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Problem with standard folder systems

How many times have you tried to find a particular file by clicking on this folder? And then I think it's in this folder, and then this folder, and then this folder, and then, ugh, no, that's not it.

So you've got to go all the way back up the tree or back up your folder structure and try again to find out where you left that file. Well, in this video, I wanna show you a much simpler way to manage all of your files and folders so that you can find what you're looking for that much quicker.

Hello, everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. Right off the bat, I wanna tell you that the fastest way to find any file is to use your search feature.

Whether you're a Windows user, a Mac user, or you're storing your files on Google Drive or any other service, by searching for that file, you are most likely gonna find it the fastest, but only if you name your files properly.

Only if you are giving them descriptive names and keywords, so you can use this search field effectively. But let's be honest, we are not always so diligent in naming our files correctly, and that's why we need some type of file folder structure.

How to set up your folder structure

On the left-hand side, here you can see I have my Dropbox account. And when I expand it, you'll notice something unique.

I have 26 folders, one for every single letter in the alphabet. That's right, ABC all the way down to Z, and this is the way that I've been managing all of my personal files and folders for nearly 10 years.

It allows me to find the files that I need in just two clicks. So let me show you how things work.

The purpose of the ABC file folder system is to get to your files as quickly as possible without creating some type of complicated tree or branching structure.

So, for example, if I wanna look at my branding information, branding, well, that's under B. There is my Branding folder, and now here are my branding files and documents.

There were only two steps or only two layers for me to get to this area and find the file that I'm looking for.

How often have you looked at something, maybe like branding, and said, well, that probably fits under marketing or does it fit under design? Or maybe you have design and marketing both under some type of graphic folder or some other tree branch structure.

In this case, you're not so worried about keeping like-minded or similar folders or similar files together; the only thing that is grouping these things together is what they start with.

So if I wanna update my bio, well, yeah, that's under B. If I wanna take a look at some of the backgrounds I've created in the past, or how about business cards that I want to print? Yeah, that's all going to be under B.

I don't have to be thinking about, well, where do I think? Yeah, business cards, that's kind of graphics, that's kind of design, that's kind of a community or relationship building. No, business, business cards, it's under B.

It allows me to get there that much quicker and that much faster. How about my marketing materials? Yeah, marketing's gonna be under M. YouTube resources, yeah, it's gonna be under You.

I know exactly where to go to find these files.

Flat folder system with only 2 levels

And if I open it up, I'm taken directly there, I'm taken directly to those files. So you've probably already noticed that I've purposely kept this system very, very flat, meaning that I only want to go two levels down or two steps to find the file that I'm after.

So the first level is the folder itself, right? We have the letter of the alphabet, and that's going to bring us to another selection of folders.

You'll notice, as I click through these different categories down below and the different folders that I have here, there are no files underneath them.

The second level down is always going to be another grouping of folders themselves. However, at the next stage, if we go back to Branding here, now it is entirely files.

There are no folders at this level, there are no more additional steps or no more additional levels that I need to go. I want to get as quickly as I can to these particular files.

Now, I do wanna reiterate, I probably could get to this file that much faster if I had just used the search dialog up here. But think about all of the files which you have downloaded from someone else.

And how did they name those files? Or did you take the time to rename those files?

This allows you to group things together under a folder, which makes sense, in this case, it's titled Branding, which I'm easily going to find under the letter B.

So, yes, search should be your first choice or your first option when it comes to speed, but that is only going to help you if you have listed and named your individual files appropriately.

Using ABC method with other programs

But there's another reason why I like the ABC file folder method. We spend an awful lot of our time uploading files from our systems.

So, for example, maybe I want to add a file here to my Google Drive account. I'm gonna click on New and say File Upload.

And what I'm presented with is a very small dialog, and no matter the type of system that you're using, chances are, you're often presented with a very, very small dialog.

Now, yes, I could take my cursor and start to drag things out to the bottom or to the right. It doesn't give me an option to maximize.

And yes, I can certainly search for my files as well, but here, I can see an awful lot of my files here on the left-hand side. So if I wanna get back to those branding files, again, it was only two steps or two stages down to find the file that I'm looking for.

Things to consider for teams

Now, a couple of things to keep in mind if you are considering converting or using the ABC folder method. Number one, this method is designed for your personal files, the files and folders that you personally manage.

If you are sharing your files with an entire team or have a resource that you're sharing files with, the ABC folder method is not going to work. Why?

Because the way that you list and the way that you think of your headings and the labels of your folders are probably going to be a little different from other members of your team.

So if you're managing your files with an entire team, you're probably going to have to resort to some more traditional categories, such as marketing, finance, social media, and whatever pertains to your particular industry.

Managing images, audio, or video

The second caveat has to do with if you are dealing with hundreds or thousands of files, such as images, video, or audio. If you're a professional photographer, for example, you're not gonna fit everything under a P for pictures or I for images.

And there's many other great videos here on YouTube which will show you how to properly manage all of those thousands and thousands of image, audio, and video files more appropriately.

But for the rest of us who are dealing with things such as contracts, agreements, and reports, for example, the ABC file folder method can be a lifesaver and allow you to access and retrieve those files and folders in just a few clicks.

Of course, if you have any questions or comments about how to organize your files and folders, be sure to let me know in the comments down below. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Introduction

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You can do almost anything you want within a Trello card, but only if you know what all of these buttons and every feature does within a card.

So in this video, I'm gonna share with you everything you need to know about every single Trello card function and feature. And let's get started at the very top.

Card Title and List Location

We'll work our way all the way down to the bottom. First things first, if we need to change or edit the title, you can do so just by clicking your cursor here at the top.

I know it doesn't look editable, but even if I'm way over here and click, I can change the name of this card. So I'm gonna say new card, maybe for today.

How about that? Something for this example. I can either hit enter on my keyboard or just click anywhere outside of that field.

Now, just below the title of the card, it's going to show us where this card resides. So here at a glance, we can see it's in the list in progress.

I don't need to close this card and see it over here. I can always see where each and every card is listed. But beyond that, you can see that this is actually a link.

So if I click on this, we can actually move this card somewhere else. Now I can choose a different board as the destination.

I can choose any list within the board that I select up here, and if I select something like my pending list, I can also change the position as to where it will be displayed.

But in this example, I'm gonna keep it in In Progress, which is also going to tell us here is the current list. I can either click outside or hit Move.

In this particular example, nothing's going to happen 'cause we're keeping it right here. Now, the other place that you can access this little pop-up menu is over on the right-hand side, under Actions.

And if I click move here, you can see that we're presented with the exact same thing, but you don't have to come down here. You can always access this near the top of the card.

Description Field

Next up, we have our Description field, and we're not gonna take a lot of time here. You can basically input any text that you want.

Maybe I want to add some notes such as take a look at this website. Now what's important to note is that you can include bullet points or links or almost anything that you want here.

I'm gonna paste in a website link right here. Now, when I hit Save, what you'll notice is that it's going to take many of those links and actually convert them into the official name or how Google and other web browsers actually index that website.

So you can see it no longer says simpletivity.com. It's actually using the title of that particular page.

Now, if I click on this, it's gonna take me directly to that website, but sometimes I may need to actually open up the description to see the full name of that website.

So don't be confused if you see these types of links within your description, they're meant to be helpful. They're not always helpful, but you can always click on the description anywhere and see the actual link name right there.

Now down below the description, we have our custom fields. We're gonna come back to this in just a moment because in order to edit the custom fields and create new ones, we're gonna need to come over here on the right-hand side.

But for now, just note that any custom fields that you add will be displayed directly below the description.

Comments and Activity Details

And then at the very bottom of our screen, there may be some additional things that we add in between, including checklists and attachments, but at the very bottom, we are going to have our activity feed.

Now the activity feed is primarily used for comments. So if I want to add a comment, I can just click on this field and start typing away.

I've got a few additional features here available to me, including the ability to record a Loom video. I can add an attachment from here and maybe mention that attachment.

I can use the at symbol or click this icon to mention someone else on this board directly, add an emoji or even reference another card.

And when I'm done typing in this comment, let's just put in the comment, comment, I can hit Save down below.

You'll see there's one other option available to us here and that is a Watch checkbox. So if I want to watch this card for updates, maybe I'm adding myself to a conversation or something here that I want to keep track of, I can select this checkbox and I'll be notified of other updates.

I'm just gonna hit Save here. And now we've got our first comment down below.

But you'll also see to the right of the activity title, there is a Show details button. If we click this, we're not only going to see the comments, but we're also going to see what else has been done to this card.

So I can see that I have deleted an attachment from this card about an hour ago. And then I deleted this image from this card about an hour ago as well.

And we can see that as we make more changes and adjustments, you can keep track of what is happening with this particular card. Of course, if we don't want to see all of these details, we can select Hide details.

And then we will just be returned to view the comments here.

Suggested Actions

Well, let's make our way over to the top of the right-hand side, and yes, we've got a number of buttons to go through, but this is going to make you so much more of an expert with using Trello and being able to use Trello cards in a variety of different ways.

At the very top, we have something that's called Suggested. Now in this case, Trello is trying to predict what we might want to do next based on other behavior.

So in this case, you can see that it is giving me a Join button. You may not see a Join button on your cards, depending on your various boards and how you interact with Trello, but for this particular board and card, it thinks that, well, maybe I do want to join this board.

So I can click this and immediately, I am now a member of this board. Now I'm gonna remove myself from this, from this card, excuse me.

And you can see that that Join still remains. If you do not want to view the suggested items, all you need to do is select this gear icon and say, Stop showing suggestions, and you will no longer receive these types of hints.

However, they might be helpful because maybe there are certain things and you'd like to have them appear at the top of your card.

Adding and Removing Members

Next, we have our Add to card section, and there's a number of things in which we can add. The first one is members.

So if I click on this button here, I can either search for a particular member, someone who has access or is a member of this board, or I can come down here and click on the members themselves, including myself.

So I can either add myself. I could add multiple people. Maybe I'll add my teammate here. And now you can see that they're gonna be listed in this Member section.

Now that we have at least one person added to this card, you can see that we also have a plus button. So if I click this, we're gonna see the exact same pop-up dialog, where we can add further members.

If I want to make adjustments to those who are already added, I can click on them and select Remove from card. And now we don't have any members listed on this card.

Adding and Removing Labels

Next up is our labels. And here we can apply different colors. We can create new labels or adjust.

We can hit this little stylist icon and edit the actual label name for any of our labels here. So maybe this card is a new project. I can select that.

Maybe it applies to more than one label. I can do so here as well. When I'm done, all I need to do is hit X or click anywhere else on the card itself.

Adding Checklists

The third option down is the ability to add a checklist. And this can be a very, very powerful function.

