Tag Archives: Gmail

fixed : iOS Mail.app “Fetch New Data” settings page completely greyed out

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Question :

I have troubles with my eMail on my iPhone, so I started to look for solutions in the iOS Settings.app ; I don’t know if this is relevant for the solution to my mail-problem, but I found that when I try to adjust the settings for Fetch New Data (in the Settings.app > Mail > Accounts > scroll down to bottom) is turned OFF, and when I click on it the entire Fetch New Data settings page is greyed out, so I can’t switch it back ON and have my mail checked automatically…

What is wrong ? How can I fix this ?

Answer :

Relax, there’s nothing wrong… it’s just strange that iOS isn’t telling you why the entire page is greyed out and how you can fix this…
The thing is : your iPhone is in Low Power Mode (a.k.a. Battery Saving Mode)… (if you look closely, you will see that the battery indicator top right is yellow in stead of white or green)
To fix this, do this :

  • swipe down from the battery indicator top right
  • in the window that opens, scroll down to the white tile with the battery (in yellow) and click on it
  • now the tile wil turn dark and the battery will turn white
  • if there is no battery-tile, then go to Settings.app > Battery and switch the slider at Low Power Mode to ON
  • to check, go to Settings.app > Mail > Accounts > Fetch New Data and you will see that you can now set everything as you like

    That’s it !
    enjoy 😉
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fixed : compress video for WhatsApp (or eMail)

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Question :

I would like to send a small piece of a video I just shot at a birthday party to a group of friends on WhatsApp, but it’s too big to upload.

How can I compress it for easy viewing on Whatsapp ?

 

Answer :

If you have shot the video on your iPhone you can send it right away, and iOS will do the compression for you.

However, if you already have the video on your Mac and you want to compress it before you send it using WhatsApp Desktop (for macOS), do this :

  • make sure you trim down the length of the video to a clip that only includes the most relevant part of the video
    • you can do this in QuickTime Player (included in macOS for FREE)
  • use Smart Converter (FREE from Mac AppStore) and choose ‘for iPhone or iPod’, then click ‘Convert’ to convert
    • this will convert to an .mp4 video with 1280×720 resolution at 30 frames per second and AAC sound (file size ca. 10MB per 10 seconds)
  • use Handbrake (FREE from handbrake.fr) and choose ‘Presets’ > ‘Gmail Large 3 minutes 720p30’, then click ‘Start’ to convert
    • this will convert to an .mp4 video with 1280×720 resolution at 30 frames per second and AAC sound (file size ca. 2MB per 10 seconds)

Note : even though the frame rate and screen size are the same, the ‘Gmail’-ready file will be much smaller than the ‘iPhone’-ready file, even though (or rather ‘because’) this comes with the downside that quick-moving objects will blur in the ‘Gmail’-ready video (compared to the ‘iPhone’-ready video that hardly has any blur and is similar in size and quality to the ‘Fast 720p30’ preset in Handbrake) 

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : block sender in Gmail

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Question :

I would like to never receive another eMail again from some people that keep sending me spam-eMail. How can I block the senders in my Gmail ?

Answer :

In Gmail, you can’t block a sender.

However : using a filtering action and ordering filtered eMails to be trashed will have about the same effect as blocking the sender.

Here’s how to do that :

– in your webbrowser (Safari), go to www.gmail.com

– login using your Gmail-address and your Gmail-password

– when your online Gmail eMail-client opens, go to the list on the left and select the mailbox where the eMail who’s sender you want to block is located ; this can be your “Inbox”, but it can also be listed under “More…” and then inside your “Spam” or “Trash” mailbox ; if you can’t find the eMail you’re looking for, try “All Mail”

– select the eMail message itself from the list in the middle of the screen

– when the eMail message opens, click on the ‘downward facing triangle’-button (the one that’s next to the date, there star and the reply-arrow), and select “Filter messages like this”

– in the window that opens, the sender you want to block will already be pre-filled in the “From”-field and all other fields will be empty ; leave everything as-is, just click on “Create filter with this search” (in blue, bottom-left)

– in the next window, put a check-mark at “Delete it”, and click on the blue “Create filter”-button

…that’s it !

TIP 1 : If you have any other senders you would like to block, just repeat the above steps for each sender.

TIP 2 : if you want to block multiple senders using just one filter, put all eMail addresses in the “From”-field and separate them by a SPACE, a |-sign (vertical separator) and another SPACE

TIP 3 : in the event that you change your mind and want to un-block a sender you’ve previously blocked, just login to your online Gmail account again and click on the sprocket (a.k.a. ‘gear’) icon ; in the pop-up menu that appears, select “Settings”, then the “Filters”-tab and click “Edit” to adjust the filter or “Delete” to completely get rid off the filter

Note : any new filter will only be filtering new eMails, not the eMails that have already entered your mailboxes, so all existing mails by the blocked sender have to be manually deleted also.

Any new eMail by these senders will now be deleted when it arrives, so you won’t see it in your online Gmail mailboxes, nor in Apple Mail.app on your Mac, any longer.

Enjoy !

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fixed : block senders of incoming spam eMails

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Question :

I keep getting a lot of spam-eMail lately, most of the time from the same eMail-address.

Is there anything I can do to stop this ?

 

Answer :

The extend to which you can fix this, depends on the options given by your eMail-host, but bottom line it all comes down to configuring a filter.

– open Safari (or any other browser of your choice)

– go to your eMail-host’s internet page and login using your name/eMail and password

– go to the Preferences-menu and configure a filter there that checks all incoming eMails on the criteria you configure (e.g. the sender’s eMail-address) and sends all filtered-out eMails to the trash straight away (there might be a “block sender” option, but that’s not always the case)

If you manage to set a filter as outlined above, you will not get those annoying eMails on your Mac, nor on your iPad, neither on your iPhone.

Just make sure your filter doesn’t filter too broadly, as that would even ‘desired’ eMails will get placed in the trash without ever getting into your mailbox…

If it’s not possible to set the filter in your eMail-host’s server, you will have to set a filter on any eMail-app you use on every device (so on your Mac, your iPad, your iPhone, etc.).

Setting an eMail-filter on your Mac should be done like this :

– open Apple Mail.app and select the spam eMail in your inbox

– open Mail Preferences, click on the tab “Rules”, and click “New Rule”

– that will set a new filtering-rule, which has the spammer’s eMail address already in it

– additionally configure the action that all eMail of that sender should go straight to the trash [you can include multiple spammers or senders directly or at a later time, and sometimes it is even more effective to filter based on a specific (partial) sentence from the ‘Subject Line’ or ‘Body Text’]

If you think configuring filters is too complicated, you can also decide to keep on tagging unwanted (spam) eMails as ‘Junk’. Since the Junk-mailfilter teaches itself progressively, in due time all similar eMails will be automatically filtered out and placed in the ‘Junk’-mailbox.

Good Luck !

Enjoy !

😉

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