New Features in Google Groups

May 16, 2012 by Leave a comment

A new version of Google Groups is now available in Google Apps at Boise State. If you’d like to check it out, log in to Google Apps, then click on Groups on the Google Apps menu bar at the top of the screen.

If you’re still using the older version of Google Groups, you’ll see the following link at the top of your browser window:

Google Groups

Click Switch to the new Google Groups to activate the new features.

What’s New

The new Google Groups interface is divided into four screens:

  1. The Home screen (the first screen you see)
  2. The My groups screen (lists all of the groups for which you are a participant or administrator)
  3. The Topics screen (lists all of the topics within a group)
  4. The Topic screen (lists all of the posts for a specific topic)

The most obvious change is Google Groups now looks very similar to Google Docs (Google Drive), with navigation appearing on the left side of the page:

Clicking on My groups will present you with a list of all the groups you manage or are a member of. Accessing any of your Groups will show you all topics within a Group, as well as give you access to Group functions at the top of the screen:

If you want quick access to your favorite Groups rather than having to scroll through your entire list of Groups, click the star icon next to a Group name, and that group will appear on the left side of your screen under Favorites:

Group management, including moderating topics, controlling types of discussions, email delivery options, and web view customizations are now found by clicking on the Gear icon at upper-right, then clicking Manage group. The “Settings” menu will appear if you’re a Group owner, and you can click the Advanced tab of the Settings menu to access Group administration options:

Take a visual tour on Google’s website to learn where things have moved, and how to access Groups features.

If you’re a Group owner, read more about configuring settings and moderating discussions.

If you’re a Group participant, learn more about joining and participating in Google Groups.

Known Issues, and Changing Back to the Previous Version

Google should have let the new version of Groups bake a bit longer in the oven; if you have a need to export Group members to a CSV file, you’ll need to switch back tot the old version to do so.

Also, there is a problem with namespace conflicts with new Group names, so if you want to create a new Google Group, we recommend you revert back to the previous version of Google Groups to do so until Google resolves this issue.

To revert back to the previous version of Google Groups, click the Gear icon at upper-right and choose Revert to the old Google Groups:

Of course, you can always contact the OIT Help Desk for assistance with Google Groups. Call 426-HELP, or email helpdesk@boisestate.edu.

Filed under Google Apps, Help Desk Tagged with

SmartArt for PowerPoint

May 9, 2012 by Leave a comment

SmartArt for PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 for Windows, and 2008 and 2011 for Mac, is a feature that can be used to help make your PowerPoint presentation stand out and impress your audience. It’s a proficient way to organize and present your key ideas cleanly and smartly.

SmartArt gives you a variety of graphics to organize and represent bullet points, lists, relationships, workflow, and more. There are seven categories of SmartArt tools, each with several subsets to help you find the right way to present your ideas onscreen.

Let’s say you have a slide with three bullet points:

  • One
  • Two
  • Three

It’s the classic way to present a simple list, but maybe you’re looking for something more? Use SmartArt to spice it up and give it that extra ‘wow’ factor. Choosing the “Basic Venn SmartArt” under the “Relationship” category turns the bullets into this:

You can rearrange and edit your new SmartArt using a toolbox that pops up as soon as you choose any graphic. This toolbox allows you to rearrange your list items, and how and where those items are placed.

You can also edit individual shapes in your graphic. Many of the SmartArt graphics are made of multiple pieces such as boxes and arrows, and you have the option to rearrange them if you prefer a different sequence.

You can also edit the shapes being used in your graphic. If I wanted to replace my circles in the image above with squares or stars, I have the choice to do so:

But it doesn’t stop there. You also have options for how the shapes will look. Do you want your graphic to be transparent? Need it to shine? Or maybe you want 3-D! SmartArt gives you graphic styles to further edit your shapes and control how they appear.

For example, applying the ‘Intense’ effect gives the Venn graphic some highlights and depth:

You can also add additional reflections or shadows to both the shape and/or text using the “Effects” menu.

