Waffle Bytes

Nudges are a feature that utilize the AI to tag messages that may need action - either by you or by the person you sent it to.  Some people find it a bit creepy; others see it as an invasion of privacy (it's reading your email to know if it needs to nudge you).  It is an easy feature to turn on and/or off. If you are a person that keeps a lot of email in your Inbox, however, it may be worth trying it out to not miss some that need a reply... To turn nudges on or off, go to the email settings: There are 2 options for nudges - reminders if you may have missed something, or reminders if someone hasn't replied: If you have it turned on, emails the AI has tagged as needing a reply will be appended with a message that tells you when it was received, and asking if you want to Reply.  It will also be moved up into the Unread section if you have your inbox divided: If you have it turned on, emails the AI has tagged as sent by you and requesting a response will ...

You can now "snooze" your email out of your inbox.  This is convenient for when you want to "assign" a date or time to deal with the email other than the current moment, and do not want it cluttering up your inbox. Using the snooze features is pretty easy to do  - The clock icon is where you go to snooze an email.  It is found several places: at the top when reading an email  at the top of the list when one or more email are selected (checked on the left side) in the hover menu (if you have that turned on) by using the keystroke shortcut When you click the clock icon (or use the shortcut), you get the following options to pop-up in choosing when the email should return to your inbox: If you choose "Pick date & time" a calendar will appear so you can pick a different day and/or time: When a snoozed email hits that date/time, it will reappear in your inbox, along with a message on the right side of it indicating how long ago...

Did you know you can "undo" sending an email?  It used to be what was called a lab, but now it is a built in feature.  So for those times you forget an important piece of the email, and realize it right after you send it...OR those times you respond to an email with a bit more emotion than you probably should...this feature can help you out.  How does it undo a sent mail?  It really doesn't - it actually puts the email in a queue to send, with a timer.  After that time is up, it is sent. Once that happens, there is no getting it back ;-) The feature is automatically turned on in the updated Mail.  To change the length of time you can "undo" a message, first go to the Settings (found be clicking on the Gear in the upper right corner) - Then look for Undo Send - Click on the dropdown and set it to the time you prefer - Once you set it, every time you send an email the following message will appear in the bottom left for the length of time yo...

Today I noticed an addition to my Insert Menu while on a Google Sheet.  I now have the additional option of inserting a checkbox! I often use checkmarks in cells, preferring them to an "x" as it is an obvious symbol. (If you didn't know, you can add them with using Option + V) However, the checkboxes are a vast improvement over that. Here is the menu change (Old to New) - To add a checkbox into a selected cell, go to the Insert Menu and  select Checkbox - (By the way - Kudos to Google for adding that little "NEW" box to items that have just been added.  Now I don't need to guess - is it something I just never saw before?  Or is it new?... and the NEW disappeared after I used the feature.) It certainly would be tedious to have to do that individually for every cell.  There are 2 ways to mass add the checkbox. 1. Highlight the cells, THEN do your insert 2. Use the fill feature to add it to adjacent cells What is cool about this second feat...

Last Friday I checked for this new feature and I didn't have it as an option yet. Wouldn't you know I come in on Monday it is available! Finally, you can search within a folder of Drive (rather than your entire Drive)!  It is available multiple ways, including in the advanced search options.  Using the built-in menus In case you don't remember, here is the "old" menu options: Here is the "new" with the added Folder Search when right-clicking  on the folder: Using the "More" Menu It is also available by selecting the folder and clicking on the "More" menu options (stacked dots): When you use it, an additional line is added under the search bar: Using the Advanced Search options The prior options for location looked like this: There is now an addition of  a button that says Anywhere: When clicking on it, you can select the location you want to search:

There is an email add-on that has a bunch of useful features that is worth knowing about, if you don't already.  It is the Canned Responses. To use this feature, you first have to enable it.  Go to your email settings: Click on the Labs in the top right.  Then enter Canned Response in the "search for a lab" box.   When you see it, click on Enable to the right side Save the changes.  Now you will have this feature when you are in the compose mode of an email.  To create your first canned response, set up what you want to be "canned" in the email exactly as you wish it to appear.  (Remember, this is NOT a merge - so be cautious if it is something that would change each email!)  Once the information you want is set up, click on the arrow in the lower right corner and look for Canned responses.  Choose New canned response... Type in the name for the canned response Now it will appear on the list.  You will also note...

What to do when you have graded a majority of assignments...but you know there will be a handful that will still be coming in?  Remembering to go check for those assignments can be bad enough, but repeatedly checking for them when nothing new is in there yet is even worse. Yet, if you get notified as ALL assignments are submitted you end up spamming your own inbox. Here's a little trick you can use to get notification ONLY on those late submissions for a particular assignment: Non video directions: Under the Assignment Description, check the box to Enable the Due Date for the assignment.  It will use the current server date and time Under Notifications, turn on notifications for late submissions

One of the newer features within Moodle is the availability of completion status.  As an instructor, you can turn this on (as long as it has been enabled at the server level) and then use it to help students "track" which items they have completed within your course. Advantages of this feature:  There are several advantages: If you do not use the gradebook, it gives an alternative way for students to track their progress It is flexible by activity so you can set completion "standards" such as a grade or action, or even set it so students can mark it themselves It can be used in conjunction with contingencies, so activities can be dependent on each other (students have to complete one activity to see or do another) Disadvantages of the feature:  There are a couple drawbacks to using this feature as well: While a default can be set within your course, if you set parameters for completion it has to be set on each activity It has to be enabled at the server lev...