Indiana University: IT Training Tips Blog

A few weeks ago I was getting ready for a business trip and I knew that I was going to be on a plane for many hours. I wanted to use that time to review some training videos that my department had created with Adobe Connect. The videos were .flv’s and I wanted to convert them so that I could view them on my Kindle and/or Samsung smartphone.

While I could’ve used Adobe Media Encoder had I been working on my own computer, I was working on my son’s computer and he didn’t have a converter installed. Since I didn’t want to buy an application, I did a search for a free video converter. After reading the reviews for Freemake, I decided to give it a try.

After downloading from Freemake’s website, I opened the program for the first time.

There was no learning curve at all for this application. You simply open it up and begin using it.  Click on the appropriate blue button from the top menu to begin importing the file you wish to convert, and then when the file shows up in the middle pane, you click on the button at the bottom of the window that lists your desired format or device. An Output parameters dialog box appears, which allows you to change the preset configurations if you wish. If not, you simply click on the Convert button and then sit back and wait.

According to the publisher’s description, you can convert from/to 250+ formats. You can also convert and upload content directly to YouTube or Facebook.

I have used this application several times now, converting videos for use on several different devices. So far I have been very pleased. All of the videos I have converted have been playable and the quality has been adequate for the selected device. The application has never frozen or crashed during the conversion process, and the conversion time was similar to what I have experienced with other, more expensive applications. In my opinion, this is a nice little app that is worth having.

Have you used this application? Do you like it? Do you have other free conversion software that you prefer? If so, leave me a comment below.

Several months ago I finally broke down and purchased a smart phone. I was out of town and my GPS stopped working, and I decided to take the plunge. Instead of buying another Garmin, I would buy a smart phone that included a navigation app.

Even though I am usually an “early adopter” and pride myself on keeping up with all the new devices on the market, I had never liked the idea that while you can do so many things on a smart phone, typically the phones are so small that you can’t really see what you are doing. When the sales person showed me the Samsung Galaxy Note II, I knew that this large mobile phone was perfect for me.

I have been using my Samsung now for approximately 3 months and I absolutely love it. I don’t know how I ever got along without it. No, it’s not a trendy iPhone, but the screen is large enough (5.5″) that I can actually read the email in my Inbox. I can follow the directions on my navigation app, read and edit important documents, and I even have enough screen space that I can surf the web and actually SEE what is there.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is an Android device and so there are multitudes of apps available for use with it. As I mentioned earlier, I love the Navigation app and I use it all the time. The Samsung “Speak your destination” feature is fantastic, and it allows me to press a button, tell my smartphone where I want to go, and immediately see the route on my screen.

Since I don’t have time to explore the many applications that are available for my new phone, I thought it would be fun to put this topic out there so that you, the followers of our blog, could chime in and tell us about your favorite Android apps. Got one that you really like? Let us know. Add your comments below.

One of the great things about Outlook is that Microsoft recognizes that users may need to access, read, and even manage others’ calendars, messages, and task lists. In our IT Training Outlook workshops, we cover a number of different ways that users can access, share, and manage multiple calendars, but because most users tend to want to maintain control of their own Inbox, we don’t do as much with the sharing of email. There are times, however, when this may be necessary.

Let’s say that you are an administrative assistant and you need to be able to open your own personal Inbox and your organization’s Inbox, too, and you need to be able to switch back and forth between the two very quickly. In situations such as this, you could add a second Outlook profile to your computer, but then you would still have to open each account separately. A better option may be to add a second Inbox to your Outlook account.

To do this, follow the directions below:

1. Open the first Outlook account.

   

2. Click on the File tab to move to Backstage view.

   

3. Look on the left side of the screen, and verify that the Info button is selected.

   

4. From the middle panel, click on the Account Settings button. A drop-down menu appears.

   

5. From the drop-down menu, click on Account Settings… An Account Settings dialog box opens.

   

6. Click to select the name of the first Outlook account.

   

7. Click on the Change… link that is located just under the tabs. A Change Account dialog box appears.

   

8. Click on the More Settings… button in the bottom right corner. A Microsoft Exchange dialog box opens.

   

9. At the top of the dialog box, select the Advanced tab. Directly underneath the tabs, you see a section that will allow you to open additional mailboxes.

   

10. To continue, click on the Add button. An Add Mailbox dialog box appears.

    

11. Type in the name of the additional mailbox, and click the OK button.

    

12. The new mailbox should now be listed in the Mailboxes field at the top of the Microsoft Exchange dialog box.

    

13. Click the OK button.
14. Click the Next button in the bottom right corner of the Change Account dialog box. You see a congratulations message in the Change Account dialog box.

