Ever Want to "Unsend an Email? ;) Now You Can

Yes, it's possible to get future emails back!

Gmail has enabled an option for users to get sent emails back (at least for an amount of time). Your Gmail account can be set to send your email up to 30 seconds after clicking Send...giving you time to cancel the send and revamp your message with that new thought.

You can enable "Undo Send" in your Gmail/ Google Apps mail under the general settings panel.Find that panel under the "gear" icon toward the upper-right of your inbox.

Shew!! Glad this is finally out there ;)

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The Gooru Strikes Again: How to use Animations in Google Presentations

Animations have been lacking in Google Presentations...until now!  Google finally got the animation portion of their presentation set up, and you can use it TODAY!  I exclusively use Google Presentations in Canvas.  It integrates easily, and I love how it updates anywhere that the presentation is without me having to relink it.

The Google Guru has a great video on how to use this exciting feature.  View it below:

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Help Students Search more than Google

Ever Heard of Google Books, Scholar, and News Archive?

Using these can often find resources not easily discovered simply using Google.com.

Here is a video concerning Google Books:



Here is a video about Google Scholar:



Here is one about Google Newspaper Archive:

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How to add a dropdown menu in a Google spreadsheet

I love finding shortcuts, and here's one of my favorite ones in Google Sheets.  If you find yourself typing the same stuff in a specific column, or want to be sure that the multiple people editing your sheet use the same consistent language, make a dropdown menu! We use this in some of our training spreadsheets with things that are the same, like department names.  For example:

The benefits are not just ascetic. It also makes it *much* easier to use your sort functions and get the needed results.  It also makes you look like a rock star when you are able to pull up a neat, organized worksheet on the fly in a meeting.

How do you make this amazing drop down?  I'm so glad you asked.  Here's a step by step video just for you!

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Creating Custom Search Engines

Ever tire of students using lackluster sources with questionable information?

 

Create your own search engine...

                                which will only access your choice of quality websites and webpages.

In our day of access to so much information, students need the subjectivity of caring, knowledgeable teachers more than ever. 

In your custom search engine (CSE), you can add or remove whenever you like, customize the view, and even name it yourself. Publish the link, and students can "Google it" ...in the sites you trust. Creating your own CSE ensures students can access quality information without being distracted by those on the web who only think they know what's up ;) Or, at least you can choose solid sources with differing opinions on the item at hand.

I saw the instructions on a blog and thought I would share it here. The video is better than the slides. 

Here's how:

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/02/how-to-build-your-own-search-engine.html#.VPc0lvnF_To



Have fun and search well...

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Google Chrome Shortcut Keys

Save time by learning how to use shortcut keys.  Since I use the Google Chrome browser a lot, I know a lot of the chrome shortcut keys.  Here's a few of my favorites:

CTRL + T will open a new tab.

CTRL +R will close the current tab that you are in.  If you accidentally close a tab without meaning to, try CTRL + SHIFT + T- it will reopen the last tab you closed.

CTRL + SHIFT + V will paste the content from your clipboard as plain text.  This can be extremely helpful if there's a lot of crazy formatting on whatever you copied.

That is an extremely small sampling of the many, many shortcuts for Google Chrome.  What's your favorite shortcut?  Leave a comment below!

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Google Gooru Secrets: The Remove Formatting Button

If you do any copy and pasting in Google products like Gmail and Drive, you know the pain of going through and fixing all the formatting weirdness that happens.   I recently found out that there's a single button to fix all of those issues with a click!

Here's the Gooru:




I can't believe I did not know about this before.  It's going to save me time!  Was I the only one who had never noticed it?  Leave your answer in the comments!

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Easier Shortened Sharing Links on Google Forms!

Google made some changes to their forms a few months ago, and I'm going to take a moment to show you one of my favorite new features.

I use Google forms all. the. time.  I also like to send links to my forms various social media outlets, which means that I often have to shorten the link. I used to take my longggggg Google Form link and plug it in to one of those link shorting services. Now I can just do it right in google!

Here's how:

Go to the blue "Send Form"button in the upper right hand corner.  Click on it.

It will open the same options you know and love, but it will also have a few extra options.  One of those is Short Url.  Click it, and it will provide a shortened link.  WOO HOO!

Wasn't that easy?

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EasyBib Add-on for Google Docs

Want to make your students really happy? Introduce them to the Add-on called "EasyBib" for Google Docs! This Add-on lets students easily create a bibliography and add it directly to their research paper. They can choose either APA, MPL, or Chicago format.

Check out this "How-to" video:

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It's coming...a new Google Drive

If you're a Google Drive user, here's a quick walk-through of some of the changes.

If you're not a Google Drive user, ...are you feeling alright?? ;)

This a review from "Ask the Gooro," and I thought it would be helpful for you.

http://www.googlegooru.com/11-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-redesigned-google-drive/

If you just want the video (no screenshots or written explanations), here you go:

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Using Google Books for Research

Google Books can be great for research

I saw this on another blog and thought was really good.  Google Books can be a good research tool for teachers and students alike. The video below provides a short overview of how to research using Google Books. One can search for books and even search within books. Find screenshots of the process here.  (((You may need to click the shield to see the video)))

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