Category: Apple

How to Add Slide Numbers to Your PowerPoint Presentation

In PowerPoint, it’s hard to remember what slide number you are presenting. As an aid, we can add the slide number to our slides.

One way, we could manually add a number using a text box. But what if you added or deleted a slide? This would require you to manually update your slide numbers; a time consuming and error prone task.

Instead, you can have the slide numbers update automatically on all your hidden and active slides. By default, your slide numbers appear in your slide footer, but you can move and format them.

This is for PowerPoint for Office 365 Windows and Mac versions. Other versions of PowerPoint will be similar.

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Adding Slide Numbers

Open a PowerPoint presentation with several slides to see the feature. Click the Insert tab. In the Text section, click the Header & Footer icon. See below image:

PowerPoint Slide Numbers 1
Text dialog box

The Header & Footer options box will open. Refer to below image:

PowerPoint Slide Numbers 2
Slide Header and Footer options

Under the Slide option, place a check in the Slide number checkbox. To add your slide number to all of your slides, select Apply to All button. Refer to below image:

PowerPoint Slide Numbers 3
Checkmarking the Slide Number option

Your slide number will appear in the bottom right corner. Note! The number place holder will be small. See following image:

PowerPoint Slide Numbers 4
Sliode Number placeholder

Remove Slide Numbers

To remove your slide numbers, follow the steps above. In the Header & Footer options options box, simply uncheck the Slide number checkbox. Then click Apply to All button. Your slide numbers will be removed.

Format Slide Numbers

We are going to use PowerPoint Slide Master to make the slide number in a different font, color, size or position.

To do this, click View from the main menu, then select Slide Master. This will load the Slide Master editing box. You will see the slide number box in its default position at the bottom right section of the slide. See following image:

PowerPoint Slide Numbers 5
Accessing the Slide Master

Note! You could add a text box with the word “Slide” next to the slide number; this is not shown.

When you move or apply a different font, size or color, it will apply to all your slides.

To edit the text box, select the box then select the Home tab. See below image:

PowerPoint Slide Numbers 6
Selecting the Home tab for editing

Then you can use the available options in the Font and Paragraph sections to format the number like choosing Bold, Underline, etc. I have set the number to be Bold and made the font size bigger. See below image:

PowerPoint Slide Numbers 7
Editing the Slide Number placeholder

Once you have finished editing, return back to the Slide Master tab and click Close Master View button. Refer to below image:

PowerPoint Slide Numbers 8
Closing the Slide Master

Be sure to Save your presentation with the automatic slide numbering feature.

Related

How to use the PowerPoint Dim feature
How to setup a PowerPoint presentation using the Loop feature
How to add Rolling Credits to your Powerpoint presentation

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help me out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

How to Save your PDF to iPhone or iPad

As you are browsing the web, you may come across a PDF file you want to save for later viewing. Let’s examine how to do this.

This if for Apple iPhone and iPad

Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS

While viewing the PDF file in Safari, tap on the Share button. The Share button resembles a rectangle with an up arrow. On an iPhone, the button will be at the bottom of the screen. For an iPad, the Share button is located just to the right of the browser’s address bar. See following image for the iPhone location:

PDF Save 0
The Share icon at bottom center of the screen

Ways to Save Your File

After tapping the Share button, you will see a list of ways to share or save the file, including sending the file to others by a text message or email. Refer to below image:

PDF Save 2
Ways to share your file

Swipe down the list to find the app you want to open with. See following image:

PDF Save 4
More ways to save your file. Showing the Save to Files option

Use Built-In Apps

You may want to chose the built-in apps like Books or Files. If you want to use Books, the file will be available in the Books app. If you chose Files, then chose your save location.

Use Outside Services

Some people prefer to save their file to an outside service like Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. The choice is up to you.

My Example

For my example, I am saving the file using the Files option to the PDF folder on the iCloud Drive. Refer to below image:

PDF Save 5
Saveing the file to iCloud Drive using the PDF folder

Later, if you chose the Files app, you will see the PDF file you just downloaded; same for the Books app. See following image on my choosing the Files app:

Chosing the Files App

PDF Save 6
Getting ready to open the PDF file

As you have seen, you have a lot of choices, thanks to Apple engineers.

