24 June 2017

Ubuntu 16.04: How to Show Hidden Folders and Files

How to show hidden folders and files in the Nautilus file explorer on Ubuntu 16.04:
  1. Open the file explorer.
  2. Open the View menu and check Show Hidden Files. You can also use the Ctrl+H keyboard shortcut.
  3. To turn this on permanently, go to EditPreferences.
  4. Under Default View, check Show hidden and backup files.

18 June 2017

Kdenlive: How to Split a Clip on the Timeline

How to split a clip on the timeline in the Kdenlive video editor:
  1. Drag the clip onto the timeline.
  2. Switch the the Razor tool by clicking on the scissors icon at the top of the timeline or by pressing the X key.
  3. Position the cursor over the place where you want to split the clip and left-click.
  4. To switch back to the Selection tool, click on the arrow icon or press the S key.

11 June 2017

GIMP: How to Convert an Image to Grayscale

How to convert an image to grayscale (often referred to as black and white) in GIMP:
  • Open the Image menu.
  • Go to Mode, and select Grayscale.

04 June 2017

gedit: How to Switch from Tabs to Spaces

How to switch from tabs to spaces for indentation in the gedit text editor:
  1. In the status bar, click on Tab Width.
  2. Check the box next to Use Spaces.
  3. If you do not see the status bar, go to Edit > Preferences.
  4. Switch to the Editor tab.
  5. Check the box next to Insert spaces instead of tabs.

29 May 2017

Ubuntu 16.04: How to Disable Canonical Data Collection

How to disable Canonical data collection in Ubuntu 16.04:
  1. Open System Settings.
  2. Go to Security & Privacy.
  3. Under the Search tab, turn off Include online search results.
  4. Under the Diagnostics tab, uncheck all boxes.

20 May 2017

uBlock Origin: How to Whitelist a Domain

How to whitelist a domain or website that is blocked by uBlock Origin:
  1. If the entire site is blocked, then select Permanently under Disable strict blocking for domain.com.
  2. Otherwise, click on the uBlock Origin icon.
  3. Open the dashboard by clicking on the settings icon.
  4. Switch to the Whitelist tab.
  5. Add the domain to the list and Apply changes. Ads will no longer be blocked on the whitelisted domain.
  6. To start blocking a site again, remove the domain from the whitelist and Apply changes.

30 April 2017

FileZilla: How to Set Local and Remote Default Directories

How to set default local and remote directories for a particular connection in the FileZilla FTP application:
  1. Go to FileSite Manager...
  2. Choose a connection to edit or create a new one.
  3. After entering the connection details, switch to the Advanced tab.
  4. Enter the default local and remote directories under Default local directory and Default remote directory, respectively. You can browse for the local one, but you will need to type in the full path of the remote directory.
  5. Click OK.
  6. When you connect to this site, the custom default directories will automatically be opened for the local and remote sites.

25 March 2017

7-Zip: How to Create an Archive

How to create an archive (compressed folder) with 7-Zip:
  1. Open 7-Zip and navigate to the directory that contains the files to be compressed.
  2. Select the files. You can select multiple files by either clicking and dragging or holding down CTRL while clicking.
  3. Click the Add button in the toolbar.
  4. Name the archive.
  5. Choose the archive format. If you do not know what this means, then leave it at the default selection. The same goes for the other options.
  6. Click OK at the bottom.
  7. The archive will be created in the same directory as the files.

18 March 2017

Firefox: How to Set Multiple Home Pages

How to set multiple home pages in Firefox (this tutorial was made using Firefox version 52):
  1. Open a new Firefox window.
  2. Navigate to the pages you want to set as your home pages, each in a separate tab.
  3. Open the menu.
  4. Go to Options.
  5. In the General options, find the Startup heading.
  6. Set When Firefox starts to Show my home page.
  7. Click Use Current Pages.
  8. Notice that the home page URLs are separated by a vertical bar (|). You can add more home pages; just be sure to separate them with a vertical bar.

11 March 2017

Firefox: How to Clear Cache (2017)

How to clear the cached web content in Firefox:
  1. Open the menu (located to the right of the address bar).
  2. Click on Options.
  3. Switch to the Advanced tab on the left.
  4. Go to Network.
  5. Under Cached Web Content, press Clear Now.

04 March 2017

Firefox: How to Disable Visited Link Color

How to turn off visited links (the purple color that links become after clicking on them) in Firefox:
  1. Type in about:config in the address bar and press enter.
  2. Press I accept the risk! if a warning appears.
  3. Search for "visited" and look for layout.css.visited_links_enabled.
  4. Right-click on the row and select Toggle.
  5. This will set the value to false, and visited links will no longer appear in a purple color.

25 February 2017

PowerPoint 2016: How to Save Slides as a PDF File

How to create PDF files of PowerPoint slides for easy sharing across a wide range of devices:
  1. After creating the presentation, click on File at the top left.
  2. In the left menu, click Export.
  3. The default selection should be Create PDF/XPS Document. Click the button that says Create PDF/XPS.
  4. Choose a location to save the PDF file.
  5. Your presentation slides are now in the PDF file format, which can easily be uploaded to a variety of places and accessed by many devices (including those that do not support PowerPoint files).

