How to fix: SharePoint opens an extra Browser Tab when opening a Link in the Quick Launch

How to fix: SharePoint opens an extra Browser Tab when opening a Link in the Quick Launch

by | Mar 4, 2021 | Office 365, SharePoint

I keep noticing an issue in SharePoint where Quick Launch links to Document Libraries in our SharePoint Modern sites started opening up an extra Untitled Tab in the web browser. This was driving me and our staff a little nuts.

If it’s happening on your SharePoint site – just delete the Quick Launch link and manually create another in the Site Settings > Navigation.

It seems that the cause “may” be with how the link to the Document Library was created. (I’ve found one link and tested this solution so far, maybe confirm in the Comments if you see and fix this the same way…)

I think if when creating the Document Library from the Site Contents Section New+ button you choose to “Show in Site Navigation” then that created Link somehow opens up an extra unwanted Tab…..However I created a test Document Library and Link – and it worked fine in Edge.

Sharepoint quick launch link opens two tabs extra tab

How to stop SharePoint Quick Launch Links opening an extra browser tab

If I create a Document Library in SharePoint and during the create process choose the option to add it to the Quick Launch navigation menu, it may open an extra unwanted browser tab when clicked.  If I then delete that Link and manually create a link in the Quick Launch Navigation the extra tab doesn’t get opened when clicking the SharePoint Document Library Link.

Sharepoint quick launch link opens two tabs extra tab

So I’m advising our Staff to create the SharePoint Document Library then manually create the Quick Launch link to avoid having SharePoint open two tabs when you click the link.

Microsoft Teams – How to Create a Read Only Folder in the Files Section

Microsoft Teams – How to Create a Read Only Folder in the Files Section

by | Mar 3, 2021 | Office 365, Teams

Updated: September 2020

Most of the Microsoft Teams created in our organisation are for supporting the collaboration in our professional learning communities.

In these Teams, every Team member can edit files stored in the Microsoft Team’s Files section.  But what if you just want a location to store documents which your team can’t edit for some reason?  Here’s how to setup such a folder.

How to Create a Read Only Folder in Microsoft Teams Files Section

First open up Microsoft Teams and click the Files Tab

Add a New Folder which you want to be Read Only

Click the Open in SharePoint button

Microsoft Teams Read Only Folder

Now in SharePoint’s view of the Folder click the settings ellipses (3 vertical dots) and click Manage Access

make a read only folder in Teams

Click the dropdown to change Team Members permissions

Change the permissions for Members from Can Edit to Can View, changes will Save automatically

This will set the Permissions on that folder so that Team Owners only are able to edit the contents of the Folder, but not Members.

Hope that’s helpful for you – if so please consider sharing this Post with others  🙂

 

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Cairns Mountain Bike Parks

Cairns Mountain Bike Parks

by | Jan 18, 2021 | Sport

Mountain Biking in Cairns

Cairns is such a great place to go mountain biking. Once you’re in Cairns there are plenty of mountain biking adventures you can go on. With different MTB Parks and trails to explore Cairns provides a great variety of Mountain bike rides to suit everyone.

Smithfield Mountain Bike Park

The Smithfield Mountain Bike Park is a 20 minute drive from Cairns city.  The park is maintained by the Cairns MTB Club and volunteers. There are 34 trails extending over 60km running through the beautiful Cairns rainforest including single trail Green, Blue and Black grades.

Smithfield Mountain Bike Park has hosted the following events:

  • 1995 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
  • 1996 UCI World Mountain Bike Championships
  • 2014 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
  • 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
  • 2017 UCI World Mountain Bike Championships

 

Smithfield

Atherton Mountain Bike Park

 

Atherton Forest Mountain Bike Park

Davies Creek Mountain Bike Park

Davies Creek Mountain Bike Park
YouTube Hacks for Teachers and Students 2021

YouTube Hacks for Teachers and Students 2021

by | Dec 15, 2020 | apps

Educators use YouTube so much to provide training, information or thinking challenges to their students. Here are some YouTube Hacks which you may not know which could make your use of YouTube content “next level”.

 

YouTube Hack 1 – Create a Link so the Video Starts at a Specific Point

This hack is great – share a link to a video which contains the time in the video that you want it to start at when your students click the link.

  • Open the YouTube video you want to Share
  • Move the timeline to the point that you want the video to start at (or maybe 5 seconds before…)
  • click Share
  • then click the Start at link – your link will open the YouTube video at that point of Play

YouTube Hacks for teachers

 

YouTube Hack 2 – Create a GIF from a YouTube Video

This hack is so simple – sometimes you might want a repeating animated GIF in a presentation rather than a YouTube Video

  • Open the YouTube video you want to create a GIF from
  • In the URL (address) for the video, add the word GIF, before the word youtube
  • So – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBmc0MwqRBc becomes https://www.gifyoutube.com/watch?v=zBmc0MwqRBc
  • The GIF editor will load allowing you to make all kinds of changes and additions to your animated GIF

Youtube Hacks for teachers video to GIF

 

YouTube Hack 3 – Paste your Video into a OneNote notebook

I use this hack all the time. When you copy and paste a YouTube URL into OneNote, that video can be played from within OneNote without your students having to leave the notebook.

OneNote will just play the video you have pasted at the size you make it, without all the rest of the page content that is seen on YouTube – which to be honest can be distracting for some students (and staff!)

