Ramblings, ideas, problems, and solutions

Category: How To

  • Transferring notes from GMail to Google Keep

    While I have a number of software tools that I use and like, I do like trying out alternatives. Sometimes the alternatives supercede the tool I used to use, sometimes I revert to the old tool, and sometimes I go forward using both. Back in November, I started using Google Keep, wanting to see if it did…

  • Mac OS: SMSes do not show up in the Messages app

    About two months ago, I was talking to a friend about the launch of iPhone 7, when I mentioned that I found it odd that they still hadn’t made text messaging work seamlessly on a Mac for iPhone users. My friend was somewhat nonplussed, as it worked fine for him. Learning this, I decided to…

  • Active Directory: Accessing the Attribute Editor

    A month or so ago, I was asked to find a specific attribute (objectGUID, in case you wondered) of a group in Active Directory, for use in some third-party system. Thinking that this would be easily accomplished, I opened my Active Directory Users and Computers-window, and found the group in question. I opened the properties,…

  • Apple Numbers: Controlling rounding

    While I use Excel at work, I tend to use Numbers (part of the Apple Productivity Apps suite) at home. I have sheets that do a number of different things, most of them rife with macros and automatic functions. From time to time, I need to ensure that the result of a function either overstates…

  • MacOS: Resolve “Where is FinderSyncAPIExtension?”

    Since a software update some time ago, my Mac has been asking me “Where is FinderSyncAPIExtension?” with irregular intervals, and always following a reboot: While I could simply hit “Cancel” to dismiss the question, the issue was annoying. It did not seem to affect any other services, however, and I left it alone, hoping that…

  • Outlook 2013: BCC in meeting requests

    I had a user call in, who was unfamiliar with Office 2013, having only worked with previous versions of Office, and wanting to know how they could add a BCC recipient to the meeting request. In Outlook 2013, Microsoft changed the nomenclature used when adding attendees to meeting requests. Where before there had been the usual options (To,…

  • Excel: Quickly remove blank cells

    From time to time, Excel worksheets fill up with blank cells interspersed among the content. While the judicious use of whitespace can be useful, it may also make reading the worksheet somewhat challenging. Luckily, Excel has a tool to help us get rid of the blank cells. Here’s how: Open the worksheet in question Press F5…

  • Resolving Error 1312 when mapping a folder on a network share

    Some time ago, I was talking to a user on the phone, while remotely controlling their computer. I needed to connect to a folder on a network share as my admin account, rather than that of the logged-in user, but kept running into the following error: Error 1312: A specified logon session does not exist. It did…

  • Enable HDMI Device Link on PS4

    Following our recent move from one home to another, we changed up our media diet, and replaced our media center PC with two devices; an Apple TV and a Playstation 4. The former is HDMI Device Link-enabled from the get-go, meaning that you (in theory) only need to use the Apple TV remote to turn…

  • Use all screens in RDP

    This is one of those things that – in hindsight – is fairly obvious, but which wasn’t until I was asked the question, and had to start thinking about it. My user had switched computers, and part of that switch was to go for a multi-monitor setup. Said user uses a terminal server solution, to…