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Google Apps


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Google Apps

This page contains the notes for our Google Apps training. The notes are not complete and are not intended to be a self-contained training for Google Apps. They serve as a reminder of what was said during our training sessions.

Additional training is provided at Google Apps Learning Center.

Contents

  1. 1 General
    1. 1.1 Choice of browser
    2. 1.2 Log on
    3. 1.3 Security
    4. 1.4 Help
    5. 1.5 Arrange workspace
    6. 1.6 Useful keyboard short cuts
  2. 2 Email
    1. 2.1 Settings
    2. 2.2 Compose Mail
    3. 2.3 Inbox
    4. 2.4 Search
    5. 2.5 Other features
    6. 2.6 Mass email campaigns
  3. 3 Calendar
    1. 3.1 Settings
    2. 3.2 Views
    3. 3.3 Create event
    4. 3.4 Quick add
    5. 3.5 Add directly on calendar
    6. 3.6 Multiple calendars
    7. 3.7 Search
  4. 4 Contacts
    1. 4.1 New contact
    2. 4.2 Groups
    3. 4.3 Search
    4. 4.4 Import / Export
  5. 5 Documents
  6. 6 Sites
    1. 6.1 Log in
    2. 6.2 Identify site to edit
    3. 6.3 Create site
    4. 6.4 Edit site
      1. 6.4.1 Create page
      2. 6.4.2 Edit page
    5. 6.5 More Actions
      1. 6.5.1 Page related
      2. 6.5.2 Template related
      3. 6.5.3 Site administration
    6. 6.6 Site management
      1. 6.6.1 Site content
      2. 6.6.2 Site settings
      3. 6.6.3 Site appearance

General

Choice of browser

  • Google Chrome: fast and secure (recommended) - http://www.google.com/chrome
  • Firefox: fast and secure (recommended) - http://www.mozilla.com
  • Also can use Explorer and Safari for the Mac
  • Mobile browsers usually bring up pages formatted specifically for mobile phones 

Log on

  • https://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com
  • mail.yourdomain.com (may take some time to be activated)
  • calendar.yourdomain.com (may take some time to be activated)

Security

  • It is better to ask the browser not to remember your password. This way if someone gains access to your computer, they can not get access to your information. Only save passwords on private computers which are protected with other passwords.
  • When working on other PCs, e.g. in hotels, Internet cafes, etc. you have to make sure your password is not left behind. Download and install Google Chrome, go to Customise and Control Google Chrome (top, right) and open "New incognito window". Before leaving the computer, go to Customise and Control Google Chrome (top, right), Options, Personal Stuff, Show saved passwords and make sure that no passwords were saved (do Remove All)

Help

  • Help is always available on top, right. This is true for every Google App you use (email, calendar, contact)

Arrange workspace

  • Open all the applications you need to use on different tabs (e.g. Calendar, Contacts, Contacts)
  • You can ask your browser to reopen the pages that were opened last

Useful keyboard short cuts

  • Move from tab to tab in a browser (Ctrl + Page Up, Ctrl + Page Down)
  • Browser contents increase size: Ctrl + "+"
  • Browser contents decrease size: Ctrl + "-"
  • Browser contents default size: Ctrl + "0"
  • Close tab: Ctrl + W
  • Open new tab: Ctrl + T
  • Within a tap
    • Home: goes to page top
    • End: goes to page bottom
    • Page Up, Page Down move fast in the page
  • F5 refreshes the page (use it if browser gets stack, or is not functioning properly)
  • Copy: Ctrl + C
  • Paste: Ctrl + V
  • Undo: Ctrl + Z

Email

Settings

Settings (top, right) can help you to
  • change display language (General)
  • define your signature (General)
  • chose the folders you see on the left (Labels: suggested you enable Sent Mail, Star, Drafts, All Mail, Spam, Bin) 
  • change your password (Accounts, change accounts settings)
  • add specific functionality (Labs: recommend Signature tweaks, Nested Labels, Message Sneak Peek, Title Tweaks)

Compose Mail

  • When in To, Cc, Bcc, start writing the email, name or surname of addressee to get drop down menu of your more frequent options
  • Attach one or multiple files
  • Spell check
  • Format text
  • Spell check