Change the color of your graphics under the “Colors” drop-down menu. The options that show up are colors that are part of the PowerPoint theme you are using. If you didn’t choose a theme in the beginning, or just chose plain white, your color options will be fairly basic.  You have the choice of selecting additional colors, or additional color shades:

Play around with SmartArt and figure out what works best for you. Most of all, dress up those dreary bulleted PowerPoint slides and feed your audience some visual substance to go along with your great ideas!

SmartArt isn’t just limited to PowerPoint; SmartArt features in Word and Excel can also enliven your content. More SmartArt ideas can be found online.

Filed under Help Desk, Microsoft, MS Office Tagged with , ,

Introducing Google Drive

May 1, 2012 by Leave a comment

Imagine adding Dropbox to Google Docs, throw in some Google+ and Gmail integration, and make it easy to search for and access both your Google and non-Google files from your computer, laptop, tablet and smartphone. That’s Google Drive in a nutshell.

What It Is

Google Drive is the “new” Google Docs. When Google Drive is activated for your account, “Drive” will replace “Documents” on your Google Apps menu bar:

Google Drive

With Google Drive, a software application is installed on your computer(s), creating a folder you can drag files into to sync with your Google Drive, and access those files from within Google Apps, or from your local hard drive. (Offline access only allows you to view files when you don’t have a network connection, not edit them.)

Any changes you make to your Google Drive “My Drive” folder in Google Apps will be synced with your desktop folder, and vice-versa.

You can log in to your Windows work computer during the day and access all of your updated files, log in to your Mac at home in the evening and access all of your updated files, and then crawl into bed with your Android phone and still access all of your updated files.

You can upload up to 5 gigabytes worth of files to your Google Drive account. Any Google documents (e.g., Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, Google Presentations) don’t count toward your quota, but other types of files (such as Microsoft Office, PDF, photos, video, and music) do.

Searching is easier in Google Drive than in Google Docs. You can search by owner, title, words in the text, and many other criteria. You can even search for text in PDFs.

How It Works

After Google Drive is activated, click on Drive on the Google Apps menu bar and agree to the terms of service. Download and install the software client as prompted on the screen (instructions are here).

Launch the Google Drive application on your computer and drag files and folders into your new Google Drive folder to sync with your Google Drive account online.

See the following video for improvements and changes to the Google Documents list with Google Drive:

Google Drive is similar to Google Docs, though some changes may take getting used to. Once Google Drive is activated, any files you’ve previously hidden from your Documents list will show up again.

Also, Google Docs Collections (folders) previously shared with you by others will need to be dragged to your My Drive folder in order to be synchronized.

Some people have compared Google Drive to services like Dropbox; one of the major differences is with Google Drive you can collaborate in real time. Even for documents that aren’t Google documents (like PowerPoint presentations), you can comment in real time, as well as email those files directly from within Google Drive rather than having to switch over to Gmail and attach the files.

How to Get It

Browse to drive.google.com/start. If your account is ready, you’ll see a Get Started button. If your account isn’t yet ready for Google Drive, click the Notify Me button to be alerted by email when it’s enabled (usually within a day or two).

While Android devices are enabled for Google Drive, iOS products like the iPad and iPhone still need another few weeks until their own mobile Google Drive apps are available.

Have Questions?

For assistance configuring and using Google Drive, or if you have any questions, please contact the OIT Help Desk at helpdesk@boisestate.edu, or call 426-4357.

Filed under Google Apps, Help Desk, Mobile Tagged with ,

Congratulations to Efren Velazquez!

May 1, 2012 by Leave a comment

Congratulations to Efren Velazquez for his Top Ten Scholars award!

Each year, Top Ten Scholars awards are given to ten Boise State graduating seniors for exceptional academic success. To qualify, students must have a 3.85 GPA or higher and be widely active in community and campus services. High ratings are also required upon review of coursework, research, creative works and publications, and presentations at professional meetings or conferences.

Efren has been a terrific student employee with Office of Information Technology’s Computer Lab Support. One of Efren’s strengths in his job has been his expertise helping students learn and use SPSS software.

Efren plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Health Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, and we wish him all the best from his friends and colleagues in OIT!

Filed under Help Desk

You Can Now Share Your Contacts in Gmail

May 1, 2012 by Leave a comment

Google Apps now allows you to delegate access to your My Contacts group within your Gmail contacts, without granting access to your email or other data in your Google Apps account.

