Craig M Sheil

Day 7 of Google 2019 – Google Sheets

Screen Shot 2019-12-01 at 6.53.26 AM.png On this seventh day of Google, we will be taking a look at a couple of Google Sheet features.

Images in a Cell

I will have to admit, in the past, I always struggled with fitting images in a cell of a Google Sheet. For whatever reason, I was not able to get things where I wanted them on a first try. Well, Google has solved this problem. Under the “Insert” menu, you will now find “Image in a Cell” when you hover over “Image”.

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Customize Graphs

Next, we will take a look a graphs. In the past, you did not have the freedom to truly customize the looks of your graphs or charts. You now can click on items to move around, change font, style, etc. To initiate any changes, click on different areas of the graph. Then, a column on the right side will show up for you to make the edits that you want to make.

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If you have any questions with the items listed above, you know where to find me. And that is my Spiel…

Day 6 of Google 2019 – Google Slides & Audio

Screen Shot 2019-12-01 at 6.54.26 AM The sixth day of Google focuses on how you can use Google Slides for podcasting or having background audio playing while presenting.

Audio in Slides

For several months, Google has been promising the ability to insert audio files in Google Slides. Have no fear, the time is finally here.

To insert an audio file, go to the ‘Insert’ menu, followed by ‘Audio’. Select the audio file from your Google Drive. You will notice that you are only able to insert audio files that live in your Google Drive. They must also have a file type of .mp3. If you have an mp4 file, you will not be able to upload to a slide.

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Day 5 of Google 2019 – Google Slides

Screen Shot 2019-12-01 at 6.53.11 AM.png On this day fifth of Google, we will take a deeper dive into Google Slides (slides.google.com). Some new features recently came out when presenting from a presentation that are definitely worth the mention.

Closed Captioning

Last year, Google incorporated closed captioning when a presentation is in present mode. To turn on this feature, select the caption icon in the presentation tool bar. Remember, there won’t be a transcript after from what was said. The computer listens to your voice and projects the words in real time and then it goes away. You now have the ability to move the captioning up to the top of the screen as well as increase the size of the text. This way attendees can fully see the text on the screen.

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Day 4 of Google 2019 – Google Calendar

For the fourth day of Google, I thought I would focus on Google Calendar.

Inviting Colleagues

You have always been able to add other people to a calendar invite. Recently, I discovered that you can invite colleagues right from the opening pop up screen. Once you add at least one person, their calendar will temporarily show up on the screen overlaying with your calendar. This way, you can quickly find a particular time that would work. In the example below, my Google Calendar is Red, while my colleagues is Lime Green. The moment I add my colleagues name, her calendar shows up. Then I can move the appointment accordingly.

Go To Date

At the beginning of each school year, I am given a document indicating all required after school meetings that I must attend. It can be tedious trying to click through each week or month by selecting the right arrow. I recently discovered that while in Google Calendar, if you use the short cut “g”, a Go To Date pop up window shows up. Type in the date you are interested in getting to, and magically it shows up.

NOTE: You must have keyboard shortcuts activated in Google Calendar in order for this to work. To activate, select the settings gear on the top right, followed by the check box under keyboard shortcuts checked. Once this is enabled, if you are curious about other shortcuts in Google Calendar you would just type “/” and a pop up window with options will appear.

Search in Calendar

Now, I am embarrassed to say that I didn’t know you could search for calendar events right in calendar. This is something that should not have surprised me seeing as though Google is all about searching. If you are trying to find details from a particular calendar event or when particular calendar event happened in the past, use the search feature, rather than going back week by week until you find what you are looking for.

To search in Calendar, type “?”. A search box will show up on the top of your screen. Type in a key word and all calendar events with that key word will show up. A lot less time wasted using this approach.

If you have any questions on this or other Google Calendar items, you know where to find me. And that is my Spiel…

Day 3 of Google 2019 – Google Keep

Screen Shot 2019-12-01 at 6.52.57 AM.png For the third day of Google, we will take a closer look at Google Keep (keep.google.com or you can find it in the waffle). There are many staff members who use Google Keep on a daily basis to keep track of their to do lists, whether individually or collaboratively. There is something about being able to cross and item off the list.