If we select Checklist, it's going to give us a default title, just listed as checklist, but maybe I'm gonna say something different. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna call this a Test Checklist.

Now the importance of naming your Trello checklist is that you can create one checklist and then repurpose it or use it in other cards.

So for example, I could copy items from some of the other checklists that I have used here in the past. Otherwise, if I want to start fresh, I can leave this as none and then select Add.

And here you can see below custom fields, I now have this test checklist, and you can start adding items directly.

Now I have another video that goes into Trello checklist in much more detail, including some of these special features and functions.

But at this point, what you can do is just add your checklist items and or delete the checklist when you're finished, or perhaps you just made a mistake.

And we're gonna move on to our other features here within our Trello cards.

Due Dates, Reminders and Complete

Something that is very important when using Trello or at least will enhance your use of Trello is adding due dates.

So if we select the Dates option here, we're gonna be presented with a miniature calendar. So maybe this particular task is due in about four weeks' time.

I can select that date. I can choose a start date if I want to, but it is not a requirement. Lastly, I can specify the exact time if I want to as well.

And I can also specify the due date reminder. This can be helpful to notify me enough time in advance, depending on what this card represents.

So maybe one day before is not enough. I'm gonna select two days before, and hit Save. Now I will be notified of this due date two days prior to this time.

Now, if I need to, I can always click on it and change that due date. And last but not least, maybe I've completed this card. Maybe I've completed this task.

Here I can use this checkbox and it will mark it as complete. It will mark it as done. So, a very effective way of managing your cards here within Trello.

Below Dates, we have the Attachment button

Adding Attachments

and this is fairly straightforward. Many of us may want to go to our computer and we are going to select a file.

Maybe I'm gonna select this image here and now I've uploaded this particular attachment to this card. Now, images such as this, we have the option to make a cover, which we'll get to in just a moment, but you can attach virtually any type of file that you like.

If I select this attachment button once again, you can see, we can also attach directly from some popular cloud services, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive.

We can also paste in a link. So for example, maybe I want to go back and I'm going to paste in that link for that website.

And I can give it a name. Maybe I'm going to call it website in this case, and I'm going to select Attach. So now you can see that this latest attachment, this is this website link, appears above my last attachment.

And it will always be displayed in this particular order. You can always comment directly on one of these attachments. You can choose to remove it, or you can choose to edit it.

So for example, if I don't like the title of this website, if this isn't very descriptive, I can select Edit, and I can change the title down below.

I'm gonna just remove some of these attachments. I'm gonna leave this one for just a moment here, just so we have some more room for our demonstration.

Location and Maps

Below Attachment, we have Location, and this can be very helpful if you are managing things that are directly related to an address or a geographic location.

So for example, we can use this search bar just like we would in Google Maps. So for example, maybe I want to type in something like the Empire State Building.

You will see a list of things that match that search here, or I could enter in a specific address. I'm gonna select that. And now I'm presented with a miniature map right here within my card.

Now you can expand this if we click on this option here, but this is especially helpful for realtors or people who are doing service calls, or maybe you need to go out and manage different properties or buildings.

You can keep that information here and have direct access to Google Maps. If I want to remove it or change the location, all I need to do is select these three dots here.

I'm gonna select Remove in this particular case. And now that location is gone.

Card Cover

Now we've talked a little bit about this cover button already 'cause you can see here with the attachment we uploaded earlier, we can actually make this image a cover, but we have many more options available to us.

So for example, if I select this cover button, first all, we have the choice of what type of cover do we want to display?

Now you can see these two options are actually grayed out because we haven't selected a color, an attachment, or some other image listed below.

So maybe I want to use a color instead of something that I've attached. Maybe I want this card to stand out.

I'm gonna select this red color here and I'll leave it at this default. This first cover choice here. What I can do, is you can see that we now have this bright red cover at the top of the card, but if we close the card, this card is now listed bright red here as well.

Let me just move it over to my In Progress. I had a rule set up for this particular card that anything that was completed should automatically move to this stage over here as a part of automation.

But I'm gonna move it back here just for our example. So here you can see this card really stands out because it's got this red solid bar at the top, but we can make it stand out even more.

Once a cover is applied, you can see that that cover button no longer exists on the right-hand side.

But now we come up here to the right and select Cover. I could choose this second option, which is not gonna change anything when we have the card open.

But if we go back to the board view, now we can see the entire card is shaded in this red color.

So this can be a great way to make certain things stand out. Now we're not limited to color. I could go here and choose this image, for example, the thing that we uploaded before.

Now, if I leave it in this state, this might be a little distracting, especially for the text that I have on it. So what is more common is using this left one here where we can still see the image, but we can see all of the card details when we're viewing it at the board view.

But again, you don't have to have a cover at all. And if you want to choose to remove it, just select, Remove cover here. The attachment remains the same, but we will no longer have that color shade at the top or at the board level view.

Custom Fields

Our last option here under Add to card is Custom Fields. And you can see in this example, I've actually already added a few custom fields.

Here is a time duration where I can input a number, and here is a custom dropdown in which I can add.

Custom fields can be so powerful and really help you to customize your boards for your specific needs. So if I select Custom Fields, I can either manage my existing custom fields or I can add a new one.

So here I'm gonna select a new one. Let's leave it as a checkbox. And maybe I just want something that says paid or unpaid.

I can choose if I want to show this on the front of the card or not by toggling this option and then select Create. Here you can see now I have this Paid checkbox, which I can either check or uncheck, letting me know if this client or this project or whatever this card represents, is paid.

Now, if you want to rearrange the order of your custom fields, you can't do it here, but you can do it from the Custom Fields button. All we need to do is come to the left-hand side of the field that we'd like to move and click and drag,

and I can move this Paid checkbox to the front position. So now you can see this Paid checkbox will be listed first.

Now, keep in mind, the more custom fields you add, the more layers and the more rows that will appear down below.

So you want to be mindful of how many custom fields are necessary and in what order you would like them to be displayed.

Power-Ups and Automation

Now the next two options here, we're not going to spend an awful lot of time on, but if you want to add a power-up, you can quickly and easily get to your power-up menu by selecting the plus Power-Up option.

If we close that menu, we will be brought back directly here to the card. And this is where your power-ups will be listed as well if you need to access further options.

The same is with automation. If you want to create your own rules, you can do so here by creating a custom automation button, or you can choose to add one from a pre-existing template, which is listed right here.

Move and Copy Card

That now brings us to the last part of our card and that is the Actions section. Now, many of these are straightforward.

We already talked about the Move button. By selecting this, we can move this card to anywhere else that we want.

The Copy option will allow us to take everything on this card and copy it into a brand new card.

We can change the title and we can choose if we want to keep some of the things that already exist here, or we could maybe, for example, uncheck the comments if we want that new card to have no comments at all.

Lastly, we can select Create card if we're happy with our selections here and create that copied card. I'm just gonna hit X on this particular example

Make a Template Card

and move on to our template option. Now, this is a very powerful feature here within Trello.

If you are needing to use many of the same features, attachments, checklists, labels, but then would like to expand on them.

So for example, maybe I want to create a card, which I already have some particular details, including links, maybe links to a particular form or document, and maybe even some of the individuals that I want to be attached to this card.

Well, what I can do is make this card a template where you will now see this checkbox here beside the button, but you will also see this new header at the top telling me that this is a template card.

Now, I can create new cards based off of this template and only have to manage this template going forward. So this can be a great way to save time and give you a little bit of a headstart with creating those new cards.

If you want to change or deactivate the template, you can simply select this button. And now this card is no longer available as a template option.

Watch a Card

Below that we have the Watch button, which allows us to get notifications when something changes on this card.

Now by default, when you join a card. So let me go back up here and I'm going to join this card. You will see that by default, I'm going to automatically be watching this card.

And that just makes sense, right? If I'm a member of this card, I probably want to see all of the updates and changes that happen on this card, but I could come down here and un-watch this card, even if I am a member.

So maybe I'm not the owner of this card or responsible for its outcome, but I'd still like to keep tabs on what is happening with it.

In this case, I'm not going to add myself as a member. I'm not gonna join this card. I'm gonna come down and select Watch, and now I will be notified of things that happen on this particular card.

You can also see at the very top of your screen, we have this little eyeball icon letting me know that I am watching this card.

Archive and Delete a Card

Next up, we have our Archive button. So if we do not want to see this card on this particular board, but perhaps we still want to be able to access it or search it in the future, we can select to archive it instead.

Immediately it will be archived and at the top of the card, you can see that it is telling us that this card is archived and the button now changes to Send to board.

So if I'd like to return it to this board, I can select this option. And now we're back in our original state.

You'll also notice that once you archive a card, you now have the option to delete this card. It's sort of a two-step process if you want to delete this particular card.

And that's for safety measures, just to make sure that you want to go through with the deletion process. I'm gonna say, send back to board.

Share a Card

And lastly, we're gonna come down to our Share button, which is also going to give you a quicker way to delete your card if you need to. Now by selecting Share, there's a number of things here that we can choose.

We can choose to print this card. We can export this card. We can also get a link to this card. If you want to send a link to someone else and make sure they come directly to this card, you can share this link as well.

Keep in mind your existing permissions will be in place. So if they don't have access to this board, they will not be able to access this card.

We can even display a QR code. And if you'd like to download it and use it for marketing purposes or however else you are using your Trello boards.

Next up, we can embed this card by copying in this code, or we can use this unique email address if we want to send comments directly to this card.

Yes, every single Trello card comes with a unique email address. So if you need to email content and comments directly into it, you can do so here as well.

Lastly, if you want a faster way to delete your card, you can open up Share, and directly select the Delete link here.

This is going to prompt us, are you sure that I want to delete it? But in this case, we don't have to hit archive first in order to get to this delete step.

This video was made possible by my friends at Rewind. The number one backup and recovery solution for Trello. Listen, mistakes happen, but you can recover from small errors all the way to major catastrophes in no time with Backups for Trello.

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How to enable Zoom closed captioning

Wouldn't it be great if you could produce accurate live transcriptions right here within your Zoom meetings for free?

Well, the good news is you can, and you can do it with just a single click, even if you're just using the free version of Zoom.

So in this video, I'm gonna show you everything you need to know about closed captioning and enabling auto transcriptions in Zoom.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And let's start off with where you need to go to make sure that your transcriptions are working and available to you.

So first things first, you're gonna want to go into your Zoom settings here, and you're gonna want to select your profile picture and then come all the way down here and select check for updates.

It's really important that you're on the latest version of Zoom to make sure that you can take advantage of this feature.

And here you can see I am on the latest version at this point.

If not, it may take a few minutes.

