With the reception of our last Chromebook tech tips, we just had to do another one! The digital learning field is, as always, a dynamic field of possibilities, and we aim to make some of these tools more understandable. This post for today will cover things like browser management, email tips, and display adjustments. While small, these tips can really improve the experience for people learning with computers. With this in mind, we hope you enjoy some of these new tips for what will likely be our last post for the spring 2021 semester! It has been great seeing all of the supportive advice from all the people that wanted to see this blog grow and improve.
Reopening Closed Tabs
Has this ever happened to you? You close a tab on your web browser and then realize that you still need it. No need to panic. Here is what you can do to retrieve your tab:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + t
That’s it! The most recently closed tab will reopen. If you press those buttons again, the previous tab you closed will also open.
PRO TIP: Are you using a Google Chrome web browser on your Mac? You can easily reopen a closed tab by pressing Command + Shift + t.
Schedule Send an Email in Gmail
There are many times when we are emailing people but don’t want the email to be sent right away. In Google (Gmail), you can schedule send an email to be delivered to the recipients at any time in the future. Here’s how you do it:
- Compose your email and address it to whomever you intend to send it to.
- Before sending, press the little down arrow on the right side of the Send button on the screen.
- Select Schedule Send.
- A few suggested send times will be listed in the box that pops up on the screen. You can select one of those times or click where it says Pick Date & Time.
- If you choose to select your own date & time, a new box will pop up with a calendar. You just select the date and type in a time for that date, then click Schedule Send. Easy Peasy!
Adjusting Screen Display Size
There are many times in my position as a technology support person where a student has accidentally changed their screen size during class and they can’t figure out how to get it back to normal. Typically, there is one quick fix, but I am going to walk you through two different ways to attempt to change the display size back to normal.
#1 – Web pages or Google Docs seem to be zoomed in or out.
- Press Ctrl and + or – to zoom in or out in the web browser.
#2 – The entire screen display seems to be zoomed in or zoomed out. This includes your menu bar and any windows that you open on the Chromebook.
- Click the bottom right corner of your Chromebook screen where the time is displayed.
- In the black box that pops up, click the Settings icon (looks like a gear).
- When the Settings window opens, type Display in the search bar. Select Display as it pops up in the search options when typing.
- In the Built-in Display settings, there will be an option to change the size of your screen display. Just adjust until the screen is at your desired size.
Search Engine Issues
When you open Google Chrome, is Google your homepage? Did Google used to be your homepage, but for some reason it randomly changed to Bing or Yahoo? How do you change it back to Google?
- Click the bottom right corner of your Chromebook screen where the time is displayed.
- In the black box that pops up, click the Settings icon (looks like a gear).
- On the left side of the window that opens, click on Personalization.
- Under Search Engine settings, your Preferred Search Engine is displayed.
- If your preferred search engine is not Google and you want to change it back, click Configure. A small box will pop up with a drop-down menu.
- Click the drop down menu and select your preferred search engine.
Hopefully you have been able to find something useful this semester from our blog. Tech tips was formed as a way to share technology tips and tricks, as well as support educators who may be struggling in this time of increased technology use in the classroom. Thank you to everyone who has contributed or given feedback! Until next time…