Another non-HIT post. X-)
Word of caution: You need a texting plan that can support your usage.
If you don’t have a data plan (or smartphone) here is how you can add some functionality to your phone while saving money by preventing your phone from burning a hole though your pocket and then having to buy a new one when it gets lost. XD
Email:
To receive messages:
Using the email-to-text (SMS) gateway does not work for email because it truncates long messages. The trick is to use multi-media messages (MMS).
To find your email-to-MMS gateway go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SMS_gateways.
Common carrier addresses:
Verizon: number@vzwpix.com
AT&T: number@mms.att.net
Sprint: number@pm.sprint.com
T-Mobile: number@tmomail.net
Set up your email options to forward or redirect all messages or those from specific people to the gateway email address obtained above. Redirecting your email is preferred because that person’s email is sent as the reply to address.
If you are using Office – go to http://kb.iu.edu/data/anfv.html for how to set up rules for incoming mail.
If you are using Verizon, when you reply to an email, your reply to address will be number@vtext.com. If you want your reply to address to have YourName@vtext.com instead of your cell phone number do the following:
1. Log into My Verizon
2. Click on Send a Text Message under Extras
3. Click Preferences
4. Click Nickname
5. Click Edit Nickname
You can also personalize a one-way public texting page here as well.
To send messages:
- Open a new picture message (or SMS message)
- Put the recipient’s email address in the “To:” field
- Put the subject in the “Subject:” field (in an SMS your message body will be the subject)
- Put your message body in the “Text:” field
Calendar
Setting up Google Calendar:
1. Sign up for Google Calendar
2. Register your phone
How to: http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=45351
3. Change your default alert page – Suggestion: Add two reminders at 0 minutes and 2 hours before by SMS
How to: http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=37079
4. Create a new appointment by SMS (using Quick Add)
How to: http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py? answer=36604
NOTE: Save your fingers –Typing 10.00 will be interpreted as 10:00
6. Retrieve appointments by SMS
How to: http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=37228
Note to Google: Remove/Delete appointment is much needed. “Delete sat 12:00” will do because it is not likely you will schedule two appointments at the same time. If there are, then a SMS from Google with the appointment headers numbered for which you can text back the number of the appointment to delete, will suffice. Another option would to write delete followed by the appointment title. To edit an appointment, you can delete the appointment by SMS, then edit your message in your phone’s sent folder and resend it. A quick find feature might also be useful for retrieving the time and date of an appointment.
Sync your calendar with Outlook:
Download and install Google Calendar Sync –http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=89955
Note on SMS reminders from what it appears:
- Reminders are not sent from Outlook created events
- Only one SMS reminder is sent, the first choice in Google Calendar Notification settings
- Default reminder setting on appointments is not sent to Outlook
Note to Google: Please work on this!
A work around to send SMS reminders from Outlook is to use a VB script, though it only works when your computer is on, so it’s semi-useless. See the instructions below about how to do this:
1. Go to the Developer tab then to Visual Basic
2. Enter the code at http://www.lehsys.com/2010/12/microsoft-outlook-2010-how-to-get-email-reminders/ into ThisOutlookSession on the left and then save
NOTE: Use your email-to-MMS gateway email (see Email topic)
3. To enable macros:
a. Go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings (on right) > Macro Settings
b. Select “Notifications for all macros”
c. Restart Outlook
d. Select Enable Macros on security pop-up dialogue
