Scan and share documents on the go with CamScanner, one of the best free scanning apps on the market.
Available for iOS and Android, CamScanner uses your device's camera to scan items that can then be saved as images or PDFs.
Great uses for CamScanner include:
· Saving and emailing receipts for business travel
· Capturing class whiteboard notes to send out as PDFs to your students
· Faxing documents from your phone when you’re away from the office
Once you open the app, scanning is as easy as taking a photo.
You can select to take a single scan or choose "Batch" to scan multiple items.
You can then crop your scan to save only what you need.
Next, you can further edit the image with the enhancing features: add a title or select the OCR feature to make the text recognizable. This turns your scans into searchable text that you can also easily copy to share.
Finally, you can add notes, watermarks, and other annotations to your scan. Selecting "more" will show you all available actions, such as emailing or uploading your scans to other apps. You can even fax a scan straight from your device for a fee of $0.99 per page.
CamScanner also has a premium account available for $4.99/month that gives you more cloud storage and other advanced features. You can view the differences between the free and premium account here: https://www.camscanner.com/user/upgrade
For more tips and tricks on using CamScanner, check out their blog: https://blog.camscanner.com/?lang=en
Cloud Services: Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive
“The cloud”… you’ve probably heard about it, but you might not know what it is. If you do know what it is, do you know the best way for you to use the cloud? Simply put, cloud services offer online storage that you can access from any device. Think of it like a hard drive or USB. Many different companies provide cloud services, and today we are going to talk about 3 of the most popular options.
Dropbox is the service that set the standard for cloud storage. It works on all devices and on the web, and allows quick uploads and easy sharing. The service is very simple to get started with, and very useful. The one major hitch is that you only get 2GB of free storage to begin with. The other services offer much more than that, as we’ll see. Still, if you want to access your files across multiple platforms through a very secure service, Dropbox might be what you’re looking for.
Google Drive is the current version of Google Docs. As such, it has a modest office suite (Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, etc.) built in. These offer an easy to use collaborative office environment, and sharing is a snap. Google Drive offers 15GB of free storage, making the service much more robust that Dropbox in terms of space. The most useful feature is that Google Drive is integrated with other Google products, like Gmail and Android services. Be aware, your 15GB of storage is used across all of those services.
OneDrive is Microsoft’s answer to Dropbox and Drive, and it’s a pretty good answer. Sharing works very similarly to the other services, and free storage starts at 15GB. Microsoft Office is integrated in a similar way to Google Drive, with options to edit files in your web browser using a simpler version of Office, or to open the file in the version installed on your computer. While OneDrive does work on many platforms, it does work best in Windows, so on Windows phones or PCs. The best part for us? It’s a part of SharePoint, Office 365, and the other services that the University already subscribes to. You can use your USA email to access the program, and as a business account we have more storage.
So, which cloud service should you use? Largely it’s a matter of preference. Dropbox is the oldest and most reliable service, but Google and Microsoft both work very well with other programs from their respective companies. Since a lot of the work we do at USA is in Microsoft Office that will probably be a good fit for many of us. Feel free to try them all though, since they all offer free options.
References
Mitroff, S. (2015, August 24). OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive and Box: Which cloud storage service is right for you? Retrieved September 22, 2015, from http://www.cnet.com/how-to/onedrive-dropbox-google-drive-and-box-which-cloud-storage-service-is-right-for-you/
IFTTT is a mobile app (available for iOS or Android) with
endless possibilities to help you manage your work and life.
With IFTTT, you set up “recipes” to automate processes. For
example, you can set a recipe that recognizes if your phone is connected to USA
Wifi and then automatically mutes your ringer for you (on Android). You can set
a recipe so that you get an email or text if your favorite sports team has
breaking news on ESPN (on iOS or Android). You can even set a recipe so that
data from your FitBit is uploaded automatically to a spreadsheet in Google
Drive (on iOS and Android).
The first step is to go to the Google Play or iTunes store
on your phone and search for IFTTT. You can download this app for free.
Now, create your account. You can do this within the app, or
on the website: https://ifttt.com/. If
you create your account on the website, make sure to open the app and sign in
on your mobile device.
