FWP Tech Tips

FWP Tech Tips

FWP Tech  //  

 
Sep 3 / 5:52am

Tech Tips: New Priority inbox

by FWP Tech

When you logged into your email you may have noticed a bright red link in the upper right called "New! Priority Inbox". This is new feature released by Google to help you organize your email by importance. 

Here is Google's Overview:

Priority Inbox can help save you time if you’re overwhelmed with the amount of email you get. It attempts to automatically identify your important incoming messages and separates them out from everything else. Gmail uses a variety of signals to prioritize your incoming messages, including who you emailed most frequently and which messages you’ve recently opened as opposed to which messages you’ve deleted.

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If you are interested, click on the link and give it a try. You can always turn it off in under "settings" later. Otherwise you can disregard the link or click on it on it and say "No Thanks".

Filed under  //  email   google  

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Apr 20 / 7:28pm

Tech Tips: Drag and Drop Email Attachments

by FWP Tech
One feature that was left behind with Entourage/Outlook was the ability to simply drag a file into the body of an email message to add it as an attachment. 

While composing a new message, click and hold a file from your desktop and drag into the browser window, a message now appears stating, "Drop Files Here":


Repeat this for each attachment. 

Please note: currently this only works in Firefox and Google Chrome, Safari is not supported at the moment.

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Apr 15 / 8:09am

Tech Tips: New Google Docs Features

by FWP Tech
For those of you using Google Docs, I just wanted to let you know about a few new features that rolled out this week:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_hJ3R8jEZM&feature=player_embedded

Improved Document Editor
- real-time editing with collaborators
- sidebar chat, so you can discuss documents as you work on them with colleagues
- new technical foundation also helped us improve document formatting, which means better import/export fidelity, a revamped comment system, real margins and tab stops, and improved image layout within documents

Faster Spreadsheet Editor
- significant speed and performance improvements -- spreadsheets load faster, are more responsive and scroll more seamlessly
- a host of often requested features, like a formula bar for cell editing, auto-complete, drag and drop columns, and simpler navigation between sheets

New Drawing Editor
- new standalone drawings editor lets you collaborate in real time on flow charts, designs, diagrams and other fun or business graphics
- Copy these drawings into documents, spreadsheets and presentations using the web clipboard, or share and publish drawings just like other Google Docs

To access these new features, click “New version” at the top of any spreadsheet or go to the ‘Document Settings’ page and select ‘New version of Google documents.’

Filed under  //  google  

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Mar 30 / 12:26pm

Tech Tips: New Google Apps Software

by FWP Tech
For those if you interested in creating/editing images and audio files, I wanted to announce a new online software suite called Aviary that we are now able to access through our Google accounts. 

To take a look simply click on the "more" link at the top of your email page:

From this menu select "Aviary".  From here you can create, edit and share image and audio files. Also with the direct link to your Google account, any files you create are automatically saved in your Google Docs account and accessible from anywhere. 

If this sounds interesting take a look through the site when you have a some free time. Here is also a quick video overview.

Filed under  //  google  

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Mar 24 / 5:26pm

Tech Tips: The End of Appleworks

by FWP Tech
This message is for all of the school's Appleworks users.

As you probably know, Appleworks is one of the oldest pieces of software still in use at the school. Apple officially ended support of the product in 2007 and has not released any sort of software update since 2004. We have been lucky the past few years that the software has continued to work with each new version of the Mac operating system. Unfortunately it looks like that luck has just run out. 

Through our testing of new software that will be implemented this summer, it has come to our attention that Appleworks will not work with version 10.6 of the Mac operating system that we will be upgrading to for the next school year. 

I wanted to send this note out early enough so that we can assist anyone who might need help transitioning your documents away from Appleworks. We are happy to plan a time with anyone interested in a few Appleworks alternatives, including Microsoft Word, Pages or Google Docs. 

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Jan 19 / 7:56pm

Tech Tips: "Syncing" your Mac Account

by FWP Tech
This is a Tech Tip for all the Mac users. 

As I am sure you have noticed throughout the year, a sync occurs each time you log in and out of your computer. During this process, all of your data is copied back and forth between our servers and the computer you are using. This process is in place to make a copy of all of your data in the case of a computer failure, and also to allow you to log into any Mac in the building and have your data follow you. We understand that this can be a bit time consuming but here are a few tips to help speed up the process:

  • Log into the same computer if possible - if you have multiple computers in your room or if you use the labs on a regular basis, try to log into the same computers.
  • Only log into one computer at a time - if you travel between multiple computers, please log out of one before logging into another. We realize that this can take some time, but it keeps the newest versions of your files accessible on whichever computer you are using.
  • Let the syncing process finish - it is tempting to simply stop the syncing process to speed things up, but if you do this there will be no backup of your files. Please be patient if at all possible. If you feel like it is taking an inordinate amount of time, please contact us and we cna take a look at your account. 
  • Reduce the amount of data in your account - the more data you have in your account, the longer it is going t take to log in and out of machines. We know that this can take time to go through and organize your files, but it will definitely help i the long run. We are more than willing to help you organize and archive any of your data. 
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. This system is in place to safeguard your data and we are continually working on finding the balance between data security and ease of use. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Filed under  //  mac  

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Jan 5 / 7:15pm

Tech Tips: Fair Use and Copyright

by FWP Tech
Over the years I am have gotten may questions concerning fair use and copyright issues in the classrooms and each time i have been unable to provide an answer that I can fully comfortable with. Now with our ever increasing use of technology and internet-based content, this issue is more important than ever.

With that in mind I wanted to forward along a link to a great blog post concerning fair use:

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/01/six-resources-for-learning-about-fair.html

If you have a few minutes, take look through some the videos on this site. I guarantee you will learn something.

Filed under  //  internet  

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Dec 2 / 7:29pm

Tech Tips: Accessing the Blue Bulletin

by FWP Tech
The question of how to access the Blue Bulletin was posed again today so I figured this was something that the entire community may be interested in. With our new email system, the Blue Bulletin is available directly through your personal calendar. To access:

  • Once your calendar has opened, enter "blue@fwparker.org" to the "Add a coworkers calendar" section on the left side and hit return

  • the Blue Bulletin should now appear in your list of calendars

You may notice that the Blue Bulletin has a ton of information and you may not want it in the way every time you look at your calendar. To hide the Blue Bulletin from view simply click on the highlighted "Blue Bulletin" to unhighlight (not sure if that is a word), and the calendar will disappear from view. Now you toggle the Blue Bulletin off and on when needed.

Filed under  //  calendar   google  

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Nov 23 / 8:06pm

Tech Tips: K12 Online Conference

by FWP Tech
I just wanted to let everyone know about the K12 Online Conference that begins next week. For those that are not familiar, the K12 Online Conference...

"...is a FREE conference open to ANYONE by educators for educators around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice. A goal of the conference is to help educators make sense of and meet the needs of a continually changing learning landscape."

When a moment free, click on the link up above and take a look around the site. This is a great resource to learn about new technologies or new uses for tools you are already familiar with. The site also contains links to presentations given over the past few years.

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Nov 12 / 8:34am

Tech Tips: Using the Library's ProQuest System

by FWP Tech
I just wanted to forward along a link to a video created by Marty Moran in the History Department on how to do some basic searches using ProQuest:

Filed under  //  library  

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