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help me out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

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Using Zoom During the COVID-19 Outbreak

This is a summary of Zoom posts I have blogged about over the past few weeks. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are working from home using Zoom for video/audio conferencing. If you take some time, you can make the video meeting a smooth experience for all participants. The host of the Zoom meeting has the responsiblity to setup and run the meeting. By exploring the following blog posts, you can achieve your goal of hosting a successful meeting, making it easy for the participants to join the video conference and keeping the Zoom troll attacks at a minimum.

This if for a PCs and Macs browsers and smartdevices that support Zoom

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Following are my blog links for a Zoom video/audio meeting:

How to Setup Contacts in Zoom

How to Record a Zoom Meeting

How to Join a Zoom Meeting Without Installing the App

How to Hide and Unhide a Zoom Video

Nine Tips to Stabilize a Zoom Meeting

Testimonials

I love you addressed nearly every frustrating feature change I have! Thanks for sharing and educating me. 

― marilyn1998

I was just checking into the zoom meeting stuff. Thanks Raymond.

― Debi Holcomb

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

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Eight Ways for Better Battery Life in iOS 13

For most users, battery life can last most all day on modern iOS devices. However, you can change some iOS 13 settings to maximize the most of your battery usage.

This is for iOS devices iPhone and iPad running iOS 13 and above. Some tips can be applied in earlier versions.

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Disable Dynamic Wallpapers on Your iOS Device

Dynamic Wallpapers was a fun UI feature that was added to iOS 7, but it drains battery life. If you use Dynamic Wallpapers and experience issues with battery life, you might want to disable the app and pick a standard background image by following these steps:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Select Wallpaper > Choose a New Wallpaper > Stills
  3. Select a solid color, then set it as the Home Screen background and Lock Screen background.

Note: Selecting the solid black wallpaper on an OLED screen will cause the device to use less power. Solid black pixels do not use power to display the screen.

Use Dark Mode on Your Device

Using Dark Mode can increase the battery life on OLED devices because it swaps out the white backgrounds for dark backgrounds that use less battery life as mentioned above. To enable Dark Mode follow these steps:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Select Display & Brightness
  3. Change the Appearance from Light to Dark

Disable Raise to Wake

Raise to Wake was introduced with the iPhone X as a way to view the Lock Screen Notifications by raising your iPhone into portrait mode. This is a great feature, but it can cause your screen to turn on throughout the day and drain your battery life. To disable this feature, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Navigate to Display & Brightness
  3. Disable the option for Raise To Wake

With this feature disabled, you can still tap the screen to turn it on, but raising it will not cause the screen to turn on.

Disable Background App Refresh on Cellular

Background App Refresh is a great feature in iOS that allows apps to update in the background so that the next time you launch an app, everything is already loaded.

While you shouldn’t disable this feature for all apps, it’s good to review the apps that do use it and disable any that aren’t regularly used so they aren’t wasting battery life.

To check which apps are using Background App Refresh, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Navigate to General > Background App Refresh
  3. Disable this feature for any apps in this list that aren’t frequently used

When Background App Refresh is disabled and you quit an app that’s in this list, it will no longer download data in the backgroud; instead, you must open the app for it to download new content.

Background App Refresh has a feature that allows apps to use it only when you’re connected to Wi-Fi, not when you’re running on cellular data. To enable Wi-Fi-only Background App Refresh, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Navigate to General > Background App Refresh > Background App Refresh
  3. Select Wi-Fi instead of the default Wi-Fi & Cellular

Ensuring that apps use Background App Refresh only when on Wi-Fi means it will not use battery-draining cellular data to perform the requests.

Disable Motion Effects on Your iOS Device

Disabling motion effects means that the cute animations throughout iOS and third-party apps won’t be as prominent, but if you can live without them, you can save battery life.

To disable motion effects, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Navigate to Accessibility > Motion
  3. Enable the option for Reduce Motion

Manage Bluetooth Connections on Your iOS Device

If you have multiple Bluetooth devices connected to your iOS device and are not using them, it may be a good opportunity to review the items and remove any you’re not currently using.

Follow these steps to review and remove Bluetooth devices:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Select Bluetooth, and tap the “i” next to the connected devices you wish to disconnect
  3. Tap Forget This Device (or Disconnect), if available

You can also turn Bluetooth off completely by following these steps\:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Select Bluetooth
  3. Toggle the switch to OFF 

Manage Location Settings on Your iOS Device

Location and the use of GPS to track your device for various apps can be a huge battery hog, and iOS 13 includes a new way to manage these settings.

