Google Meet "Grid View" Extension!

Currently, holding a large Google Meet video conference can make it difficult to see all participants. Fortunately, there is now a Chrome Extension called “Google Meet Grid View” that allows you to view many more screens at once in a grid:

Steps:

1. Make sure you are on Google Chrome and logged into your school account:

2. Go to the “Google Meet Grid View” Chrome Extension page. Click “Add to Chrome”
3. The extension will be added to your Chrome Extensions:
   You do not need to click it or do anything with it.

4. Now, when you’re in a Google Meet you will see this button at the top:
   
   
5. Click that button to put your Meet session into “Grid View” mode. (Click again it to return to your previous viewing mode.)
   

   

My Thoughts: Use of Google Meet is skyrocketing right now, as you may imagine. Google is scrambling to update the app daily in response to teacher requests and feedback. My guess would be that this, as an often-requested feature, will eventually be integrated into the Meet app, making the use of a Chrome Extension unnecessary. But until that happens, this is a great solution!

Side by Side Windows on Chromebooks

Having two windows or tabs side-by-side on your screen is useful for drag & drop, taking notes, comparing documents, or otherwise multitasking. Here's how to do it on your Chromebook.

Video Demonstration

1. Resize your current window by going to the top right corner and clicking the middle button to take it out of full-screen mode.

2. Click and hold on the solid bar at the top of your window (next to where tabs are) and drag it to one side of your screen.  Don't stop until your mouse touches the edge of your screen and you see a rectangular "shadow" image cover half your screen:

3. Let go of the mouse. It should now dock that window to the side of the screen.

4. Repeat that process with any other window - Chrome or another application - on the other side of the screen. In this example, I am docking my "Files" app to have access to my Downloads.

Bonus #1: You can do this with Tabs in Chrome too!  Just click and hold the tab and drag it out of the window and to the edge of your screen.

Bonus #2: The keyboard shortcut to accomplish this is Alt + Square Brackets: 

Dock to left side:  Alt + [

Dock to right side:  Alt + ]

Enjoy!

   

Email Audio Alerts

If you want to step away from your computer but want to still hear if an email
comes through, you can take these steps:

1. Go to your Gmail Settings:


2. Scroll down and enable notifications:
(there may also be a blue link to click above "New mail notifications on"

3. Install a Chrome Extension

Gmail on a computer does not play audio on incoming email messages. 
You need a Chrome Extension. I like this one:
Gmail Audio Alerts 

Then, in your Chrome menu bar, click the extension to set up your sound.

Make sure your volume is on.

There are other Chrome Extensions that do the trick, but this one is simple, and of course has the AOL sound which we all love. Hope this helps!