TechBits

Canva

Wisconsin Valley Library Service (WVLS) recently provided a very helpful training video on Canva, an online drag-and-drop design tool that lets you create visual content with ease. In the 50-min video, Anne walks you through some of the many features of Canva including including tools for font combination suggestions, color pallette generator, and the design size guide for tailoring your designs to specific social media platforms. She also points out tools within Canva for learning more about how to use Canva and runs through one of the tutorials to demonstrate some basic tasks.

 

Canva is free for basic use, and Pro accounts are pretty affordable. Non-profit organizations with a 501c3 designation can get access to a Pro account for free.

 

 

If you haven't already discovered Canva and are looking for an easy way to generate flyers, posters, and images for use on your websites and social media posts, check out Canva and the WVLS video tour of Canva.

 

Finding Attachments in OWA

I had some difficulty locating a document that was emailed to me a few years ago.  I didn't even remember who sent it to me.  I found a neat way to browse through all the attachments I have sent and received by email. 

1. Click the Files button (the paper clip) beneath all your mailboxes.
   
2. Depending on what you are searching for, click Photos or Files.
   
3. At this point, you will see all the Photo or File attachments in your email.  If you know what mailbox you need to look in, you can click it at the left to narrow down your search even further.
   
4. You will see a list of the files/photos at the right.  Some of them may have names that are not too meaningful.  You can click the file and then click Preview to get a better idea of what the file contains.  You also have the option of downloading or printing the attachment from this screen.
   

Google Meet is Neat

We use several applications for virtual meetings within our organization but sometimes they are in use at the same time and it’s nice to have an option that I can rely on if I want to have an impromptu meeting. Most of us already have a Google account of some sort whether it’s Gmail, G-Suite, or YouTube and that’s all you need to use a free application for virtual meeting called Google Meet. If you’re familiar with other video conferencing applications then you will be able to easily pick up how to use Google Meet.

To start a Google Meet session;

• Log into your Google account.
• Locate “Google Meet” and click on it
• Click “Join or Start Meeting”
• Enter a meeting name, click “Continue”
• Allow the mic and camera settings (if you so desire)
• Send an invite to whoever you would like to join your meeting. I usually miss that step and copy the link in the URL to send to attendees.

Google Meet can accommodate up to 100 people for up to an hour per meeting with unlimited meetings. If you would like more than that you can sign up for advanced options.

 

Image by Alexandra Koch from Pixabay.com

Tech & Happiness Hacks

Many of you know that I admire Gretchen Rubin and have read many of her books and listen to her podcast. I've picked up many tips on how to make my life happier simply by listening and trying out some of her happiness hacks. On a recent podcast, Gretchen reminded listeners that September is the "other" January and to use the start of the new school year as a time to set new goals and try new things*.

This reminded me that I never shared a resource from Your Nerdy Best Friend from January of this year. In this post, Beth shares an updated handout called "Be a Nerd for a Year" with small fun tech activities that you can try out monthly. For September, some of the options are:

• Trying out Zamzar to convert a JPG to a PDF (see Tech Bits posts here, here, and here for more)
• Using Photomath to help your kids (or yourself) with math homework
• September 24 is National Punctuation Day and you celebrate by using Grammarly to check your punctuation, tone, and more! (See Tech Bits posts here, here, and here for more)

It's a fun resource to look at and learn from all year round. Next year, I'll start in January!

*And buy new office supplies!

Worldly Windows

For some, traveling to different locations is fun and relaxing. We love to look out the window and take in the beautiful, new scenery. Unfortunately, all of that has been stopped by COVID-19 and we're all stuck at home. We're looking out the same window day after day. Well, what if I told you that there was a way to look out someone else's window and that window could be anywhere in the world. I found this wonderful website thanks to Nancy McClements, who posted it in one of her First Thursday emails. It's called WindowSwap and it gives you a ten minute video of what it looks like out someone's window. That someone could be anywhere in the world. You can also take your own video out your window and submit it.  Enjoy seeing the world, one window at a time.

Photo by lauramusikanski at Morguefile.com