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How to Check Your Amazon Gift Card Balance

Not sure if you have sufficient funds to buy that item on Amazon? If so, it’s easy to check your gift card balance on both the Amazon website and the Amazon mobile app, as well as the history of cards you have redeemed. Let’s find out.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
December 21, 2021

This is for devices using Amazon

Dilbert and CEO — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Use the Amazon Website

If you are on a Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chromebook computer, use the official Amazon website to see the available gift card balance in your account.

First, open a web browser on your computer and launch the Amazon site. Sign in to your account on the site.

Next, in Amazon’s top-right corner, hover your mouse over the Account & Lists menu to see an expanded menu. Refer to the below image:

Gift Card 1 — Accessing Account & Lists menu option

Now, in the expanded menu, under Your Account, click Account. See the below image:

Next, on the Your Account page that opens, click Gift cards. See the following image:

Now, on the page that opens, right next to Your Gift Card Balance, you will see the gift card balance currently available in your account. Refer to the below image:

Gift Card 4 — Viewing your Gift Card balance

Note! You can redeem a gift card by clicking the Redeem a Gift Card button, entering the key, and clicking Apply to your balance button.

If you would like to view the values of gift cards that you have redeemed in your account, scroll down the page to see that information. See the following image:

Gift Card 5 — Viewing your Gift Card history

Use the Amazon Mobile App

If you are on an iPhone, iPad, or Android phone, use the Amazon mobile app to check your gift card balance.

First, launch the Amazon app on your phone. Sign in to your account if you have not already. Then, at the bottom of the app, tap the user icon. Refer to the below image:

Next, on the account page that opens, scroll down to the Gift Card Balance section. Here, you will see the gift card balance available to use in your Amazon account. See the below image:

Gift Card 7 — Viewing your Gift Card Balance

Now, to view the gift cards that you have added to your account so far, then next to Gift Card Balance, tap the Manage option. See the following image:

Gift Card 8 — Accessing to Manage your Gift Card

Note! You can redeem a gift card by clicking the Redeem Gift Card button, entering the key, and taping Apply to your balance button.

Next, scroll down the page to the Your Balance activity section. Here, you will see all your redeemed gift cards along with their values. Refer to the below image:

And that’s how you know if your gift card balance can buy a certain item on Amazon.

Quote For the Day

Faith is trust in ultimate meaning.
Viktor E Frankl

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

How to Obtain a Link to a Photo or Video on Instagram

If you would like to share an Instagram photo or video outside the platform, you will have to get that item’s shareable link.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
December 16, 2021

If you would like to share an Instagram photo or video outside the platform, you will have to get that item’s shareable link. Let’s explore how to get these links from your Instagram account, on either desktop or mobile.

Note! You can not get links to photos or videos that are in a private Instagram account. For these accounts, Instagram does not offer the option to get a link.

This is for devices running Instagram

Dilbert and Security — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

The instructions to get a link to a photo or video on Instagram are the same for all Instagram-supported devices, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chromebook computers, as well as iPhones and Android smartphones.

First, open Instagram and find the photo or video for which you want to get a shareable link. At the top-right corner of that item, click or tap the three dots Menu. Refer to the below image:

Next, choose Link on an iPhone or Copy Link on other devices. See the below image:

Now, the link to your selected photo or video on Instagram will be copied to your device’s clipboard. Use the Paste option in any text field on your device to view your link. In our example, we pasted the link to the iPhone Notes app.

Your shareable Instagram link should look something like the following image:

You may now send this link to your friends and family. They can click or tap it to access the photo or video on Instagram.

Quote For the Day

The system is that there is no system. That doesn’t mean we don’t have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that’s not what it’s about. Process makes you more efficient.
Steve Jobs

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

How to Make Guest Optional for Google Calendar Events

Not everyone you invite to a meeting may be a required guest. There might be someone that you want to give the choice to attend. Google Calendar provides the ability to make attendees optional, but it’s not obvious.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
December 9, 2021

Not everyone you invite to a meeting may be a required guest. There might be someone that you want to give the choice to attend. Google Calendar provides the ability to make attendees optional, but it’s not obvious.

It could be your supervisor, a coworker who may not be available, or someone else with an interest in the meeting. By marking them optional, they can decide for themselves if they should or want to attend. And you can make guests optional at the time you create the Google Calendar event or afterward.