It’s worthwhile to manage your loccation settings in apps to ensure only those that need to use your location have access to do so.

To review and manage location tracking follow the below steps:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Select Privacy
  3. Tap Location Services

You should check and control the location tracking for each individual app. Remember that disabling Location Services may hinder the apps functionally.

Place Your iPhone Face Down When Not in Use 

This is more of a tip than a setting change. Starting with the iPhone 6, Apple made its iPhones so that if you turn one face down it will keep the screen from lighting up upon notifications, which helps prevent battery drain.

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

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Nine Tips to Stablize a Zoom Meeting

Internet trolls are crashing Zoom video conferences and flooding them with inappropriate content. Here are some ways to stablize your meetings and keep Zoom running smoothly.

This if for a PCs and Macs browsers and smartdevices that support Zoom

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1. Close All Running Apps

Before you start your video conference call or join the on-line meeting, save your work and close all running apps. Too many open apps will slow down your computer while you’re on a video call. This is because the call requires a lot of resources, especially if you’re on a lightweight laptop.

2. Check the Speed of Your Browser

Before your call, use a speed test tool, like Fast.com or Speedtest.net, to test your internet speed. If you’re not getting enough speed, move closer to your Wi-Fi router or try some other tips to boost your Wi-Fi signal. You can also use one of these tools to speed up your internet connection. Minimum bandwidth is 600 Kbps (up/down) and recommended is 1.5 Mbps (up/down). You may need to call your internet service provider and/or upgrade your equipment, which would be the best choice, if your equipment does not meet the minimum.

If you run both programs, you will notice a signifance difference in the speed test. This is due to the time of day you run the test, servers they are using and its location. Hopefully, your equipment exceeds the minimum speed for a Zoom meeting.

Below are my results in running Speedtest for Windows (Note that I greatly exceed the minimum):

Zoom Tips Speedtest 2
Results in running SpeedTest on my browser

3. Test Your Audio and Video

You can also launch a test Zoom meeting anytime at zoom.us/test.  This will launch a meeting where you are the only participant (you can invite others).  This option lets you test your audio and video even if you don’t have the Zoom app installed.

See the article Joining A Test Meeting in the Zoom Help Center for more information about using the using the Zoom Test Meeting feature.

4. Mute Yourself When Not Speaking

When you’re in a video meeting with a lot of participants, it’s best to keep yourself muted. Only unmute yourself when you need to speak.

This eliminates any background noise on your end. Also, if anyone walks in the room and starts talking while you’re on a call, you won’t have to rush to find the mute button.

5. Never Use Your Personal Meeting ID

Each Zoom user has a personal meeting ID; think of it as your Zoom phone number. When creating a meeting, you can use your personal ID or generate a random one. You should always generate a random meeting ID.

If your personal meeting ID is leaked to the web, Zoom trolls are free to harass you with calls whenever they please. 

6. Always Use a Meeting Password

For a video meeting other than a large classroom, town hall or lecture meeting, passwords should be turned on. 

Make sure the password is kept safe. Zoom sends meeting passwords out to all invitees when invitations are sent. If you’re worried that someone unwanted may get the password, create the meeting without one set, update the meeting to add a password and send it out to invitees in a separate email or via another form of communication.

7. Set Join the Waiting Room Option

When you enable the waiting room for a Zoom meeting, each user who connects is put in a queue that the meeting host has to approve. If you don’t recognize someone in the waiting room, simply don’t let them in.

To enable this feature, navigate to Settings > In Meeting (Advanced), scroll down till you see the following option and toggle it to the On position. See below image:

Zoom Web Meeting 5
Setting Join Waiting Room option

8. Set Meeting Options

Under Meetings > Schedule a Meeting, set the following options:

  1. Video > Host to On
  2. Video > Participant to Off especially if your participates are using older equipment
  3. Audio set to Both
  4. Meeting Options set Emable waiting room to On. Set Record the meeting automatically on the local computer should only be set to On for the host. You don’t want each particpant to be recording and viewing at the same time. If a participate wants a recording, the host can send the video via email or some other form of communication.
  5. Always Save you changes. Refer to following image:
Zoom Web Meeting 6
Setting other options

9.Turn Off Screen Sharing

Zoom trolls need to be able to visually take over a meeting to be effective. Preventing anyone from sharing their screen aside from the meeting host stops them from being able to go on the attack.

