OIT has announced that in the next few weeks, staff, faculty and students at UAF and Statewide will begin the opt-in phase for the transition to Google Applications for Education for e-mail and other core information technology services. The move will reduce redundant services offered at both UAF and System offices and save money.

OIT’s Executive Director for User Services Karl Kowalski says Google Apps offers more functionality at less cost, freeing up staff to work on other projects.

In addition to e-mail, UAF and Statewide will have access to shared calendars, instant messaging, word processing, spreadsheets and applications designed to create slideshow presentations. UAF is inviting students to opt-in this month, with a phased-in approach over the course of the academic year. Once converted, staff, faculty and student e-mail addresses will end in alaska.edu.

Once fully converted to Google, Kowalski expects an initial savings of approximately $90,000 in software costs and longer-term hardware costs in the neighborhood of $150,000.

Nearly 200 people participated in tests last month; more than 80 percent of those participating had positive things to say about the applications, Kowalski says. All services are hosted by Google and are available to users via the Internet as well as on many mobile devices. The package includes the following services:

Gmail -- provides gigabytes of email storage, spam filters and search features

Google Calendar -- Calendar for online coordination of schedules, meetings and events

Google Talk -- supports free PC-to-PC voice calls and instant messaging

Google Docs -- to create and collaborate on documents and spreadsheets

Google Sites -- for team website creation, embedded videos, images and gadgets

Kowalski says the move to Google Apps has involved an extensive internal vetting process, including meetings with various governance groups (students, faculty and staff) as well as the cabinets of both the UAF chancellor and President Hamilton. UAF deans and directors were consulted and a survey was sent to all UAF and SW email account holders, with faculty having the highest percentage of participation, Kowalski notes.

Please watch for more announcements on this implementation. In the meantime, take an opportunity to view online tutorials http://www.google.com/a/edu or visit the list of FAQs at http://www.alaska.edu/oit/cas/projects/email-consolidation/faqs/ for more information.

For more information please contact Karl Kowalski, Executive Director User Services, at 450-8440 or the OIT Support Center.

Microsoft word stores hidden data and personal information in your document.
The information is:

• Comments, revision marks from tracked changes, versions, and ink annotations
• Document properties and personal information (including email headers and template names)
• Hidden text

and more...
If you want to remove personal information or data read on...

The following information is from the Microsoft office web site at: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100744351033.aspx and is (c) Microsoft corporation:
"How do I find and remove hidden data and personal information in my Word documents?

You can use the Document Inspector to find and remove hidden data and personal information in Word documents that were created in Office Word 2007 and earlier versions. It is a good idea to use the Document Inspector before you share an electronic copy of your Word document, such as in an e-mail attachment.

1. Open the Word document that you want to inspect for hidden data and personal information.

2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, click Save As, and then type a name in the File name box to save a copy of your original document.

Important: � It is a good idea to use the Document Inspector on a copy of your original document because it is not always possible to restore the data that the Document Inspector removes.

3. In the copy of your original document, click the Microsoft Office Button, point to Prepare and then click Inspect Document.

4. In the Document Inspector dialog box, select the check boxes to choose the types of hidden content that you want to be inspected. For more information about the individual Inspectors, see What information can the Document Inspector find and remove from Word documents?

5. Click Inspect.

6. Review the results of the inspection in the Document Inspector dialog box.

7. Click Remove All next to the inspection results for the types of hidden content that you want to remove from your document.

Important: � If you remove hidden content from your document, you might not be able to restore it by clicking Undo."

Training tip provided by Martin Miller
SR. Information Technology Trainer
OIT Support Center

All classes are held in Butrovich 104 unless otherwise noted.

To request a class�call Martin Miller at ext. 8304�
or send an e-mail to: sytrain@alaska.edu

EDIR Brief�
Tuesday, October 28���
9:00 am to 10:00 am���

EDIR Hands On
Tuesday, October 28���
10:00 am to 11:00 am���

Microsoft Access 3�
Wednesday, October 29���
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm�

Microsoft Access 4
Tuesday, November 4 �
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Roxen UAF
Wednesday, November 5
1:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Moving Up to MS Word 2007
Thursday, November 6
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

QMenu
Tuesday, November 11
9:00 am to 11:00 am

Banner Navigation
Wednesday, November 13
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Moving Up to MS Word 2007
Tuesday, November 18
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

QAdhoc
Tuesday, November 18
9:00 am to 12:00 pm

Microsoft Access 5
Wednesday, November 19
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Moving up to MS Excel 2007
Wednesday, November 19
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Moving up to MS Excel 2007
Tuesday, November 25
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Roxen UAF
Wednesday, November 26
9:00 am to 12:00 pm