Advanced Tips and Practices

Click the link for Advanced Tips and Best Practices for Email, Calendar and Docs (must be signed into Google@CPS to view).

Quick Fix: Notifications Not Working

If your email notifications aren't working, follow these steps:

1. Make sure Notifications are turned on in your mail settings (Gear, Settings, General, Notifications).
2. In Chrome, click the wrench icon in the upper right corner.
3. Choose Settings.
4. Click Show advanced settings
5. Under Privacy, click Content settings...
6. Under Notifications, choose Allow all sites to show desktop notifications
7. Click OK and close tab.

Notifications should start working again.

Tip: Use Outlook to view archived .pst files

If you have archived .pst files, please be aware that they will not be migrated to Google@CPS. However, you can set up Outlook to view theses files. (If you do not take these steps, Outlook may freeze if you try to open it.) Here's how:

1. Click the Start Menu
2. Click Control Panel 
3. Click Mail 
4. Click Email Accounts
1. (In Outlook 2003) Select View or Change Existing Email Accounts and click Next
5. Select the Exchange accounts
6. Click Remove
7. Click OK
8. Click Close
9. Close the Mail Setup window and reopen Outlook 

Take caution: When you go into Outlook to view archived .pst files, you are not working in a live environment. That is, you will not be able to receive, send, forward, or reply to messages. You should consider your archives view only.

Tip: Set up Google Drive

1. When you first log into Google@CPS, you'll see the word "Documents" in the black bar atop the screen. Click it.
   
2. A new window will open up and you'll see a big blue button that says "Get started with 5GB free". Click it. (Note that this 5GB is separate from your 25GB mailbox! Also, documents created in Google Drive do not count against your 5GB.)
   
3. Once inside Drive, click "Download and install Google Drive". This will create a syncing folder on your computer. This is handy because you can now drop files into this folder on your desktop, and they will automatically sync to Google Drive (just like Dropbox). Generally, since these files are Word, Excel, PDF, etc., they will take up part of your 5GB (unless you opt to convert them to Google Docs).
   
4. Now, when you go to the black bar at the top, you will see "Drive" not "Documents".
   
5. Start creating, sharing and collaborating!

You Asked: How do I set Google@CPS as my default email client?

To set Google@CPS as your default email client, follow these instructions from Google Help:

When you open email in Chrome, a message may appear at the top of the page asking if you'd like to allow Gmail to open all email links. If you click the Use Gmail button, Gmail's compose window will open the next time you click a hyperlinked email address on a page. Click No and your computer will continue to open email links the same way as before.

You Asked: What about my archived email?!

Many Outlook users currently archive email to .pst files for future reference. According to Board policy, it is okay to archive or print email that you need to keep beyond the one-year retention policy.

In Google@CPS, however, archiving batches of email isn't supported. Instead, to "archive" individual emails, you can do one of the following:

• Print them
• Save them locally as a PDF 
• Copy and paste the content into a Google Doc
• You will have to save any attachments separately.

If you need to access your currently archived .pst files, you will have to use Outlook to view them. These files cannot be migrated to Google. (And even if we were able to do that, email older than one year would disappear.) See instructions for setting up Outlook.

Finally, don't confuse Google's "Archive" button with offline archiving. They are completely different. In Google@CPS, archiving an email simply takes it out of your inbox and saves it to behind-the-scenes folder called "All Mail". This allows you to get it out of your way while still being able to reference it for up to one year. Email in the All Mail (Archive) folder will be deleted after one year just as if it were in your inbox.

Tip: Gmail Offline

On the train or on a plane, if you find yourself without an Internet connection, you can still manage your inbox by enabling Gmail Offline.

• Just go to Gear, Settings, Offline.
• Click "Install Gmail Offline".
• When the Web store opens, click Launch App. 
• Once installed, choose "Allow offline mail".

Now, you can set the amount of email you want synced: 1 week, 2 weeks or 1 month. Read email or compose email offline! When you get back online, your mail will be sent, and a new sync will occur.

Tip: Signature Control

Want more control of your signature? With signatures turned on, it is inserted every time you compose, reply or forward a message. But sometimes you don't need your signature taking up space, especially if you're in a lengthy discussion with a colleague.

So, instead of using the built in signature, try using canned responses.

1. Go to Labs and enable the Canned Responses lab. Save.
2. Go to Settings, General and turn off your Signature. Save.
3. Compose a new message and type your signature in the compose field.
4. Click Canned Responses above the compose field and choose Save. Give it a name, such as "My Signature".
5. Discard the message. 

Now, whenever you want to include your signature in a message, just click Canned Responses and choose Insert My Signature.

Tip: Signatures double spaced? Here's the fix.

If you copied and pasted your signature into the signature box, you may have noticed that your lines are double-spaced.

Go back into Settings and place your cursor at the end of the first line in your signature. Now, press Delete once. Then, press Shift+Enter. This will create a single space. Do this for each line that you want single spaced.

Alternatively, you can create the signature from scratch and format it the way you want it to look.