Palm Creek iPad Users Group: December 2013

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Sunday, December 14, 2013 by Peggy Aebersold-Fetzer

1st Topic: Folders (Mailboxes) in Mail and arranging your emails.

Select the Mail Icon.
Depending upon where you left it the last time you were in Mail, the screen may open in a specifically-named Mailbox, the Inbox, or the main Mailboxes column (verify by the black text in the center of the column filling the left side of the screen).
Get to "Mailboxes".
Tap Edit at upper Right of the column.
At bottom of the resulting column, tap on New Mailbox...
Type in the title of your new mailbox; Choose which Mailbox Location you want this new one in by tapping the >, then making your selection.
Click Done on the keyboard, or Save at the upper Right of the column. You now have a new mailbox.

To Move an email into the new mailbox:

Open the Inbox
Open an email
At the upper right of the open email, select the folder icon (between the flag and trashcan)
From the column on left, decide on the mailbox (represented with a folder icon) that you want this email in
Tap that folder (aka mailbox) and the open email swooshes into it.

2nd Topic: Avery labels.

purchase a package of labels at an Office Supply Store
open Avery Design & Print App (download it free from the App Store if you don't have it)
choose Address & Shipping Labels
In the space under under Select Product, enter the Product (or template ) Number from the label package and click Done
Highlight the label form you want out of the choices that pop up, then click Next in the upper right corner
Choose and highlight the label design you'd like, click Next again
Tap on the Name, Address to open that text box and enter your own data (Here you can change the Text type, size, color, etc.)
Click on the image in the label to add a different image that you select "From Avery Gallery" or your own photos "From My Device"
Once you've chosen an image, you can "Set as Background" to have the image fill in the label behind your text
When finished designing your label, tap Save; then name your project and it will be saved in your Free Avery Online account
Tap Print in the upper right corner. A PDF will be created. Tap Open to view in Safari where you'll use the share button to email or print the label
(Note: to find previously saved projects - tap the Open a Saved Project Tab when you first sign in)

Next, Sandy told us about the SnapGuide App. It's a cool, free app that explains how to do various things with step by step instructions accompanied by detailed photos. Topics range from A-T including Arts and Crafts, Automotive, Games & Tricks, Home, Music, Pets, Photography,Sports & Technology (to name a few).

Then Betty Davies shared how to use Pinterest. You can simply start by scrolling and clicking through the captioned photos that are there when you open the app.

Or you can use the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen to Search for pins of interest. You'll be able to find almost anything - animals, architecture, automobiles, crafts, cooking videos from you tube, Home Decor, Humor, Kids, the list is endless! (and that's why it can be so addictive). When you see an item that looks interesting, click on it to enlarge it. Now if you tap the Pin it square, you can pin it to one of your boards. If the item doesn't fit any of your board categories, you can create a new board by clicking the +in a box. Give your new board a title, description and category, then click Create.

If you simply like an item, but don't want to pin it, tap the heart symbol. When you go to your personal page (the person icon) and click on Like, it will be there.

The + icon will allow you to pin your own personal photos or something you've found on the web.

The person icon takes you to the boards you've created from items you've pinned, but will also let you create 6 Secret boards that no one can follow (in case you want to pin secret recipes, etc).

The House icon will take you back to the starting page (aka Home).

New topic: To see which apps are hogging space - Settings/General/Usage. Be patient and the Apps with how many GB or MB they're using will appear (in descending order). From there you can delete any app (>, then delete app) and get it back later, but if you have put data into it - you will lose that data and it won't come back when you redownload the app.

Bob Leger then explained how a thief could access the control center of your iPad and set it to Airplane mode thus disabling the Find My iPad feature. To prevent that, do this: Settings/Control Center/make sure the Access on lockscreen button is NOT green.

He also pointed out the HDR (High Dynamic Range) function for the Camera on iPads above an iPad2. If you turn it on and take 2-3 photos consecutively, it will compile the 3 better ones and come up with the best photo.

Bob also mentioned the free Shazam app. It recognizes music which can be really helpful if you just can't remember the name of that song that is playing on the radio.

Finally, Sandy reminded us that we can just type a question about using our iPad into Google and we'll get answers!

Sunday, December 8, 2013

December 7, 2013 by Peggy Aebersold-Fetzer

Bob Leger shared info on Textilus - a free Word Processor app that is compatible with Microsoft Office. You can create documents, insert photos, drawings and charts, and can send as an email.

