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Tech Tips List
- Attaching an
Autosignature to your outgoing email
If you would like to add an autosignature to all of your
email (like the one I have below) follow these simple steps:
-Open Outlook
-Choose "Tools"
-Then "Options"
-Select the "Mail Format" tab at the top of the window.
-Click the "Signatures" button at the bottom
-Choose "New"
-Type a name for the autosignature (you can have more than one - i.e. formal
vs. informal), then click "Next"
-Type in the autosignature that you want to show up in your email
-Then click "Finish", then click "OK" and then click "OK" again.
You might want to send yourself an email as a practice run to see if it shows
up and looks the way you want it to. You can always go back in and edit it.
- Changing
the homepage in Internet Explorer
When you open Internet Explorer, do you have
a web page coming up first that you wish you could change? Here's how you do
it:
-Open Internet Explorer .
-Navigate to the page you want to use as your home page
-Choose "Tools" from the menu bar .
-Then select " Internet Options "
-You will see a box that is labeled " Home page "
-In that box, click the button that says " Use Current. "
-That will set the page you are currently on to be your home page.
-Just click " OK " and you are done.
Now the only thing you'll need to remember is to click on the "Refresh" button
so that you're seeing the latest changes.
If you have a classroom webpage, you might want to have that as your homepage.
If you'd like to work on a class webpage, please let me know and I'll be happy
to help you.
- Organizing
your email with color
Ever have more email than you have time to
deal with at the moment? Wish you knew which ones to read first? There are
tricks to doing this by color coding your email. (If it's sent just to
you, then there's a real good chance somebody is waiting on you to respond. If
it's sent to lots of people, they may or may not be waiting on you for a
response.) If so, there is a way to flag those emails with color. Here's the
idea: Messages that are sent where you are the only recipient can be shown in
RED (or any color you choose) while messages that go to more than one person
are shown in BLACK. Here's how to do it:
-When you are in your Outlook Inbox, click on the "Organize" button on your
toolbar located next to Find button. It's yellow and looks like tiles falling
into place.
-When you see the menu pop down, choose the "Using Colors" link on the left
side of the menu.
-The second bullet says: Show messages sent only to me in ..." Click on the
drop down arrow and choose a color.
-Then click the "turn on" button.
-Close the Organize window by clicking on the X.
The messages sent only to you should now appear in the color you chose.
You can also mark emails from a certain sender with color as well. It works
with addresses within and outside of the state email network. Here's how:
-When you are in your Outlook Inbox, click on the "Organize" button on your
toolbar.
-When you see the menu pop down, choose the "Using Colors" link on the left
side of the menu.
-The first bullet says: Color messages from or sent to (select "from" in the
drop down box), then in the next space, type the person's name (last name,
then a comma, then a space, then their first name. Ex. Whitmer, Paula) then
select the color.
-Next, click on the "Apply color" button. You should then get a message next
to that button that says "Done!" Check your Inbox and see if it worked.
-If the person is not in your Contacts list, then you can actually type in
their email address in the spot for the name. If you've received at least one
message from them that you still have, you can select that message and it will
automatically insert their name. It works either way.
-
Setting up groups (personal distribution lists) in your email address book
This tip leads you through setting up an
email group in your contacts in Outlook. It's known as a Personal Distribution
List. This is a great way to email all your parents at once!
-In Outlook, open your address book and go to Contacts at the bottom of the
Global Address List.
-Click on the first button that looks like a Rolodex card or choose File and
New Entry.
-Highlight New Distribution List and click OK.
-Click Select Members. You will now see your address book. You can choose
anyone who is on the global list or already in your Contacts to be a member of
this group. (If you want to add new members, click Add New... and put in the
name and the email address.) Select the name and click Add.
-Name the list.
-Be sure to Save and Close. Now that group will appear in your Contacts in
bold letters to denote that it is a group and not an individual.
- Using the
Internet with a large group of students
Whether you are using a scan converter (AverKey) with
your TV, an LCD projector, or one of the large screen digital TVs in the
commons, you may want to increase the size of the screen when using the
Internet with a large group. If you push the F11 key on your keyboard,
Internet Explorer will increase to full screen and then pushing F11 again will
take it back to the normal view.
You can also help a large class see the content easier when you are using the
Internet by selecting "View" from the menu bar and then choosing "Text Size"
and then "Largest". This will increase the font size on the pages you visit.
- Formatting pictures in Word
This week's tech tip deals with how to move pictures in
Word. Sometimes when you insert clipart or other graphics in Word, it will put
the clipart on a line all by itself or move the text around and leave lots of
space around the graphic. It also keeps the clipart on one side of the
document and doesn't let you move it around in the text. To take care of this
situation, follow these steps below:
-Right click on the picture
-Go to "Format Picture"
-Select the "Layout" tab at the top of that window
-Then select "Square". Then click "OK".
What this does is it formats the picture to allow text to fit around it. So
you can move the picture throughout the document and the text will fit around
the square that the picture is in.
- Checking
your email with Webmail
Did you know that you can access your school
email from home? There are some changes in how to use it though so be sure and
read through the directions below even if you use it regularly. Here's how:
-Go to
http://webmail.fcps.net
-At the login box type your email address (i.e.
jdoe@fayette.k12.ky.us)
-Then a login window will come up.
