As I continue on this journey of digital enlightenment, I just marvel. We can do so much and have so much at our fingertips today. It is absolutely amazing.
For instance, I learned this week about Google Drive. While this may date me with some of you techo-savvy people, for me it was a 'light bulb' moment in time. As with so much that is digital, I'm not just sure how I figured this one out. But it happened and sent me down another learning path.
I have a few documents that are coming to me via Google mail (Gmail). They can be opened and they look a lot like a Word or Excel file but they are a Google file.
This Monday I received an eMail with a file somewhat like an Excel file. This spreadsheet was set up with a row for each week of 2013 and a column each for opening, sacrament, intermediate, closing, and postlude hymns. There was also a column with the theme to be used in Sacrament meeting for each of the months. The request to me was to pick out hymns for February based on the theme chosen for February. I was to insert that data in the spreadsheet and send it back. Okay...I know enough to easily do that in Excel. How hard could this document be. It truly does not contain as many bells and whistles to work around as Excel.
I brought my hymnal to the computer, checkout the theme for February and set to work picking what felt like the perfect hymns for each Sunday. I felt strongly that I needed to open Excel and get this in Excel format just in case. Thank heaven I did.
I highlighted the Google spreadsheet and successfully copied and pasted it into an Excel spreadsheet. I only had to format the column width to get it too look right. I chose my hymns and entered them in the Excel spreadsheet. Then I copied those cells and pasted them into the Google spreadsheet. I saved my Excel spreadsheet. I saved the Google spreadsheet. At least, my computer showed the words, document is saved when I looked at the Google spreadsheet.
I tried to return the Google spreadsheet to Ivan with the hymns picked and a note that I had entered a few bits of information on other dates that would help in picking out hymns for other months. I hit send and sent it back to Ivan. Then I opened the attachment I sent to Ivan and, lo and behold, there was no data I had copied in the document I sent him. Goodness. I sent Ivan another eMail and inserted my Excel spreadsheet this time so I was sure he had the information he needed for the bulletin.
This has been my frustration with Google and the way it opens files. I know I'm spoiled by Outlook. I've used it for years. It is software just made for eMails and using them. I could easily do a 'save as' and safe the eMail's on my computer in Outlook format and keep them that way. I have not found a way to do that in Google eMail. I'm reduced to copying and pasting them into a Word document, editing that Word document to get the stuff out of tables and in a readable format, then saving it. Way too many hoops to jumb through. I'm sure there must be a way to save them but I have not yet found it.
The attachments that come in my Google eMail I am able to display on the screen just fine. I've even been able to get them large enough to print. But I can't seem to get them to download on my laptop or to just let me save them somewhere on my lap top. If I save the file and then try to open it, it is just garbage. If I try to download, I just get a message it can't do that. I'm thinking I have enough firewalls and security that it is hindering this process.
Now, I'm not a keeper of everything in my eMail box. I have created different 'saved' folders in Google and I do put things in there. But I don't want those things forever. I'm just holding items until they are resolved and then they are deleted. If an item is valuable enought that I want it for long term, I want to be able to save it in my regular computer files.
I also don't keep anything in my deleted folder. This troubles the Google software. Everytime I clean out the trash folder in Gmail it tells me something like, "Why are you doing that? You have sooooooo much memory. You don't have to empty your trash." Now, that is paraphrasing but that is what I mentally see when I get the message. I don't want a full trash can. If I sent it to the trash, it is because I didn't want it, am finished with it, and I truly what it gone.
I also don't keep a lot in my inbox. I treat it like a 'tickler file'. You know, just a reminder everytime I check eMail's that I need to do something with that eMail or because of that eMail. Once that is done, that eMail is going into a saved folder to be held until an event is over or an order is complete or whatever. Then it is going to hit the trash can and I will have the above conversation with the emptying the trash mail feature in Gmail. It truly annoys me to have to scan down hundreds of eMail files to find the one in my inbox for which I am looking.
Claude and I were also talking Gmail calendars this week. Mine updates automatically when I enter an event in my calendar on my phone or laptop. These both talk to each other and whatever I enter on one shows up on the other. For some reason Claude's phone is not doing that. What he enters on his laptop shows up on his cell phone. What he enters on his cell phone does not show up on his lap top.
We spent a little time comparing how my eMail is set up on my cell phone and lap top to see where there were differences. We found none in the setting. The only difference is that when I set mine up I couldn't get it to talk to Outlook somewhere so I now use the Gmail to work with my eMail and somehow told Outlook not to get the eMails. The result for me is that I can send eMail's from my Outlook but I don't receive anything there. I still use my Outlook eMail address for everything but it automatically goes to my Gmail and that is where I open it. My calendar does the same things. I can only guess that this is where the difference lies between by calendar and Claude's calendar set up. Somehow he was able to stay on Outlook and have it show on his cell phone for eMails but he can't get the calendar to do that. He has to use the Google calendar.
My head is swimming...again.
The icing on this digital cake is that in all this research about opening document attachments in Gmail, I stumbled upon Google Drive. I was able to set up this on my lap top and can now copy and paste documents that I want on my phone, Kindle and lap top into this 'Drive' and they will show up on all my devices. Well, I haven't perfected the Kindle part of it yet. But I ran upstairs when I learned the meager bit I did about it. Claude needed to know this. He needs a lot more document carrying capabilities than I do with his Mayoral stuff, his Church stuff and those 25 boards he sits on. There are lots of documents it would be nice to have available on his phone or his Kindle. He got his phone and Kindle working great. My Kindle struggled and ended up causing me to change my password with Google as they thought someone was doing what they shouldn't with my Google account. That trickled over into eMail sending and receiving on my cell phone and lots of frustration on my part.
Next I had more of this 'Circle' stuff in Google and found out several of my family members are in this 'Circle' stuff. I included them in my circle and now I must figure out what in the world I do with that!!!
On another note, when I got my cell phone I finally signed up for Pinterest. I'll just share here that there has been NO time for Pinterest. Lots of people have said they were following me on Pinterest. That is very nice. Alas, they will have a short view because I have not been back out to play with that novelty again. Nothing is pinned on my board. I think I created one board that sits there waiting for me to come back and play.
It is just madness. As I sit here catching up on Blogging, I am amazed that so much of our lives turn around these computers and digital devices. For me, who grew up with rotary phones and the first black and white television, the first Hi-Fi Stereo records with a turntable in its own cabinet, all the quick-at-your-fingertips stuff is overwhelming at times. I'll wade through, get a few more wrinkles in my brain (as my mother used to say when I learned something new), and use the pieces that work for me. I'll wonder at all the capabilities that I've not tapped into with these things. Be grateful for the nice things they do for me and avoid all that just befuddles me.
I wonder what this week will bring to me...digitally speaking???
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