  • Open the YouTube video you want to copy to OneNote
  • Copy the URL from the web browser address bar
  • Paste the copied URL into your chosen OneNote page

YouTube hacks for teachers - paste to onenote to remove distractions

 

YouTube Hack 4 – Blur out an area from one of your videos

OK so you have created a YouTube video for your class, but then discovered you have to blur out a section of the video which has information you don’t want them to see. Here’s how to blur out a section of video.

  • Open YouTube and click your Profile Photo to access the YouTube Studio link –  to access your uploaded videos
  • click the Video you want to add the blurred section to
  • position the blur section on the video
  • drag the start and end points of the blue blur bar for the duration you need the blurred section to be there for

blur part of youtube video youtube hacks for teachers

 

YouTube Hack 5 – Copy the Transcript of the Video

This is useful where you are wanting text from the commentary or speech from the video.

  • open the video and click the 3 dots (More Options icon) below the video
  • choose Open Transcript
  • the Transcript will open next to the video, where you can toggle the timestamps off and copy the text.

Youtube hacks get transcript

 

 

YouTube Hack 6 – Use Video.Link to create a safe watching experience

I love this hack. Use https://video.link to create a family/student friendly YouTube video link to share with your students. This will enable them to simply watch the video you are sharing, without all the other recommended videos which could lead them away from your intended content.

  • open the video on YouTube and copy the URL from the browser address bar
  • go to https://video.link and paste your copied YouTube URL into Video.links video field, click Generate Link
  • from the next screen, copy the new URL and share the link with your Students
  • you can see below the Video.Link viewer removes all the distractions

Youtube hacks for teachers video link viewer

 

 

YouTube Hack 7 – Use Filters to make an advanced search

After searching for a video use the Filter button to refine your search. This will (hopefully) enable you to find just the video that you are wanting.

  • open YouTube and enter your search term
  • once the search is complete click Filter
  • choose from the presented options to refine your results

youtube hacks for teachers refined search filters

 

 

YouTube Hack 8 – Keyboard shortcuts

When you’re using YouTube a lot – make use of the Keyboard for easy control.  Here are some of my most common keyboard shortcuts:

  • Press F – to go Fullscreen, press again to return
  • Press Spacebar – to Play and pause the video
  • Press Left and Right Arrows – to skip forward and backward 5 seconds in the timeline (use J and L to skip 10 seconds at a time)
  • Press M – to Mute or Unmute the video’s audio
  • Press Up and Down arrows – to Increase or Decrease the audio volume
  • Press Shift-N – move to the next video in the playlist you are watching
  • Press Home – return to video start
  • Press End – go to video end

 

 

 

YouTube Hack 9 – Create a Link which opens the video in Full Screen

This is also useful for keeping students focused. Create a link to share which when clicked will open the video in Full Screen mode.

  • Open the YouTube video you want to Share
  • copy the URL from the address bar – eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBmc0MwqRBc
  • modify the URL by adding _popup after the word watch and before the ? in the address eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=zBmc0MwqRBc
  • copy your new link and share with your students

Youtube hacks full screen link

 

 

 

YouTube Hack 10 – Loop a video for repeated playback

This is a good one for videos you want playing in the background – especially at events.

  • Open the YouTube video you want to Loop
  • Right Click the video and choose Loop Video from the options

Youtube hacks for teachers loop video

 

 

 

YouTube Hack 11 – Access Free Audio from YouTube’s Audio Library

Kind of a Hack in that it’s not well known. But there is absolutely oodles of audio you can download free to use.

  • Open YouTube and go to the YouTube Studio section (follow the link to YouTube Studio under your profile picture)
  • Click the Audio Library link from the Left Menu
  • find, select and download any audio for your project

Youtube hacks for teachers audio library

 

 

 

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Sync Google Calendar with Microsoft Teams Calendar

Sync Google Calendar with Microsoft Teams Calendar

by | Oct 29, 2020 | Flow, Office 365, Teams

Our organisation splits collaboration and productivity apps between Office 365 and Google Suite. Email and Calendar is in Google, yet we use Microsoft Teams and SharePoint to collaborate and all the Office apps to create. This results in core information and communications not being available within apps in either suite – aka pain in the ass. Here is how I used Microsoft Flow to copy events from my work Google Calendar to the Calendar in Microsoft Teams (my work Office 365 account) so I can see events in Microsoft Teams.

Because we use Teams heavily to collaborate on Tasks and documents, and also communicate using Chats and Teams Posts, I wanted the Calendar in Microsoft Teams to have the events there that are booked in my Google Calendar. Mainly so I had quick access to it from Teams, but also so my Availability Status in Teams reflected Busy or Available based on my Calendar events.

How to sync Google Calendar with Microsoft Teams

I used the Microsoft Flow Template here:

https://australia.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/galleries/public/templates/50229a20493811e6bf53611364194d1a/google-calendar-to-office-365-calendar/

  1. Connected my Work Google Calendar and Work Office 365 Calendar to Microsoft Flow
  2. Edited the Flow settings:

Microsoft flow to sync google calendar and office 365 calendar

Now when an Event is created in Google Calendar it is copied across to the Calendar in Microsoft Teams (my Office 365 Calendar).

I’m a bit frustrated that this doesnt actually sync with Google – if an event is modified or deleted that event in Teams Calendar isn’t affected. BUT this is something I can live with until we logically move Email and Calendar into Office 365.