This is for devices using Google Calendar

Dilbert and Strike — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

When Creating the Event

First, launch Google Calendar and sign in if necessary. When you click to create a new event in Google Calendar, you see a small pop-up window to add all the details including your attendees. But you will not spot the optional feature for your guests immediately.

Next, hover your cursor over the attendee’s name or email address after you add it. To the right, you will see a gray contact (person) icon. Click that icon to mark your guest as optional. Refer to the below image:

Optional 1 — Marking a guest as Optional

Now, the icon will appear white indicating the Optional status. You can click it again to make the guest required. See the below image:

After Creating the Event

If you have already created the event, you can still make an attendee optional. Select the event on your Google Calendar to open the small detail window and then click the pencil icon to edit it. See the following image:

Optional 3 — Selecting to Edit the event

Next, on the event detail screen, hover your cursor over the attendee you want to make optional in the Guests section. To the right, click the gray contact icon. Refer to the below image:

Optional 4 — Marking a guest as Optional

Now, click Save at the top to apply your change. See the below image:

Next, the icon turns white and shows you the person is optional. If you want to make the attendee required again, just click that icon and hit Save. See the following image:

What Guest See

When you make an attendee optional for your event, the word Optional appears below their name. Anyone in the list of guests without the word Optional is required. Refer to the below image:

Optional 7 — Viewing guests who are Optional

If you are setting up a meeting, conference call, or video call in Google Calendar and have certain guests that may want to attend but are not required to, you can easily use the Optional feature.

Quote For the Day

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas A Edison

That’s it. Now you know a seldom-used feature for making guests Optional in a Google Calendar event. Please feel free to share this post! One way to share is via Twitter.

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How to Scroll Through Photos Fast on Windows 10

You may be used to tapping the arrow keys to quickly scroll through images in Windows’ Photos app, but an even faster method is using the mouse wheel.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
December 7, 2021

You may be used to tapping the arrow keys to quickly scroll through images in Windows’ Photos app, but an even faster method is using the mouse wheel. Let’s explore how to make the mouse wheel scroll instead of zoom.

This is for devices running Windows 10

Dilbert and Class — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

By default, when an image is open in Photos and you use your mouse wheel, your photo either zooms in or zooms out. By adjusting Photos’ settings, you can change this behavior so the mouse wheel opens the next or previous photo in your folder.

First, open the Photos app on your Windows 10 device by opening the Start menu, entering Photos in the Cortana search box, and clicking the app in the search results. Refer to the below image:

Next, in the top right-hand corner, click the three dots Menu. See the below image:

Now, select Settings to open the Photos app’s Settings Menu. See the following image:

Next, scroll down to the Viewing and Editing section. At the bottom of this section, in the Mouse Wheel subsection, enable the View next or previous item option. Refer to the below image:

Photos 4 — Changing your mouse wheel option

And that’s it. In Photos, your mouse wheel will now navigate between the images in your folder.

Quote For the Day

Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
Thomas A Edison

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

How to Set Google Search Results Per Page

By default, when you search for something on Google, the site displays 10 results per page. If you would like to see more results, you can increase the results count from a Settings option on Google. (Note! As of this writing, this feature is only available for the desktop).

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
November 16, 2021

By default, when you search for something on Google, the site displays 10 results per page. If you would like to see more results, you can increase the results count from a Settings option on Google. (Note! As of this writing, this feature is only available for the desktop). In this blog post, we will show you how easily this is done.

This is for desktop devices using Google Search

Dilbert and People — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

To view more search results without having to click the next page number for your Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chromebook computer, first, open a web browser on your computer and access the Google site.

At the bottom right-hand corner of the Google site, click Settings. Refer to the below image:

Search 1 — Accessing Google Search Settings

Next, from the pop-up menu that opens, select Search settings. See the below image:

Search 2 — Accessing Search settings option

Now, on the Search Settings page, from the left sidebar, select Search results. See the following image:

Search 3 — Accessing Search results option

Next, on the right pane, you will see a Results per page slider. To increase the number of results per page, drag this slider to the right. Beneath the slider, you will see the number of search results you can enable on Google. Your options are 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100. (Note! Your searches will be slower if you choose to display more results per page than the default). Refer to the below image:

Search 4 — Setting the slider for the number of search results per page

Now, to save your changes, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click Save. See the below image:

Next, in the prompt, Your preferences have been saved, click OK. See the following image:

You will now see your selected number of search results per page on Google Search on your desktop. If you ever want to modify this option, you can head to the same menu and choose a new number.