To do so, go to More > Contacts on your Google Apps menu bar:

Google Contacts

Click More > Manage Delegation Settings within Google Contacts:

Google Contacts

You can only share the contents of your My Contacts group within your Contacts (other groups, or subsets of your My Contacts group, can’t be shared).

Share your My Contacts group with whomever you choose; delegation is limited to Boise State’s Google Apps domains, which means employees can only delegate Contacts access to other employees, and students can only delegate Contacts access to other students. Also, delegation is limited to no more than 25 individuals.

People you choose to share with will receive an email notification, and must follow the instructions in the email in order to view the shared Contacts.

More information on sharing and accessing Contacts can be found on Google’s website.

Filed under Google Apps Tagged with

Education On Air

April 22, 2012 by Leave a comment

Want to learn about how other educators are using Google Apps in their pedagogy?

Google is hosting a virtual conference aptly named Education On Air, scheduled to take place May 2 from 10:00 am – 8:00 pm.

Featured conference session topics include Google+, YouTube, blogs, blended learning, and much more. Presenters hail from around the nation and include Doctoral Candidates, Instructional Technology Support Specialists, Educational Developers, Information Support Directors, and many others.

How to participate?

First, browse to https://sites.google.com/site/eduonair/ and locate the session(s) you wish to attend by reviewing the conference schedule. When you click on a session from the conference schedule, you’ll receive session details, complete with instructions on how to access the session.

All conference sessions will be hosted in Google+.

If you require assistance setting up your Google+ profile or configuring Google+ circles, please contact the Boise State University Help Desk at 208-426-4357, or email helpdesk@boisestate.edu.

Filed under Google Apps, Training Tagged with

Introducing New Productivity Software for Google Apps and BroncoMail

April 19, 2012 by Leave a comment

The Office of Information Technology has added the following software to Google Apps for Employees and BroncoMail (unless otherwise indicated) at Boise State University:

Spanning Undelete for Google Calendar

(Google Apps for Employees only)

Spanning Undelete provides you with access to anything you’ve deleted off Google Calendar (for all calendars you own).

We’ve all had experiences where we’ve accidentally deleted a calendar event, and then muttered a choice word or two when we had to recreate the event from scratch.

Now you can restore any deleted calendar appointment in Google Calendar.

All events you delete from your calendar ares recorded and listed in Spanning Undelete for Google Calendar. Simply “un-delete” calendar events to restore them.

Spanning Undelete

Get Started with Spanning Undelete

Click the More menu in Google Apps and select Spanning Undelete for Google Calendar.

Learn More

The Spanning Undelete tool is self-explanatory to use. If you have questions or problems, please email the OIT Help Desk at helpdesk@boisestate.edu, or call 426-4357.

SlideRocket

SlideRocket is a cloud-based presentation software app that gives you more features and functions than Google Presentations. It arguably even gives PowerPoint a run for its money with its fresh look and feel.

You can access your SlideRocket presentations offline and via mobile devices.

Adding, managing, measuring and charting (forums and polls included) have been made easier to access and use, without shaving off major features. You’ll have sharing and collaboration options, access to revision history, and the ability to pull analytics information right from the SlideRocket Dashboard. The Analytics tab allows you to keep track of how many times your presentation as been viewed, the duration time for which it was opened, and view poll and form responses.

You can integrate SlideRocket with:

  • YouTube: Use YouTube videos to enhance your presentation.
  • Flickr: Search for pictures directly from your presentation, and create your own folder of Flickr photos in SlideRocket.
  • Google Contacts: Send invites via email to with easy sharing and notification options.
SlideRocket

Get Started with SlideRocket

Click the More menu in Google Apps or BroncoMail and select SlideRocket.

Learn More

Once you’ve logged in to SlideRocket, click Help at upper-right.

Lucidchart

Lucidchart is collaborative diagrams done right.

With Lucidchart, you get options for org charts, flowcharts, wireframes and mockups, and UML to create your diagrams the right way. You don’t have to email your co-workers or partners for the updates and fixes…it’s all done on one copy in Lucidchart.