It may have to restart Zoom, but after you're complete, you can hit close here.

The second step that we wanna take is that we want to actually log in to our Zoom account online.

And usually, you need to go to zoom.us in order to log into your account.

On the left-hand side of the screen, we wanna come down to the admin section.

We want to select account management and then we wanna select account settings.

And then within account settings, what we wanna do is we wanna come over here.

This is sort of our submenu, and we wanna select in meeting advanced.

And that's gonna take us directly to where we want to be.

Zoom transcription settings

Where we see closed captioning.

Now by default, this is probably disabled, so you're probably gonna have to toggle this to turn this on.

Once you've turned this on, you're gonna have these three different options.

These are three different checkboxes.

Now, the first one is to allow use of caption API token to integrate with third-party closed captioning services.

That was a mouthful.

Now, this has been available for some time because there are many other services that allow captioning and providing this service.

But you may not need this or have no need for it in the future.

You can choose if you want to keep this on or off.

It is really the second checkbox where we want to pay the most attention to, allow live transcription service to transcribe meeting automatically.

Now keep in mind by checking this box, it doesn't mean that all of our meetings are going to automatically be transcribed.

We're gonna still have to initiate that, and I'm gonna show you how to do so in just a moment.

The last checkbox is to allow viewing of the full transcript in the in-meeting side panel.

So this can be helpful to both yourself, but also participants of the meeting if they want to go back and review what has been said earlier or even search through some of those keywords.

The only other option here that you're gonna want to double-check is save captions.

Do you want to allow participants to save fully closed captions or a transcript?

So this is up to you if you want to toggle this on or off, but depending on the meeting, this can be a valuable asset.

Using Zoom transcriptions in a meeting

So with our settings in place, let's go see how we can enable this within any of our Zoom meetings or webinars.

So here within my Zoom meeting, if I come down to the bottom, I've got a number of different features, many of which you're already familiar with, such as sharing your screen or accessing your participants.

But because I have live transcripts turned on, here you can see I have this live transcript button.

So I'm gonna select that, and I've got a few different options here.

I've got this API token, for example, here.

This is this third-party closed captioning service.

I can assign someone to type for me, or I can choose if I want to type.

And this can be very helpful, especially if you have someone who is going to be interpreting into another language, or you just trust them to translate and transcribe this particular meeting.

So you can assign yourself or assign someone else.

But where you're most likely going to take advantage of is the live transcript down here.

Now, the last checkbox just before I enable auto transcription says to allow participants to request live transcription.

And this is something that you may have seen more recently where you can ask the host, "Hey, can you please turn on the transcriptions?"

If I uncheck this box, they won't have that ability to request myself, request the host in order to turn these on.

So at this stage, all I need to do is select enable auto transcriptions.

I can now close this box, and here at the bottom of my screen, you can see my words being transcribed in real-time.

Now I am really quite impressed with how accurate and how fast these live transcriptions are.

You can see that the words that are coming out of my mouth are not only almost 100% accurate, but they are being presented in probably half a second after I utter those words.

Moving closed captions on the screen

Now let's take a look at a few other features that we wanna pay attention to.

Sometimes it's not always helpful to have these transcriptions at the bottom, depending on what we are showing, if we're sharing slides or maybe something else on our screen.

So you can always take your cursor and drag your transcriptions to somewhere else on the screen, somewhere else where it's maybe a little more applicable.

Now, this is going to be specific to each and every user, so just because I've dragged it somewhere else, it doesn't mean that my viewers are going to view it in this area.

They can choose as to where they would like this transcription to be displayed.

But let's take a look at one other option that is very helpful, and that is actually accessing these transcriptions if we want to go and search them or review them later.

Viewing full transcript and saving the file

If I come back down to the live transcript button, you will see that there's this small up arrow beside it.

And if I click on this, I can either choose to hide the subtitle, I can change or adjust some of my subtitle settings, or I can view the full transcript.

So if I select this option here on the right-hand side, now I can see the full transcription for this meeting, including what's happening in real-time.

Now, the great thing about this is that I can scroll back up and review what has been said earlier, and you can see that there are timestamps beside each one as well so I can see when it was said.

In this particular example, I'm the only one in this meeting, but if there was someone else, you would also see their profile picture or if they don't have a picture, you would see their initial beside their comment so you can go back and see exactly who said what when.

But last but not least, we can also come up here and search our transcript.

So let me type in the word Zoom.

And now I'm immediately taken to all of the times, all of the phrases where I uttered the word Zoom in this particular case.

So if you forget or if you say to yourself, "I thought we already addressed that.

Or didn't someone else say something on this topic," you can use this search function to go back and see what was said.

Last but not least, if you'd like to save this transcript for your reference or perhaps you'd like to send this out to those who were unable to attend this meeting, you can come down here and select save transcript and then you can download it and use it any way that you wish.

Now if you have any questions about how to use Zoom closed captioning and auto transcriptions, be sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.

Reasons for installing the Desktop App

You already know the many benefits of using Google Drive online.

However, if you want to save time and get more flexibility out of all of your files and folders, you should consider installing Google Drive for desktop.

So in today's video, I'm gonna share with you everything you need to know in how to get the most out of this app.

Everything from installing and setting up your settings to why you should consider using the desktop app in the first place.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And let's start off with the two key benefits of downloading and using the desktop application.

Number one, you're probably used to logging in and opening up your browser to access all of your files.

Here you can see I've got a couple of test folders up here and then a variety of different files down below.

But sometimes I get tired of always having to go to my browser, keeping a tab open, or just opening up a new tab to find all of my files.

When I'm working here on my computer, wouldn't it be easier if I could just open up my File Folder system, my Explorer system, or Find File and go directly to those files?

Yes, absolutely.

The number two reason I would encourage you to use the desktop application is if you don't always want to be simply using your Google Drive applications, such as Docs or Sheets or Slides.

Maybe you prefer to use some Microsoft Office applications and you wanna keep editing in that format.

Here's an example right here.

You can see by the icon that this is actually a Word document, which I've uploaded.

Now, if I double click on this, it's gonna open it up in Google Docs.

That really shouldn't be a surprise because we're here within Google Drive.

But what if I don't like working with Google Docs and the menu options here up above?

What if I'd like to continue to work in Word?

Well, no problem, you can do that with Google Desktop.

How to install Drive for Desktop

So where do you go to get the Google Drive for desktop application?

Well, I'd actually recommend that you do a search rather than just give you a URL.

Why? Because the URL is not very memorable.

Here you can see the second one down is download Google Drive, and if I click on this link, you'll see a screen such as this.

Now, all you really need to pay attention to here is the blue button to Download Drive for desktop, whether you are a PC or a Mac user, and also keep in mind, you can download Drive directly to your iOS or Android device.

Now, once things are installed, let's open up our desktop and see how it looks and feels there.

Well, we don't have to go very far.

All I need to do is open up my File Folder or in this case, my Explorer Window.

And you can see at the very bottom here, I've got a listing of some of my most common locations on my PC, including my Desktop, Documents, Downloads, some other areas here.

Here's my Window C file and then down below, I've got my G Drive, Google Drive G.

And as you can see here, I've got two different sections.

I've got My Drive and then I've got Other Computers.

Now I'm gonna come back to this Other Computers here in just a moment.

But if I click on My Drive, you can see I have now access to all of the same files and those two test folders that you saw on Google Drive.

If I open things back up again, here are those two test folders, here's the files down below.

I can now access everything here on my desktop computer.

Accessing files from your desktop folder

So I no longer have to launch a browser to find those files.

If I want to look at an image here, I can just double click on this, and it's gonna open up this image right here on my computer.

Now I can edit it here with any other application that I have installed on my computer.

And if we go back to this Word document, remember this About Page Revisions that we saw on our online version of Google Drive?

Well, of course, it's a Microsoft Word document.

If I double click it here, it's gonna open it up within Word.

So maybe I'm more comfortable using Word here, I can do so, but everything here is going to be saved, continue to be saved to Google Drive.

So one of the nice advantages of using the Google Drive for desktop application.

Now, of course, you probably have a mix of different types of file types here within your Google Drive account.

And although I have a Word document here, many of my files here are either a Google Sheets or a Google Docs, or maybe a Google Form.

So for example, if I open up this Google Form, it can't launch it within the desktop because Google Forms does not have a desktop application.

However, it's going to take me directly to this file by opening up my browser.

So it was a simple double click to open the file up just like I would anywhere else, and it's taken me directly to this file.

So I didn't first have to go to my online Drive tab and then search for it.

I can go directly to that file.

I can make my changes and know that I can always access it right here from my desktop.

The other nice thing, because you've got your own Drive here, your own Google Drive, you can drag in any other file into this account.

So if I want to use this as a backup service, maybe if I want to share a particular file or a folder with others through my Google Drive account, all I need to do is drag and drop that file into my file here.

So it can be used as a backup tool, could be used in a variety of different ways as well.

Drive for Desktop settings

Now that you know a little bit more about how to use Google Drive on your computer, let's make sure that you're comfortable with the different settings and some of the things that you may want to switch when first installing the desktop app.

So in order to access your settings, all you need to do is come down to the taskbar and find your Google Drive for desktop icon.

I'm gonna click on this, and you can see that we are given some of the most recent activity here, including the file that I just opened here letting me know that everything is now up-to-date.

If there are any particular notifications, you can find them here as well.

But where are you gonna want to pay attention to is this little gear icon.

So you can set your own personal preferences, and that's gonna open up this little dialogue here.

Now we're actually gonna start on this first tab, you can see that there's two.

One is Google Drive and the top one is going to be listed either as My Laptop or Your Computer or whatever you've named the system in which you've downloaded the application.

So I'm gonna start here because this is, I think, one of the key benefits of using this tool.

Here we can safely back up our files or just make them accessible on either Google Drive or Google Drive and Google Photos.

So in this case, I'm displayed with this option here because I have yet to add a folder, but maybe I have an existing folder here within my laptop, and I'd like to access it on Google Drive.

So in order to choose a folder on your computer, select the Add Folder button, and this is gonna open up your Explorer bar or something similar so you can find your files.

So here's the particular folder in which I'd like to add to my Google Drive account.

I'm just going to select it here, say Select Folder, and now I have the choice to either Sync with Google Drive, or I can also back up to Google Photos.

Now, in this case, I'm just gonna keep this first option here, and I'm going to select Done.

So now under My Laptop, I can see a full listing which in this case, of course, is just the one folder, which is now being backed up to my Google Drive account.

Of course, you can add as many folders as you like, as long as you have room within your Google Drive account, and you can see them listed here.

Now, the second option that we have here is Google Drive, and that is folders from Google Drive.

Now I actually like this, it's giving me a warning here.

