Getting the most from your Gmail account

Trevor.boland@dit.ie

Before we begin…- Gmail works best with the browser called ‘Chrome’.

Download it from here: Click here

-Your Student Gmail account has a lot of extra features. It even has features for making presentations and writing up essays.

Take some time out to explore your Gmail account as it can be a great asset to helping you organise your time.

How to find your Gmail account

Go to the DIT homepage www.dit.ie

then go to the ‘Student Email’ button and follow the other links.

Your Student Gmail account will look like this.

When you enter your Gmail account you see the mails that have been sent to you.

Lets examine this menu

Key Features include:

The ‘Compose’ buttons allows you to create mails

The ‘Inbox’ allows you to see emails you have received and have not read yet.

Another Key Feature includes:

The app button.

It has many features that can help you.

Inside the apps button:

Here you can access applications like:YouTubeGoogle SearchGoogle+ (a social network)Play (access apps)

I will look at:

Calendar Drive

Click on Google Drive:

First it will ask you to download a ink to the Drive for your Computer/ laptop. Click download or Not Now- Your choice.

Inside Google Drive:

Google Drive allows you to save documents in the cloud.

So far I have one document called ‘How to get started with Drive’.

Inside Google Drive:

Click on the red button called ‘Create’.

Create a folder in your Drive by clicking Folder. Then name it.

Click on ‘Document’ to write up an assignment. This has all the features you need to write an essay.

Click on ‘Presentation’ to create a presentation for class. It has all the features you need.

‘Spreadsheet’ is like Excel and ‘Form’ is for surveys.

Document:

Key features

This saves your doc automatically in Drive.

Explore all the features like ‘Line spacing’ and font types that you will need.

If you are creating a doc for a group project then you can share that doc with your class mates (File –Email collaborators- then add their emails)

Presentation:

Key features

It is very Similar to PowerPoint (It can e

If you are creating a presentation for a group project then you can share that doc with your class mates.

‘Presentation’ can be downloaded as a PowerPoint or PDF.

Storing your docs in the Drive

You can simply drag and drop your docs into your named folder in your drive.

You can also upload docs into your drive – click on the red button with the arrow to upload a doc from your computer.

The Calendar app:

Click on the apps button

Click on Calendar.

The Calendar app:

Options will appear and you can choose to Sync the Calendar to your Smartphone.

Press x if you just want to view your Calendar.

The Calendar app:

Click on a time on the calendar- keep track of assignment deadlines and important dates

The Calendar app:

Another feature is the ‘Tasks’ tool.

You can find it in the left bar- just click on the arrow beside my Calendars and then click on Tasks.

Now you can add tasks that you need to accomplish and can tick the box beside the task when it is completed.

Phew….

There are lots more features in your Gmail account but this will give you a good start.

Look for more information online about your Gmail account by googling or searching in YouTube.