Inbox

  • When you log in you see your Inbox
  • You can reply to an email, archive it, delete it, label it or categorise it as spam
  • Recommended to archive your email and only leave messages that need action on in your inbox
  • You can use drag and drop
  • Quick browse of one email after the other (Newer/Older)
  • Pop up of message contents: use right mouse button (need to enable Message Sneak Peek in Settings)

Search

  • The most powerful feature of your email
  • Use Search Mail or Show search options
  • Search is so powerful that it is possible to stop putting emails in folders

Other features

  • Conversations
  • Storage capacity (stop deleting old messages)
  • Control spam
  • Block viruses

Mass email campaigns

  • Do not send email campaigns to large lists using your Google Apps account
  • Regardless of whether it is a legitimate list you ran the risk of categorising you domain as a spam domain and create problems for everybody. Your own account may get locked out and you may loose all your data.
  • If you need to send email campaigns ask for support

Calendar

Settings

  • Language
  • Time zone
  • Time format
  • Mobile set up (get free SMS reminders from Google)

Views

  • Day
  • Week
  • Month
  • Custom
  • Agenda

Create event

  • What, where, when, repeats
  • Reminders (popup, email, SMS)
  • Guests

Quick add

(Quick add only works in English)
  • Adds events using natural language
  • Check if the event was added correctly

Add directly on calendar

  • Place your mouse and drag

Multiple calendars

  • Add many calendars
  • Share each calendar with other users
  • Create calendars for shared resources like conference rooms, etc.
  • Display one calendar at a time, or multiple calendars at the same time

Search

  • Powerful search, also searches inside description

Contacts

New contact

  • Multiple emails, websites, telephones, address
  • Nick names
  • Persons

Groups

  • A contact can belong to many groups
  • You can export/import contacts from/to a group
  • You can send email to a group

Search

  • Searches all text in the contact
  • Prioritises search results by frequency of use

Import / Export

  • Use this to consolidate contacts from Outlook and mobile phone
  • If you already have contacts in Google Apps and you want to bring in the contacts from your mobile phone:
    1. Export Google Apps contacts
    2. Synchronise from mobile phone to Google Apps (this will erase your Google Aps contacts)
    3. Import the contacts you exported in step 1
    4. Use Find Duplicates to clear up your contacts

Documents

There are currently no training notes for this section.

Please Google Docs Help Notes:
http://docs.google.com/support/

Also see the following PC World article:
Google Docs Secrets: 21 Power Tips for the Productivity Suite

Sites

Log in

To log in go to either of
  • http://sites.example.com if enabled
  • http://www.google.com/a/example.com/ 
  • www.example.com and click Sign in at bottom left

Identify site to edit

  • Go to top right area and click My sites
  • If necessary click Browse sites within example.com »
  • Click on appropriate site to enter site editor

Create site

  • Click create new site
  • Choose Theme or Browse Gallery
  • Click more options to add description, collaborators and viewers
  • Click create site
  • Sites can also be created by copying an existing site

Edit site

Create page

  • Choose page template: web page, announcements, file cabinet, list
  • Choose page name and position

Edit page

  • Insert (various item than can be inserted in a page)
    • Forms can be used to gather data (they have to be created in advance in Documents \ Spreadsheets) 
  • Format
  • Table
  • Layout (keep your text line width fairly narrow to make it easier to read)

More Actions

Page related

  • Revision history
  • Subscribe to page changes
  • Page settings
  • Print page
  • Move page
  • Delete page
  • Preview page as Viewer

Template related

  • Save as page template
  • Change page template

Site administration

  • Subscribe to site changes
  • Manage site (Edit sitebar, at the bottom of Navigation, takes you directly to Site Layout)
  • Share this site

Site management

Site content

  • Recent site activity
  • Pages
  • Attachments
  • Page templates
  • Deleted items (if you restore a page, it's subpages are not restored automatically, they need to be restored one by one)

Site settings

  • General (Site name, Site Description, Landing Page, Web Address Mapping, Copy this Site, Delete this Site)
  • Sharing (owners, collaborators, viewers. Share within domain, make it public)
  • Monetize

Site appearance

  • Site layout (change logo, dimensions, header, navigation, footer
  • Colors and fonts (change color, fonts and background images)
  • Themes (Changing theme resets site layout, and color and fonts)

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