Online Meeting & Collaboration

With more and more of our daily tasks being done online, it makes sense that we should be able to access our important files from any device at any location that has an internet connection. Online file storage or “cloud storage” is not new and has been around for many years now. And we all know that Google has been around forever as well so it makes sense that they would have their own online storage service which they call Google Drive.

There are many other cloud storage options that you might have heard of such as Microsoft OneDrive which comes with Windows or the very popular Dropbox which most people have used at some point. All of these services have free and pay for options and most of the time the free version does the job just fine, especially for the average home or small business user.

Cloud storage services like Google Drive are a great way to back up your important files since they will be stored at an offsite location so that way if something happens to your computer and you lose everything, you will have a copy of these files that you can then recover once you get your computer back in working order. One thing to keep in mind is that you really don’t know where Google is storing your files since they might be somewhere on a server in another state or even another country!

These services are also a great way to share files with others who you are collaborating with because you can then work on the same file and any changes are saved within your Drive rather than having to email a file back and forth and try and keep track of who made the latest updates to the file. It also comes in handy for sending a large file to someone that might be too big to email because you can simply share a link to the file, and they can then download it from your Drive account.

With everything being done online these days, it seems as though you need to know how to master a multitude of technologies just to get your work done. We are expected to know how to use email, texting, social media, cloud based office productivity services, smartphone apps and so on.

Not too long ago (depending on who you ask), when we wanted to share files and collaborate with our peers, we would have to send files back and forth via email and hope that we were working on the latest version of the file. Doing this would also get complicated when we had many people we were working with on a project at the same time.

Fortunately, today we have many options as to where we can store and share our files and it seems like we are almost getting pressured into using these services. For example, when you get a new computer running Microsoft Windows, it will try and force you to use their online storage platform called OneDrive. And if you have a Google\Gmail account, you automatically get access to their Google Drive service whether you want it or not!

The goal of this book is to get you signed up with Dropbox and comfortable with the interface when it comes to uploading and downloading files and folders. This book also covers how to share and collaborate with other Dropbox and non Dropbox users

Thanks to modern technology and the fact that all of our devices are Internet enabled means that keeping connected with friends, family and coworkers is even easier than ever. We can use our computers, tablets and smartphones to do things such as make video calls, hold meetings and have presentations in addition to sending emails and text messages.

Fortunately, there are many ways to go about performing these tasks yet unfortunately you will need to choose the platform you are going to use to do this because you will need to decide on which method (or software) you will be using. It’s important to choose a platform that is easy to use and also something the people you will be communicating with can also use without having too much of a learning curve in case they are not too tech savvy.

Recently, Zoom Video Communications has been gaining ground with their Zoom online meeting and webinar software as one of the most commonly used online tools being used today. The Zoom software is fairly easy to use and can be configured to suit just about anyone’s needs. It’s easy enough for the typical home user to use to host video calls with friends and family members and also robust enough for the business user who needs to hold meetings and host webinars for their clients.

The goal of this book is to get you up and running with Zoom and show you how to host meetings and webinars as well as go over all of the basic features of Zoom and also some of the more advanced options.

With everyone working from home and even taking their classes online at home, there has been an increase in the need for online meeting and collaboration apps. And since Google is the king of the online world, it makes sense that they would offer a solution that is easy to use and also free at the same time.

Ever since Zoom started to dominate the video conference scene with their popular online meeting service, other vendors have been scrambling to get their own piece of the video conferencing pie. And since Google is one of the largest providers of online services, it only made sense that they came out with their own service to compete with Zoom and hopefully steal some of their users in the process.

Although Google Meet doesn’t have all the features that Zoom does, it's still a very powerful tool for those who want to host video calls and conferences. For most of us, it has enough features to get the job done and since it’s a Google service, of course it will integrate into other Google products such as Gmail and the Google Calendar making it easy to access assuming you are a Google user.

The goal of this book is to get you up and running with Meet and show you how to host meetings and calls as well as go over all of the basic features of Meet and also some of the more advanced options. I will also go over the configuration settings so you will know how to customize Meet to make it work just the way you want it to work.

If you have been using computers for any amount of time, you know how vital email is to keeping communication channels open with your friends and coworkers. But what if there was a better method you can use to stay connected on various projects or topics without having to rely on long email chains or hundreds of individual email conversations?

After being used to communicating via email for so many years, it might seem odd to switch to a different format to keep in touch with your peers and make sure your work projects stay on track. Fortunately, Slack allows you to do this without a huge learning curve in the process by using more of a group and instant messaging system that lets you easily track and participate in conversations with multiple people working on the same team, or Channel as they refer to them.

With Slack you can have all of your projects\teams in one place and communicate with them in an easy to use interface that will help prevent you from missing out on some important information you might need for your project. And if you need to add other people to your group then it's as simple as sending out an invitation to whomever you wish to join. You will then be able to access everything you need from a single location to help make sure you don’t miss a beat.

The goal of this book is to get you up and running with Slack and show you how to configure your channels, workspaces and settings as well as go over all of the basic features of Slack as well as some of the more advanced options. I will also go over the configuration settings so you will know how to customize Slack to make it work just the way you want it to.