Newsletter Procedures

This page documents how we create the newsletter each month.

Overview

• We create the newsletter in Google Docs ("Stage 1")
• We send the newsletter from Google Mail

It's a two step procedure because

• you can't create really beautifully formatted items in Google Mail
• this allows you to add to the Newsletter during the month, reducing the amount of work at the last minute and
• you can work collaboratively on the newsletter (by Google sharing the "Stage 1" document with anyone with a Google account) and
• The document is available on any computer you can log in to and is automatically backed up.

Information Sources

• Information about this month's event
• A tiny writeup & pic from last month's event
• Lynn created this list of sources: Newsletter Sources

Open The Document

• Go to docs.google.com
• Open "Elderberries Newsletter Stage 1"

Fonts

• Article Title: Arial 18 Blue (top row in the colour picker)
• Main Text: Arial 11 or 12
• To reset a chunk of text to Arial 11, highlight it and click "Normal Text" and again, "Normal Text"
• What / When / Where in "This Month" is highlighted in the colour "light red berry 2"

To Add A Photo

• Open the photo with any photo editing software
• Select All
• Copy
• Go to "Elderberries Newsletter Stage 1"
• Click in the cell where you want the graphic
• Paste
• Click on the photo to show its handles
• Drag the handles to resize the photo to fit the frame and perhaps crop it.

Adding An Article

• Click inside one of the cells
• Under Format --> Table you have options to insert rows, delete rows etc.

If You Make A Boo Boo

Google Docs remembers every change you make to the document.

• If you need to undo a change: Find and click on the Edit menu. Click on "Undo." The last change will be undone. Each time you do this, it rewinds the document one more step back into history.

Make a PDF and Publish it

• Open the Newsletter document
• File > Make A Copy and name it "Elderberries August 2024"
• Delete anything that shouldn't be in the PDF - maybe stuff at the bottom.
• File > Print > Destination > Safe as PDF
• [Save] . Name it e.g. 2024-08-01_Newsletter . Make a note of what directory it's going in.
• On the Google Doc, File > Move To Trash
• Put the PDF in a folder called "ElderBerries"
• store ElderBerries
• Edit the page
• Add this month's and [Save]
• Post that link and some cheery text to the Elderberries FB page.

This page is in the HowtoCategory