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Many Mac users create presentations in the Keynote app, but may need to share what they’ve created in a PowerPoint or Google Slides file format.

To save a copy of a Keynote presentation in another format, you export it in the new format. Any changes made to the exported presentation don’t affect the original.

To share your screen in some versions of the macOS, you need to allow Zoom or Google Meet access to screen recording. You can do this in your System Preferences. Select the Security & Privacy option, click the Privacy tab, scroll down to Screen Recording, and finally check the option for zoom.us (for Zoom) or Google Chrome (for Meet).

Google offers a number of accessibility features in its products and online services, including Gmail, Google Chrome, Chromebooks, Meet, Google Calendar, and more. See the Google Workspace user guide to accessibility to learn about using keyboard shortcuts, screen readers, using braille displays, and other accessibility tools you have access to via your Allegheny College Google account. You can even provide the Google Accessibility team with feedback.

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Labels can help keep your Google Keep notes organized. Here’s a quick introduction.

1. In your browser, navigate to Google Keep.
2. Open a note. Click on the three dots for the “More” menu.
   
3. Choose Add label.
   
4. You can search for an already existing label or scroll through the list, and then click on the label you want to apply. You can also type in a new label name and choose Create to apply the new label.
   
5. Labels you use will show up on the lefthand side of the Google Keep window in a desktop browser. Clicking on the label will show all of your Keep notes containing that label.
   
6. While editing a note, you can mouse over the label showing at the bottom of the note to have the option to remove the label.
   
7. To edit a label name, scroll to the bottom of the list of labels in Google Keep and choose Edit labels.

Learn more about labels and other ways to organize Google Keep notes.

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If you are the meeting host in Google Meet, you now have the option to mute all participants at once.

The meeting host is the only user in a meeting who can use the “mute all” feature. Once all participants are muted, the meeting host cannot unmute them. However, users will be able to unmute themselves as needed.

Note that at present, this feature is only available when using Meet from a browser on your computer. If the host is using the mobile Meet app, this feature will be added in the coming months.

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When you’re planning to be out of office, you can set an automatic vacation reply in Gmail. Here’s how:

In Google Calendar, you can define a stretch of time when you will be out of office. This can be a few hours, a particular day, or a range of days. When you indicate you’re out of office, your calendar will automatically decline all meetings during that time, using a custom decline message if you choose.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. At the top of your calendar, click the date you’ll be out of the office (or the first date, if you’re planning on multiple days).
3. Click Out of office.
4. Select the dates that you’ll be out of the office.
5. Optional: Update the time range and edit your decline message.
6. Click Save.

During the time when your status is set to Out of office, others who contact you through Google Chat messages or Gmail will see a notification alerting them to that fact. So will users who mention or tag you in comments in a Google Doc.

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With so many of the college community working from laptop computers, it’s useful to keep some basic guidelines in mind for taking good physical care of your laptop. Here are some tips:

• Wash your hands. In addition to helping protect against illness, washing your hands can help prevent dirt and oils from your skin from staining your laptop’s keys, touchpad, and other surfaces.
• Keep food and drink away. Liquids, sugar, and food crumbs can interfere with keyboard function and damage electronics. It’s always best practice to keep liquids away from electronics.
• Close carefully. It’s easy to forget a pen or paper clip is on the keyboard when you close the lid in a hurry. But such items can dent, scratch or even crack the screen. Be sure to close the laptop gently and carefully–don’t just snap it shut and go.
• Don’t pick up by the monitor. This puts undue strain on the delicate electronics of the screen, and can result in damage to the hinges as well. Lift your laptop by the base, preferably with two hands, to prevent any twisting of the laptop frame.
• Watch what you put on top. Heavy items and items with sharp edges can damage your laptop surprisingly easily. Even resting your hands or an elbow on top without thinking can damage delicate LCD screens. Cold or heat, such as from a can of soda or a mug of coffee, can likewise risk damage to your laptop.
• Keep an even temperature. Rapid temperature changes can cause condensation inside your laptop, and glass and plastic components can crack from extreme cold. Try never to leave your laptop in a cold or hot car. If your laptop has become colder or warmer than room temperature, give it time to return to room temperature before turning it on.
• Bag it. Bags made for a laptop are the safest way to transport a laptop from one place to another. If possible, use one sized specifically for your model of laptop. If that’s not an option, consider using a cushioned laptop sleeve to carry your laptop inside another bag, to keep other items in the bag from scratching or bending your laptop frame. If you’re using a sleeve, don’t put other items inside–even a mouse or the laptop’s own power supply can risk damage if they are pressed against the laptop cover.
• Keep it clean. Check your laptop manufacturer’s website for their recommended methods. Properly used, compressed air and isopropyl alcohol wipes designed for electronics can be important tools for keeping your keyboard, monitor, and ports clean.

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Did you know you can forward an entire Gmail conversation thread at once? This can be useful if you want to bring someone new into the conversation without having to forward every individual email that’s been exchanged so far. It will save you and the new participant time sorting through each message one at a time.

Gmail offers a way to forward an entire email conversation all bundled into a single email, in chronological order with the oldest messages at the top.

To forward a conversation, first open it in Gmail on your computer. Then click on the “More” menu (the three dots in the toolbar at the top of the conversation.) Choose “Forward all.”

This will create a new message with the entire conversation all in one place.

You can then choose recipients and, if you like, add additional text at the top of the message. Click on the blue “Send” button and the recipients will get a single email message containing the entire Gmail conversation thread.

All attachments in the thread will also be included.

Note: “Forward all” will not show as an option in a conversation with only one message.

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Some in our campus community have asked how to limit the number of responses to a question in a Google Form. Here’s how.

1. In your form, make sure you choose “Checkboxes” for the type of question.
   
2. In the lower righthand corner, click on the three dots to show the “More” menu. Choose “Response validation”.
   
3. Choose “Select at most”.
   
4. Fill in the maximum number of responses you want each respondent to give, and type in an error message that the form can give if the respondent exceeds the maximum.
   
5. Alternatively, you can limit the number of responses to a minimum instead of a maximum–for instance, if you want each respondent to indicate at least two answers.
   

Learn more about Google Forms in the Google Workspace Learning Center.

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