Changes in Gmail

If you access your Gmail via the web and not through Apple Mail, you’ve probably noticed a few changes.

Gmail has introduced a new feature called tabbed inbox that automatically filters your email into several different categories. Most newsletters and mass mailings will now be delivered to your “Promotions” tab instead of your inbox.

To change this:

1. Click on the “Promotions” tab

2. Find any emails that you don’t want to get lost in this pile of promotions and drag it to the “Primary” tab.

3. Be sure to click “Yes” when the alert pops up. Do this for any of the emails you want to see right away.

Or, if you prefer to remove this new Tabs feature:

1. Go to the “Settings” box in the upper right hand corner of your inbox and select “Settings.”

2. Click on “Configure Inbox,” unselect all of the categories except “Primary,” and then save your changes.

Thanks to Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo and Anna Garrett for the heads up on this!

iPad Tip of the Week

The Fastest Way to Open Any App

If you’re like most of my clients, you have quite a few apps on your iPhone and iPad. And to find the ones not readily available on the first page can take some scrolling and searching.

Here’s a shortcut:
Instead of scrolling, swipe in the opposite direction, to the RIGHT to reveal Spotlight, the built-in Search tool.
Type the name of the app you’re looking for and it will appear in a list.

If you don’t see it, you’ll have to adjust your Spotlight settings

Tap Settings
Tap General
About halfway down, tap Spotlight Search
Be sure there is a checkmark next to Applications

You might want to remove the check mark next to items that you don’t want to include in the search. This will also save on battery usage.

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Quick Scrolling in Safari

Instead of using your mouse’s scroll wheel or trackpad or dragging the blue scroll bar, you can move down the page by pressing the Space Bar.

Move up the page by holding down the Shift key and pressing the Space Bar.

iPad Tip of the Week

Quick Scrolling

When you reach the bottom of an article, or an email or the news feed in FaceBook, instead of scrolling all the way back to the top:

Just double tap in the very top black horizontal menu space where the time and battery are displayed and you’ll zip right up to the top of the screen.

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Setting Margins in Microsoft Word

Many of my clients have been using Microsoft Word for years, yet they admit they don’t know how to properly set margins.

It’s NOT by sliding the triangles on the ruler!

Click here for a free video lesson that will show you how easy it is to properly change your margins.

This tip is just one of the many things you can learn in Mac to School’s Virtual Classroom. To gain access to the entire course and all of the other great video lessons, join the classroom.

iPad Tip of the Week

Emailing Photos

One way to share pictures via email is from the Photos app:

1. Open the Photos app

2. Tap Camera Roll or Photo Library, depending on where the photos are

3. Tap Edit

4. Select the photos you want to email

5. Tap Share

6. Tap Mail

If Mail is not an option, you have too many photos selected. So cancel and unselect several photos then try again.

Another Option is to insert the photos directly from Mail

1. Create a new mail message

2. When you’re ready to insert a photo tap and hold in the message area

3. Choose Insert Photo or Video

4. Choose where the picture is (Camera Roll, Photo Library, an album, etc.)

5. Choose the photo

6. Tap USE

To send several photos at once, either repeat the above steps for each photo or use the first method from Photos.

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Sorting and Searching in Notes

I use the Notes app for all kinds of things: movies people recommend, restaurants I want to try, great ideas that come to me when I am out and about.

By default, the Notes are sorted by the date they are edited, which can mean a bit of searching for the Note I want.

From the View menu, you can change how notes are sorted: by Date Created, Dated Edited, or by Title, so you can choose what works best for you.

Or, use the Search feature to have Notes find it for you.
Just click in the box next to the magnifying glass at the top of the list of Notes and type what you’re looking for.

iPad Tip of the Week

Enjoying Photos

Family gatherings are a great time to share photos. And it’s fun to be able to have your photos displayed in the background.

When your iPad is asleep and locked, you can still view Photos using the Picture Frame mode. It’s different than the Slide Show mode when you are in your Photos.

To set your preferences for Picture Frame:

1. Click Settings

2. Click Picture Frame

3. Choose your Transition

4. Choose how long it shows each photo, whether to Zoom in on faces, and if you want them Shuffled, in a random order

5. Choose which photos and albums to show

6. Sit back and enjoy

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See What Fonts Look Like

You can change the fonts of text in Mail as well as most other Apple programs by highlighting the text and then clicking on the desired font from the Font pulldown menu. But you don’t know what the font will actually look like until you do it.

Another way to experiment with fonts in email is to choose Show Fonts from the Format menu.

The Fonts window shows a list of grouped fonts (Collections), the family of typefaces, the possible styles of each typeface and a size to choose.

To see what the font actually looks like, you can reveal the Font Preview Pane.

1. Click on the barely noticeable circle that is below the word “Fonts” and above the “T” tool. Your mouse becomes a tool with arrows.

2. Drag the tool down to reveal the Font Preview Pane.

You can make the entire window bigger by dragging on any corner of the window.

iPad Tip of the Week

Creating Groups

Unfortunately, there is no simple way to create Groups in the Contacts app on your iPad or iPhone. But there is a workaround:

Create the Group in the Contacts app on your Mac. Any changes made on the Mac will automatically sync via iCloud to your iPhone and iPad.