Waffle Bytes

There are times when you have to use similar questions on a form.  Instead of retyping a majority of the same information, the better solution is to duplicate the question and then edit the new question.  If you prefer a short video, here is one on both duplicating questions AND moving them .  Moving questions is in a separate blog post. To duplicate a question - Click on the question you want to duplicate so it is in edit mode. Look for the icons at the bottom right of the question.  Click on the duplicate icon (it looks like 2 pieces of stacked paper) -  Your question will be duplicated and put immediately below the original question.  You are able to edit the parts that need to be changed as needed - That's it!  This works for any question type.

Sometimes you don't want a recurring event because the similar events do not line up on a regular schedule.  When this happens you want to duplicate the event instead.  It is an easy step to duplicate an existing event in Google Calendar, and you are able to update as much or as little of the information as you need.  Want it in a different location?  Sure!  Want to invite different people?  Definitely doable! And of course, want to set it on a different day?  Yes! (Here is a video on How to Duplicate an Event .)  To duplicate an event on your calendar: Click on the initial event to show the pop-up information, then click on the More Options menu (stacked three dots) - Select Duplicate from the drop-down - Make any needed changes to the new event, such as location, guests, time, date, etc - Click on Save to save the duplicated event with changes -

Do you have an event that happens on a regular basis?  Say a birthday, or weekly meeting?  You can set up recurring events on your Google Calendar, and it is actually pretty flexible as long as the events have consistency to when they occur.  (If they don't have consistency you will instead want to use the duplicate feature.  That is tomorrow's post.) (Here is a video on  How to Set Up A Recurring Event .) To set up a recurring event: First create your event, and go to the event details - Look for the drop-down, by default it says Does not repeat -  Click on it to reveal the "smart" options it offers you.  If one of these is correct, select it.  If not, then click on Custom... at the bottom - Once in the Custom recurrence, set the information as needed for your event - Here is an example of my reminder to post the G Suite Tidbits.  It is set to be every week on Monday-Friday, and expires on Feb 15, 2019 when we wrap ...

You now have the ability to duplicate a Google Site!  Most exciting part of this for schools, this means you can create building or district page templates which can then be duplicated by others (or duplicated by you and the copy shared with others) to keep a consistent theme over multiple sites in your domain.  The addition of Duplicate site is now available in the More menu - When you select to Duplicate a site, you will get a window that: lets you rename it,  save it in a different folder than the original site allows you to copy the share settings (or not)  After clicking OK - it will give a message of Copying... on the window.  Depending on the size of the site you are duplicating, this may be there several minutes - When the duplicate site is created, a message appears at the bottom of the current site  asking if you want to open the copy.  (I note this as you DO NOT want to make changes on the site that is visible as that...

This is HUGE for those of you that either weren't quite ready to move to Google Apps yet, or that needed to use programs outside the scope of what the Google Drive apps could provide. Previously, if you uploaded a file from your computer, made a change to the original on your computer, and re-uploaded the updated file you ended up with two (or more) of the same file.  You probably needed to look at the dates associated with it to know which was the newest version - and if it got copied over as a Google document, you had the possibility of lost changes. Now, from Google - "Once launched, when users upload files that have the same filename as an existing file, they’ll be deduplicated, and the old file will be in revision history. This is so that if any mistakes are made, users can get back to the previous version. Similarly, uploaded folders will be merged with folders of the same name." Here's the message that appears when you begin using this -   You do...

Occasionally I have the need to copy an event from my primary calendar to a collaborative calendar I use with a team.  I want it on my primary calendar (so I get the notifications I want, for example), but also need to make sure it is shared.  This is very easy to do in Google Calendar. Click on the event to display the event details, then click on Edit event - When looking at the full event details, click on the More Actions dropdown -  Select the secondary calendar you wish to copy the event to -  Review the information, making changes if needed, and click on Save -   The event will now display on both calendars -

Sometimes you end up with multiple events that have the same setup - the same people, same rooms, same times, etc.  But it may be that setting recurring events just doesn't make sense.  When this happens you need to duplicate the event instead.  Here's how: Open up the event to duplicate.  Go to More Actions and select Duplicate Change the date to the additional date: Save