Easy Accents add-on for Docs and Slides

The Easy Accents add-on for Google Documents and Slides enables an easy-to-use panel that allows a very visible process of inserting characters with accents.

To install the add-on follow these steps →

• Open a Google Document
• → Extensions
• → Add-ons
• → Get add-ons
• → Search for Easy Accents
• You will then see a choice of 'Easy Accents - Docs' or 'Easy Accents - Slides'.
• Choose Easy Accents - Docs
• → Install
• Allow permissions etc
• Once back in the document → Extensions → Easy Accents - Docs → Easy Accents - Start
• You should see a side panel open → choose the language you wish to use.

Read more here →

easyaccents.world

Stars and recurring tasks in Google Tasks

In Google Tasks, you can mark important tasks with a star. You can view or sort your starred items across various task lists in the starred view.

You can directly set the end option for a recurring task (never, on a certain date, or after a number of occurrences) in Google Tasks.

Easily assign Google Tasks from Google Docs

In Google Docs, you can assign a checklist item to yourself, a student or a colleague that will appear in the assignee’s Tasks list. When edits are made to an assigned item in Google Tasks, such as a change to the title, due date or completion state, those updates will show in the Doc, and vice versa.

Read more here → support.google.com - Assign tasks from Google Docs

Turn a Padlet into a slideshow

You can now create a slideshow from the content of a Padlet.

Every post becomes a slide. The fonts are sized automatically. The colors are determined by your chosen wallpaper. You can navigate with your cursor or your keyboard. The presentation will be updated live when you edit the padlet it references.

padlet.blog - Introducing Slideshow: beautiful, auto-designed presentations [9 Februrary 2023]

Read more here →

padlet.help - Padlet Slideshow

What is BeReal?

Have you heard the students discussing BeReal? Has a student asked you to be in their BeReal because the notification occurred during lesson time?

If you would like to know more about BeReal check out the two resources below →

childnet.com - BeReal – a guide to the new social media app [29 July 2022]

How to use Google Sheets Filter Views

If you get shared a Google Sheets spreadsheet with loads and loads of data on it and decide to filter the view - you are doing that for everybody who visits that spreadsheet.

This situation is why 'Filter views' has been added to Google Sheets.

Watch this video →

or

Read more here → Chrome Unboxed - How to use Google Sheets Filter Views to analyze data without screwing it up for everyone else [15 April 2022]

Use new table templates and dropdown chips in Google Docs

You can use dropdown chips, in Google Docs, to easily indicate the status of your document or various project milestones outlined in your document. There are two default dropdown options:

• Project Status, which includes selections for “Not Started”, “Blocked”, “In Progress” and “Complete”
• Review Status, which includes selections for “Not Started”, “In Progress”, “Under Review” and “Approved”.

Additionally, you can create a dropdown chip with custom options and colours to best suit your needs.

Google has also adding table templates, which allow you to quickly insert building blocks for common workflows such as a:

• Launch content tracker
• Project asset
• Review tracker
• Product roadmap

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Use new table templates and dropdown chips in Google Docs to create highly collaborative documents [2 May 2022]

Level up your padlet skills with a variety of keyboard shortcuts and editing tricks

Mouse shortcuts:

• Drag and drop a file: Open the post composer with content inside.
• Drag and drop multiple files: Open multiple post composers, each with one of the files. Click the icon on the right to publish all drafts.
• Double-click on padlet: Open post composer
• Double-click on post: Edit post
• Double-click on padlet title: Edit padlet settings

Keyboard shortcuts:

• C: Create a new post
• Cmd/Ctrl + Enter: Publish current post
• Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Enter: Publish current post and start a new post
• Esc: Close post composer

Read more here → padlet.blog - Triumphant tips and tricks [20 April 2022]

From @UNGeneva

Adding a keyboard shortcut or hotkey for a Chrome Extension

I use a range of Chrome extensions to add links/articles/resources to services such as Trello, Pocket and Raindrop.

Aiming your cursor at a tiny 16-by-16 pixel Chrome extension button amidst possibly 20 others in the extension tray can feel like trying to win a carnival game with the odds firmly stacked against you.

[Source]

It is possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to Chrome extensions.

Here are the steps for adding your own personalized shortcuts for Chrome extensions.

