Recovering the Lost "Tab"
I am a huge fan of keyboard shortcuts, so here's one I thought might be useful to know.
Have you ever accidentally closed a website? Who hasn't! You can easily reopen the most recently closed tab by holding down CTRL then Shift and then T.
The cool thing is that you could keep clicking if you want to go back even beyond the first website you lost. If you repeat the shortcut, it will reopen other tabs you recently closed in the order you last used and closed them. It's a magical journey through your web browsing history! Check it out.
Reset Your Zoom
Have you ever been zoomed in or zoomed out so much to look at something, but then want to quickly reset your zoom to go back to normal? All you have to do is press Ctrl + 0 on your keyboard to go back to 100% Zoom!
Easily Switch Between Screens
As teachers, we always have too many screens open. If you want to quickly get to where you want to be without having to click around, hold down Alt + Tab to find the screen you want to use! Keep click Alt + Tab until the screen you want is highlighted.
Screenshots Made Easier
We live in a world where screenshots are necessary. For some of you, you're going to say you know the "Snipping Tool" already; you know the power of clicking Windows + Shift + S. If you don't, try doing that now--it's a way to take a screenshot that's more targeted so you can select only part of the screen you want to copy or save. People often use the Snipping Tool to capture a screenshot of any object on their screen, and then annotate, save, or share the image.
But what if I told you that you can change your "Snipping Tool" so that all you have to do is click one button instead of the awkward combination of the three?
In this video, I show you how to use the snipping tool (for those of you who are unfamiliar) but more importantly, I show you how to change your settings so that you can for now on just click one button and have seamless, simple screenshots.
P.S: If you want to leave the "prt scr" button alone, that's fine, too. The Print Screen button will take an entire picture of your desktop whereas the "Snipping Tool" allows you to take only what you need, which is why I think it's valuable to change the setting.
File Extension ".new"
This week's tech tip is useful for everyone; it's all about saving you time when you're creating a new document, presentation, spreadsheet, PDF, etc by using what's called a file extension.
Just as you would go to google.com, you can type in ".new" for many files you use on a daily basis in your web browser and have it automatically populate. It's less clicking and more creating. It's an easy to remember shortcut for just about every application you use on the web and on your computer.
Try typing these into Chrome browser (just as you would type in a website address) and your mind will be blown:
docs.new
slides.new
sheets.new
canva.new
create.new
kahoot.new
PDF.new
It'll even open up Microsoft applications for those of you who don't use Google Suite tools...
word.new
excel.new
pptx.new
Click here to look for the full Google registry of what you can use the ".new" as a command.
Enjoy your week and try something .new!
Find Keywords Quickly
Have you ever spent longer than you care to admit trying to find a certain page or bit of information on a webpage, pdf, doc, etc?
Well you can save time by typing Ctrl + F! After you do that, just type in whatever you are looking for (page #, student name, etc) in the pop up box that comes up.
It will then tell you how many times whatever you searched comes up on the page and you can either click the arrows or press enter to be taken to all the different instances!
Quit Endless Scrolling (Copy Link to Highlight)
Have you ever sent someone a website/article that was super long, but you wanted them to maybe just read a particular paragraph? You can send someone directly to a specific section on a website directly by using "Copy Link to Highlight". It will highlight the text you want so it's obvious what information you want to share.
In my one-minute video, I show an example of wanting to direct students to a specific scene of a play without having them scroll endlessly.
How To Copy Link To Highlight: On a PC, highlight the section you want students to read within a text, right-click and select “copy link to highlight.” On a Mac, click your trackpad and the Ctrl button on your keyboard at the same time then select “copy link to highlight.”
This generates a URL ending in a # symbol, which you can then share with others by emailing, posting on Google Classroom, sending on Lightspeed, etc. Readers are taken directly to the highlighted portion upon visiting the new URL.
Screenshots That Automatically Save To Your Computer
Do you ever want to save screenshots as files and upload them, but don't want to be bothered with saving them manually each time? Here's what you should try!
Press the Print Screen key + Windows key. Your screenshot is now saved in a folder named Screenshots, inside of your Pictures folder.
Windows Shortcuts (Instant Show/Hide, Instant Lock, Instant Side-By-Side)
Windows Key + D – Helps you hide or show the desktop at once despite how many tabs and windows are opened on your desktop. You just click Windows + D again to reverse it.
Windows Key + L – Locks your computer in a second (which means it'll log you out). This comes in handy if you’re working on something confidential.
Windows Key + Left/Right Arrow – Allows you to select and work on two windows side by side. This is good for multi-tasking and splitting your screen quickly.
