Create a Signature for Outlook Emails

Rather than write all your signature information every time you send an email, consider using a signature template. These instructions use the Mac version of Microsoft Outlook; the interface looks different on the PC Outlook and the browser email interface but the essential procedure is the same.  Once complete, every time you create an email or reply to an email, Outlook will manage the signature for you.

Purpose: These instructions will help you create an automatic signature for each of your emails.

On the Mac, select Preferences from the Outlook drop down menu. A separate Outlook Preferences dialog window will open as a result. Among the Email preferences is the Signatures icon. Click on the Signatures icon. The Signatures dialog box will open.
In the pictured Signatures preferences dialog box, I already have a "Work" signature. Click the "+" icon to add a signature to your account. A Text document will open. -ALTERNATIVELY- Click Edit to revise an existing signature.
In the field for Signature Name, type in the name of the signature. In this case, I will call the signature "Work." My user name is already added to the text field automatically by Microsoft Word.
I typed more of my business information. You can add links to text in your signature. Highlight your email address. Right-click your email address. Select Hyperlink from the drop down menu. A new dialog box opens.
The Insert Hyperlink dialog box has a tab for Email Address. Make sure that tab is selected. Type in your email address to the Email Address text field. Click the OK button.
I repeated the same step with my name. I created a link to my southernct.edu faculty profile page.
I want to add the Department of English social media links to my signature. Rather than leaving the URL text in my signature, I am going to embed the URL in pictures. I used Bing images to locate and download the icons for the social media websites the Department of English uses. Alternatively, you can embed the URL in signature text, without image icons, much like I did with my own name and faculty profile page. The Outlook program will insert a picture wherever the insertion point is located. Place the mouse insertion point under all the text. Click on the Pictures button on the text editing ribbon.
There will be two options for inserting pictures in the signature: Photo Browser and Picture from file. Click on Picture from file to insert pictures that are stored on your computer.
To embed a URL address in the picture, follow these steps. After the picture is inserted, right-click on the picture. Select Hyperlink from the drop down menu. The Insert Hyperlink dialog box will open.
Make sure the Web Page or File tab is selected in the Insert Hyperlink dialog box. Type in the relevant URL address you wish to embed in the picture. In this example, the SCSU logo will be a link to the SCSU website. Click the OK button.
I broke up the text so that I could cluster my information together, the department of english information and links together, and the SCSU information and links together. I inserted the logo for the Wix.com blog URL address. I used my mouse to grab a corner of the selected image to adjust the size of the picture. I want it to be small and subtle. I Right-clicked on the image to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box. I typed the URL address of the Wix.com Department of English blog. I clicked OK.
I continued the process and moved images around until I finished with this signature. Every time I send an email, my Outlook will automatically generate this complex signature to increase the visibility of the Department of English.

The following are the links used in the signature

• Blog: https://scsuenglish.wixsite.com/mysite.  
• Calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=1d1s8jeemv9un109a7un75re4g%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FNew_York
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/search?q=SCSUenglish1&src=typd
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scsuenglish1/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scsuenglish/?ref=br_rs
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8578127/

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University

Using Microsoft OneDrive Storage

OneDrive is the Microsoft cloud storage solution for Microsoft users. It is the alternative to the cloud storage of either Apple or Google. However, unlike Apple or Google, the Microsoft cloud matches the same suite of products used by traditional businesses.

Enrolled Southern Connecticut State University students have 1TB of data available in their OneDrive. Students can use their OneDrive for studies, assignments, group work, and their own personal storage. These instructions were written by a student in my Fall 2015 English 240 Professional Writing class.

Purpose: Students who wish to learn some of the basic uses of OneDrive will find these instructions useful.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University

Downloading Office 365 for SCSU Students

Southern Connecticut State University has invested in the full Office 365 online platform to support student studies. They provide the software for free to actively enrolled students. While students already have access to the online Office 365, the full features are not available until they complete the following steps. In addition, students need to follow these instructions in order to download the full software suite to their computer device. These instructions were written by a student in my Fall 2015 English 240 Professional Writing course.

Purpose: These instructions are for enrolled SCSU students who wish to activate their Office 365 license both online and on their personal computer.

Use this link to complete the following Download Process:

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University

Copy a OneDrive Document to Another OneDrive Folder

There are times when a single shared document needs to be divided into individual copies, without saving over the original document. An example might be a classroom, where the professor shares an original copy and all the students need to make their own individual assignment. In those cases, OneDrive doesn't save a new copy under a different name because OneDrive is designed for shared documents--not saving individual copies of the same document. These instructions begin the process when the original document is outside the student folder into which all the individual copies will be saved. If the file is not outside the folder then use the Move To button to change the location of the original document. These instructions are for the Apple computer, Firefox browser.

