This Explore button was released last year, but not many people know it exists! You can find the explore button in the bottom right-hand corner of an opened Google Docs, Google Slides, or Google Sheets file. 

Google Docs: Find and add suggested content to documents in Google Docs. The suggested content is related to what’s in your document. You can also search your docs and the web from within a document. It will do a web search, suggest images and recommend files in your Drive related to the topics within the document you are typing! You can even cite related articles and add them to a footnote in your document - imagine the possibilities of supporting students with citing sources appropriately as they are researching and writing! 

Google Slides: Do your students (or you) struggle with making content on a Slides look visually appealing? The Explore button in slides will make suggestions for quick and easy slide layouts, based on the content you have added to your slide. Additionally, it allows the user to search for web images and google files related to what's on your slide deck. 

Google Sheets: Do you or your students have questions about data sets but struggle with using the proper function to determine their answer? Highlighting a set of data and then clicking the Explore button will suggest functions, formatting and more! Users can type in a question they have about their data and Google will use machine intelligence to answer their question. The Explore button will also suggest questions they might want to ask, as well as different formatting options to make their sheet easier to read and use. 

Check out these helpful tips and tricks to make the most out of the mighty Chromebook for you and your students.  Open your Chromebook while you read and give them a try!

​Many of us know keyboard shortcuts like ctrl+c for copy and ctrl+v for paste, but did you know that your Chromebook has many hidden shortcuts to make productivity even quicker?
Turn Caps Lock On/Off:  alt + search (magnifying glass)
Lock Screen: search (magnifying glass) + L
Open the Files App: alt + shift + m
Do you love how quickly Chromebooks turn on, but find them tedious to sign-out? 
Sign out of your Google Account:  ctrl + shift+ q + q
Learn all the keyboard shortcuts at your fingertips on your Chromebook: ctrl + alt + ?
Or visit this Chromebook help page: Keyboard Shortcuts

Scroll: Place two fingers on the touchpad and move up or down to scroll vertically.
Right Click: Press or tap the touchpad with two fingers. You can also press Alt, then click with one finger.
Move Between Pages: To go back to a page you were just on, swipe left with two fingers. To go forward to a page you were just on, swipe right with two fingers.
​Learn More about your Chromebook touchpad.

Your screenshots, images and videos taken on the camera, downloads and other media are stored locally on the Chromebook in the Files app. 
Get quickly to your files using the shortcut alt+ shift+ m. 
Or open the app launcher and search Files.
The Chromebook has limited storage space and will delete files stored locally to save space. So keep your files safe by dragging them to your Google Drive for permanent storage.
Learn More.

Your bookmarks bar automatically saves an image and title of the website when making a URL favorite. Save room and store more bookmarks by editing your bar to show only the  favicons (the shortcut icon). 
1. Right click on your bookmark (two finger tap on a Chromebook)
2. Edit
3. In the Name box, delete the text
4. Save​

Hear text read aloud with the built-in accessibility feature ChromeVox.  Learn more about turning on features such as Select-to-speak, which reads aloud only the text you highlight. 

Google Cast for Education allows students to cast their screen to their teacher's device connected to a projector.  It is free and available on all Chromebooks right now! Teachers can control who has casting privileges and works on any device using the Chrome web browser (laptops, desktops, Chromebooks). You can even use it in a BYOD environment. 
Learn more about setting up your teacher device and the simple two step process for students at our Ed Tech website.