Organizing Email in Live.com (Part 1)

So this week has marked the beginning of using Windows Live (specifically live@edu) as our primary email service in our school district. In light of that, I thought I'd do a cross-post series for organizing emails in live.com. You have multiple options for organizing emails. You can assign categories, make an email a task, and/or put your emails in folders. For this post I'm going to go over sorting your emails into categories.


To use categories in your email...

• Hover your mouse on an email.
• On the right side of the email bar you will see a grayed out rectangle, click it.
• If you don't care about the names of the categories and just want to apply a color, then select a color to apply it to an email. If you wish to change the names/colors of your categories, click on Manage Categories and follow the steps below.
• Delete the current categories by selecting them, then clicking Delete Category. Do this for all existing categories.
• Click Create New Category and assign a color and name for the categories you want to have.
• When you are finished, click OK and assign categories as described above.

Note - You can apply more than one category to an email =)
Another Note - You can filter by categories! At the top of your email just select Filter, then Category, and select your category.

Read it Later + New Blog Design

Read it Later is a resource that I now find myself using on a regular basis. It offers a very similar service to InstaPaper if you are familiar with that. Read it Later allows you to save webpages and articles to read later, even if your offline. Both services also offer the options to read your items on a computer or many mobile devices. The idea is that if you are on a webpage and either want to save it for later, or don't have the time to finish reading it then, you can "Read it Later" and have the page available to read on your computer or mobile device at a later time. Many other applications are adding support of Read it Later so that while browsing articles you can add to "Read it Later" with the click or tap of a button. This is usually found in the same menu location where you might forward an article. One of the benefits I see to using Read it Later is that they offer apps for most smart phones including iPhones, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile. To see even more options for devices that have support for Read it Later view this page.

I hope you like the new look to the blog! I began having some trouble with the template I was using before so...viola! =)

Manage Sign-Ups Easily

www.signupgenius.com seems to offer a pretty convenient service for those of you that need to create or manage group sign-up lists. You do have to create a free account, and then click to "Create a Sign Up". You choose the type that you want from Party or Potluck, Volunteer or People, or a Food or Munchies sign up. You can pick a theme to apply to the sign-up page, enter the dates, and the items that you would like people to sign-up to bring or do. The last step is just to invite participants via email. Easy numbered tabs walk you through all of the steps. Those that you invite will receive an email that links to the site where they can enter there sign-up selections, and you get an easy record of all of it!Visit the How It Works page of the site if you want to learn more. 

Quick Notes or To-Do's....Knowcase.com

Ever find yourself in need of jotting down some quick ideas or even needing to create a to-do list (I know...ha ha)?? I know it would be even better if we could find a way to complete our to-do lists immediately...but until we figure that out, at least there's an easy way to keep your list organized. Knowcase.com provides a straightforward, easy-to-use format for creating quick lists. Even better is that you can share these lists with others so that they too can get to to-do-ing =)

To get started, just go to www.knowcase.com and click Start a new page. Yep, it's that easy...and creating an account is even easier. You can just enter your email address and a password (found to the right of your document), that's it. Creating an account will save your list with your account so that when you login to the site in the future you will have your document.

To enter text and items on the site, just use the toolbar buttons found at the top. You can also primarily use your keyboard to make your list or jot down your ideas. Pressing enter will start a new line and tab on your keyboard will indent. If you want to make an item a to-do item (with a handy little checkbox), just click Todo from the toolbar. If you need to move the order of your items around, just click and drag from the left of the items.

You'll find the options for sharing your document at the bottom of the page. If you haven't created an account you have the option of sharing with specific people. Just click on Share and enter your name and the recipients email address. When you're logged in, you will also have the option of making your document viewable and editable by only You or by Everyone. Just click the words next to the images of the eye and pencil to change these options.

Classroom Application
I can see Knowcase being used by teachers for organization or in a class setting used during a brainstorming activity. I also think Knowcase could provide a great platform for students organizing their ideas. When they're done they could just share their list with their teacher via email!

Enjoy!