As the school year starts here are a few tip reminders and a few new tricks when using your iPad for work or personal use:

• Screenshot – Don’t forget about how to take a screen shot of your device – press the Home and Power off button at the same time. You will see a flash and hear a camera “click” sound like a picture is being taken. The picture will be stored in your Photos for retrieval in apps on your device. Within your Photo app you can then email, print, copy, import or sync to iTunes if needed. This is one of my most used features along with the camera to get visuals into multimedia apps, storytelling or communication apps. So many things you can do and fast!

http://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Screenshot-With-an-iPad

• Camera Zooming – When taking a picture I could not figure out how to make the zoom control appear. Pinch the screen out as though you were enlarging the screen and the zoom slider appears to help you focus with the camera.

• Passcode Lock – Under Settings>General > Passcode Lock provides you the opportunity to set up a pass code for your device to secure the professional information you have on it.

If you are letting others use your device, or have a tendency to leave it behind or unattended it might be a good idea to “Turn Passcode On”. Some apps also provide in app pass codes settings. Options for the pass code lock are available when you set it up.  More information some of the features of  pass codes are available here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4113

• Battery Life – If battery life becomes an issue during your work day, consider turning off Notifications, Location Services or even Wi-Fi if you don’t need it for Internet searches or communications. Turning off any type of connectivity to your device can reduce the drain of your battery. On a new iDevice battery life should be approximately 10 hour and reportedly 9 hours with connectivity services. Batteries do wear however in time.
• iCloud Back Up – If you are using iCloud to store your data, pictures or music be sure to periodically backup your device. Settings>iCloud> Back Up to turn iCloud Backup “On” when your device is plugged in and connected to WiFi or select the “Back Up Now” to save all data to the cloud. Here is a good article with info about Cloud back up : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407494,00.asp . Some apps also can back up to different services such as Google Doc for archiving (e.g. Awesome Notes). Check out your apps for such features.

Have any tips or trick you use on your iDevice? Please share!

Carol