Here is a helpful insight on using Google Search for you to consider. As of this writing, Chrome 95 has a bug in its Reading List option. To research, this or any other problem, start with the highest level then drill-down levels. For example, you would enter the following text for the search:

Google Chrome 95 Reading List option Add current tab is dimmed

The highest level is Google, next is Chrome 95, and so on. You will get better search results by following this guideline.

Quote For the Day

When you’re an engineer, you want to analyze things a lot. But if you believe that the most important data points are people, then you have to make conclusions in relatively short order. Because you want to push the people who are doing great. And you want to either develop the people who are not or, in a worst case, they need to be somewhere else.
Tim Cook

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

How to Turn Off Entering a Password For Your Microsoft Account

Microsoft is leading the way for a passwordless future. You no longer are required passwords to login to your Microsoft account as you can now use the Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, a security key or a verification code sent via SMS or email.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
November 4, 2021

Microsoft is leading the way for a passwordless future. You no longer are required passwords to login to your Microsoft account as you can now use the Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, a security key or a verification code sent via SMS or email. Let’s explore how to setup this feature.

The company has been preparing for a passwordless future for quite some time and its reason behind is the fact that passwords can be easily manipulated.

Vasu Jakkal, Corporate VP of Microsoft’s Security, Compliance and Identity, said “Weak passwords are the entry point for the majority of attacks across enterprise and consumer accounts. There are a whopping 579 password attacks every second—that’s 18 billion every year,” Jakkal added.

This is for devices using Microsoft Account. Screenshots are from iPhone XR.

Dilbert and Tails — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

First, install the Microsoft Authenticator app and link it to your Microsoft account. There are several authenticator apps, ensure you install the correct one from Microsoft. Refer to below image:

Password 1 — Download and install the Microsoft Authenticator app

Next, open your Microsoft account. See below image:

Now, scroll down to Advanced security section and toggle on Passwordless account. See following image:

Password 3 — Setting Passwordless account option

Then follow the on-screen prompts and approve the notification from the Authenticator app.

Your Microsoft account is now passwordless. You can always go back to using a password for your account.

Quote For the Day

A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.
Steve Jobs

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

How to Log Out of Facebook on All Devices

With so many devices and so many social media accounts, it can be hard to remember where you are logged in to which accounts. To protect yourself from potential hacks, it’s a good idea to log out of social media sites, like Facebook, once you are done with your session, especially if you are using someone else’s device.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
October 28, 2021

With so many devices and so many social media accounts, it can be hard to remember where you are logged in to which accounts. To protect yourself from potential hacks, it’s a good idea to log out of social media sites, like Facebook, once you are done with your session, especially if you are using someone else’s device.

But, if you forgot to log out, or suspect an unauthorized third-party login, you can still log out of all devices at once from your Facebook’s account settings. Let’s explore how this is done.

This is for devices running Facebook

Dilbert and Accomplishment — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Use Mobile App

If you use an iPhone, iPad, or Android phone, you can use the official Facebook app to sign out from Facebook on all your devices at once.

First, launch the Facebook app on your smartphone.

In the Facebook app, tap the three horizontal lines menu. On an iPhone or iPad, this menu is at the bottom of the screen. On an Android phone, you will find this menu at the top-right corner of the display. Refer to below image:

Next, scroll down the Menu screen that opens, and tap Settings & Privacy. See below image:

FB 2 — Accessing Settings & Privacy option

Now, select Settings. See following image:

Next, scroll down to the Account section. Here, tap Password and Security. Refer to below image:

FB 4 — Accessing Password and Security option

Now, on the Where you’re logged In header, tap See All. (Note! My display text automatically changes size and the See All may be somewhat hidden depending on font size. See below image:

Facebook will display the list of devices where you use your account. At the bottom of this screen, tap Log Out of All Sessions. See following image:

FB 6 — Accessing Log Out Of All Sessions option

Next, select Log Out. Refer to below image:

FB 7 — Confirm your action by tapping Log Out

And Facebook will log you out from all your logged-in devices!

To use your Facebook account on those devices again, you will have to enter your Facebook username and password.

If you just want to log out of one session, tap the 3-dot icon to the right of a session, then tap Log Out and the session will be removed. See below image:

Use Facebook Site

If you are on a Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chromebook computer, use the Facebook site to sign yourself out from all your Facebook logged-in devices.

First, launch a web browser on your computer and open the Facebook site.