    

15. To continue, click the Finish button.
16. Click the Close button. The newly added Inbox should now be listed at the bottom of your folders list. You can easily move back and forth between the two by selecting the appropriate folder from the list.

    

During the past year I have created over 60 screencasts for my department. I have used Captivate for the majority of these, but I have also used Camtasia, Articulate, and Adobe Presenter. Since I spend so much time working with these rapid development e-Learning tools, I have become familiar with the most common snafus and roadblocks associated with the development of screencasts, and I have become much faster and more efficient when working with these tools.

Below is a list of  5 simple tips that can be used with any of these programs.

As a Senior Education Specialist for UITS IT Training at Indiana University, I use presentation tools and video editing applications almost daily. Because of this, it doesn’t usually take me very long to figure out how to perform a simple task in one of these applications. That is why I was so frustrated the other day when I couldn’t figure out how to select and move a large number of audio clips on my Camtasia timeline without pressing and dragging each one separately. Since the presentation I was working on had over 50 clips, it was going to require a lot of adjusting and I knew there had to be a better way.

When I need to do this in Adobe Premiere Pro, I simply select the Track Select Tool and then go to work. C’mon TechSmith… Give me a tool. I shouldn’t have to guess how to do such a common task!

After searching online for an answer, I realized there are lots of other users who agree with me. Consequently, I thought a nice, short blog post that answers this question would probably be appreciated. So here you are folks.

If you want to move multiple clips on a Camtasia Studio 7.0 timeline, press and hold down the Shift key on your keyboard, and then press and drag the left-most clip in the sequence (while the Shift key is still being held down). When you do this, the clip you are manipulating and all clips to the right of this clip will be moved.

Sounds easy, right? It is… Unless you don’t know how to do it.  (  :

Over the past several months I have been attempting to use Internet Explorer 9. Even though I have read about its strengths (hardware acceleration, security enhancements, option to pin favorites to the Windows 7 taskbar, etc.), I have not been pleased. While I haven’t done a great deal of trouble-shooting to try and figure out why it is not working well for me, this newest version of Microsoft’s web browser freezes up, doesn’t display content, and frequently displays pop-up messages informing me that it is opening web pages in compatibility mode.

A few days ago, I decided that this was simply too annoying to deal with any longer. I deleted IE9 and restored IE8 on my computer.

Are you in the same boat but don’t know how to go back to a previous version of Internet Explorer? If so, and you are working on a PC that is running Windows 7, you can follow the directions below:
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In my last few posts, I have been discussing how to create and use business cards in Outlook 2010. Today I will explain how you can add your picture to your business card.

Follow the directions below:

1. To get started, open the Contacts folder in Outlook.
   
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In a previous post, I explained why electronic business cards could be useful and how you can create one from scratch in Outlook 2010. If you don’t consider yourself to be very creative, or if you simply don’t have the time to design a professional-looking business card, you can always download a template from Microsoft Office Online instead.

To download a template, follow these steps:

1. Open an internet browser and go to the following web page:  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/results.aspx?qu=outlook&av=zol
2. Select one of the electronic business cards from the list and download it. When the Save As dialog box opens, use the default save in location that is specified.
3. The electronic business card will automatically open in an Outlook contact form.
   
4. Replace the name and contact information that is displayed in the fields with your own (or with someone else’s information if you are creating the card for another person).
5. On the Ribbon, in the Options group, click on the Business Card button. The Edit Business Card dialog box opens. Edit the card as desired.
   
6. When finished, click the OK button at the bottom of dialog box.
7. On the Ribbon of the Contact form, click the Save & Close button.The new business card is now stored with the rest of your contacts in Outlook.
8. To find out how to insert it into a message, read the previous blog post titled  “Quick Tip: Create a Business Card in Outlook 2010.”

The very first business cards were used in France in the 17th century. Gentlemen wrote their signatures and contact information on a small rectangular paper and presented these visiting cards to a host. Later, in the 19th century, business cards became an essential accessory for any fine lady or gentleman. They were frequently engraved and extremely ornate. Today most professionals keep a stack of business cards in their briefcase or wallet, and they are usually always anxious to pass them out to clients and friends. But times have changed. We’re living in the computer age now. Since most people keep their contact lists on their computers these days, have business cards outlived their usefulness?

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If you use Outlook on a daily basis, creating a reusable signature can save you a great deal of time. Rather than typing in your name, business, telephone number, web address, and other contact information at the bottom of each outgoing message, you can simply click on a button to add your signature information.

To create a new signature, follow these steps:
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