Purpose: Divide an original, shared document into multiple documents, with different file names.

Open your browser and log in to your Microsoft Outlook Account. Navigate through OneDrive to the appropriate folder. Do not open the document. Locate the original document. Select the checkbox of the document. The checkbox appears when the mouse icon hangs over the area where the invisible checkbox is located.
With the document selected, the available commands on the OneDrive ribbon will change. Click on the Copy To button to open a side bar.
The sidebar opens the locations to which a document can be copied.  A user should not select the user's own OneDrive. In the picture, the destinations include the OneDrive account of Jason Lawrence and the OneDrive account of the user. Because users cannot Save As in a shared folder, they must Copy To a shared folder. In this picture, a user would select Jason Lawrence's shared OneDrive.
Navigate through the shared folders by clicking on the folder options. Do not click the Copy here button until the correct folder is opened. In this picture, "week2_classwriting" is the folder the copied document belongs. Open the final folder.
Once the correct folder is open, click the Copy here button. In this picture, "week2_classwriting" is open.
OneDrive will provide a notification directly under the menu ribbon.  "Copied 1 item to week2_classwriting" is an example of the feedback OneDrive provides.
While in the folder, select the checkbox for the file. In this picture, "CH1_water_lawrence.docx" is selected from within the "week2_classwriting" folder.
Click the Rename button from the menu ribbon.
In this picture, the original file includes the last name "lawrence." With a copy in the appropriate folder, the user can rename the file.
Change the name in any way that is necessary. In this picture, a student needs to rename the file with the student's last name. Once renamed, click the Save button.
The result is a copied file, in a new folder, with a changed name.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University

Saving Files on Someone Else's OneDrive Account

There are times when a single shared document needs to be resaved in a shared folder, without saving over the original document. The problem is OneDrive really isn't designed to save your own document to someone else's folder. OneDrive is designed for shared documents--not saving individual copies of the same document. These instructions begin the process when the original document is outside the student folder into which all the individual copies will be saved. If the file is not outside the folder then use the Move To button to change the location of the original document. These instructions are for the Apple computer, Firefox browser.

Purpose: These instructions will focus on saving one document as your own document, in someone else's shared folder.

Open your browser and log in to your Microsoft Outlook Account. Because a shared document was not created by you, it is not located in your Files. Therefore, the shared document will not show in the default view of your own files. On the left navigation panel, locate and select the Shared link. A list of all your shared documents will load on the screen. You only need to locate the shared folder you need for these instructions. While someone can share folders, presentations, documents, or other files (as shown in the picture), these instructions will focus on a folder that someone has shared with you. In these instructions, the shared folder is called "someone_shared_this_folder." Click on the link "someone_shared_this_folder."
Inside "someone_shared_this_folder" is a selection of all the documents and folders shared by all editors and viewers of the folder. All file and folder names are meant for these instructions. The file and folder names on your own computer screen will be different.
Select the file you need.  A blue checkmark will indicate your file is selected.
Click on the Open menu. Select Open in Word from the menu options. This is a unique feature available for Microsoft's cloud solution. There is an option to either edit the document online or in the Word application on your own computer (if you own it).
One of two dialog boxes will open. The two bullets below describe each of the dialog boxes. If Word already has permission to access your OneDrive, click the Open Link button to open the document in Microsoft in Word. ----------------------------------------- (unpictured) A dialog box requesting a password will open. Microsoft Word needs the password for your OneDrive account; the application will remember your password in the future. (pictured to the right) A Launch Application dialog box will appear on your screen. The dialog confirms you want to access resources located on your computer with resources you have on the internet.
WARNING Don't Save the document! Once Microsoft Word opens, you can begin editing in Word. Click on the File menu. Click on Save As... from among the file menu options. You must use Save As... for this step because you want to save the file under your own name, rather than save over the original file.
Rather than save the document to your own online file locations, you must save the document to the shared folder. The shared folder will not be listed among your own online file locations. Click on Recent Folders.  Because you opened the document from a shared folder, the shared folder will be among the Recent Folders. Click on the shared folder. In the picture to the right, the shared folder is called "Presentation." Locate the location in the shared folder where you need to save your document. In these instructions, that location is the folder titled "water_problem_memos." The name will likely be different on your own computer. The file name will retain the filename of the original document. Click on "Lawrence" in the Save As file naming prompt. In this example, the new file name includes the last name of "anderson." Click the Save button at the bottom of the dialog box.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University