Under Settings > In Meeting (Basic), scroll down till you see the Show Zoom windows during screen share and set the following options:

  1. Screen sharing, toggle to On
  2. Who can share, toggle Host Only to On
  3. Who can share when someone else is sharing, toggle Host Only to On
  4. Always Save your changes. Refer to below image:
Zoom Meeting 7A
Setting screen share option

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

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How to Hide and Unhide a Zoom Video

If you don’t want to see your own face during a Zoom video meeting, here’s how to hide, unhide and tweak your video settings.

A lot of us used to working in offices have found ourselves working at home due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus and that means a lot of virtual meetings. Users new to Zoom’s desktop app may find it a bit odd when their face appears while speaking. If you want to hide your own video, adjust it so you don’t take over the screen or bring it back once it’s hidden, then this post is for you.

There are several options for hiding and unhiding videos during a Zoom meeting, both for yourself and other. Lets get started.

This if for a PC, Macs, iPhone/iPad and Android devices that support Zoom

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Accessing Zoom Settings

First, fire up Zoom and join an active meeting. Then click on your small profile photo in upper right-hand corner. This will open up the dialog options window. From here, click on the Settings option. See below image:

Zoom Video 1
Accessomg the Settings option

The Video Settings

Once you click on the Settings option, the Settings dialog window will be revealed. Now, click on the Video tab. The below image only shows some of the settings.

Note! The black area on the below screens would show your online video image.

Zoom Video 2
The Video tab part one

The Video tab has numerous options for configuring video in meetings that will change the way Zoom handles all videos in a meeting. The below image shows the rest of the settings.

Zoom Video 3
The Video tab part two

Hide/Unhide a Video

During a meeting, if you wish to hide your video from your own screen to make room for other participants, just right-click on your video and choose Hide Myself. If you want to bring your own video back onto your screen, just right-click on any other user and select Show Myself.

Note! This won’t disable your video from showing up for other participants; only from from your screen.

To disable your own video completely, you can select the checkbox in the Video Settings screen shown above that says Turn off my video when joining a meeting to disable it, or click the Stop Video button in a meeting to temporary turn it off for the video session.

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

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How to Join a Zoom Meeting Without Installing the App

There is a way to have a Zoom web client meeting without the participates having to install the Zoom app. We are going to learn how to enable this option to make digital meetings even easier.

Zoom’s web client based system has many of the same features as the desktop app, but for users only needing to join meetings as participants it’s very useful. All a attendee has to do is click on the meeting invite link from the host and the web client will do the rest of the work.

There is a sticky problem in doing this type of meeting. The participtes joining a meeting without the app is not enabled by default. The host needs to turn this default on.

If you want your meeting attendees to be able to use the Zoom web client based system, you’ll have to start by logging into your Zoom account on Zoom’s website.

Note! We are NOT using the Zoom app; rather the Zoom web site program.

This if for a PCs and Macs browsers and smartdevices that support Zoom

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Sign in or Sign up to Zoom

Open your browser and click here to sign in or sign up for Zoom. If the link does not work, with your browser open, type in https://zoom.us/signin in the search field. You will see the following screen for sign in or sign up. For my example, I have already signed up.

Zoom Web Meeting A
Sign in to Zoom web based client program

Once you’ve logged in, you should see your Profile screen:

Zoom Web Meeting B
Your Profile screen

Access the Settings Menu

Click on the Settings menu option. Refer to below image:

Zoom Web Meeting 1
Accessing the Setttings

Now, click on In Meeting (Advanced) menu option. Refer to below screen:

Zoom Web Meeting 2
Chosing the In Meeting settings option

Join Using Your Browser

Then scroll down until you see the following screen displayed. Look for the option labeled Show a “Join From Your Browser” link.

