Introduction to IOS 11

This week, Apple has been rolling out IOS 11 to its iPhone and iPad users.  If you have not already,  you will probably get a notice on your device soon that it is time to upgrade.

While it is not urgent, we recommend you upload your iPhones and iPads to the latest OS, both firm devices and your personal ones.  It ensures you have the most current security measures, and also can take advantage of new features.  At some point, your device will start haranguing you to implement the update.  But if you want to do it on your own time schedule, just go into "Settings" then "General" the "Software Update."  Your device should either tell you it has already downloaded the files and would you like to proceed, or you may be asked to download the setup files prior to update.

A few things to consider when downloading the update: Especially if you do not have the setup files downloaded already, the download may take hours.  I strongly recommend being on Wifi for the download, not only to save time, but because downloading over LTE will use about 2 GB, which costs the firm about $20 on our data plan.  If your drive is nearly full, you may need to clear out some space before you can download the large setup files.

Because of the time it takes, you may want to run the upgrade over the weekend while you are at home on your home Wifi. Do it at a time you know you will have a few hours when you do not need your device.  I also recommend doing when you have your device connected to a charger so that the battery does not fail in the middle of the upgrade.  You will need to know your Apple ID and password to restart your phone after the upgrade.  Make sure you know it before you start the upgrade.

Once installed, one of the first things you may notice is the file folder icon added to the bottom of your screen.  This is the new file explorer, something Windows and Android users have enjoyed for years but which is new to Apple.  You can not only explore your local drive but can connect to cloud storage, including Box.

Also, you should notice an improved dictation service.  You can use the microphone on the pop up keyboard to dictate text into just about any app.  If you use handwriting in Apple Notes, the new IOS can use word recognition to identify your handwritten words.

Apple has improved the ability to cut and paste, move text between documents or move documents between applications.

For more details on the changes, you may want to read this article on macromors.com.

Moving Your Contacts and Calendars from Google to Exchange

Our migration tool should have brought over your Google Contacts and Calendar information.  If it did not, you can export this information manually from Google and import it into your Microsoft account.  Below are step by step instructions:

Contacts

1. Export from Google by opening Gmail 
2. Click on your contacts in the left column below the ME logo.
3. In Contacts, click on "More" which is at the top of your contacts list.
4. From there, click on "export"
5. This should bring up an Export box, like the one shown here.
6. You can select all contacts, or select specific ones you want to move.
7. Make sure to select your format as "Outlook CSV format"
8. Click on the "export button.

Import into Outlook

1. Open MS Outlook
2. Click on "File"
3. Click on "Open & Export" 
4. Click on "Import/Export"
5. Select "Import from another program or file" and hit "next"
6. Choose "Comma Separated Value (CSV) and hit next.
7. Select the CSV file you just created (it's probably in your "downloads" folder).
8. I recommend selecting the option to replace duplicates with items imported and hit "next."
9. Select your contacts at the destination and "next"
10. Hit "finish"

Calendar 

Export from Google:

1. Open your Google Account again and open calendar
2. Click on the Gear in the upper right hand corner and select "settings"
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click on the calendars tab, then select the calendar you want to export.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Click on "export this calendar"
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. This will download the calendar into a zip file.
6. You will want to open the zip file and extract it to save on your computer.
   
   

Import into Outlook

1. The first part of these instructions are the same as importing the contacts above, Open Outlook again and go to "file"
2. Click on "Open & Export" 
3. Click on "Import/Export"
4. Select "Import an icalendar (.ics)" and hit "next"
5. Select the ICS file you downloaded from Google and unzipped.
6. Typically, you would import this into your existing calendar.
   

Picking Teams

One of the expressed goals for the firm this year has been to encourage everyone to use an email alternative.  The firm would like to cut down on the use of email for internal communications.

As part of the move from Google Mail to Microsoft Exchange, we are transitioning from more than just mail.  Many other Google features that had been available to us have similar features in the Microsoft universe.

Some of you may have been using Google Hangouts, a program that permits instant messaging and chat between users.  Many find it much faster and conducive to a back and forth discussion than email.  We are leaving Google Hangouts behind, and are replacing it with Microsoft Teams.

Everyone's Office 365 account now includes Teams.  Like most Microsoft applications, you can access a web version through your Office 365 portal, or directly via the website:  https://teams.microsoft.com.  There is also a free program you can download to your Windows computer, or Apps available for your Apple or Android devices.

Regardless of how you access teams, you have the ability to create and continue group chats with multiple people, or simply start a one on one chat with someone else.

The firm plans to make a bigger push to use Teams this fall, and plans to integrate it with FileVine early next year.  If you want to get a jump on things, you may want to start using Teams now and get used to its features.  The expectation is that this will become the primary vehicle for all in-office communications.

Google Drive

Now that the firm has retired Gmail, we are also leaving  all the other features included in Google's G Suite.  Aside from email, the most commonly used feature is Google Drive.

The firm has determined that it will NOT be converting the contents of Google Drive to Box.  Too many people have too much junk in Drive that is not necessary to bring into Box.

That said, if you have information in Google Drive that you want to save, you have several options.  First, if you only have a small number of files, you can download them yourself.  You can download a file for older from your Google Drive and convert it to Microsoft format if currently in Google format.  This will allow you to continue to work on the documents using another program.

If you are using Google Drive (which includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides) to extensively to download a few documents yourself, Google also offers an option called Google Takeout.

Takeout allows you to download the entire contents of your Google Drive, or select features.  It will also convert your Google files to a convenient format.  If you want to use Takeout, do the following:

1. Go to https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout
2. Click on "Select None" to turn off all the various Google features.  
3. Scroll down to Google Drive and select only that category.
4. If you don't want to download everything, click on "all files" and then on "select files and folders".  Check only those folders you want to download.
5. Scroll to the bottom and hit "next"
6. You then have the option to select different save formats.  The default "zip" is probably best.  You can also create a maximum size.  I recommend selecting a very large size.  This will ensure everything goes into one download file instead of multiple ones.  
7. Click on "start download"
8. Depending on how many files you have selected, Drive can take minutes or hours to complete. When it has created the download file, you will get an email with a link.  Use that link to download your files.
9. That should be it for now.  Save that zip file in a safe place.  You can open it if you need to use any of the files now.  Otherwise, hang onto it until you go live on Box.com.  Then, you can upload the files into Box.

Of course, if you need assistance, contact the help desk.  We are a little overwhelmed these days, but if you send us an email, we will get your request on our task list and get to you as soon as possible.

Please do not put off this task for too long.  When Google shuts down, we will no longer have access to this data and will not be able to retrieve it.  Google will only remain available for a few more weeks.  It will be going away before most of our offices are up and running in Box.  That is why it is important to save the documents locally before we can make them available to you in Box.