Next, get started creating your recipes. The app will give
you suggestions and show you lists of potential recipes to use. The following
video shows an example of setting up an easy recipe using the website: IFTTT
You can also create recipes within the app itself. For more
details on this, watch the short video Android
App: IFTTT: How to Use If This Then That from Android Noobz OR If This Then That – App Review from iOS
Cracked.
IFTTT works in conjunction with other apps and tech tools,
many of which are listed on the Library’s Tech Tools page and which will be
covered in more detail in future weekly Tech Tools emails.
This week’s Tech Tools installment features another
information management and collaboration tool: LiveBinders.
LiveBinders is a free, paperless, virtual counterpart to the
classic “3-ring binder.” Like other information storage tools, LiveBinders
allows users to stockpile all of their digital content – links, documents,
images, and videos – into one central location. Then users can take their
collected information and create individual content “binders”, which they can
organize by subject or topic and share with the world. LiveBinders is
accessible from anywhere, user-friendly, and a great technology tool to
incorporate into the classroom.
Here’s how it works:
How to Setup a Free Account:
1)
Use the “Sign-Up” link at the top of the page
(circled in red) to begin the process
2)
Craft a username, provide a contact an email,
and create a password for your account.
*(Note: LiveBinders’ free account allows users to create up
to 10 binders, with storage room up to 100MB, and a file size upload limit of
5MB – a fairly sizable amount for a no cost. There are other account options,
such as Basic ($4/month) and Pro ($10). The pay option obviously carries more
storage space and larger file sharing capabilities. LiveBinders also offers
group rates to customers.)
3)
After users create an account, they are directed
to their account’s dashboard (or shelf), where they can immediately begin
creating binders.
So what’s next?
LiveBinders has numerous instructional binders to help new
users get started.
- Create/Edit a Binder
Tutorial:
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=876636
- LiveBinders Tips and
Tricks:
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=3342
- Your LiveBinders Account: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=876679
- LiveBinders Shelves: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=876688
Overall, LiveBinders is a great tool for educators looking
to organize and store information, as well as to share resources, and open up
new possibilities for classroom collaboration. LiveBinders also has
downloadable mobile applications for Android and iOS devices.
Padlet is a free, online
tool with endless possibilities. It’s essentially a blank slate, which the user
then fills with text, pictures, audio files, video files, and even multi page
documents. While Padlet is a web-based tool, there is also an iPad app.
You can customize the background, add images straight from a
URL, or by dragging and dropping the file right onto the Padlet.
Padlet is great for collaborative projects because whoever
has the link to the Padlet can make changes, so sharing information is easy.
Classroom Application
One classroom application with great potential is to use
Padlet as a means to create digital poster presentations. Any project a student
would normally create using a poster board could be created digitally instead
using Padlet. This is a great option for online courses in which you still want
students to present or display information. The end result can be shared in
several ways, including online, as a PDF, as an image file, and through social
media like Twitter or Facebook.
Research Application
Padlet would also be a great tool for creating a digital
research poster presentation. If you are presenting a poster at a conference,
one idea would be to have a digital version of it – you can hand out flyers or
cards to interested people so they can look at your research further online,
after the conference. Though not the default, Padlet does provide instructions
for sharing a Padlet in a way that prevents others from editing it.
Office Application
Outside of the classroom, Padlet could also be a great tool
for brainstorming sessions or collaborative meetings.
Padlet is a simple concept – a blank, shareable canvas –
that it can be used in many different contexts.
Pocket is a free app that lets you
easily save full text articles, videos, and other web content to view later.
Once it’s saved in your Pocket, it can be viewed on any device - phone, tablet,
or computer – so you can always access it no matter where you are. Saved items
are also accessible offline, which is great for public transportation users and
frequent travelers.
Once you’ve created an account,
you’re ready to start saving! Below are several examples on how to save and
organize items in Pocket to help you get started.
Saving items from your mobile device
 |
Save items directly from your mobile device by selecting the Pocket icon via your device's share button.
