Chromebook Basics
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Unfamiliar with your Chromebook? Here are some tip sheets and information pages to get you started!
- Gestures: Download the gestures information sheet (PDF).
- Keyboard: Download the Chromebook Keyboard Tip Sheet information sheet (PDF).
- Chromebook keyboard shortcuts: Visit the Google Chromebook website to learn more about keyboard shortcuts.
Getting Started Guide
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Power On
Power on Chromebook by opening the Chromebook or by quick tapping the power button:
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Logging into the Device
When you open your Chromebook and it powers on, you may see a prompt to login to Clever Badge. If so, you’ll want to dismiss that and login manually:
- Click on “Sign in with a different account”
Sign in with your entire NTPS Student log in and enter your student ID for the password. Student ID’s are typically the first five letters of the last name and the first three of their first name.
For example: Katniss Everdeen, student number 0013579, will log on to the Chromebook as follows:
- everdkat (for the username)
- 0013579 (for the password)
If your student isn’t sure what their username or password is, please contact their teacher.
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Settings Menu
For the next few steps you will be accessing a settings menu by clicking the clock at lower right:
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Power Off
To turn the Chromebook off, either
- Hold down the power button until the screen goes dark
- Click on the clock menu (see Settings Menu above)
- Clock on the power/shutdown button
Note: Closing the lid places the computer into a sleep mode that will drain battery power over time. Turning off your Chromebook when not in use will preserve power. Charge often!
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Connect to Home Wi-Fi
- After the Chromebook is powered on you should see a “NO NETWORK AVAILABLE” window
- Click on the time button in the lower right corner of the screen (pictured below)
- A small pop up menu will appear
- Click the “Not connected, No Networks” drop down menu
- Select your home network from the list
- Enter your home WiFi password
- Check by making sure the “pie shape” wireless icon is a solid white color
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Keyboard and Quick Keys
- Go to previous page (F1 or left arrow)
- Go to next page (F2 or right arrow)
- Refresh your current page (F3 or circle arrow)
- Make your page take up the full screen (F4 or expanding square)
- Show all your open windows (F5 or stacked squares)
- Decrease screen brightness (F6 or small sun)
- Make the screen brighter (F7 or large sun)
- Turn off the sound (F8 or speaker with a slash)
- Lower the volume (F9 or speaker with one bar)
- Raise the volume (F10 or speaker with multiple bars)
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Capturing Chromebook Screenshots
Capture an image of your entire display by pressing Ctrl +
The Print Screen key is typically the sixth key from the left and has a symbol of a square next to two lines. A window will later appear with options to view the screenshot and copy to Google Drive.
Capture a partial screenshot by pressing Ctrl+Shift+
You'll then be able to drag your cursor to form a box around the area of your display that you want to capture. A window will later appear with options to view the screenshot and copy to Google Drive.
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Update your Chromebook
ChromeOS updates should apply automatically during normal use. If you want to ensure your student device is fully updated, please see the instructions below for how to manually trigger an update.
- Turn on your Chromebook.
- Connect your Chromebook to Wi-Fi if you haven’t already.
- At the bottom right, select the time.
- Select Settings
- At the bottom of the left panel, select About Chrome OS.
- Under “Google Chrome OS,” you'll find which version of the Chrome operating system your Chromebook uses.
- Select Check for updates.
- If your Chromebook finds a software update, it will start to download automatically.
Note: If your Chromebook uses your phone's internet connection or its own mobile data, you'll get an alert about how much mobile data it needs to update. You can then stop or continue with the update.