I'm gonna go back 'cause I forgot to hit the Save button.

So I'm gonna hit Save to make sure that this file is going to be uploaded and backed up to my Google Drive account.

Selecting to Stream or Mirror Drive files

Now I'm gonna go to my Google Drive here, and now I can access my files and open in Explorer.

This is simply gonna open the exact same screen that we saw earlier but what we do wanna pay attention to are the two choices down below, Stream Files or Mirror Files.

Now by default, Stream Files will be selected when you first download and install the Drive desktop application.

And what this means is that all of your Drive files are stored in the cloud only.

We do have the choice to set specific files or specific folders to be made available offline, but by default, you are simply streaming or accessing those folders in the cloud.

The second option that we have down below is to mirror those files.

And what that means is that all of your Drive files will be stored in the cloud and on your computer.

So by default, that means that you'll have access to everything offline even if you're away from the internet, those files will actually reside on your computer.

One of the big differences beyond just online and offline, of course, is hard drive space.

If you choose Mirror files, you'll be storing a lot more information on your local computer.

So you can take a look at the pros and cons and see what is best for you.

Now, before we leave this dialogue, we wanna come up here and hit this icon as well, 'cause there's a couple of additional things that I want you to pay attention to.

There's a few other tweaks that you can scan down this screen.

Some of them are maybe a little more detailed or a little more specific that you won't need to get into or make changes to.

But I do want to pay your attention to this very first option here.

So we can see that there's a checkbox that says, Real-time Presence in Microsoft Office.

And again, this is very helpful to any of you who are using a lot of Microsoft Office products, such as Excel or PowerPoint or Word.

And if you're sharing those documents with others, if we leave this checked, we can see if someone else is editing a shared Microsoft Office file.

So just like you're used to seeing this within your own Drive files when you're working online, now we can see something similar.

So I would usually recommend that you keep this checked, so that you can see when others are working on that file.

Lastly, you can choose a different Drive letter if you wish.

Now, it's not surprising that Google has chosen Drive G for Google, but if you have a preference, you can choose from one of the other drives that is available to you as well.

So if you want the convenience and flexibility of accessing all of your Drive files from your desktop computer or to back up and upload your desktop files directly to Google Drive, be sure to check out the Google Drive for desktop application.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult, in fact, it's very simple.

Applying bulk actions

Taskade has so many great features to help us work more efficiently.

So in today's video, I'm sharing with you seven of my favorite tips and tricks so you can get the most out of Taskade.

Whether you use it for project management, as your personal to-do list, or maybe just for brainstorming, there's something special which is gonna help you work smarter in today's video.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

Now tip number one has to do with something that we often overlook but can help us save so much time, and that has to do with bulk actions.

Whether that's a bulk movement or maybe bulk editing or bulk formatting, Taskade makes it really easy for us to do all three.

So for example, maybe I forgot to put these three items that are actually meant to be in the details down below.

Most project management systems will force you to do these things one at a time, but not here in Taskade.

All I need to do is highlight that section, I can drag it down here, and now it's a part of my detail section down below.

How about this subsection down here?

Maybe I want to have this indented.

Well just simply highlight and hit my tab key, and I can move it over.

The other great thing about bulk actions is that we can apply bulk editing as well.

So if I want to format everything under this task heading, all I need to do is select it and I can bold all of this text.

I can even add some highlighting color or underlines if I want, just to make things stand out as well.

So don't forget to bulk move, bulk edit, or bulk format right here within Taskade.

Easy video conferencing

Now tip number two has to do with making use of video conferencing right here from within Taskade.

Rather than jumping out of the application and going and finding a video conferencing link, all I need to do is come up here and hit the toggle chat button.

So if I don't wanna be limited to just a text-based conversation, I can come up here to the right-hand corner and select start call.

Now anyone who is invited or a part of this project will have access to this particular meeting.

I'm gonna select join meeting here and turn my camera on, and here we are ready to go.

I can collaborate with others.

We can all see what's going on here on the screen in front of us.

And it even has other features such as screen sharing, so if I wanna share something else, I can do so and do it all right here from within Taskade.

Multiple views and layout

Now tip number three has to do with one of my favorite features, and that is the multiple views in which we can view our information.

You're probably most used to using the list view, which is often the default view for our projects.

However, at the top of the screen, we have four different additional views in which we can make use of.

The first one is a board view.

So if you like a more kanban style view or maybe just seeing your work in different columns, this may be the view for you.

Next, we have an action view which is actually actionable.

What I love about the action view is that there's so many different things that we have here at our fingertips, or should I say our cursor tips, including the new timer feature.

But if I wanna collapse something, I can still do so here and just focus on the tasks that I'm worried about.

I can still use everything here such as the checkbox feature and work through almost more of a spreadsheet or a column and rows format.

But if you want something even more flexible, you might love the mind map feature here, which will turn your data into a mind map.

Or if you love to brainstorm, you may want to start your next mind map right here within Taskade.

Last but not least, we have an organizational chart view which is essentially turning that mind map view on its side, but the nice thing is that it's still functional.

It doesn't squeeze everything across, so I don't have to be scrolling far to the right.

I can see everything here based on my different headers, the things that I have chosen in my other views.

The other nice thing, for example, if I like this action view and I want it to be my default, all I need to do is click it a second time, and now you can see I have this little star beside it.

What that means is that every time that I open up this particular project, it will bring me back to my default view.

Now if I want to deselect it, all I need to do is select it one more time, and maybe I wanna come back here to the list.

I'm gonna hit that one twice, and now this will be my default view.

So no more do I have to start a project or reload my software and go to my preferred view.

I can let Taskade know what I like, and it will remember it for me.

Review history and restore versions

Now another great feature which has saved my skin more than once is the ability to quickly review any changes and version history, but also to be able to restore my projects to any point in time.

Here in the top right-hand corner, we can click on the project history, and this is going to give us a running history of the most recent events.

So here we can see some of the things that we've completed, some of the things that I've edited within the last 30 minutes.

Now I can continue to load more if I want to, but up here at the top, we can also click the version history, and what I love about this screen, what I love about the way that Taskade has laid this out is not only can I see all of my versions here on the right-hand side, many of them by the minute, because it's going to save that version depending on what has changed or what has been edited.

But I also get to see the changes on the left-hand side.

So as I toggle through different changes, I can go and see, well which one is it that I want.

This is, yeah, this is the one that I'd like to restore.

I can preview it here live in front of me before I select the restore point.

An incredibly helpful feature so you're confident that you're restoring your project to the one that you want.

Quickly share projects

Now the next tip in our list has to do with easily sharing our projects or workspaces with others including with those who have no experience with Taskade at all.

Here in the top right of our screen, we have this large invite button, and when I select it, we have two options available to us.

We can either invite someone to our entire workspace, this can be a collection of different projects, or we can just invite them to a particular project.

So in this case, I'm gonna select the individual project.

Now we've got a few different ways in which we can share this project, either via email or username.

We can send them an invite link, which I'm going to choose in this case because perhaps I wanna share it with someone who I know is not familiar with Taskade or who's not maybe just interested in using Taskade for this particular project.

That's fine.

Maybe I've done the brainstorming.

I've been doing the work here in an application that I love, but I just wanna share that information with others.

I can either allow them to be an editor, a checker, or what I'm gonna choose in this case is a viewer so that they can only comment and chat, but they cannot edit the project.

I'm gonna select that and then copy this link, and now I can paste it wherever I need to.

So quick and easy, a variety of different ways in which we can share our projects or workspaces with others.

Organize with tags

The number six tip on our list has to do with using tags within our project so that we can easily filter or find the information that we're looking for.

So for example, you can already see that I've got a couple of tags here that I'm using.

I've got finance up here, and I've got a few more that are labeled both marketing and finance.

Let's say that this video conferencing setup is a task for the marketing team, so all I'm gonna do is hit that hashtag, and I can either enter it in manually myself, or I can choose from one of my existing tags.

Now whenever I want to go and find or group these tags together, I can just use the search function up top.

In this case, I'm gonna search for everything that is marketing and hit enter.

And now everything is going to be brought back that has that marketing tag.

What I especially like is that it keeps my different blocks and my different subheadings open.

When I've used tag searches in other project management tools, often they will just tell me the individual line item, and maybe in some small print, I have to look to see where exactly does that exist.

But the nice thing here, let's go back and let's search for finance as an alternative here.

So I'm going to search finance in this case.

I know exactly that this task is under the background section.

It's also under the number one goal, and this particular task is under next steps so it keeps it nice and clear, and I can do this search within my multiple views as well.

So don't forget to use tags to help you order your various tasks and your brainstorming ideas.

Chrome browser extension

Now the last tip that I have for you today is to make use of the Taskade Chrome extension.

With the Taskade Chrome extension installed, you have several different options as to what you would like to see happen when a new tab or window is opened.

So for example, I can choose that when I open up a new tab here, it's gonna open up my last project here within Taskade.

So let's try it out.

I'm gonna hit that plus button and automatically I'm brought to the last project I was involved in.

This can be very helpful, especially if you find it hard to focus in and stay on top of your most important tasks and projects.

But those aren't the only options available to you.

You can choose to have the dashboard up here, or a brand new project, or maybe your calendar so you can see all your due dates.

Of course, you don't have to choose any of these options and just choose the default if you wish, but this can be a great way to remind yourself as to what you should be working on next.

Now as an added bonus for watching all the way to the end, I'd like to upgrade your Taskade workspace for free.

All you need to do is use the Simpletivity coupon code, and you'll receive a 100% off lifetime discount to your upgraded Taskade workspace.

Please know this coupon is only valid for the first 1,000 users, so if you want to get the most out of your Taskade account, be sure to use that coupon code.

You can also see the link in the description below for more details.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.

Color scheme generator

Now more than ever, it's important for you to look great online. Whether that's your website, social media, or the content that you produce, you want to make sure that it stands out and is enticing for your visitors.

So in today's video, I'm gonna share with you seven free websites to help you make your content look amazing.

Hello, everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And let's get started by talking about colors. The first website I want to introduce you to is actually called Coolors, spelled C-O-O-L-O-R-S.

And the idea behind the Coolors website is to help you find a new color palette which is going to work for you.

And the great thing is it's absolutely free. All you need to do is select Start the generator, and you're gonna be presented with a screen with five different colors.

Now, by selecting the space bar on my keyboard, all of the colors in front of me are going to randomly cycle through different pallets.

Now, no, I don't have to zero in on one particular pallet. Once you find a color that you like, let's say, I like this particular ruby shade here, I can select this lock icon, and now this color is going to stay.

So I can continue to press that space bar and see if there's any other colors that I think are going to go well with it.

Maybe I like this Space Cadet here.

