SETTINGS FOLLOW YOU!

So you have a Chromebook at work and use it there.
You like it sooo much! that you decide to get one all your very ownsome!

Sleek and shiny or a dark matte finish appears as you open the box. You plug it in, turn it on, and Sign In! And then the cursor blows up!

GASP! Egads! What the ... ?!

The Chromebook cursor is so big it nearly covers the entire screen!

Before you put the Chromebook back in the box or send it to support to be fixed you have to remember two things:

1. Wither thou goest, so too go your settings.

If you Sign In and change cursor, mouse, view or app setting while you are signed into a Chromebook those settings are remembered on every other Chromebook you use to Sign In. 

2. You are not signing into a Chromebook per se, you are Signing In to Chrome.

Whatever settings you changed or added or modified on the last Sign In to Chrome will appear in the next Sign In - no matter what device you are using. It does not even have to be a Chromebook.

When view settings have changed or you start getting popups where you didn't before, ask yourself, "Where was I last signed in and what did I do to Settings?"

You might just save yourself some postage.

EMBED FROM DRIVE TO BLOG

Embedding a file should be an easy thing to do...right?

It is but there is some voodoo you need to do when trying to embed into a blog (like this one!).

First, makes sure the file you want to embed is "embeddable" (a new word I just created!) If you're not sure, ask yourself if you can:

1. open the file in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides?
2. from the File menu, select "Publish to the Web"?
3. see a tab called "Embed" when you publish to the web?
4. and finally, SELECT and COPY the embed code?
   The embed code will look something like this:<iframe src="LotsOfLettersAndNumbers"></iframe>

If you can do all that, you can embed a file from Google Drive to Blogger!

Do all the steps above (I'm not repeating them) then open your Blog to the post you want the embed to appear OR create a new post.

5. Type some text on the first few lines (you'll want some space).
6. Select the HTML button next to COMPOSE from your formatting toolbar.
7. PASTE the embed code then select the COMPOSE button.

Voila! The document is embedded!
And it probably extends off the blog, right?
YIKES! That's not good!
So what do you do? You're going to have to tweak the code! This is an important part of the voodoo you need to do.

There is a document below that is embedded. At first it extended beyond the blogpost area - it was too wide. The embed code needed a width constraint added:<iframe src="lotsOfLettersAndNumbers" width="800"></iframe>

That width constraint fences a document into a corral that is 800 pixels wide - an old standard web page size. Percentages can be used as well (width ="50%") but that can get messy. You will have to play with the number or percentage to get the file to appear on the blog correctly.

The embed below finally fit at width="600"

A height constraint was also used just to see if it would work - it did.

The embed code for the document below looks like this:
<iframe height="500" src="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XnjhWGnX5pNBTRllk9TyKO2zHBFJHWpicGTpBWPpQiQ/pub?embedded=true" width="600"></iframe>



Points to Ponder:

• If the file extends past the blog border, tighten the fence (width and height contraints).
• Manual contraints can be used in a Doc to make text "fit." The third line of the embedded file above has a soft carriage return to force the text to fit within the 600 width.
• The height (aka length) will have a scroll bar if you have set a height shorter than the actual file length.

Easy!

Handing over the Keys...

Every file or folder you create in Drive is yours - you are the owner, the supreme leader, the keeper of the keys!

There may also come a time when you will want to hand over the keys. A project moves, you move, or you want someone else to take over the folder or file.

How do you do that?

Watch this video...and pass on a key!

UPDATING CHROME

Most Google applications will automagically update without your ever knowing. Chrome will update as well if you have allowed it to "auto-update as needed." Many Chrome extensions and applications will require the latest greatest Chrome version and enabling auto-update ensures that all those special gadgets and gidgets will work properly every time you launch Chrome.

Problem: Not all school or district networks allow the magic to happen.

So, when you open your Chrome browser at home with version 5.0, everything works fine. But when you are at your school (or work) and Sign In, the apps don't work because you're still using Chrome v 4.0.

There is a fix - update manually!

After opening Chrome, make sure you are Signed In to the Chrome browser. You should see your username in the upper right corner of Chrome.

Next, select the Chrome menu icon - it is located right under your username (called "the hamburger" in some Google circles).

Select Settings - a new tab will open.

There is a lot of good information on this page but we want to know about Chrome. 

Choose "About"  which is located in the menu on the far left.

If there is an update available, select the Update link.

Updating takes an enormous amount of time (about 5 seconds) and you will be asked to Relaunch afterwards.

The same tabs that were open before relaunch will open after relaunch - including the "About" tab. And, you'll see there, that you have an up-to-date version of Chrome.

It's that simple!

So if you find that extensions or add-ons or anything about Chrome is acting a little wonky, try Updating - most problems are fixed within the 5 second time frame.

That's enough time to ponder what exactly can be done in 5 seconds.

SPACE: How much am I using?

Drive is a repository of almost any kind of file: Documents, photos, pdfs, even videos can be stored on Google Drive. Google gives all public accounts 15GB of space for Drive, Gmail, and Photos. Those three areas count against the 15GB's of space allocated per user account.

New Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and Forms are Google format and use NO SPACE. The files created within Drive are "free."

Files that are uploaded or saved to Drive, all non-Google file formats, "cost" space per file.

So how do you figure out just which files have a file size associated with them?

There are 2 ways to determine file size:

1. Hard

and

2. Easy

Easy is so easy you'll be amazed! So let's discuss Hard first...

Hard way to determine Space being used on Drive

1. Sign into your Drive.
2. Scroll down the list of files within your Drive. There will be a number in the "File size" column. 
3. If you have no folders, write down the file size of every file.
4. Folders will not list file sizes - you have to open each one to view the files within them.
5. Continue the process:
6. Open a folder within Drive, if there are files at that level, write down the numbers in "File size" column.
7. Repeat until ALL folders have been opened at EVERY level to get ALL file sizes calculated.
8. Add the file sizes up. (remember to carry your 1's, 2's 3's or more!)

Of course if you miss any files or forget to open every folder your number will be incorrect. (Eek!)

Easy way to determine Space being used on Drive

1. Sign In to Drive.
2. Under the NEW button and just  above the "Upgrade Storage" icon, you should see the TOTAL SPACE you  are using for Drive, Photos and Gmail.
3. Hover over that total (the numbers will be similar to "112 KB of 15GB")
4. Select the little teeny tiny blue "i" image next to Drive (after you peruse and are amazed at just how much space you are using)
5. Once you select the "i", Google finds EVERY file you have and lists it in the order you choose.

NOW you have an ordered list of just files and their file sizes. You can figure out just what you need and what can be eliminated or downloaded.

If you're close to your limit then you might want to,

1. consider deleting a biggy from Drive,
2. Look for and delete attachments from Gmail, or
3. delete big photos or videos.