| Big reminder for this week: From 30 Sep 20 (that’s tomorrow!), access to Advanced Google Meet features will change. Check out the Access to Advanced Google Meet features support article for full details. This week we’re all about ‘how-to’ guides and resources for End Users, so let’s jump straight in! |
End Users
| Google appears to be slowly rolling out the ability to add Tasks from the Google Calendar mobile app which is fantastic news. When you click on the + button in the bottom right, you’ll see the ability to add a Task as well as Event or Reminder. No more worrying about where your tasks have gone or using a separate app to manage them! Last week I mentioned I’d be playing around with an option to take control of Gmail’s tabs based on an article I’d read. Well I tried it for a couple of days and didn’t like it. I like seeing all my emails in the one inbox, especially on my mobile, so I’ve gone back to the original set up. Ever experiences issues connecting to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides? This troubleshooting article outlines some steps to determine if the problem is an outage or a different known issue. Worth bookmarking for the next time you have an issue perhaps 🙂 Rolled over to iOS14? Google’s provided a handy support article on how to make Gmail your default email app. Want to open a new Google Doc, Google Sheet, or new Google Keep note? In this episode of The Suite Life, Laura Mae Martin shows you how to open new files in one easy step. (Spoiler alert – the tip is in the name!) Time blocking is a popular productivity tool for many people and if you’d like to use it with Google Calendar this 11min video shows you exactly how to set it up. (If you’re interested in a more flexible way of working check out my book “Master your To-Do list” on either Amazon or Google Play). Running workshops over Google Meet and looking for a way to create ‘break-out areas’ for discussions? This article How to create Google Meet breakout rooms for differentiated learning is aimed at teachers but it would be very simple to adapt it to a more business orientated focus. Do you use Google Forms? They’re probably more commonly used by the education industry but personally I love them, especially for surveys. How to reuse a Google Form gives you four ways to (funnily enough) reuse a Google Form! 4 powerful Google Docs time-savers you haven’t tried (yet) – I love the Explore functionality in Google Docs. This article goes into how to use that as well as dictating; editing images and getting feedback on a document. All very powerful ways to use Google Docs. I’d love to hear if you’ve used them, or if you have other tips on Google Docs features that save you time. This 10 min video shows you seven tips for displaying your Google Calendar including adding a time zone view to the calendar and multiple keyboard shortcuts (which are always so handy). |
Unusual Items
| This website looks interesting – it’s from Google Experiments and it’s called ‘Hack to Help‘. The intro states “Our communities are facing all types of challenges with the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. In the midst of all of it, we’ve been inspired by the small hacks people are making to help in any way they can. So we’ve created this page as a resource for others who might want to help – whether that means creating something, contributing to others’ efforts, or simply volunteering your time to those in need.” There’s only five hacks for small businesses at the moment but quite a few other interesting ones for individuals and if you’re a coder you can submit your own hack via the website as well |