computer — off and back on, or check if to see if you need to update your Chromebook’s OS.