So what I'm gonna do here, is I'm gonna select that lock icon.

If I want to, I can actually drag these colors over to the left-hand side if I want to, and then continue to cycle through some other colors here on the right.

Now, of course, I don't need to find five different colors.

I don't need a color palette which is that large, but at any time here, all I need to do is select the Copy HEX icon, and now I can paste that hex code anywhere I want.

Color palette designer

Next up, we're gonna stick with colors for a moment, and go to the paletton.com website.

Now we can punch in any hex code or RGB code that we like. We can select from the variety of different colors here on this color wheel, but where Paletton's strength really lies is in finding complimentary colors.

So for example here, maybe I like this purple. Maybe this is my primary color or shade for my website, but I want a slightly darker or a slightly lighter shade.

And here it's going to show me what those shades are. If I click on them, I can get further details and copy that hex code here as well.

But I also frequently look at the different relationships here, up in the left-hand corner.

So if I want to see what else is related to, maybe I want to see the triad of colors here, or maybe this a tetrad of colors here, I can see that, yeah, these colors do go well with this purple.

Maybe I want to use these colors as an accent.

So it's quick, it's easy, it's free. I'm in and out and finding some new color ideas for all of my content.

Vector icons & stickers

But enough about color, let's jump into adding some graphics, and in particular, adding some icons, which are going to stand out, whether you're producing a presentation, whether you want to add some flair to your website, or wherever you want to throw a little bit of visual difference.

Here, I am at the Flaticon website, and all I need to do is come into this search bar and type in something, let's say something like laptop.

I'm gonna type in laptop, and what I'm delivered with is a variety of different icons, which I can use for free.

Here, you can see we've got a combination of both black and white icons, but we also have some more three-dimensional and full-color icons here to choose from as well.

What I like is how easy it is to search for something here within the Flaticon space.

So for example, maybe I want to look at some phone data or something along the likes here.

Now, I may be presented with some pop-up ads along the way, but keep in mind, all of these images here, I can use for free.

The one thing that you do want to note is that you must give credit to the Flaticon website or to the author of each of these images, but these can really help make your presentations, or your content, or your website stand out.

Remove background image

But of course, for a lot of our content, we're dealing with real images, whether they are our own or other royalty-free images that we might find online.

And in many cases, we may want to remove the background and just focus in on the individual, or maybe whatever's in the foreground.

For that, I like to go to remove.bg, the BG standing for background.

And all we need to do is to start by uploading an image.

So I've got an image here. Let's pick this one right here.

I'm gonna say Open.

And what I'm going to do, it's going to take a moment to upload that image, and then actually remove it in a matter of seconds.

I didn't have to select the area, I didn't have to do anything else. Right now, I've got the image removed.

Now at this stage, I can go ahead and download this image at 500 by 500 pixels.

However, if I do want a full high-definition image, I will need to sign up for the removebg service.

However, in my case, when I'm dealing with things such as social media, usually my graphics don't need to be very large anyhow, so just this size is going to do me well, and it may serve you well, too.

Write better headlines

Now so far in our list today, we've talked about colors, and images, and graphics, but of course, depending on the content that you're producing, you want to make sure that you have a catchy title or headline.

And that's precisely where Headline Studio comes into place.

Headline Studio allows you to test out a variety of different headlines, and to see how well they may score against your competitors and also those who are interested in your content.

So for example here, here are some that I've been testing out recently: "3 ways to track your time for better results."

I'm gonna hit analyze.

And what's it going to tell me?

It's gonna do an analysis of both the word count, the types of words that I'm using, are there power words, common words, and give me a score.

So in this case, it's actually given me a pretty good score, saying that this might be attractive to either my viewers or other people who may be browsing my content.

Let's try another one really quickly here.

Look at this. (computer keys clacking)

Now this may seem enticing here; it's nice and short and sweet, however, it might just be a little too short.

And what Headline Studio is saying is that, well, at a score of 32, I should maybe try something else.

"Look at this amazing way to tie your shoes."

How about that?

Is that gonna change anything with my score here?

Well, that certainly improved it a lot at 64, but I can continue to play around and massage these titles until I get a score which is hopefully in the green, something that's a little more enticing and that's gonna give me the confidence to publish that headline or title in the future.

Now sticking with titles for a moment,

Title capitalization tool

another website that I use on a regular basis is Capitalize My Title.

How often have you been preparing a title or a headline, and then looking at it and asking yourself, "Should I capitalize this word or that word?

"Should that be lowercase, or should that be uppercase?"

Well, Capitalize My Title will allow you to analyze your titles through a variety of different standards.

So I'm gonna paste in that title that we just looked at on the previous website, "Look at This Amazing Way to Tie Your Shoes."

And here, you can see it has analyzed it and changed it based on the APA style.

So the at is lowercase, the to is lowercase, and everything else is uppercase.

Now of course, you don't have to paste in your title, you can start writing in things right away.

"This is the Best Way to Read Books at Night," for example.

So I typed that title in without using any type of shift key or any type of capitalization, but it has changed it dynamically along the way.

Create graphic design

So now that you have your colors, and your images, and your title all in place, let's bring it all together with maybe one of the best free websites of all, and that is Canva.

Canva allows you to produce eye-popping and professional-looking content, no matter where you are placing that content.

So for example here, I've clicked on the Social Media tab here.

Instagram posts, Facebook posts, a variety of different formats you can browse from here, and create your own professional-looking posts.

Maybe it's a presentation, maybe if we go over here to Marketing and we need to create a poster or a business card, or a Facebook ad, you can do so here as well.

The great thing about Canva is that it allows you to start with a number of different templates, so you don't always have to start off from scratch.

So for example, here is something that I was working on a little bit earlier today, using a template that Canva presented with me.

So not only is this gonna be a much more eye-catching Instagram post here, but I can come in here and edit anything I want.

Maybe I don't want this to say "kids" at the bottom, I can just delete it here.

Maybe I want to swap out this image with something we found on Flaticon, I can do so.

I can change the colors of anything that I want on this screen.

Maybe I wanna change the color based on something that we found on the Coolors website, for example.

So Canva is not only free, but allows you to create eye-popping content, which is sure to please your viewers.

Now if you have other websites that you find useful when it comes to creating content for your website, your business, or anything online, I'd love to hear from you.

Be sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.

Why it's important for your email to stand out

You probably send an awful lot of email, and as a result, that means that your messages are just one of hundreds that other people are seeing.

So how can you stand out and increase the chances of people connecting and replying to your emails?

Well in this video, I'm going to share with you five tools to help you stand out as you're creating your messages right here within Gmail.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And let's start off simple and we're going to work our way up to something a little more complex, including how to create a professional-looking signature just like the one you see here.

Professional Grammar checker

Now, the first one on my list is something you've probably heard before, and that is Grammarly.

Grammarly is free, or at least there's a free forever version, but Grammarly has saved me so many times.

It's the reason why I mention it on a regular basis.

So here I am crafting an email.

I want to send a relatively short email to this individual, but you can see that Grammarly is helping me out before I hit the send button.

Why? Well, it actually hasn't caught any spelling mistakes.

Gmail has some basic spell-checking built right in, but what it wants to do is make me sure that I sound great when it comes to writing my emails.

So in this case, you can see I've used the wrong form- Yeah, that's not your, it should be you're, or you are.

And all I have to do is hover over these red underlined words and I can make the change.

I can say, yeah, let's use the correct version here.

This second one is a very, very silly mistake.

But how often are you in a rush?

How often do you forget to double-check or reread your messages?

So, yeah, it's not meat, it's M-E-E-T.

Can we meet next Monday?

And then this last one that Grammarly is suggesting to me, there's no spelling mistake.

In fact, thanks for all you do and keeping us in the loop.

It actually looks pretty good to me, but if I hover over it, you know what, I'm actually not using the proper format here.

It should be for keeping.

Thanks for all you do and for keeping us in the loop.

So now, I'm going to sound that much more professional and that much more accurate when it comes to my grammar.

The other nice thing that I like is if you hover over the Grammarly icon in the bottom right-hand corner of any of your emails when you have the Grammarly extension installed is you can also see how your text may sound to your readers.

So for example, if I click on this icon here, Grammarly is telling me that this particular message is relatively optimistic and friendly.

Now, I can choose to grade this either up or down to see if I think they are accurate.

But I know this can be the handy, especially if you're a little heated.

Maybe if you're a little angry or upset, maybe you want to take a quick glance down below and see, oh, is that really how I come across?

Maybe I can change this message.

Identify weak messages

The next tool on our list is an extension called Just Not Sorry.

And the whole idea behind Just Not Sorry is to look for certain words that often make us sound weak or less confident in our messaging.

So with the Just Not Sorry extension installed, here you can see it's picking up on a few key words or key phrases.

So for example, I just wanted to check in.

If I hover over just, it's actually going to tell me that this often demeans what I have to say.

In fact, just often shrinks our power.

So I may want to remove just, and just say, hey, I wanted to check in and see if you had a chance to review my proposal.

I'm sorry.

Now, sorry is a powerful word.

And I think there are times when we do want to use that term, but if you're overusing it, it may also undermine your messaging as well.

And then lastly here, in this last sentence example, but if we can set up a meeting next week, I think that we can come to an agreement.

I think is another one of those terms that often displays an overall lack of self-confidence.

And I like these little descriptions that they give us when we hover our mouse over these words.

So instead of I think, maybe I can say I know that we can come to an agreement.

That's a much more confident stance.

It's not overly aggressive, but it's a positive stance as well as I'm replying to this message.

So if you'd like some hints as to when you are using some of these weaker terms, you can install the Just Not Sorry extension.

Awesome email signatures

Now, one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd and look professional is by having an awesome email signature.

And for that, we're going to take a look at a website called MySignature.io.

Now, MySignature allows you to quickly and easily create a custom email signature that is either as complex or as simple as you like.

So for example here, here, I was creating an email signature here on the right-hand side of the screen, but I can swap out or remove or customize any of these call to action settings here as I like.

But I can either go from what I've been working on here, or let me show you how to start from scratch.

So here from the MySignature dashboard, all I need to do is select new signature.

And I'm presented with a variety of custom-made templates.

Now, there's several different categories in which you can choose from.

We can look at professional, modern, elegant, creative.

I'm going to stick with this friendly one.

And I'd like to get started with this one right here.

So I'm going to click on it.

And yeah, it's a beautiful email signature.

It just doesn't have my information.

But no problem, it's quick and easy.

Just by filling out the fields here on the left-hand side, I can customize all of my branding, all of my colors.

I can add a logo so I can keep that branding consistent whether they're coming from my website, to my email, to my social media, I can bring it all together right here from within my signature.