• In the top right corner of Google Chrome, click the 3-dot expansion menu
• Expand the More Tools menu
• Click Extensions
• Click on the 'burger' in the top left hand corner of the screen and choose 'Keyboard shortcuts'
• Scroll to the extension of interest and choose a combination of keys with either “Ctrl” or “Ctrl + Shift” and any available key

The extension developer may have added shortcut functionality for more actions within the app. 

Read more here → obie.ai - How to add and remove custom keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys for a Chrome Extension in 5 seconds flat [20 July 2020]

Heading charts from Google Form responses into Docs, Slides and Drawings

You can now embed linked response charts from Google Forms into a Google Doc, Google Slides presentation, or a Google Drawing. When new form responses are received, anyone with the proper permissions can refresh an embedded chart by simply clicking the "Update" button. This eliminates the need to re-copy the chart from the form.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Embed linked Google Forms charts into Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Drawings [1 March 2022]

Padlet - moderating posts

Padlet allows you to moderate all posts on padlet so they must be reviewed by the owner/teacher before they can be published.

Thinking about tags and hashtag literacy

Digital curation is a topic that really engages me at the minute. The effective organisation of all the things we find online that may (or may not) be useful in the future is a challenge and the tools available to help evolve.

Tags and Hashtag Literacy [14 February 2022], by Wesley Fryer, is worth a read to get you thinking about such things and how we should be integrating hashtags and tags into the research skills we teach.

Chrome Extension suggestion - Remote for Slides

This is a really interesting find by a colleague of mine.

Install the Chrome Extension, open a Google Slides deck, visit remoteforslides.com on your phone and then enter a 6 digit code. Now you have a remote for Google Slides. What I really like is that you can see your 'speaker notes' on your phone.

Google Documents - Pageless page setup

If you have no plans to print a Google Document you are creating - why do you need to have it set up with a page like appearance?

Google has recently introduced the ability to change the page setup to 'Pageless'.

Set up your Google Doc so that it continuously scrolls without page breaks. In this setting, images will adjust to your screen size, and you can create wide tables and view them by scrolling left and right. Line breaks for text will also adjust to your screen size, and as you zoom in and out.

support.google.com

1. On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
2. Go to File  Page setup.
3. At the top of the dialog window, select Pages or Pageless.
4. Click OK to confirm.

Read more here → support.google.com - Change a document’s page setup: pages or pageless

Turn an old laptop into a Chromebook

If you have an old computer that is struggling it may be possible to turn this device into a Chromebook using Chrome OS Flex.

If you have an old laptop and would like to give this a try - please let me know and we can explore the possibilities together.

Using Mote with Google Forms

Mote gives us the ability to easily leave audio based feedback. This ability isn't confined to Google Documents. Mote has capabilities in Google Slides, Gmail, Google Sites, Google Classroom and Google Forms.

Check out the video above for some ideas on how to use Mote with Google Forms. Basically you can use Mote to record audio questions and then any user, with Mote enabled, will be able to record an audio response.

If you are interested in using Mote as an educator or even broader with your class - please get in contact.

Read more here → support.mote.com - Help! How do I use Mote for Google Forms? Troubleshooting tips

Calendar

Google Calendar is all that is needed here! I use a handful of different calendars - school, family etc - but all scheduled lessons, meetings and my daughter's football practices are here.

I use Fantastical on my iPhone and iPad to display my Google Calendar as I prefer the layout - but the Google Calendar iOS app is also very capable.

Task manager

I'm going to say it - your email inbox should not be your 'job list'. An app where you can 'capture' and then organise all the things that you need to do can be hugely beneficial for your well-being.

There is no shortage of task manager apps available! Within the Google Workspace sphere you have Google Tasks and Google Keep. These apps also display scheduled tasks in your Google Calendar. A recent update allows you to manage overdue tasks in Google Calendar.

Personally I use todoist - and have done for a number of years now. I particularly like how the Gmail add-on allows me to quickly turn emails into tasks, the web and iOS apps and the integration with Google Calendar, Fantastical etc.

Notes

Notes in that nice notebook you got for your birthday, others on the back of an envelope and even some in an email you sent to yourself. One place (app) is needed where you make, organise and can quickly find your notes and thoughts.

In Google Workspace you could use a Google Doc. Utilising H1, H2 to give things structure and the document outline to quickly move around. Smart chips will also help you tie various things together.

I have tried GoodNotes on my iPad, various physical Moleskine type notebooks, Bear, Notion and Trello and more. All of them have good bits - but not the coverage that I was looking for.