Specific instructions on how to save items from various devices can be found here: http://help.getpocket.com/
 |
Next, open the Pocket app on your device to see everything you've saved.
Selecting an item will open it up in a clean, easy to view format.
You can also always view your saved items by logging in to your online account at https://getpocket.com/
You may want to organize your items by adding tags.
You can do this easily within the mobile app, as the screenshots above show.
You can then filter items by tag, making it easy to find what you've saved.
As you can see, you can also filter items by type (articles, videos, and images).
Saving items from your web browser
Pocket also lets you save items directly from your Web browser.
Firefox users are in luck as the Pocket button is already installed in the browser. You can find it in the toolbar next to the search box.
When you want to save an item, just click the Pocket button, add tags, and hit save.
Instructions on how to add the Pocket button to Chrome, IE, Safari, and Opera are available here: http://help.getpocket.com/customer/portal/articles/636145-how-to-install-pocket-in-your-browser
Saving items from mobile apps
Finally, Pocket is integrated into hundreds of apps, allowing you to easily save content from multiple resources.
View their app directory to learn more about connecting Pocket with the apps you currently use: https://getpocket.com/apps/
One of the apps integrated into Pocket is IFTTT, which was highlighted in our first Tech Tools email.
You can create recipes in IFTTT that will automatically save items to your Pocket for you.
For example, you can use this IFTTT recipe to automatically save all new posts from APTA's PT in Motion News to your Pocket.
Or use this recipe to Pocket all articles published in the New York Times Health Section.
Connecting Pocket to IFTTT will ensure you never miss important content again!
You can browse user created IFTTT recipes for Pocket and create your own here: https://ifttt.com/recipes/search?q=pocket&ac=false
The screenshots in this email were taken from an iPhone.
Guides are available for Android users here: http://help.getpocket.com/customer/portal/topics/209715-pocket-for-android/articles
Printfriendly.com is an
easy way to make ink and paper saving printer friendly versions of websites. To
use it all you need is the URL of the website you’re trying to print, and
Printfriendly will automatically format it for printing or easy reading.
Often times, when you try to print from a website it includes
a lot of things that you don’t need, including adds, full text of links, logos,
banners, and lots of white space. It looks a lot like this:
That’s a lot of white space! And a bunch of links and ads that I don’t need to read this article. It’s going to take 4 pages?
Instead, copy the URL of the page you want to print from the address bar of your web browser, and paste it into the box on www.Printfriendly.com
Printfriendly got it down from 4 pages to 1, and eliminated many of the ads and extra bits that were not needed.
From here, you can either click
“Print” to send it to your printer, or “Save as PDF” which gives you a saved
offline copy of the document, formatted like this.
If there is still information included that you don’t need,
it’s all customizable from this preview screen. This video gives an excellent overview of
how to delete different section in the Printfriendly preview.
This week’s Tech Tools will provide a short introduction to three Productivity and Collaboration Tools: Evernote, Workflowy, and Producteev.
Evernote is a popular app designed to be your digital notebook and workspace. It is available on all platforms and will sync across all devices. With Evernote, you can create “notebooks” to keep track of lists, notes, and research. You can clip articles and images directly from the web, snap photos of hand written notes, receipts, and other items to save, organize, and easily access from all of your devices. Evernote is also great for collaboration as you can share your notebooks with other Evernote users within the app or via email and social media. There’s also a chat feature available so you can discuss and edit your work with others right within the app.
Some other uses for Evernote include:
- Using the voice recording feature to record lectures, conference presentations, or meetings when typing/writing notes may be inconvenient
- Creating notebooks for each of your courses to easily organize and keep track of ideas, lesson plans, and documents
- Annotating PDFs and images that you've uploaded
While this email highlights just a few of the ways you can
use Evernote, please see the sources below for more detailed tutorials and
guides:
Texas A&M University’s Evernote Overview & Faculty
Tips: http://guides.library.tamu.edu/content.php?pid=351837&sid=2878132
10 Tricks to Make Yourself an Evernote Master: http://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/10-tricks-to-make-yourself-an-evernote-master-1630530879
Evernote’s help guide: https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208314458-Quick-start
10 Tricks to Make Yourself an Evernote Master: http://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/10-tricks-to-make-yourself-an-evernote-master-1630530879
Evernote’s help guide: https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208314458-Quick-start
If you’re looking for a super simple and easy to use to-do
list tool then Workflowy is for you. It’s
a free web based tool that’s also available as a mobile app for iOS and
android. You can sync your lists across devices and even access and edit your
lists offline.