So for example, let's just put in my name here.

So it's myself.

And the very next thing I want to do is actually swap out this image.

So I can either click on the tabs over here on the left, or I can click on the different elements here within the signature preview on the right.

So maybe I want to swap out that picture.

I'm going to remove that.

And let's go back and choose a file that is yeah, a little bit more me, shall we say that?

Now, the great thing is, is that there's a lot of customizable features here.

So if I want, for example, maybe some rounded corners on the side.

Maybe I want a rounded picture here.

All I need to do is now drag this so my face is within that circle.

I'm going to hit apply.

And immediately it's added to the signature here on the right-hand side.

Maybe I want to customize my social buttons here.

Maybe I want to add my Facebook page.

Well, no problem.

All I would need to do is put in my Facebook ID over here and then I can drag and rearrange the order of those social icons.

And if you have a call to action, if you want a book me button or anything of the like, you can do so and include it right here within your signature.

Now, when you're all finished designing your signature, all you need to do is select save signature in the lower right-hand column.

Now, this will give us the ability to copy it to our clipboards.

I'm going to copy it right here.

And now, if we go back into our Gmail account, all we need to do is hit the gear icon and select see all settings.

And on the very first tab, if we scroll almost all the way down to the bottom, we can add a new signature.

So I'm going to select create new in this case.

I'm going to call this one a my signature, for example.

I'm going to say create.

And right here, all I have to do is paste what we copied to our clipboard right here on the right-hand side.

Now, at the very bottom, don't forget to hit save changes.

And now, let's go ahead and compose a new message.

I'm going to swap this default signature out for the one that we just created here.

This my signature.

You now have a professional-looking signature, which is also useful to your readers.

Embed meeting times

Now, the next tool in our list is designed to remove friction when it comes to creating meetings.

Many of us are using scheduling tools, such as Calendly.

And you may be used to just copying and pasting your meeting link right here within the email.

But why not stand out from the crowd and make it that much easier for your recipients to select a time?

If you have the Calendly browser extension installed, all you need to do is select it from your browser window.

And here, you can see some of the meetings that I already have set up here.

Now, I could just copy the link for this 30-minute meeting and paste it in my message.

When they select that link, they would be brought to a new browser tab and see my entire calendar.

But what if I choose this option, add times to email.

This is a fantastic solution, especially if you want to propose just a few specific days.

So I'm going to say add times to email, and I'm brought up with a miniature calendar here.

I'm going to select the Thursday and Friday of next week.

And I'm going to say finish and share.

It tells me that the times are copied to my clipboard.

I can now close this.

And I'm going to come back to my message and just paste it in here.

And look at this, I've got the options embedded directly into the calendar.

So when I send this message, the person on the other end can come right in here, right from the email itself and select a time that works for them.

Now, the last tool on our list today

Email video messages

is only for those who really want to wow the socks off the people they're sending emails to.

You know, we're so used to a text-based world, whether that's text messaging, instant messaging, or of course email, but if you really want to impress the people that you're messaging with, why not send a video email?

In this case, we're going to be using Loom, and in particular, the Loom extension.

Now, Loom is a great tool for recording screenshots and screencasting, especially if you're trying to help solve a problem or share something online.

But in this case, we're just going to use the video format and embed it into our Gmail message.

So here with the Loom extension installed, I've clicked on it to open up those settings.

I'm actually going to click this up here so it's a little bit closer to my camera, so it looks like I'm looking at you.

I can adjust my settings here in terms of the microphone and which camera that I'm using, but all I need to do is start recording.

And it's going to give me a quick countdown.

And now I'm recording.

Hi Sariah, I just wanted to reach back out to you and see if this might answer your question.

And of course, this is where I could answer the question directly.

At this point, all I need to do is hit this little check mark down below, which is going to finish the recording.

It's going to open up Loom in a new tab where I can make changes and adjustments, including trimming this particular video, so I can always preview it before I send it out.

But here's a, another quick tip.

Loom allows us to add a call to action button.

So for example, if I click this option here on the right-hand side, I could say something like book a time with me or something like that.

And maybe I could add the link directly to my Calendly appointment or to some other booking tool.

I'm just going to put in some text here just for fun just so I can save this call to action.

If I want to change the color and be on brand, yeah, I can do that as well.

Let's give this a, let's give this a color like, oh, I, don't know, something that's a little more Simpletivity blue.

And this doesn't look like a valid URL so let's just type in my website here for example, Simpletivity.com.

Now, I can save that call to action and what's going to happen is that it's going to appear here in the right-hand side of the screen.

So now when they're watching this video, they can also come up here and click this call to action.

Now, when we're happy with the finished product, all we need to do is come up here and select the share button.

Now, we want to choose the third option, which is embed, and I'm going to select copy GIF thumbnail.

This is going to copy it to my clipboard and I'm going to come back to my email message and I'm going to paste it in directly into my message.

The great thing here is that now they're going to see a quick preview of that video.

It's that much more engaging.

It's that much more inviting.

And because it's my face on screen, they know I'm not just spamming them with an advertisement or something else.

They know that it's me.

Now, the text up here above can be removed, it can be altered, so if I don't want to see that, I can just remove that here.

So if you want to truly engage with your email audience, try the Loom extension for Gmail.

If you have questions about any of the tools that I mentioned today, or if you have recommendations of your own, be sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple

Why daily schedules can be helpful

Many of you have asked me, 'Scott, what does your typical workday look like?'

Well, in this video, I'm gonna walk you through hour by hour what an average workday looks for me.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And I'm gonna be using Google Calendar here.

I'm gonna throw on emojis and titles so you can see exactly how I sort of structure and break out my day.

I have always found it very helpful to take a glance at other people's schedules, whether they're famous people such as Benjamin Franklin, or just my next door neighbor, just to get some ideas and inspiration as I've experimented on my own schedule.

So hopefully, you find this valuable and maybe there's some ideas in here as well.

Morning Routine

Now I used to start my day off bright and early at 5:00 a.m.

This was particularly useful when I had young children and I wanted to get a number of things done before they awoke, and before the rest of my family awoke in the morning.

However, over the last few years, I've adjusted that a little bit, and I start my day off sometime between 6:00 a.m and 6:30.

So let's find something like a sunshine icon here, and I'm going to say, 'wake up.'

Now, you're probably asking yourself, what do you mean you're getting up sometime between 6 and 6:30?

Don't you set an alarm?

Yes, I do.

But it's a little different than what I did in the past.

About a year ago, I purchased what's called a wake up light, meaning that it tries to mimic the effects of a sunrise.

So this little light alarm starts off very dim, but over the course of the half hour it gets brighter and brighter and brighter.

So depending on how deep I am in my sleep, it will awake me sometime within that half hour range.

I really, really like this wake up light and prefer to wake up this way rather than adjusting an alarm or being tempted to hit the snooze button multiple times.

So I'm certainly up by 6:30, sometimes it's just a little bit earlier than that.

The next thing on my list, the way I like to start my day is to doing just a little bit of reading, and you know what?

I forgot to include the emojis.

So let's go add, let's go add something like a book emoji, something like that, a stack of books to start off my day.

Now, this is usually relatively short, sometimes as short as only 15 minutes.

I like to read something that is non-fiction and something that is uplifting in the morning.

And I make sure that it is not social media.

It is not a news site.

I would much rather read a physical or a tangible book, probably something that I was reading earlier the night before for example, or earlier in the week.

But I just find it a nice refreshing and positive way to start my day.

After I've done a little bit of reading, it's time for me to do some exercise.

And my favorite exercise is running.

So, it doesn't happen every single day, but if I'm not running, I'll do some other type of aerobic or body weight workout to start my day.

Now, when all is said and done, it probably takes me roughly 45 minutes to complete this step or to work out this entire time.

I'm gonna hit 45 minutes there and then drag it down just below where the reading stops there.

So 6:45 is roughly when I'm starting my exercise routine.

I used to be an outside runner, last year we purchased our very first treadmill and I've really enjoyed it, not only the convenience of being able to run in just a few minutes time, but I find it keeps me a little more honest as well as I'm going through the different inclines and going through the different programs on the machine.

Now, after running, if that's going to take me to about 7:30, well, next up for me is breakfast.

And let's see, let's type in something like, maybe an egg.

I'm not usually eating an egg.

In fact, I usually start my days with a smoothie, but I don't believe that there is a smoothie emoji that we can use.

So breakfast, in my case, probably when all is said and done is roughly 15 or 45 minutes in length.

And what I mean by that, it doesn't take me that long to eat breakfast, but this is also a time where I can spend it with my kids.

I can spend it with my kids before they're off to school.

I can spend some time speaking with my wife, sharing a few laughs, talking about what we're going to do later in the evening.

So, roughly 30 minutes to maybe 45 minutes of a family time slash breakfast.

Next up, because I'm still sweaty at this point, it's time to jump into the shower.

So I think there's a shower emoji here.

So, let's just say, 'shower and get dressed,' I guess is exactly what we're doing at that particular time.

And, no, it doesn't take me very long at all.

This should only take me roughly 15 minutes in total.

Let's see if I can drag that one down.

Start of the workday

There we go.

Perfect.

So, roughly 15 minutes to get myself ready, and now it's time to jump into work.

Now I'm fortunate that I get to work from a home office.

So there is no commute, there is no transit, there is no driving.

And the way that I start my workday off is jumping into email.

Now you might be surprised by this because I used to tell people to avoid email at all costs first thing in the morning, I used to advise people and coach people that they should be doing something much more productive than dealing with email.

But what I discovered, not only for myself, but for other people as well, is that if you avoid email too long in the morning, a lot of us start to worry about, well, what is there, what's going on in my inbox, is someone waiting for an urgent reply?

And we often struggle to focus on those first things as a part of the day.

So even though for a number of years, I would avoid email for at least the first hour of my day, now I actually start my day with 30 minutes of email.

But I am very strict with myself, meaning I only do a maximum of 30 minutes of email.

I wanna try and do as much as I can, but I know I've got a lot more important things to get to as a part of my workday.

So by roughly 9:00 a.m. I'm done with email, even if I haven't read everything that's come in overnight, or from the last time I checked my email, it's time to start my day.

So at 9:00 AM, I'm gonna categorize this as a deep work and I'm gonna grab something, this bulls-eye emoji here, and I'm gonna call this deep work a, a term that, Cal Newport, author Cal Newport has certainly popularized in the last number of years.

Now, this is a much bigger stretch of time.

In fact, I'm gonna put about two and a half hours here, and I'm just gonna define sort of what I mean by deep work.

Obviously, there's a variety of activities that I could be doing during this morning block, but it's often things that are a lot more focus intensive.

It's things that require a lot more energy on my part, maybe a lot more research.