Next, at the top-right corner, click the down-arrow icon. See following image:

Now, select Settings & Privacy. Refer to below image:

FB 9 — Accessing Settings & Privacy option

Next, choose Settings. See below image:

Facebook will take you to your account’s settings page. Here, in the sidebar to the left, click Security and Login. See following image:

FB 11 — Accessing Security and Login option

Now, from the Where You’re Logged In section, click the See More option. Refer to below image:

Next, you will see a list of devices where you use your Facebook account. To sign out of all these devices, click Log Out Of All Sessions at the bottom-right corner of the Where You’re Logged In section. See below image:

FB 13 — Accessing Log Out Of All Sessions

Now, a Log Out of All Sessions prompt will appear. Next, click Log Out in the prompt to confirm your choice. See following image:

FB 14 — Confirm your action by tapping Log Out

And Facebook will log you out from all your logged-in devices!

To use your Facebook account on those devices again, you will have to enter your Facebook username and password.

If you just want to log out of one session, click the 3-dot icon to the right of the session, then click Log Out and the session will be removed. Refer to below image:

Quote For the Day

The thing that doesn’t fit is the thing that’s the most interesting: the part that doesn’t go according to what you expected.
Richard P Feynman

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

How to Use Paste Special for Simple Calculations in Microsoft Excel

Do you find yourself doing a lot of copy and paste of data in your spreadsheets? Did you know that you can use a special Excel’s paste feature to perform simple calculations? You can add, subtract, multiply, or divide in a few clicks with the paste special in Excel.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
October 26, 2021

This is for devices using Microsoft Excel. We are using Excel for Office 365.

Dilbert and Like — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Maybe you have prices that you want to increase or costs that you want to decrease by dollar amounts. Or, perhaps you have inventory that you want to increase or decrease by unit amounts. You can perform these types of calculations quickly on a large number of cells with Excel’s paste special operations.

Setup Paste Special

For each of your simple calculations, you will open the Paste Special dialog box. Next, you will start copying the data and then selecting the cell(s) that you are pasting to.

First, open Microsoft Excel. To copy, you can press Ctrl+C or right-click and select Copy. Refer to below image:

Now, do one of the following to access Paste Special.

Click the Paste drop-down arrow in the ribbon on the Home tab, then select Paste Special.
Right-click cells that you are pasting to and select Paste Special in the shortcut menu.

See below image:

Paste Special 2 — Selecting Paste Special option

Use Simple Calculations With Paste Special

For basic numbers, decimals, and currency, you can choose from All, Values, or Values and Number Formats in the Paste section of the window. Use the best option for your data.

Next. you will use the section labeled Operation to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. See following image:

Paste Special 3 — The Paste Special dialog box

Let’s look at a simple example of one operation to see how it all works.

Add With Paste Special

For this example, we want to add $50 to each of the amounts for our ski jacket prices to accommodate an increase.

We enter $50 into a cell outside of our data set and copy it. You might already have the data in your sheet or workbook that you need to copy. Refer to below image:

Paste Special 4 — Selecting the amount for the increase

Now, we select the cells that we want to add $50 to and access Paste Special as described. Next, we choose Add in the Operation section and click OK. See below image:

And that’s it. All of the cells in your selection have increased by $50. See following image:

Paste Special 6 — Your final result; all Ski Jackets are increased by $50

Subtract, multiply, or divide an amount works the same way. For multiply or divide, you would use units instead of currency.

Be sure to switch the operation back to None when you are finished.

The next time you need to add, subtract, multiply, or divide a large group of cells in Excel by the same amount, remember this trick using Paste Special.

Quote For the Day

I’m sorry, if you were right, I’d agree with you.
Robin Williams

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

How to Set Chrome As Your Default Browser in Windows and iPhone/iPad

Features like Google account’s password and bookmark sync, extension support, cross-device migration, etc., make Chrome the number one choice over competitors. Chrome is the most installed web browser used today.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
October 20, 2021

Features like Google account’s password and bookmark sync, extension support, cross-device migration, etc., make Chrome the number one choice over competitors. Chrome is the most installed web browser used today. Let’s explore how to set Chrome as your default browser.

This is for Windows 10 and iPhone/iPad running Chrome

Before we go any further, you need to have the Google Chrome browser installed on your computer or iPhone/iPad. You can download the Chrome app from the app or play store for your iPhone/iPad or from Google’s website if you are using a desktop or laptop.