Zoom Web Meeting 3
The Join a Meeting option

Now click the toggle switch to the On position. See below image:

Zoom Web Meeting 4
Enabling Join a Meeting option

Schedule a Meeting

If you want to schedule a meeting at this time, click on the link SCHEDULE MEETING in the top menu bar. If you perfer to schedule a meeting later, you may want to set the following options as displayed on the next three screens. Refer to following image:

Zoom Web Meeting 5
Selecting Schedule a Meeting option

Options for Scheduling a Meeting

There are two options you may want to enable. Select Schedule A Meeting>Meetings>My Meetings and scroll down till you see the option Video>Host which allows you to record a video of the meeting. Also, at the bottom, checkmark the option Record the meeting automatically on the local computer. You have the option to let the parcipates also record the meeting as well. It is recommended not to enable this option in order to save bandwidth during the on-line meeting. See following image:

Zoom Web Meeting 6
Two Options to enable

Additionally, under the In Meeting (Basic) menu option, you can turn on a sound when particpates either join or leave a meeting by enabling the Play sound when participates join or leave toggle. See below image:

Zoom Web Meeting 7
The Sound option to enable

Invitation to Join a Meeting

When a meeting attendee clicks on your invitation link to join a meeting they’ll have the option to download and install Zoom or Start From Your Browser. Tell your attendees to select the latter option, install the plugin for your browser and follow the on-screen instructions. Refer to below image:

Zoom Web Meeting 8
The participate invitation to Join a Meeting screen

There are fewer options, buttons and clicks required to join a meeting using the web client based Zoom, so hopefully it will eliminate some of the confusion that comes with using Zoom. Remember you are using your web browser to join a Zoom meeting, NOT the Zoom app on a smartdevice or the Zoom program on a PC or Mac.

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

How to Format a Zip Code in Microsoft Excel

When entering numbers into Microsoft Excel, leading zeros are removed by default. This can be problematic for ZIP codes, phone numbers, credit/debit card numbers and IDs that you type into a cell. We are going to explore some options on fixing this Excel behavior.

If you want to keep a leading zero on the fly, you can enter an apostrophe (‘) before you enter the number that begins with zero. Excel treats the number as a text field. The apostrophe (‘) is not displayed and calculations will still work. But who wants to do this every time, there has to be a better way.

This is for Excel for Office 365 Windows and Mac versions. Other versions of Excel will be similar.

Create the Excel Sheet

Create a simple Excel sheet like the example below:

Zip Code Format 1
Excel Sheet for Zip Codes

Setup the Zip Code Format

  • Select a cell or range of cells to format; in my case G2 thru G6
  • Click “Ctrl+1” to load Format Cells dialog. Also, you can right click and select Format Cells.
  • Select the Number tab
  • Select Custom from the Category list
  • In the Type box, type in 00000 for a five digit zip code or 00000-0000 for a nine digit zip code. This allows leading zeros to be placed in the cell, you only have to enter the Zip code numbers. This is not intuitive, you think you have to select a format from the list. Refer to the following image:
Zip Code Format 3
Setup Excel Sheet format

Using the Special Zip Code Format

You can also click Special, then select Zip Code or Zip Code + 4. In Google Sheets, this special Zip code format is not available, but you can enter the format of leading zeros. See the following example:

Zip Code Format 2
Excel Special Zip Code format
  • Click OK to apply the format. The 00000 or 00000-0000 format is saved in the Type list for future use.

This will only effect Zip Codes that are entered after the format is applied.

You can also format the Zip Code as Plain Text. Anything you enter will show exactly how you typed it in text.

To do this:

  • Select your data range
  • Press “Ctrl+1” to launch the Format Cells dialog box
  • On the Number tab, click Text

What about Zip Codes entries that have more than 5 digits? We can use a Conditional Format in an adjacent column to flag the invalid Zip codes. I used the formula; if the length (cell reference)>5 is True then present an “Invalid Zip” message, if the expression is False, then no message is presented.

Flagging Invalid Zip Codes

  • Create a column adjacent to the Zip Code and label it Error Message
  • Set the Conditional Format for the first cell adjacent to the Zip Code. In my example, it is cell G2
  • Type in this formula, =IF (LEN(your cell reference)>5,”Invalid Zip”,””)
  • Copy this formula, then highlight a range of cells, then Paste

See the following image for the Invalid Zip message related to cell G2 and G6, both have more than 5 numbers. An important note, Excel lets you enter as many digits as allowed, there is no truncation. The template of 00000 formatting is for adding leading zeros if the number of digits is less than 5.

