Aotearoa People's Network Kaharoa

Using Chrome

Keyboard (Chrome)

Some libraries use Chrome keyboards with their APNK Chrome computers. For a list of all Chrome keyboard shortcuts press ctrl + alt + ?

See our Devices page for further info.

Keyboard (Windows)

Some libraries use Windows keyboards. For more information about how these work with APNK Chrome computers, see here.

Apps

Click the Launcher button (white circle) in the bottom left of the screen.
Click the Display More button (white up-arrow). All apps are listed.

Optionally press Search on the keyboard and type the name of the app you are after.

NOTE: You cannot install your own apps.

External Devices

For help using external devices (eg headphones, webcam, etc), refer here.

Taking screenshots

First find the switch window key along the top of the keyboard (it is a rectangle followed by two vertical lines). Then use the switch window key in combination with the ctrl and shift keys to capture either the entire screen or just a region of it - refer to the image on the right for the appropriate key combination.

NOTE: To capture a specific part of the screen, once you have pressed ctrl + shift + switch window, use the mouse or trackpad to click-and-drag to select the region you wish to capture. When you release the mouse/trackpad button, the selected region will be captured.

Accessibility

Refer here for help using Accessibility options on Chrome devices.

Security

All of our Chrome devices are wiped on reboot. This ensures that they forget all login details and remove all locally-saved files on reboot.

Our Chrome devices use public session mode, which disables all Chrome Sync features. As a result, your passwords, bookmarks and other confidential data will not be synced to the Chrome device at any time.

Saving files

We recommend that you save files to cloud storage, for ease of managing and accessing your files from anywhere. If you have a Google or Microsoft account, you automatically get free cloud storage provided with them (Google Drive and One Drive respectively).

USB drives can be used to save files offline.

There is also a local Downloads folder on the Chrome device, for temporarily managing files during a session. Please be aware that all files in the computer's Downloads folder are cleared on reboot.

Setting up a Google or Microsoft account

We recommend setting up a Google or Microsoft account.

Google Sign Up

Microsoft Sign Up

If you need assistance with the sign-up process, follow the steps in these guides:

How to create a Google account

How to create a Microsoft account

Creating and editing documents

There is a basic text editor installed on all Chrome devices.

For more advanced document creation and editing, there are two online productivity suites of software available: Google Docs (Google) and Office Online (Microsoft).

Google Docs - Anyone with a Gmail account can access these applications, which include Google Docs, Google Sheets, and many more. Most document types, including Office files (Word, Excel, etc.) can be viewed and edited with Google apps.

Office Online - This is Microsoft's online equivalent to their well-known Office suite of applications. To use Office Online, you just need to set up a Microsoft account, and you don't even need a Microsoft email address to register.

How to set up a Microsoft account (with any email address)

Ports

Each Chromebook comes with two USB-2.0 ports, two USB-C ports, a headphone jack, and a microSD card reader.

CDs and DVDs

APNK Chrome devices do not have optical disc drives, so if you have files (eg photos) saved to an optical disc (CD or DVD), you will need to use an external optical drive to read them.

Phone USB charging/file storage

You can charge all mobile devices from your Chrome station. This includes Android phones, iPhones, and tablets.

Note that some devices (especially Apple devices) maybe automatically load your camera files when connected.

Chrome Help

For more information on Chrome the help menu can be accessed with ctrl + shift + ?

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