MUSIC TO MY EARS

It has finally arrived!  Google Slides now has the option to embed MP3 and WAV audio files that you have stored in your Drive. This has been a long awaited feature. The ability to add sound to your Slide presentations can drastically change your presentations and bring them to a whole new level.

To add the audio files, you must first make sure that you have the files stored in your Drive.  I suggest creating a folder with a name associated to Sound or Music. There are hundreds of free MP3's and WAV sites on the Internet.

Once you have the files stored in your Drive

• Click Insert/Audio
• Select the audio file in your Drive
• Hover over the icon to see playback controls
• Click Format Options to see options to change such as playback options, volume, looping, hiding the audio icon, or replacing the image with something different

This is an awesome change to Slides and music to your ears.

CLEAN UP YOUR GMAIL

Now is a great time to take the opportunity to organize and clean out your Gmail.

1. Open Gmail
2. On the left side, select ALL MAIL
3. You will see in the top right corner how many Gmails you have (Oh My!!)
4. It is easiest to use the SEARCH box to help you filter through your Gmail
5. For example, key in 2014, you will see all Gmails that you may have from the year 2014
6. Look through all your emails from the year 2014
7. Click the emails that you want to delete and click the trash can at the top of the toolbar
8. Once you are done deleting emails from ALL MAIL, go to the TRASH and click delete

DID YOU LIKE THE OLD LOOK OF THE STREAM IN CLASSROOM?

If you were like me, you liked the old look of the Stream page in Google Classroom before it was changed.  Alias, Google heard the noise and added the ability to have the Stream page be more complete as it used to be.

There are now options to change the display to the Stream page. By default, the assignment notifications that show up on the Stream are condensed. Comments are also condensed. With the new options, you can now have the Stream return to classic view.  What does this mean? Students can see all of their assignments and teachers can easily see if students have turned in work.

Go to the settings cog in the upper right hand corner on Classroom.  Scroll to General settings and look for Classwork on the stream.

RIGHT CLICK FEATURES COMING TO GMAIL

As of yesterday, you will now see some new "right click" options available in your Gmail.  I right clicked on a message in my Gmail today and did not see all the features available that will be rolling out in the next few days.  As of now, right clicking on emails shows you only four options--Move to tab, Archive, Mark as Read, and Delete.

Below is a picture of what you will see when the complete right click options become available within the next 15 days or so.

IT'S SUMMER - ARCHIVE THOSE GOOGLE CLASSROOMS

Another school year is officially over for me! Yeah. But before I leave, there is one more Google clean up thing to do.  Archive those Google Classrooms.

Do not DELETE your class and your assignments from this years classes.  You may want to reuse them next year.  Archiving your classes will allow you to go back when school starts in the fall and pick and choose any assignments or announcements you used throughout the year.

Here is how to ARCHIVE your classes:

1. Locate the 3 dots in the right corner of each of your classes. "More Options"
   
2. Click the 3rd option of Archive
   
3. Choose Archive

All your classes will be nicely Archived and easily accessed next school year.

When you Archive a class it simply shuts down the students ability to submit any work.  The documents and assignments used throughout the year are still in Google Drive in your Classroom folder organized in each class.  

Happy Summer!

VISUAL CHANGES COMING TO GOOGLE DRIVE

Soon you will see some visual changes to your Google Drive.  Nothing in the functionality of Drive will be changing, just some tweaks to the way it looks.

Here is a list of what you will soon see.

• The logo in the top left which did say Drive will now also show the Drive icon
• The "New" button has been updated
• The color of the background in Drive has been changed from gray to white
• The font style in the header has been changed
• The Settings icon and the Help Center icons have been moved in line with the search bar
• The company logo (Mid-East logo) will now be located on the right instead of the left

GMAIL CHANGES WITH MORE NEW FEATURES

The new Gmail will be launching soon.  Another new feature to the updates to Gmail include Smart Compose.  Using artificial intelligence, the new Smart Compose feature can predict what you will write and offers suggestions on common phrases as you type. The aim of the new feature is to save the writer time when it comes to repetitive writing and should help reduce the risk of making grammatical errors.

There is also something called Nudging.  After a set period of time, Gmail will resurface unanswered emails and ask you if you want to reply. 

See my previous blog post about additional features coming to the new Gmail.

GMAIL INTERFACE WILL SEE FUTURE CHANGE

There are some new changes on the horizon for your Gmail. The fresh, new, cleaner look will arrive in a month a two.  One new feature is called Smart Reply which already exists on the Gmail mobile version.  Smart Reply will allow users to select from three automatic responses based on the context of the message. There will also be the ability to press a snooze button on your emails for a set time.  There is buzz that you will be able to turn your emails into more of a to-do-list by organizing them into groupings.

The family of Google Apps (Calendar, Docs, etc.) is also rumored to be better integrated into Gmail.  Stay tuned and keep your eyes open for new changes coming to your Gmail.

IT'S ABOUT TO EXPIRE - THANK GOODNESS!

I have been hearing from many staff members about the mess they have in the "SHARED" drive.  My advice is usually, "Stay out of your Shared Drive unless you have to--it will drive you nuts".  However, those Shared files can now have SET EXPIRATION DATES. 

It would be a great idea to SET EXPIRATION DATES on shared files that we use from year to year. An example would be the Sophomore Showcase folder.  It gets confusing year to year trying to decide which folder/files you are using.

To SET EXPIRATION DATES do the following:

• Click Share
• Key in the name of the person you want to share the document with
• Choose Can Comment or Can View - Edit does not allow for SET EXPIRATION DATES
• If you choose Can Edit - there will be a "CLOCK" to the left

• When you click the "CLOCK" the permissions are automatically changed to either Can Comment or Can View
• You can change the expiration time to 7, 30, or Custom date for the shared file to expire

Make sure to check out this great feature and help us all be able to find files in the Shared Drive a little easier.

DRIVE IMAGES MENU CHANGE

A new look has arrived in Google Drive when it comes to looking for Images.  When you click on Insert/Images, you now see a different look to how you find Images.

When you decide the location in which you will select the Images, a sidebar opens for your choosing. Pretty awesome!