Give yourself a digital makeover in Google!

Google digital makover!

1. Untitled Drive Items

How many Google items did you start to create and never finish? Maybe they were to help teach someone how to use the items or maybe it was just a quick tip for someone. It is time to either get rid of the items by deleting them or select them and drag them all into a folder. Either way, it will help to clean up your drive account.  Just make sure to not get frustrated with this task. You do not have to finish this all at once time. Come back anytime to work on it again.

2. Reinventing your email labels

If you are like me once I create an email label and I never go back and look at it again. One day I was searching for an email label and I realize I have so many labels I couldn't find anything. "Light bulb moment" when I knew that I needed to reorganize. I went in and deleted email labels that I no longer needed or nested them under a broader category, like ELA or Central office.  If I realized I was missing a category for something it was time to create a new one. Color coding a label is an amazing way to organize.  Check out Google's GIF. 

3. Unsubscribe to email 

The easiest way is to click the unsubscribe link at the top of the email, although it isn't the fastest. Some emails do not have the unsubscribe link, what the heck? You can scroll to the bottom and there should be an unsubscribe link.

 If there is not, make sure to report that email as SPAM by just clicking on the 3 dots in the top right of your email and selecting Report as SPAM. 

4. Creating filters 

If you are like me and have tons of emails in your inbox, it's time for a spring cleaning! You can create a filter to label your emails each time they arrive to keep these from collecting in your inbox.  Google has quick easy directions to help you. 

1. Open Gmail.
2. In the search box at the top, click Show search options  .
3. Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search. 
4. At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.( I like to use FROM:  by placing the email address there and it labels every time it comes from that email address) 
   
   
   

5. Choose what you’d like the filter to do. 

6. Click Create filter.

5. Take out the trash! 

When was the last time you deleted a file off of your computer? Every year I back up my files onto an external drive or flash drive. Once I back up those files it is time to delete them off my computer. Once you delete them make sure to go into that trash can and delete it forever! Free up that space on your hard drive! Your computer speed will improve and your computer will thank you!

Keeping your school Google files!

 Transfer Drive Google Content

At the end of the year, we get a lot of questions on how to move your Google files to your own account. This can be done one of two ways, either sharing your documents with another account and then making a copy or by using Google Takeout. 

The Easy Way

Here is a link to the video and blog post by Alice Keeler on how to share the documents with yourself and then making a copy. It also includes how to use her sheet to make a copy of the whole folder at one time (there is a cost but may be worth it if you have a lot). You do not need the sheet from Alice Keeler but it is a HUGE timesaver for someone who has a lot of files to transfer.  

More Complicated Way

The other option is Google Takeout but those files are not Google Files. The Google Classroom export is a JSON file. (What is that?) You can not upload that into a new Google Classroom. 

 WHAT FILES DO YOU OWN?

Just a reminder, things you create on your school computer and/or on your school Google account you do not own. They are the property of your school district. Also, student data is protected so only move things that do not contain student data!

Google Drive- Organizing it!

 Google Drive can seem like a black hole.

You think you have it all figured and organized. 

You go to look for "that document" in Google Drive, 

and can't find it. Sound familiar? 

There are many ways to combat that problem. 

CLICK EACH STEP AND FOLLOW THE VIDEO...

                 

Other Links for Organizing Google Drive: 

Make Google Drive Pretty

Game Changing Google Drive Tips

13 Tips to Organize Your Google Drive

Great Tips for Organizing Your Google Drive

Uploading Files to Google Drive

During remote teaching, you have obtained many new resources. Many of these files have been saved to your computer. But, what if your computer crashes- will you lose all of your resources? 

We have a solution! You can upload all of these files to your Google Drive and they will only be a click away! 

Watch the short video to find out how!