18 February 2017

Microsoft Word 2016: How to Insert Different Headers on Each Page

How to insert different headers and footers on each page of a document in Microsoft Word 2016:
  1. Double-click at the top of the first page to add the first header.
  2. Right-click on the status bar at the bottom.
  3. Check the options for Formatted Page Number and Section. This will make it easy to see what section you are working in.
  4. Place the cursor in the body of the first page (or after whatever text belongs with the first header).
  5. Switch to the Layout tab.
  6. In the Page Setup group, go to Breaks and select Next Page.
  7. Double-click inside the next header. You should notice a box that says "Header -Section 2-" and a box that says "Same as Previous".
  8. In the Design tab (which should open automatically), click on the Link to Previous option in the Navigation group to turn off linked headers and footers.
  9. You can now edit the Section 2 header without making changes to the Section 1 header.
  10. Repeat as necessary for additional headers and footers.

11 February 2017

How to Record Screen with OBS Studio

How to capture a recording of the screen with OBS Studio:
  1. In the Sources box, press the plus button to add a new source.
  2. Select Display Capture.
  3. Press OK in the first window.
  4. Select the display to record (if you have multiple displays) in the second window that pops up and press OK.
  5. Open the Settings.
  6. Switch to the Output tab.
  7. Settings that work well for me: Video Bitrate set to 10000 in Streaming. Recording Quality set to Same as stream. Recording Format set to mp4.
  8. You can play around with these settings to find what produces the desired video quality.
  9. Recording Path is where the recording will be saved.
  10. Switch to the Video tab.
  11. Make sure the values for Base Resolution and Output Resolution are the same and that they match your screen resolution.
  12. Optionally, use the settings in the Audio tab to select an audio recording device.
  13. Press OK to close the settings window.
  14. Use the Start Recording button to capture the screen. Once started, this button turns to Stop Recording, which can be used to end the video.

04 February 2017

Ubuntu: How to Move Unity Launcher to the Bottom

How to move the launcher to the bottom of the screen in Ubuntu 16.04 and above running the Unity 7 (or later) desktop environment:
  1. Open a terminal window.
  2. Type the following: gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher launcher-position Bottom
  3. Press enter to apply the change.
  4. To return the launcher to its original position, use Left instead of  Bottom.

28 January 2017

Microsoft Word 2016: How to Move Images Freely

How to move images freely across the page in Microsoft Word 2016:
  1. Select the image by clicking on it.
  2. Switch to the Format tab.
  3. Select Wrap Text → Square in the Arrange section.
  4. Now you can drag the image anywhere on the page.

21 January 2017

Microsoft Word 2016: How to Export a Document to a PDF File

How to export a document to a PDF file in Microsoft Word 2016:
  1. Go to File → Export.
  2. Select Create PDF/XPS Document on the left. It should be the default selection.
  3. Press the Create PDF/XPS button.
  4. Choose where to save the document and click Publish.

14 January 2017

LibreOffice Writer: How to Set Up an MLA Format Essay (2017)

How to set up an MLA format essay (8th edition, 2017) in LibreOffice Writer:
  1. Choose any legible serif font, and set the size to 12.
  2. Set the line spacing to 2.
  3. Type your first and last name. Press enter/return.
  4. Type the name of the professor or teacher. Press enter/return.
  5. Type the name of the class. Press enter/return.
  6. Type the either due date or date of completion, whichever is applicable. Use the format DD month YYYY. For example, 15 January 2017. Press enter/return.
  7. Center the text. This is where the title of the paper goes.
  8. On a new line, press tab once.
  9. Begin writing the essay.
  10. Press enter/return once and tab to make a new paragraph.
  11. Place the cursor at the end of the text you started typing.
  12. Insert → Page Break
  13. Center the text and type "Works Cited" without the quotation marks.
  14. Refer to the Purdue OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide for information on how to make citations.
  15. Add a header by hovering over the header area and using the plus button or by going to Insert → Header and Footer → Header.
  16. Right align the text.
  17. Insert → Page Number
  18. Type your last name and a space in front of the number.
  19. Go to Fomrat → Page…
  20. Switch to the Page tab and set all margins to 1 inch.
The essay is now in MLA format.

07 January 2017

Google Docs: How to Set Up an MLA Format Essay (2017)

How to set up an MLA format essay (8th edition, 2017) in Google Docs:
  1. Open a new document.
  2. Set the font to Times New Roman, size 12.
  3. Set the Line spacing to Double.
  4. Type your first and last name. Press enter/return.
  5. Type the name of the professor or teacher. Press enter/return.
  6. Type the name of the class. Press enter/return.
  7. Type the either due date or date of completion, whichever is applicable. Use the format DD month YYYY. For example, 01 January 2017. Press enter/return.
  8. Center the text. The title of the paper goes here. Press enter/return.
  9. Indent once using the tab key.
  10. Begin writing the essay.
  11. To create a new paragraph, press the enter/return key only once. Indent using tab.
  12. To create a works cited page, leave the cursor at the end of the text. Go to Insert > Page break.
  13. Center the text and type Works Cited.
  14. For information on how to cite sources, refer to the Purdue OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide.
  15. Go to the first page. Insert page numbers by going to Insert > Page number > [Choose the first option, start numbering on first page].
  16. In front of the page number, type your last name then a space. Set the font to match the rest of the paper.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPL5v4AXcIw