I am about two weeks into using Roam Research as my note taking app of choice. It is a little geekier than some of the other options and maybe not as pretty. The speed of use and the automatic generation of connections between notes, topics, ideas is what is making it the app I keep going back to. There are 'task manager' options here too - but I am sticking with todoist for that side of things, at the minute.

Read it later

You need somewhere to store links. That article that was shared by a colleague that you want to digest at a later date. The website you want to use next time to teach a certain topic to one of your classes. The website of that new restaurant you would like to try. All these links need to be stored and organised.

In Google Workspace you could use Chrome bookmarks and then use the Chrome Bookmark Manager to ensure links are organised into folders. Google Keep, and it's Chrome extension, can also be useful here.

I prefer a dedicated app for such things. I want an app that is 'cross platform' - I can use it on my school Chromebook, my personal iPad, my phone etc.

I use Pocket. There is a Chrome extension so that I can quickly add websites that I am viewing to Pocket - so that later on I can read them and sort them out. With tags etc you can use Pocket as an organised store of your links. I do not tend to do this. For me links get added to Pocket and then every so often I sort them out. Sites that I want to integrate into my teaching resources get added to Trello and things I want to read (in depth) are added to the iOS app Matter.

Google Meet Companion mode

Companion mode allows you to connect to a Google Meet without video and sound.

Why might this be useful?

You could connect a second device to a Google Meet - giving you more options in terms of presenting from one device and see all the participants on another. Using Companion mode means there is no chance of audio feedback.

If you had a group of students, in a classroom with their devices, but you wanted to use some of the tools that Meet offers such as the chat or rolls, you could get the students to connect to a Meet using Companion mode.

To join a Meet in Companion mode → In a Google Meet Invite, click Join → On the meeting landing page, under Other joining options, click Use Companion mode.

Read more here → Google Workspace Learning Center → Companion mode quick start guide

Text watermarks in Google Docs

You can now add a text watermark to your documents in Google Docs.

Text watermarks will repeat on every page on your document, making it useful for indicating file status, such as “Confidential” or “Draft” before sharing more broadly.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Create or import text watermarks in Google Docs [24 January 2022]

Changes coming to Gmail

Google are introducing a new, integrated view for Gmail, making it easy to move between applications like Gmail, Chat, and Meet in one unified location.

Beginning 8 February 2022 you should be able to opt-in to test the new experience.

By April 2022 users who have not opted-in will begin seeing the new experience by default, but can revert to classic Gmail via settings.

By the end of Q2 2022 this will become the standard experience for Gmail, with no option to revert back.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - New integrated view for Gmail features email, Google Meet, Google Chat, and Spaces in one place [31 January 2022]

EDU in 90

Google Docs has been around for 15 years

Starting as a service called Writely in 2005, Google Docs was officially launched a Google product in 2006.

Read more about 15 Google Docs milestones here → Google - The Keyword - 15 milestones, moments and more for Google Docs’ 15th birthday [11 October 2021]

Google Docs - Add a page break before paragraphs in Google Docs

You can now mark a paragraph to always begin on a new page with the new “Add page break before” option in Google Docs. This is particularly useful if you want certain paragraph styles to always create a new page such as titles, subtitles, or headings.

To insert a page break before a paragraph:

1. Select the entire paragraph or click anywhere into the paragraph.
2. Select an option:
     • In the toolbar,  go to Line & paragraph spacing   Add page break before.
     • At the top, go to Format  Line & paragraph spacing   Add page break before.

Tip: To have a heading stay at the top of a new page, you can select it and use Add page break before.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Add a page break before paragraphs in Google Docs [19 October 2021]

Google Docs - Easily add to Google Docs with the new universal @ menu

Google have added a universal insertion menu to easily add things like tables and images, in addition to smart chips, directly in Google Docs. Simply type “@”, and you’ll see a list of recommended files, people, meetings, as well as different content elements and formats to insert into your document. You can also search all available components.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Easily add to Google Docs with the new universal @ menu [19 October 2021]

Google Docs - More easily add citations in Google Docs with new search and automated entry function

When adding citations in Google Docs, you can now search for books and online sources, then automatically populate some attributes for those sources.

[This feature may not be available yet - it could take until the end of the month.]

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - More easily add citations in Google Docs with new search and automated entry function [2 November 2021]