-Here you must type your username as fayette/jdoe
-Next, type in your password. Your password is case sensitive. If it
doesn't work the first time, try doing your password in all caps.
-Then you will see a webmail screen that looks a little different from your Outlook
at school, but not a lot different.
-Here's what's new! When you
are finished reading your email, you must click on the
"Logoff" button (lower left hand corner) before closing your browser. Do
not just click on the X in the upper right hand corner to
close your internet browser.
Just a couple of things to know. If you want
to delete an email, you must check in the box next to the message and then
when you've checked all that you want, you can click on the button that has a
check mark on it. (When you hold your cursor over it, you will see "Delete
Marked Items.")
- Searching tips and tricks
from Google
Do you get
frustrated when trying to search for something on the Internet? Do you get
hundreds or thousands of hits when you do a search? If so, then maybe learning
how to search more effectively is in order. Here are some common tips and
tricks from Google's website to use that should help narrow your searches.
These tips and tricks are all available at
http://www.google.com/help/basics.html
-Choose keywords wisely: Try the obvious first (Picasso vs. painter); use
words likely to appear on the site you're looking for ("Luxury hotel dubuque"
gets better results than "really nice places to spend the night in Dubuque");
and be specific ("Antique lead soldiers" gets more relevant results than "old
metal toys").
-Automatic "and" Queries: By default, Google only returns pages that include
all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms.
Keep in mind that the order in which the terms are typed will affect the
search results. To restrict a search further, just include more terms. For
example, to plan a vacation to Hawaii, simply type: vacation hawaii
-Automatic Exclusion of Common Words: Google ignores common words and
characters such as "where" and "how", as well as certain single digits and
single letters, because they tend to slow down your search without improving
the results. If a common word is essential to getting the results you want,
you can include it by putting a "+" sign in front of it. (Be sure to include a
space before the "+" sign.) Another method for doing this is conducting a
phrase search, which simply means putting quotation marks around two or more
words. (Paula's comment: I have found this method is the easiest to use.)
Common words in a phrase search (e.g., "where are you") are included in the
search. For example, to search for Star Wars, Episode I, use: Star Wars
Episode +I or "Star Wars Episode I"
-Capitalization: Doesn't matter - Google is not case sensitive.
-Word Variations (Stemming): Google will look for stems of words as well
(dietary - diet).
-Search by Category: The Google Web Directory (located at
http://www.google.com/dirhp) is a good place to
start if you're not exactly sure which search keywords to use. For example,
searching for [ Saturn ] within the Science > Astronomy category of the Google
Web Directory returns only pages about the planet Saturn, while searching for
[ Saturn ] within the Automotive category returns only pages about Saturn
cars. Searching within a category of interest allows you to quickly narrow in
on only the most relevant pages to you.
-
Changing typing that is in ALL CAPS without having to
retype it
It happens all the time--a student types a
portfolio piece in ALL CAPS and they need to change it. There is a way to
change it without the student having to retype it. With the mouse:
1. Highlight all of the text that needs to be changed by clicking and dragging
your mouse.
2. Click on "Format" on the menu bar, then select "Change Case"
3. Select "Sentence Case".
10. Cleaning out your email so you won't get messages from the Systems
Administrator
Have you
received a message from the System Administrator telling you that your Inbox
has exceeded its size limit? If so, there are a couple of quick easy ways to
make more room.
1.
Make sure that you don't have any messages with really large attachments.
(Hint: You can sort messages by size just by clicking on the size heading in
your Inbox. If you don’t see a column heading that says “size”, then let me
know and I’ll send you directions on how to do it.)
2.
Check the Sent Items folder. Highlight and delete any items in there that you
don't need.
-You may highlight several things at once, by clicking on the first item,
holding the shift key down and then clicking on the last item. That will
highlight everything in between.
-You may highlight several things (but not everything) by holding the Ctrl key
down while you click. This allows you to leave a few items unselected.
3.
Now that you've deleted the Sent Items, you will need to empty your Deleted
Items folder before things are freed up. You can do this by Right-Clicking on
the Deleted Items folder and choosing Empty Deleted Items.
****If you
have lots of messages that you want to keep, but they are taking up too much
room, you can create personal folders for yourself that will allow you to save
messages on your hard drive so that they won't take up room on the server.
11:
Organizing your Favorites in Internet Explorer
To do so, follow the
directions below:
-
Open Internet
Explorer
-
Click
"Favorites" on the menu bar.
-
Click "Organize
Favorites".
-
Now you can
create folders for the different types of sites you have saved (i.e. Language
Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, Arts & Humanities, Practical
Living/Vocational Studies, Professional Resources, Miscellaneous, etc.) by
clicking the "Create Folder" button.
Now you have two choices about how
to get the web links into the correct folders:
-
Click and drag
the links on top of the folder until it changes colors.
-
Click on the
link once, then click on the "Move to Folder" button on the left, then click
on the appropriate folder, then click "OK".
Now whenever you want to save a
new site, click on "Favorites", then "Add to Favorites". If you do not see a
list of folders under the "Name" field, then click the "Create in" button.
Double click on the folder you want to save that link in and then click OK.
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