Summer Sunday Tip #1 was all about "To Do" lists. I use to do lists to help organize myself daily and for long projects. One thing on my to do list is to take some time and organize my Chrome accounts. I try to be good during the school year, but if I take about 15-20 minutes at the beginning of the summer, I can get through my Chrome accounts and do some clean up work. School is fresh "enough", yet not breathing down my neck, so I'm sure to keep only what I really need.
Step 1: Separate Chrome Accounts
This is a huge problem for a lot of people - they don't 100% understand the difference between logging into their Chrome account vs their Google account. If you've ever not been able to find something in your account and you are shocked to find it in a different account, this is probably your cause. There might be a bit of work here ... but the bottom line is this - it's EASY to keep your Chrome accounts separate, yet easily accessible. You just have to know how.
Kasey Bell has a great video to show how to do this: https://youtu.be/qJi0g-Lq8Xo
You can also read her blog post, You're Doing it Wrong! How to Manage Multiple Google Accounts
Once you have your profiles separated, you can work to see if you have files that need to be moved to the correct account.
Believe me ... it is well-worth the time to do this! You will thank yourself later.
Step 2: Bookmarks - use the favicon!
I have a deep love of bookmarks. I will never forget my student, Juliana, who showed me how to use ONLY the favicon for bookmarks that I am super familiar with. (The favicon is the small image that is associated with the website ... the colorful triangle for Drive ... the colorful M for GMail ... etc). It saves SO much space & allows me to use the rest of my bookmark bar for additional websites.
Check out the video I made showing how to make this happen.
Step 3: Bookmarks - use folders!
Another way I save space & keep my Chrome organized is to create folders on my bookmarks bar. Another super simple tip and goes a LONG way in helping keep my organized. As a classroom teacher, I had a folder for each unit and each chapter, saving me a ton of time year after year when I wanted to find the same great resources. I use folders as categories to group like bookmarks together.
Check out the video I made showing how to make this happen.
Step 4: Bookmarks - delete!
Something a lot of people might not think about when organizing their Chrome is to actually go ahead and delete the unwanted - or unused - bookmarks. When I sit down with teachers to do some organization in Chrome, many are often surprised the sheer number of bookmarks they have. "Wow!" or "I don't remember bookmarking that!" are common comments. It doesn't matter when, or why, you did, if you aren't using it, delete it. You might be surprised how much cleaner and easier it is for you when you are looking for the bookmarks you really do use. Another super simple way you can organize your Chrome account.
Check out the video I made showing how to make this happen.
Step 5: Customize your theme & profile for each account.
The final suggestion I have for you when organizing your Chrome accounts is to change the theme and your profile image. I have several Google accounts (a personal one, a school one, a Google Trainer one, and a couple of others). If they all had the same profile image and looked the same, I would struggle in knowing which is which. I have strategically used a different profile image for each and used the available Chrome themes to help me more easily see which account I am using. This is a MUST if you have multiple accounts.
Check out the video I made showing how to make this happen.
I promise, after doing these 5 steps, your Chrome accounts will feel organized. Each step should be fairly simple and easy to do.
Come back next week - Tip #3 will focus on doing the things we put off during the school year.
Questions? Comment ⤵ or connect with me on any of the socials - my links are above on the right.
Psssssst! Have you heard? I've got some upcoming presentations YOU can join me! Here's a quick peek, but for a list of all of my upcoming and an up-to-date list, head over to "My Presentations" page. (I just added a couple more of August, too!)
- Tuesday, June 22 @ 1 pm EST - Level Up with Google Docs
- Tuesday, June 29 @ 1 pm EST - Level Up with Google Sheets
- Thursday, July 1 @ 1 pm EST - Level Up with Google Slides
- Friday, July 9 @ 1 pm EST - Level Up with Google Forms
- Monday, July 12 @ 1 pm EST - Level Up with Google Drawings and Jamboard
- Tuesday, July 13 @ 1 pm EST - Level Up with Google Sites
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