This is often when I record many of my videos, such as this one here.

This is often when I'm delivering classes, virtual webinars, it's when I'm running the RESET Productivity Masterclass.

So, almost all of those types of activities are happening first thing in the morning, I realize that it's a big block of time, right?

It's two and a half hours, and it certainly doesn't look the same each and every day.

But if there's something that I think is at risk of being deferred into another day, so for example, if I don't get to it until later in the afternoon, and I know that there's a high chance that I'm gonna push it to another day or another time, I'll try and do it first thing in the morning, that's where I wanna do my toughest work or my most focus intense work at that time of day.

Then at around 11:30, I'm going to return to email.

So let's grab that email icon again and type in, I think I need to get rid of the emoji, the emoji window here and type in email.

And we're only doing that for another half hour, sometimes not even a half hour.

In fact, often I'll work right up until about 11:45 or 11:50.

This is just a super quick check-in with email.

In fact, I'm often not even replying too many of the messages, I just wanna scan through my email, see if there's anything urgent, if there's anything that's going to change what I'm gonna be focusing on for the rest of the afternoon.

I'm a firm believer that we should be spending as little amount of time, as less time as possible within our email inbox, and that only a small handful of us actually need to be dealing with email on a regular basis.

So, again, after my morning half hour, this is sort of a quick check-in, again, a half hour at most, but I'd say on average, it's only taking me a roughly 15 minutes.

Afternoon schedule

At 12, it's time to break for some lunch.

So let's put in something that, especially over the winter, I eat an awful lot of, I'm a big fan of soup, not only eating soup, but making soup as well.

So this is gonna be lunch slash break because I certainly don't spend an entire 45 minutes eating and, or making my lunch, but I wanna be able to step away, get out of my office, eat something, hopefully, nutritious, and hopefully delicious as well as I step away from my work.

But there's a few other things that I'll include in this block of time.

Often I may go and check the mail or do some other household chores such as empty the dishwasher or throw another load into the washing machine.

Just try to tidy up a little bit, help the rest of the family.

And again, just sort of physically get away from my office and get away from my work.

Now this last little 15 minute increment, roughly, roughly between 12:45 and 1:00 p.m. is something that I rarely, rarely miss, and that is a quick power nap.

So let's throw in some Z's here, and I'm gonna call this one nap.

Now I used to nap for close to a half hour.

I've reduced that to only about 15 minutes.

And what I mean by that is that in fact, most days I don't even get to sleep.

That's not enough time for most cases for myself to even get into a sleep state, but I simply just lie down, dark room as quiet as I can make it and just, just relax, right?

Just sort of relax and be still for 15 minutes.

Now, depending on where you are in the world, there are different cultural norms when it comes to napping.

And I know that especially here in North America, we still sort of frown upon taking a nap, even if it's a short nap in the middle of the day.

I find this has been one of the biggest boosts to my personal productivity.

This is something that I've been doing for nearly 15 years is including a short power nap.

It gives me the energy, it rejuvenates me for the rest of the afternoon and really for the rest of the day, even if you don't get to sleep, just taking that short break can have a massive impact on the rest of your day.

Next, we've got another sort of section of work in here, and this would really what I would call sort of slash creative or admin work.

So, maybe I'm gonna do something like files.

We've got like a sort of a file folder here.

I almost feel that I also want to put in something like a, a paintbrush or something along those lines.

I'm gonna say this is admin and creative work.

It's gonna change day by day, but this is sort of roughly what I'm doing in the afternoon.

Now I'm gonna be doing this for roughly an hour and a half.

So I'm gonna put that 1 to 2:30 p.m.

So these are things that I need to get done.

It's not exactly crucial like the deep work I'm doing in the morning, but these may be things related to budgeting for my business.

It may be taking a look at invoices and doing some more administrative tasks.

The creative side of things is when I'm having to maybe edit a video or maybe revising a PowerPoint slide deck, or maybe posting some social media content to be scheduled in the future.

I find that I really have a lot of energy, much more energy for that type of work later in the afternoon.

Now that I've done all that focus work in the morning.

So whether it's more admin tasks or creative tasks, I'm gonna save that for later in the afternoon.

Lastly, at roughly 2:30, we are going to return to email for the third and only time that I will touch email for that day.

So this is only gonna be, again, a maximum of half hour finishing up at around 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon.

This is where, again, I will be replying, I'll be trying to get through as much as I possibly can, but I space out the times that I deal with email so I can focus as much time as I can with my work.

End of work and evening activities

Now I try my best to end my workday at around 3:00 p.m.

Why?

Because by that time, most of my boys are home from school and I wanna spend it with them.

I wanna hear about their day, maybe help them with their homework and also start to get ready for the evening, whether that's some food prep for dinner or whatever else is going on in the evening.

So it's a lot harder for me to fill in the blanks here on a typical average evening.

I will tell you that I avoid work at all costs, and I stop my workday as much as I can at roughly three in the afternoon.

Why?

Because I wanna be completely refreshed when I returned to work the following morning, and not just get into this cycle of checking my work emails and replying to things and working on other things during the evening.

I have an awful lot of activities and often a lot of driving to do when it comes to my boys' activities.

The only other two things I will add, two things that I rarely miss out on my daily schedule is a return to reading later in the evening.

So let's grab this book here, and we're gonna call this one reading.

I try to read for about 45 minutes to an hour before I finish my night.

And for me, it's my goal to get my head on a pillow, no, not a pill, a pillow, let's put sleep here by 10:30 at night.

So that is bedtime for me to try and get into bed at 10:30.

So I can get as close to eight hours of sleep before the start of the next day.

So now that you know what an average workday looks like for me, I would love to hear from you, what was the biggest surprise as you take a look at my typical schedule?

In addition, I would love to hear from you and what does your workday look like?

I'm sure others would be interested to know, so they might want to adjust their own personal schedules.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.

Jotform vs Google Forms

When it comes to creating online forms and choosing the best form builder for you, you have a lot of choices.

However, two of the most popular form builders are Google Forms and JotForm.

So in today's video, I'm gonna help you decide which of these form builders are best for you.

I'm gonna give you three good reasons as to why you should either choose Google Forms or JotForm.

Hello, everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

So let's get started with Google Forms.

Why you should choose Google Forms

Now Google Forms, of course, is integrated directly within your Drive account.

Whether you use a Google Workspace account for your business, or if it's just for your personal use, if you're already using Docs and Sheets and Slides, it's gonna be very easy for you to find Forms here within Google Drive.

Now, my first reason for why you should choose Google Forms is if your form needs are relatively basic.

And what I mean by that is if you just need a simple contact form for your webpage, if you just need to send out a very simple survey or a very simple questionnaire like what we see here, Google Forms might be ideal for your needs.

It's quick and easy for you to get started and to add those questions and rearrange those questions as well.

If I wanna move things around here, everything in there is essentially just drag and drop.

So if you want to quickly and easily create that form and add those basic needs, well, Google Forms might be the best solution for you.

The second reason why you might want to choose Google Forms is if you need to create a large number of forms that are temporary in purpose.

And what I mean by that is if you're quickly sending out little quizzes, or sending out a few things in a form that may only last a week in duration, for example, well, then this might be the ideal form builder for you.

Here, I've just thrown together a very quick and easy Beatles Trivia form.

This is just something fun that I wanna send out to my followers, but I'm not needing to update this in the future.

I'm not gonna be needing to come back and analyze this data.

It's sort of quick and easy, and I can almost forget about this form in a few weeks' time.

So if you're needing to send out a number of forms in short order, but you really don't need all of that data in the future, Google Forms also might be the best solution for you.

Now, the third reason why you may want to select Google Forms is if you're okay with your forms looking like Google Forms.

What do I mean by that?

Well, yes, we can customize a number of things here.

I could come up here into my theme options.

I could change this header.

I can change my colors, including the background color as well, but at the end of the day, all Google Forms essentially look like a Google Form.

It's gonna look very similar to this.

If I jump over here into preview mode, you can see it's sort of this column look in the middle.

I've got this submit button down here, and it's always going to say Google Forms at the bottom of the page.

Now, if you're okay with that, that's absolutely fine.

However, if you want to stand out from the crowd, if you want to perhaps look a little more professional, well, then maybe there's a better solution for you.

Why you should choose Jotform

Now, JotForm is not only one of the most popular form builders, but it's also one of the highest-rated form builders, currently with a score of 4.7 on the G2 website.

But numbers aside, let's dive into the software itself.

Now, the first reason why JotForm may be a better solution for you is customization.

JotForm lets you customize every single aspect of your form.

Here we are within the form builder area, and on the right-hand side, you can see under Form Designer, I can swap out any single color or image.

I can adjust the styles and formatting to my heart's content.

But that customization doesn't just end with the colors and look, it also has to do with the types of elements in which we'd like to add to our form.

So, yes, you're gonna find all these standard things such as a dropdown and multiple choice, but maybe you need to add a signature to your form.

When someone completes it, you want to collect or add a digital signature.

You can do that.

How about an appointment?

Well, it's just drag and drop.

If I want someone to book an appointment after they've answered all of my questions, well, I can add that to my forms as well.

So there's just so many different things and different ways in which you can customize your JotForm.

But the customization doesn't just stop at the things that you can put inside your form, it also continues with how you want your form to be displayed.

So in this case, I'm gonna view this form that I created earlier.

And check out this one.

"Join our newsletter and receive a FREE guide."

Yeah, this looks very enticing the way that this form is laid out.

I'm gonna input my name and hit Next.

I'm gonna input my email address here and hit Submit, and now I've got a beautiful thank you page here as well.

Didn't that look a lot more flashier, a lot more enticing for your participants or your clients?

A lot of customization here that you can use to wow your audience.

The second reason why JotForm might be ideal for your needs is when it comes to integrations.

When you're collecting information, when you're sending out all of these surveys or request forms, or however you're using your forms, chances are you want that data to go somewhere else, such as a project management tool, maybe a CRM system, or a variety of other pieces of software.

Well, here under Integrations, we can see that JotForm integrates with more than 100 other applications, many of the tools that you're already using.

So if you want your information to directly store within Dropbox, you can do so as well.

In fact, look at here on the left-hand side, just under our Categories.

Let's take a look at CRM Integrations.

So whether you use HubSpot, or Zoho CRM, or Salesforce, or Pipedrive, you can have those forms directly be sent and input into your CRM system.

How about Project Management?

We've got most of the popular tools here, including Trello, Asana, ClickUp, monday.com, Wrike and Basecamp.

So when someone fills out that form, you can convert that information directly into a new task or into a new project.

So you can look at all of the various different integrations and make sure that your collected data doesn't just end up on a spreadsheet somewhere.