With Workflowy, you can create dynamic hierarchical lists and use quick shortcuts to zoom in, expand, and collapse items to focus on specific tasks.
You can add tag to organize tasks and make them easily searchable. And you can cross out or hide tasks as you complete them.
See just how easy it is to use by playing around with this demo list: https://workflowy.com/demo/embed
The magic of Workflowy is in
its simplicity, so you don’t really need too much help to get started once you
sign-up. But for more tips on using it, check out their short how-to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6k5sR_4qJY
Producteev is a more robust task management tool that’s available on all platforms and devices. It’s a really great free and easy to use alternative to more complicated project management software.
With Producteev, you can set up your own network of projects and invite others to be a part of your team.
This makes it really easy to assign tasks to individuals, set priorities and reminders, keep track of everyone's progress, and generate reports.
A list of all Producteev's capabilities and features is available here: https://producteev.com/features
This short video provides a great overview of how to use
Producteev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlL5aLaMczs
Pushbullet is an app that connects your
devices to each other. With a few simple installations you can “push” data and
files between any of your devices. This means you can send documents, videos,
and other files from your computer to your phone or tablet directly without
using a separate drive or emailing the file to yourself. It goes the other way
too, sending notifications in addition to files from your mobile device to your
computer.
In order to set up Pushbullet, you need to install their web
browser (Firefox or Chrome) extensions, and have the app installed on your
mobile device (Android app or iOS app). Once you’ve signed up you
can also access this from their website.
This looks pretty similar to
their mobile app, and has all of the same features. You can send files or messages
to any connected people or devices instantly by clicking a button on your
browser.
In addition to sending files
back and forth so you never miss anything, you can also get notifications send to
your desktop from your phone. This can be for anything your phone notifies you
of: appointments, the weather, messages, or Facebook. If it’s a text message
you can reply from your computer without having to dig your phone out. You can
dismiss a call before anyone notices it’s even ringing. In fact, with this set
up you can have your phone on silent
and not miss anything, which is ideal for shared offices.
That’s the basics of Pushbullet! More advanced uses can be
found here, it’s a very versatile app. We hope you enjoy
being more connected!
Just as the name suggests, TinyURL is a free online service in which you can shorten any URL to make it manageable, whether you’re sending it to someone via email, posting on a course page, or pasting it into your browser. It’s easy to navigate and use, as you can do it from TinyURL’s homepage: no login or registration necessary. Visit the TinyURL website at http://tinyurl.com/, and you can start making any URL tiny, instantly.
You can take the following URL: http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Clinical-Research-Applications-Practice/dp/0803646577/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455060424&sr=8-1&keywords=foundations+of+clinical+research
TinyURL makes URLs look cleaner, but it also helps prevent
your students and colleagues from accessing a broken link when they use it.
Your new tiny URL will never break, and it never expires.
You can also customize the alias of your tiny URL to make
the link unique and easily identifiable. Take the long Amazon.com URL I
shortened above, for example. I can customize the tiny URL so that it looks
like the following: http://tinyurl.com/FoundationsTextbook.
Another really useful
feature of the website is the TinyURL preview. If you receive a tiny URL and
you’re not sure where it will direct you, TinyURL allows you to enable a
preview feature which shows the original long URL. Once you have the feature
enabled, TinyURL will automatically preview any tiny URLS you click on or paste
into your browser before you decide to proceed to the given website. You must
have cookies enabled on your browser to be able to use this feature.
While TinyURL is a browser-based app, the website is mobile friendly to both Android and iOS users. A video tutorial showcasing the features of TinyURL can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVMJRCQkRZo
