Displaying content from your iPad to another Mac friendly device

One of the things I love about my job is discovering a new way to do things that is smart, practical, and intuitive to the end user. If you are an educator or presenter looking for a way to include group interaction in a workshop, or if you want to capture content from your iPad to teach others, then read on. You’ll want to check out an app called Reflection. I’m not affiliated with it in any way other than I am another happy customer!

Reflection mirrors the content on your iPad to another Mac friendly device – your Mac laptop, a projector, or even multiple devices. And it does it pretty seamlessly IF you have an iPad 2 or newer, or an iPhone 4S or newer. The only requirement is that all the devices must be connected on the same wifi network. That means you will also want a decent Internet connection speed to avoid any lag times in displaying content.

How could this be beneficial? You could be working with a large audience or class and use this concept to engage and stimulate group discussion. Individuals could share the iPad and the rest of the group can watch real-time on a big monitor. Incredible! I use this app in conjunction with SnagIt to record content from my iPad as the basis for my video lessons for you on this blog.

You can try out the app for free – you are given up to 10 min to mirror content for free. Or you can register for a nominal fee (at the time of writing, the purchase cost for a single user is $14.99 USD).

Here’s a video on how to turn on content mirroring from an iPad 3 to an older MacBook Pro, with OS 10.6.8 (3:03 min):

Or, here are the steps:

1. On your laptop, launch Reflection. No need to change any of the default settings for now.

2. On your iPad, go to your taskbar (double click the Home button).

3. Swipe to the left to display the volume and music options.

4. Select the Reflection button (it appears between the fast forward button and the volume slider). The AirPlay Menu will appear.

5. From the AirPlay menu, choose the device you want to display the content on to (e.g. in this case it was the MacBook Pro).

6. Turn on Mirroring.

7. Click elsewhere on your screen to hide the AirPlay menu.

8. Now, everything you do on your iPad will be displayed on your other device. Cool, hey? When you don’t need to mirror content any more, just exit out of Reflection from your laptop.

Until next time, Susan

Capturing Information from your iPad Screen

Perhaps you want to share some information you found on the Internet while surfing on your iPad and you’re not sure whether or not you’ll be able to get online when you want to show this information. Or perhaps you want proof of an online purchase for your own records.These are just two examples of when you might want to take a picture of your screen, or capture some information for use later.

Here’s a quick how to video (2:22 min, iPad3). The steps are written out below the video as well.

Steps:

1) Make sure the information you want is displayed on your screen.

2) Tap and continue to hold down the HOME button on your iPad (keep it pressed down).

3) Tap and continue to hold down the SLEEP/WAKE button on your iPad (yes, keep it also pressed down).

4) Now, release the HOME button first.

5) You’ll hear the sound of a camera taking a picture. (Now you can release the SLEEP/WAKE button.)

6) Go to your Camera functionality on your iPad and open the Camera roll (tap the bottom left icon once you have opened up your Camera). The last picture that you took will now be displayed which should be the image of your screen if the steps 2-4 were done successfully.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you found this tip useful! Susan

Screen Capturing Tips

“Susan, help! I know how to copy and paste but I don’t know how to transfer an entire page or share that page with others. As soon as I scroll down, what I have highlighted goes back to white. Ugg! Can you tell me how to transfer a page onto an email without having to send the web address?”

I get this question often from my clients.  Perhaps they have purchased something online and need proof of purchase. Or they want to keep their own copy of online content. Be proactive –get what you need by capturing what you see on your screen. *

To capture content from your computer screen, you have a few choices. My recommendation is to go with option 2 listed below.

1. Use key commands (aka shortcuts) built into your computer’s operating system:

a. On a PC:

When you want to take a picture of your screen, press the Print Screen key (The label may read “PrtScr”. If your keyboard has a number pad, look for the Print Screen key at the top left of the number pad).  After pressing Print Screen, you won’t hear anything. Trust that the software has copied a picture of the screen onto the clipboard. Now you need to paste the clipboard image onto something to see what you have captured. Go to graphics software on your computer. You could launch MS Paint (found under Accessories, comes with every PC) or open a program that reads graphics (like PowerPoint), then save that image as a file. Once the file is saved, you can email it to others.

Just remember that each program on your computer stores files in their own way so one file type may be bigger in size than another even when you just thought you had the same image to save (i.e. your PowerPoint file will be bigger in size typically than a graphics file). To save the screen shot as a graphics file, the easiest solution is to open MS Paint, paste, and save the image as a JPEG (extension is .jpg).

Here’s a quick list of the steps for taking a screen shot in Windows 7: http://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Screenshot-in-Microsoft-Windows. These steps should also work with Vista if that’s what you have as your operating system on a PC.

b. On a Mac:

The screen capturing steps on a Mac are conceptually the same as on the PC but the process is simpler.

To take a screen shot, press and hold these keys in succession: Command+Shift+3. You’ll hear a camera shutter sound, which means that the screen shot has been taken, AND a graphics file has been saved on your desktop (without you needing to do anything else!). Go to your desktop and look for a newly created file. The screen shot will automatically be saved as a graphics file – perhaps as a PNG or JPG.  The file name will reflect the day and time of the screen capture.

In the Mac OS system, there are a number of useful screen capturing options – for example if you want to capture just a portion of the screen or just one window. Here’s a useful list (made from a screen capture):

Mac OS keyboard shortcuts for taking screen captures

Here’s the source for the screen capture shortcuts listed above: http://guides.macrumors.com/Taking_Screenshots_in_Mac_OS_X

2. Use screen capturing software.

My personal favourite screen capturing software is SnagIt (available for both PC and Mac computers). I’ve used this product since it released in 1998. While it was free for the first couple of years, it now costs approximately $50 USD (one time fee). You can try it for free for 30 days to see how good it is: http://www.techsmith.com/download/snagit/default.asp

I prefer using SnagIt instead of the built in screen capturing keyboard shortcuts on my computer because SnagIt is so much more than a screen capturing tool. It has a wonderful editor that lets me easily annotate my screen shots. For example I can quickly add an arrow or text to my screen shot to assist others. Another BIG advantage with SnagIt is its ability to capture an entire web page in one click, regardless of how many screens of scrolling there are in that web page.

I must use SnagIt multiple times a day – to obtain computer illustrations for training manuals; to capture proof of purchase when the place that I’m buying from doesn’t send a confirmation email or if I don’t trust that I will get an electronic order confirmation from that specific vendor; to take a picture of what’s wrong on my computer for my techie to solve; or I use it to grab useful information that I don’t want to bookmark and for information that I want to access offline (i.e. I want that information at my fingertips on MY computer).

SnagIt really is amazing software and everyone who got this tip from me said that SnagIt has improved the way they use the computer. So even though you don’t need SnagIt to take a picture of what’s on your screen, you’ll find that SnagIt does so much more than just screen capturing.

*One final and important tip: if you do start capturing content from online places, please reference the original source for that information. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make that information available or there may be copyright issues in place. When I’ve come across useful information in the past and I knew I was going to use it elsewhere, I would jot down the URL, or web address. Sometimes I’ve gone so far as contacting the original author to ask permission to use his or her information. Once the author finds out that I am prepared to source their original content online, they typically grant consent.

In SnagIt, this task of referencing the source is even easier if I just copy and paste the URL, or web address, into a text box at the top of the captured image in the editor when I capture the content. I typically add the URL into a text box that I place over top the captured image, in SnagIt’s editor, for quick reference later.

Looking forward to hearing how your screen capturing activities are going. You’ll be amazed how you ever lived without it! And if you need any help, just ask.