Zip Code Format 5
Flagging Invalid Zip Codes screen

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

How to Switch to the New Facebook Interface

Facebook’s new website interface change is not well known. At some point, it will probably be the new standard. The interface is getting a visual overhaul that almost everyone can access. You can now update to this brand new, less cluttered design with the click of a button. If you don’t like the change, you can easily switch back to the classic interface.

This if for a desktop/laptop, Macs and smartphones supporting Facebook

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Enabling the New Interface

Note! This post relates to a PC, other devices will be similar. If you don’t see the new Facebook option then Facebook has yet to rollout the change to your device.

Fire up your device and log in to your Facebook account.

Next, click on the down arrow in the top-right corner of the interface. Select the Switch To New Facebook option. The page will refresh and the new interface design will load. Refer to below image:

Facebook New 1
Switch to the new Facebook option

A welcome message will appear the first time that you switch to the new Facebook design. Facebook claims that the redesign has faster loading time, cleaner look and bigger text. Additionally, Facebook now includes a dark mode that you can enable whenever you want.

Additionally, this update comes with a user-friendly redesign of the Groups tab and an overhaul of the News Feed. See below image:

Facebook New 2
The Welcome message for the new interface

Simply click the Next button. You will see the following image allowing you to select how yout interface will look.

Facebook New 3
Selecting your interface look

Just click the Get Started button. That’s it, you are all set with the new desktop interface. If you aren’t a fan of the Dark mode, you can switch back to Light whenever you like.

Switching Back to the Classic Interface

Once you’ve enabled the new interface, you can always revert the change from your Facebook account’s front page. Just click on the down arrow in the top-right and then select Switch To Classic Facebook. See following image:

Facebook New 4
Reverting back to the Classic interface

At some point in the future, Facebook may decide to roll out the new design permentally for all platforms. If so, reverting back to the classic interface will no longer be an option.

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

How to Use Spotify with Siri on iPhone

If you’re running iOS 13 or higher, you can directly ask Siri to play your favorite playlist, song or an artist on Spotify. iOS 13+ expands third-party support for Siri which now includes Spotify. This means you can get Apple Music style playback controls with Siri on your iPhone. Here’s how to set it up.

If you already have the Spotify app installed, and you’re logged into your account, all you have to do is start talking to Siri. Say “Play the Beatles on Spotify”.

This is for iPhone or iPad running iOS 13 or above

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Enable Spotify Access to Siri

As this is your first time using Spotify with Siri, it will ask for permission to access your Spotify data. Simpily tap the Yes button. Refer to below image:

Siri and Spotify 1
Giving permission to access Spotify

Spotify will start playing the music you requested. You’ll see a Now Playing widget playback control on the Siri screen.

You can also control the Siri access for Spotify from your iPhone.

  • Open Settings
  • Select Spotify
  • Select Siri & Search. See following image:
Siri and Spotify 2
Accessing Siri and Search

At the bottom of the screen, toggle on the Use with Ask Siri feature to enable Siri access for Spotify. Refer to below image:

Siri and Spotify 3
Toggle on the Use with Ask Siri

Control Spotify on Using Siri

Once Spotify is connected to Siri, you can use it to play any song, album, artist or playlist. You can also get specific about albums and years of release.

Below are some Spotify commands you can use with Siri:

  • Play [song name] on Spotify
  • Play [album name] on Spotify
  • Play [artist name] on Spotify
  • Play on Spotify
  • Play my liked songs on Spotify
  • Shuffle on Spotify
  • Play the latest album by [artist name] on Spotify
  • Play [genre] music on Spotify

Other than these, you can use the standard playback controls in Siri as well. For instance, you can ask Siri to play, pause, skip, repeat, shuffle or go to the previous track. Refer to below image:

Siri and Spotify 4
The playback control

On your iPhone, you can also open Spotify and see what is playing at the bottom of the screen. See below image:

Siri and Spotify 5
Accessing Spotify to see what is playing

The following image is an example of using the Spotify command Play Easy Listening on Spotify:

Siri and Spotify 6
Listening to Easy Listening on Spotify

For now, Siri only supports playback features in Spotify. You can’t use Siri to interact with the app. For instance, you can’t search for something like a song in Spotify using Siri. You also can’t use Siri to add a song to a playlist either.

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