Next, he quickly showed us how to manage multiple emails on the iPad in the Mail App: Once you have the Mail App open, tap "edit" on the upper right above your emails that are stacked along the left side of the screen. A clear circle appears beside each email. Tap the circles to select the emails you want, then tap the "Trash" button on the lower right (below the emails). "Trash Message" appears in red text within a bubble, giving you a second chance to confirm you want to delete the email(s). Tap that, and the selected emails swoosh into the trash can.

Then we broke up into groups based on user level experience. Our group of 3s & 4s chose to go around the tables and have each person share his or her favorite (or most frequently used) App. Surprisingly, almost every one of us shared something different and boy, did we learn a lot! Here is a list of the Apps shared:

Avery Design and Print (free app) - use to make your own Business Card.

Magic Jack (free app) - use to make free calls (even to Canada) but you must have access to the internet. Another caveat - when you use magic jack to place a call, the person receiving the call will see a Florida area code, so let them know ahead of time by text or email that you will be calling if they refuse to answer unrecognized phone calls. Also, you can't call MasterCard in Canada and/or some other toll free numbers. Probably because of the Florida area code.

Pinterest (free app) - use to look up and save thousands of ideas. User stated it was like having 100 magazines to browse through while her husband watches hockey. Caution, it may be addictive! :-)

BTW, Sandy showed us how to find and use emojicons (various little symbols) to personalize events on our Calendars so we can see at a glance what we have going on each day of the month. i.e.: Three things to attend in one day? A little computer could indicate "Computer Club"; a little cake - someone's birthday; a Dog or Cat - Vet appointment; etc. It's called the emojicon keyboard. Go to: Settings/General /Keyboard/Keyboards/Add New Keyboard/Swipe through the Alphabetical list of languages to Emoji. Tap on Emoji, and that keyboard will be added. To access the Emojicons during regular typing, tap the World button on the keyboard (just left of the space bar). To get back to the English keyboard, tap the world button again (now on the far left).

iPad Secrets (free app) - lite version with tons of little tips on the new ios7.4 operating system. You can even share the tips with friends via email, facebook or twitter.

*Card Mate Pro ($2.99) or Card Mate (free app) - Card scanner & card reader by Qiwen Zhang. Save your collection of business cards on your iPad and throw the paper ones away!

Facetime (comes on iPad) - use to talk to others with iProducts i.e. iPhone, iPod, iPad, probably Mac computers. (If you don't like how you look in the video view, you can turn it off).

Messages (comes on iPad) - send text messages to others using the contacts on your iPad (not in your email programs such as Gmail). Tap on the 'pencil in a box' to start. At the to: prompt, tap on the + sign to access your iPad contacts. Type the message in the long box next to the camera icon, then send.

*Gas Buddy (free app) - use to find nearby gas stations by city, state, zip (or using current location) along with their gas prices. Especially helpful when traveling. Needs internet access, but can get that free at McDonalds, Hospitals (sit in their parking lot), Fry's Food Store, Safeway, etc.

Kindle (free app) - use to download and read books from the Library. Also to download and read free books from eReaderNewsToday (ENT) and BookBub (both found on facebook or Google their website to sign up to have the daily selections emailed to you).

**HTRecorder ($9.99 - User originally got it free from Apps Gone Free.) She used it to record Bob 6 feet away in our noisy San Tan room as he explained an app, and the recording captured his voice well!

Free Mapping Apps - Google Maps Google Earth Maps **Citymaps2go ($2.99) (offline map and travel guide ) CityMaps2goLite (free app)- allows you to download 2 maps from their 7500+ map collection) - National Geographic World Atlas ($1.99) Not a mapping app, but an atlas - wait for it to come up on Apps Gone Free.

*If you search for a recommended app in the App Store and that app doesn't come up in the results, it may be offered only as an iPhone app, but can be downloaded onto the iPad. In the top row of blue text, tap the down arrow beside iPad Only , then check iPhone Only. The App will probably now appear!

** If you missed an app being free on Apps Gone Free, try again in a month. Sandy says they often cycle around and come up free again! AppsGoneFree (free app) - check daily to see what apps are being offered for free on that day only.

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The other smaller groups, worked on scanners, and apps with the ability to put text on them. Reviewed settings and changing default signatures to email, worked on Contacts and the A2Z application so that you can create Groups on the iPad. Currently the only way to create a group is on the PC or Mac. Liked the idea of adding Emoji to Calendar to identify events visually.