Now, the third reason why JotForm may be the better solution for you is if you need to collect payments.

Over here on the left-hand side of the form elements, you can see we have a Payments tab.

And look at the number of different ways in which we can collect payments.

Now Square, PayPal, and Stripe are perhaps among the most popular, but there's a variety of other payment processors in which you can add as well.

So, for example, if I wanna add my PayPal Business account, all I need to do is drag it onto my form.

And in a matter of seconds, I've got my payment method right down here.

So people can choose if they want to pay by debit or credit card, or if they want to pay directly with their PayPal account.

So not only can I collect information about my prospective clients right here within my form, I can turn them into actual customers by providing them with a payment method and providing them with payment processors that they know and trust.

So when they submit that form, not only do I get the information, but I get paid as well.

So in summary, if your form-building needs are relatively basic or you need to create a number of short-term forms and you don't mind it looking like everyone else's forms, Google Forms might be just right for you.

However, if you're needing customization, if you want your forms to integrate directly with other apps that you're already using, or if you need to collect payments, JotForm may be the better choice for you.

Now, if you have any other form builders that you'd like to recommend, or share your feedback on JotForm or Google Forms, be sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.

Intro

No matter how often you deliver PowerPoint presentations, you want your audience to be amazed and impressed with whatever it is you have to share.

So in today's video, I'm sharing with you seven tips to help make your PowerPoint presentations look awesome and that much more memorable.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

Change Cursor Pointer

So let's start off with tip number one, and this has to do with our mouse cursor.

I'm just gonna go into presentation mode for this particular slide.

How often do you see someone using the standard basic mouse cursor to draw your attention?

I want you to look at this word over here, and then I want you to come over here and look at something else that I'm wiggling around or swirling my mouse cursor around.

Well, there's a much better way.

If we right-click on the screen and come about halfway down on this menu, we have some pointer options.

The first one is called a laser pointer.

And if I select this, I get a little red laser.

So if I wanna draw my attention to a particular word or an image or a diagram, I can do so here with this laser pointer, but I've got other options available to me as well.

I can use this pen option for example.

And if I want you to really focus on all the apps on your phone, I can do so here.

If I want to underline this automated word, I can do so as well.

The last option we have available to us here is a highlighter, and we can actually change that color if we want to.

But by default, if I want to maybe highlight this word "web," I can just sort of run over it a few times.

Maybe highlight this word "you" for example, I can highlight certain things on my screen.

So not only do things come more to life, it is much easier for your audience to follow you along.

Align All Your Objects

Now our next tip has to do with making you look great on every single slide.

And one of my pet peeves is when I'm watching someone else's presentation, and they have things out of alignment.

Whether it's text or images or whatever it is on their slide, they've got things out of place.

This is such an easy fix so that all of your slides can look great.

Here in this example, I've got four different images that are really all over the place.

In fact, these two are sort of overlapping a bit and they are certainly not in alignment.

So in order to fix this, all I need to do is select all of the objects that I want to align.

So in this case, I'm gonna select these four options.

Oops, I didn't get that last one there.

I got all four images at this place, and then I need to come up here to arrange, and under arrange, we have the option to align.

Now, in this case, I'm gonna align in the middle and you can see everything automatically gets aligned into this middle.

But let's go one step further.

I'm gonna come back to arrange and we're gonna come back to align, and another one that I use quite often is either distribute horizontally or vertically.

Well, in this case, I wanna distribute horizontally, so I'm gonna select this option and now I've got even spacing between all four options.

So when I go to present this slide, it looks professional, it looks neat, it's quick and easy.

Often just takes you a few clicks, and you can make sure everything is in line on your slides.

Animate Text or Images

Next up, let's talk a little bit about how we can add some polish and pizazz to some of our slides.

One of the things that I like to do is make some of my images move just in a little subtle way.

Animate Text or Images So if I'm talking and I'm going to be on this slide for a few minutes, there's something else that is going on.

This can really add a little bit of oomph to your slides and really make you stand out from other presentations.

So in this case, what I want to do is I want this image, this bell icon to sort of teeter back and forth just very slowly, just very gently as I'm talking about this concept.

So what I need to do is select, select the image or images that I'd like to move, and you're probably already familiar with some of these basic animations here.

I'm gonna select for more options and what I want to look for here is emphasis.

These are things I don't want to fade in or fade out, I just want to emphasize this particular image.

So I'm gonna select teeter in this case, and you can see it just teetered there for a little bit, but that's not what I want.

I don't want it to teeter once and I also don't want it to do it at that speed.

So in order to get some more options here, I'm gonna select it and then select the animation pane.

So now to adjust some of my options, all I'm gonna do is select this down arrow beside the animation.

Now by default, when you add any animation, it's going to start on a click, but I just want to transition into this slide and have it happen automatically.

So in this case, I'm gonna select start after previous.

So now it's going to happen as soon as I transition into this slide.

I don't have to press the space bar, I don't have to click anything else, but then we also want to come down here and select effect options.

So in this case, we want to come over here to the timing option.

And we're gonna say we want the duration to be a lot slower, in this case, I'm gonna say slow so about three seconds in duration, and I'm also gonna come down here to repeat, and I'm gonna say repeat until the end of the slide, meaning I want it to happen the entire time that I'm on this slide until I transition out.

So let's hit okay on this one, and now we're gonna go back into presentation mode.

So now you can see, I haven't initiated anything, I've just simply opened up this particular slide.

It just gives this slide a little something extra special, something else that's going on as I'm presenting my deck.

Morph Transitions

But if you really want to wow your audience, then you're gonna want to learn how to morph between two slides.

Morph Transitions Morphing a slide is designed when you want to emphasize something that is already on this slide.

So in this example, what I want to happen is have this image, this bell icon grow larger and move to the right-hand side.

Then I want this text here at the bottom to move to the left-hand side of the screen and be larger.

So the first step that we need to do here is actually duplicate the slide.

So I'm simply going to copy and then paste this slide so I've got two exact versions of this slide.

Then all I need to do is select the top version.

This is the version that we're starting from, and then I'm gonna select transitions.

Instead of fade, I want to select morph.

Fade is usually my particular default as I'm naturally fading in between my slides, but in this case, I am going to say morph.

Now what I want to do is go to my second slide.

Remember, it's identical at this stage, but now I'm going to make those changes.

So for example, I'm gonna take this image.

I'm gonna move it to the right and I'm gonna make it significantly larger.

Then I'm gonna take this text over here.

I'm gonna move it to the left-hand side.

I'm gonna change some of its dimensions.

And I'm also going to make the text quite a bit larger.

So instead of 40, let's bump it up to maybe something like, oh, I don't know, something like 66, something like this.

I really want to emphasize this point.

I really want to get my audience's attention.

So it's the same content.

It's the same content on both slides.

It's just rearranged in a different manner.

Now in order for this to work, you need to make sure that both of the slides that you want to morph have morph selected as their transition.

Let's select this first one and go into presentation mode and see what happens.

I'm now gonna transition to that second slide.

And did you see how everything moved nice and smoothly?

This bell icon got nice and large and my text very smoothly moved to the left and then transitioned into a larger font.

Let me just go back and forth here just to show you what is going on.

Isn't that gonna wow your audience?

Remove Image Background

Now, of course, any awesome PowerPoint presentation is going to have a variety of images and pictures.

But another one of my personal pet peeves is when everyone is using these standard square or rectangular images within their slides.

So let's take a look at this one here for an example.

I want to quickly and easily remove the background of this image, but I don't want to have to load it in some other application.

I don't want to have to search for a transparent background.

I like this hand with this phone, I just want to get rid of this background.

Well, all I need to do is select this image and then come up here and select picture format.

And the very first option on the left-hand side is remove background.

If I select this, you can see it actually makes the entire background purple.

However, I can make a few tweaks and modifications.

I can see that the lower part of the arm here is actually going to be removed if I select keep changes, but I have the choice to mark areas to keep, but also mark areas to remove.

So in this case, I'm gonna select mark areas to keep, I'm gonna come down here with the stylus and select that part of the arm.

I'm gonna do it maybe one more time, there we go.

Now I've got the entire arm and I get to select keep changes.

Now the background is removed and I can add this to any part of my slide as I want.

This is gonna look a lot more clean and a lot more professional as I add text here on the right-hand side.

So don't forget to remove the background of certain images, which you find online.

Add a Countdown Timer

Now the next one on our list has to do when you're giving a presentation and perhaps there's either an exercise or a break that needs to be included in between.

I think one of the biggest challenges as a presenter is that even though you tell people that we're only gonna take a 10-minute break, everyone's watch is a little bit out of sync.

And maybe there's not a clock in the room, or depending on where you're delivering this, perhaps virtually, not everyone is getting back in time.

Well, let's make that easier by adding a countdown timer to do the work for us right within our slides.

So all I need to do is come up here to insert and select get add-ins.

And this is gonna open up the Office add-in store.

Now in the search bar here, we can type in things such as timer or in my case, I'm gonna type in countdown and then hit search, and there's gonna be a variety of ones for you to choose from.

I'm gonna select this one, which is called a break time and say add.

Yes, I'm gonna give it permissions here by selecting continue, and now I've added a timer directly to my slide.

Now I can make some changes here.

Let's say I want to only make this a five-minute break so I'm gonna select five minutes there.

It even comes with a few different themes, so if I want to add something here like this glass of water, I can do so as well.

So now when I open up this slide, I can start this timer myself, initiate the countdown, and that control panel will fade away into the background so it looks clean.

It looks professional, and now everyone knows when we will return to the presentation.

Live Polls with Slido

Now engaging your audience is so important, maybe even more so if you're delivering your presentation virtually.

That's why I've been adding live polling to every single one of my PowerPoint presentations for the last few years.

Now in this case, I'm using an extension called Slido.

Slido allows me to insert polls directly into my PowerPoint slides so I don't have to open anything else up.

First, let me show you how it works.

So let's say that I'm on this slide that we created earlier.

I'm gonna go into presentation mode, but I'm just going to transition to my very next slide, which happens to be a Slido live poll.

So now I can ask my audience what's their favorite shoe brand, and they can participate in this fun poll in real time.

Slido also makes it very easy for people to join the poll.

All they need to do is go to this website, enter in a code, which you get to choose, or they can scan their by using this QR code.

This is an incredibly fun and engaging way to keep your audience participating and engage with the content which you're delivering.

Conclusion

Now I can't go into all of the details of how to use Slido, but if you would like my full tutorial of how to integrate live polling into your PowerPoint presentation, be sure to click the video you see on the screen now.

And if you have some favorite tips and tricks for using PowerPoint, I'd love to hear from you.

Be sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

In fact, it's very simple.