LucidChart_Large

Getting Started with Lucidchart

Click the More menu in Google Apps or BroncoMail and select Lucidchart.

Learn More

Visit the Lucidchart tutorials site.

Need Help? Just Ask!

The applications listed above aren’t “officially supported” by Google. As such, some application support may be limited. For questions or more information, please contact the OIT Help Desk at helpdesk@boisestate.edu, or call 426-4357.

Filed under Google Apps, Google Gal Tagged with , , , ,

AppleCare+ for iPad and iPhone

April 16, 2012 by Leave a comment

AppleCare+Apple recently introduced the third-generation iPad. With its release, Apple has made some changes to how the extended warranty service, AppleCare, is handled for the iPad (along with the iPhone). Apple calls this AppleCare+.

All iPads come with a one year warranty for hardware repair coverage. AppleCare+ extends that warranty to two years. It also covers up to two incidents of accidental damage during that time, each subject to a $49 service fee. The cost of AppleCare+ is $99.

For those considering AppleCare+ on an iPad, the easiest way to get coverage is to include it the quote submitted to the Office of Information Technology for purchase.

If you want to get AppleCare+ after purchase, you must do so within 30 days of ownership. However, at that point it cannot be purchased through OIT or the BroncoTec shop. The owner will either need to schedule an appointment with the Genius Bar at the Apple retail store in the Boise Towne Square mall, or contact Apple at 1-800-275-2273. Proof of purchase will be required, and your device will be checked for any pre-existing damage.

Should you purchase AppleCare+ for your iPad? While OIT does recommend purchasing the extended warranties for Boise State owned computers, getting AppleCare+ on an iPad depends on how you plan to use it.

If you are getting one of the more expensive iPad configurations, it might make sense to get AppleCare+. If you have questions, a member of the OIT Help Desk configuration team can help you figure out if AppleCare+ meets your needs.

For assistance, contact the OIT Help Desk at 426-4357, email helpdesk@boisestate.edu, or submit a request online via Help Desk Self Service.

Filed under Apple, Hardware, Help Desk, Mobile Tagged with , , ,

New Navigation Bar in Google Apps and BroncoMail

April 16, 2012 by Leave a comment

UPDATE 4/20: Google has postponed the Google Bar update, for reasons unknown. More information will follow when Google tells us what their plans are.

Google is updating the “Google Bar” this week in Google Apps and BroncoMail at Boise State.

The Google Bar contains links to Google products, such as Calendar, Search, YouTube, and Sites. If you’re working in an application listed on the Google Bar, that app will be highlighted on the Bar.

The new Google Bar will look similar to the following:

Additional Google applications appear under the More drop-down menu at right on the Google Bar.

Boise State doesn’t have any control over the Google Bar layout.

If you have questions about this change, or want assistance locating a Google application, please call the OIT Help Desk at 426-HELP, or email helpdesk@boisestate.edu.

Filed under Google Apps, Help Desk Tagged with

Doodle a Message with Scribbles for Gmail

April 10, 2012 by Leave a comment

Now you can spice up your Gmail messages with a doodle or sketch. With Scribbles for Gmail, you can use your mobile device to send a doodle of a steaming hot cup of coffee in a decorative mug instead of just asking your friend or colleague to coffee via text. It’s more appealing, isn’t it?

Scribbles is available within the Gmail app for iOS for Apple devices, or the Gmail for mobile web browser app for other devices (just browse to mail.google.com on your phone or tablet).

As always Google is about ease of use and access so you have options! Using HTML5, Gmail Scribbles gives you brushes of different sizes and paints of different colors to add a doodle to your email:

 

You can get creative and send amusing doodling to friends, quickly illustrate simple concepts with colleagues, or send a simple holiday picture to loved ones to put a smile on their faces. Escape the confines of plain text boundaries and give your words and ideas some spunk:

And, if you create a work of art, Google wants to know! Send your creations to gmailscribbles@google.com.

Read more about Gmail Scribbles on Google’s Official Blog.

Questions? Email Googlegal@boisestate.edu. 

Filed under Email, Google Apps, Google Gal Tagged with , , , , ,

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