Here’s what you need to MAKE SURE gets setup after your iPad gets wiped – or better yet, BEFORE something happens to your iPad.
The Short List
iCloud signed in to your MDS email address
iCloud Backup ON
Google Drive – signed in, Pix auto-backup
Notability – backing up to Google Drive
Setup Email
The Detailed List
iCloud
This will make it faster to setup your iPad in case of a disaster.
Settings –> iCloud
Make sure you are signed in. You should see YOUR MDS EMAIL at the top. If you have used a different email address, CHANGE IT NOW. If you want to know why, ask Mr. Rule.
Turn iCloud Backup ON – and start a backup.
Google Drive
Automatically backup your pictures and videos after you take them.
Sign in to Google Drive
Look for the 3 stacked lines, top left. [It’s called a “hamburger menu”].
Click it.
Select Settings…..
Select Photos
Turn ON both sliders at the top [Use Google Photos folder, Autobackup].
Sometimes the “Google Photos” option is grayed out. I don’t know why. Let me know if you figure it out.
Notability
Automatically back up everything in Notability to a folder on Google Drive.
Fire up Notability
Bottom Left corner – click the gear icon [settings]
AutoBackup
Google Drive
Login
Give it permission
Setup Email
Settings –>Email
Add new account
It’s a GOOGLE account
Fill in the fields – should be easy to figure out.
When you get to the screen with 4 sliders – turn all 4 of them green, then hit SAVE
If Notability seems to start up when you click the icon, and then it disappears:
Step One – Clear the Decks:
Swipe out of all your running apps [doubleclick your home button, swipe all the running windows up to quit the apps].
Shutdown your iPad [Hold Power button down for umpteen seconds until the “Swipe to turn off” slider appears onscreen.]
Wait FIVE MINUTES.
Turn iPad back on.
Step Two – Check your storage:
Settings –> General –> About –> Amount Available
If less than 500megabytes, then you need to make room, USUALLY by deleting photos or Videos
Photos app –> Camera Roll. Select items to delete.
THEN switch to the “Recently Deleted” album, click SELECT, then DELETE ALL.
Other possible storage hog is your email. DELETE emails you no longer need – each one takes up room on your ipad.
If the Notability icon is Dark, or says “Waiting”:
Your iPad [for whatever reason] refuses to update Notability, or it started to and has gotten confused.
A couple of points, first:
You are STILL responsible for getting your homework done. This means you will have to take an alternate route. Work with your teachers – they are all aware of the issue.
Alternative Possibilities for getting your work done include
Textilus if you want to type notes
Google Docs if you want to type, AND your notes to automatically be available in Drive
If you prefer to use a stylus, try using one of the Art apps [like Paper]
Use Pencil/Pen and Paper. [Seriously – there are a good number of brain-wiring/educational/physiological reasons to go this route. Ask Mrs. Alderman].
“THE DANCE”
Try this first at school.
If that makes no difference, try it at home.
Please do these steps IN THIS ORDER.
Once you complete them, let Mr. Rule or Mrs. Andrews know what happened. They are tracking the results and working with tech support.
Look at your Notability app. If it is NOT still dark, let Mr. Rule/Mrs. Andrews know – RIGHT NOW!
Swipe out of all your apps. Shutdown the iPad. Wait 5 minutes. Start it back up.
Once things are back up, wait 5 minutes to see if anything changes.
If Not, click on the Notability icon.
If it starts installing, let Mr. Rule/Mrs. Andrews know – RIGHT NOW!
—–> If you’ve “done the dance” at school, try it at home.
—–> If you’ve “done the dance” at home, try it at school.
—–> Let Mr. Rule/Mrs. Andrews know what happened – RIGHT NOW!
One student had success by doing this:
I closed out my apps,clicked on all the blacked out apps a few times, and shut the ipad down for about twenty minutes. The apps started loading after that.
Normally you set Notability to automatically backup your docs to Drive. Sometimes you need to reverse that process – pull some material from Drive into Notability.
FIRST:
Get your Dividers and Subjects setup in Notability
Select a location[folder] in Notability.
THEN select what to import. Drive is organized just like notability was – if you had folders/dividers in Notability, then you will see folders in Drive, inside the Notability folder. Your Notability selection is WHERE the files will be imported to.
You will need to do this for each folder/divider you set up.
Once you get Notability setup:
Open up Notability
Click the icon, top right, that looks like a square with an arrow going INTO it
Select Google Drive
It should automatically show you the Notability folder on your Drive.
Select what you’d like to import.
REMEMBER THAT Folders on Drive = “Subjects” in Notability.