Set Chrome as Default Browser on Windows 10

First, open System settings by pressing Windows key+I, and then click on Apps. Refer to below image:

Next, from the pane on the left side, click Default Apps. See below image:

Now, locate the Web Browser section, click on your current default browser, and then scroll through the list and select Google Chrome. See following image where Google Chrome is already my default browser:

Chrome 3 — Setting Chrome as default web browser

Next, close Settings. Chrome is now your default web browser.

Set Chrome as Default Browser on iPhone/iPad

If you are running iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 or higher, Apple made it possible to change the default web browser on iPhone/iPad.

First, locate your Settings app on your iPhone/iPad and tap it. Use Apple’s built-in Spotlight Search (your first screen) to quickly find the app if you can not locate it on your Home screen. Refer to below image:

Next, scroll down and select the Chrome app. See below image:

Now, select the Default Browser App from the menu. If the setting has not been changed before, it will list Safari as the default. See following image:

Chrome 6 — Selecting Default Browser app

Next, choose Chrome from the list of installed web browser apps. Refer to below image:

Chrome 7 — Setting Chrome as default web browser

Now, close Settings. The next time you click on a link in any app installed on your iPhone/iPad, it will automatically open Chrome.

Quote For the Day

I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.
Richard Feynman

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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. Just send an email to contact@techsavvy.life. 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 Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

How to Open HEIC Files on Windows

Apple’s iPhone and iPad takes photos in the HEIF image format by default. These photos have the HEIC file extension. Windows 10 can view HEIC files in just a few clicks; or you can convert them to standard JPEGs and view them anywhere.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
October 19, 2021

This is for devices running Windows 10, iPhone, and iPad

Dilbert and Directors — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

What is HEIC

HEIC is the name that Apple gave to its container for the HEIF (High Efficiency Image File) image format and is based on the HEVC (High Efficiency Video Compression) video format.

What it means for you are high-quality images that take up less storage space thanks to a more modern compression method.

You can disable HEIC on the iPhone, but since its introduction in iOS 11, it has become Apple’s default photo storage format.

How to View HEIC Files

On modern versions of Windows 10, you can install support for HEIC image files.

First, locate an HEIC file in File Explorer on your computer and double-click it. If you are asked which application you want to open it in, select Photos.

Note! If the HEIC file does not open in the Photos app, right-click the HEIC file and select

Open With > Photos

Refer to below image:

HEIC 1 — Selecting how to open HEIC photos

The Photos app will tell you that the HEIF Image Extension is required to display this file. Click the Download and install it now link to get it from the Microsoft Store. It’s a free download. If you do not see this requirement screen, do a Google search and install the extension. See below image:

HEIC 2 — Google search for HEIF extension

If Windows asks Did you mean to switch apps?, select Yes.

This will open the HEIF Image Extensions page in the Microsoft Store app. Click the Install or Get button to download support for HEIC image files (which use the HEIF format.) See following image:

HEIC 3 — Get or Install the HEIF extension

On the next screen, if the extension is already installed, you are set. If not, the Launch button will display Install instead. Just click to install the extension. Refer to below image:

Now, when you open an HEIC image in the Photos app, you will be able to view it like you would any other image file, like a JPEG, PNG, GIF, or BMP. See below image:

Windows 10’s File Explorer will automatically generate and display thumbnails for your HEIC image files, too. See following image:

HEIC 6 — Thumbnails of HEIC photos in File Explorer

Convert HEIC to JPEG

To quickly and easily convert HEIC files to standard JPEG images on Windows, we recommend you download and install CopyTrans HEIC for Windows.

This tool installs full support for HEIC images in Windows, so it’s particularly useful on Windows 7 and older versions of Windows 10 that do not have integrated support in the Photos app. It adds support for HEIC images to the classic Windows Photo Viewer.

CopyTrans HEIC also allows you to right-click an HEIC file in File Explorer and select Convert to JPEG to easily convert it to a JPEG file. Select the option and you will get a JPEG version of the image automatically placed in the same folder as the original HEIC file.

JPEG files are more widely supported, so this will help you use the HEIC file in applications that support JPEG images but not HEIC files. Refer to below image:

HEIC 7 — Selecting to convert HEIC to JPEG

Change the Default

If you find dealing with HEIC files inconvenient, you can also configure your iPhone to always take photos in JPEG format.

Go to

Settings > Camera > Formats > (and checkmark) Most Compatible

instead of High Efficiency. See below image:

However, HEIC offers higher image quality in smaller file sizes. It’s a more modern image format, and we recommend sticking with it if the applications you use support it.

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