Have you ever felt the need to reach back in time? Well, now you can with the My History feature in the Community. This feature stores your last 30 actions so you can look back and find an old post you made or view comments on a photo you recently uploaded. It will record any group post, photo, or blog. To view this with visuals, Click Here.

You can access this feature on your Home Page immediately after logging in or by clicking My Home in the top navigation bar.

The My History block will show your last 5 actions; in order to see all 30 simply click more. Keep in mind; the actions appear from most recent to least. When you are in the My History block, you will see each post with the beginning phrase of the post, group title, and date. To go to the specific thread the post is in, click on the first hyperlink; this is the beginning of the comment. You can also go to the Group by clicking the group title link.

If there is ever a time where you need help finding a specific post you recently made and don’t want to go searching through the Community, give the My History block a look. It just might save you some time!

There may be an instance in which you want to change your password for the Scottrade Online Community. If you have forgotten your password and received a new one or simplywant something more memorable or private; these easy steps will help you set up a new password in just a few minutes. Click Here to view these instructions with visuals.

1. After logging in, you will automatically be routed to your ‘Home Page’. You can also find your ‘Home Page’ by clicking My Home in the top navigation bar.  After you have found this page, click My Account.
2. From here you have the option to change your Username, Email Address, and Password. For the purpose of this guide, scroll down to the Change Password section. When you find this section, enter the password you just used to login as your Old Password and enter the new Password in the succeeding boxes.
3.  When you are finished with this click the green Save Changes button.

You will now have the ability to login with your new password! As always, if you have questions about navigating around the community and would like a step by step guide, please contact CommunityTA and he will make a step by step guide for you.

Thanks!

Zach

This ‘How To’ is going to be quick and easy, but its fun and can benefit someone you know here in the Community. If you don’t already know, you can invite people to join a group you think would benefit them. This is especially good for those of you who have been here a while seeing as you can help the new Community Members/Traders find groups that would help them further their trading journey. Click Here to view these steps with a visual.

To invite a member to join a group, follow the steps below:

1. From the member’s profile click Invite to Group within the Control Panel.
2. When the invitation box appears, scroll to the right and use the drop down menu to choose a group in which to invite the member to join. TIP: You will only be able to invite people to groups you are a member of.
3. After choosing a group, scroll back to the left and click Submit.

Close the invitation box and you now invited that member to join the group! You may want to follow up with a personal message and friend request.

Uploading Photos is a fun and easy way to draw people to your profile and give others a sense of your personality. You can upload an image of yourself or pictures you took. It’s important to note that the images should adhere to our Terms of Use. Some of you like visuals I’m sure; if so Click Here.

Follow the steps below to upload an image to your profile:

1. From your home page click “My Content” in the grey subnav. After the new page appears, click ‘Photos’.
2. Click Browse, find your photo, and click open in the browsing window.
3. After you complete the appropriate information (Title, Description, Tags) you can check the box to ‘Share in Gallery’ which will share the image in the photo gallery. You’ll also have the option to make the image your primary photo; this will designate it as the main image that shows on your profile. After you have completed this information, click ‘Submit’ (See Example Below).

Your image is now up loaded, and you can choose to upload more if you desire! Have fun and don’t hesitate to ask questions if you have any!

Zach

Within the Scottrade Online Community, you are able to send Private Messages [PMs] to other members. These messages are just between you and the other user. As always, do not send personal information such as account numbers or any other information you wouldn’t share with a stranger. There are multiple ways to send Private Messages [PMs] within the Community. Click Here to see a PDF with visuals or follow the steps below to send PMs to your friends, follow the steps below:

1. From your home page click ‘Inbox’ located in the grey subnav
2. When you are routed to a new page, click ‘Compose’
3. After clicking Compose, you will see the option to select certain contacts (These are your friends). Select the contact you would like to send a message to and then click the green ‘Add’ button. *Repeat this step to add multiple contacts
4. When you are satisfied with the contacts you have chosen, you may begin typing your message in the box below the contacts. When you are finished, click “Send Email”.

Sending Private Messages to Non-Friends:

Many of you may not have a large list of Friends to send Private Messages to, so follow the steps below to send a PM to any member in the Community.

1. From that individual’s profile page, click ‘Send Private Email’ in the “Control Panel” section.
2. You can then fill in the Subject: and Message: box with your email and click ‘Send Email’.

In order to know if you have a PM within the community, from your homepage in the “My Messages” box you will see a number next ‘Messages’. If the number is greater than 0 click messages and you will be routed to your inbox.

When posting links to forums, it’s good etiquette to enable them to open in a ‘new window’. This will cut down on how many times you ‘leave’ the Community to view the link. If they open in a new window, you are in the same location within the Community as you were before you opened the link.  Below are the steps on posting links that open in a new window: (Click Here to view instructions with visuals)

1. After you have typed your message, highlight the text you would like to ‘hyperlink’. This hyperlink you are creating is the link to the website of interest.
2. After you have highlighted this text, click the chain link to the right of ‘font size’. This will open a new box.
3. In this new box, copy and paste the URL you would like to ‘link’ to in the “Link URL” box.
4. In the ‘Target’ drop down, select ‘Open Link in a New Window’
5. When you are finished click Insert.

Your new link will now be set up to appear in a new window, eliminating how many times you are routed away from the Scottrade Online Community. Continue these steps to set up multiple links in your post.

 My Bookmarks is a great new feature that allows you to choose a specific section of the Community you would like quick and easy access to.  Within the New Community you have the ability to bookmark Profiles, Blogs, Photos, Groups, and Videos.  You can find your bookmarks from your homepage in the “My Bookmarks” section.  Bookmarking certain sections of the community will give you quick and easy access to portions of the site that interest you or that you visit often. Click Here if you would like to see these same instructions with visuals.

Below is a description of ‘how’ to bookmark each of these:

Profiles:

From the individual’s profile in the ‘Control Panel’ section click “Add to Bookmarks” (See picture above)

After clicking this, it will be added to your bookmarks within your homepage and you will see “Bookmarks Updated” in the ‘Control Panel’.

Blogs:

(See File: Blogging 101 for instructions on participating in blogs) When you find a specific Blog you like, you may click “Add to Bookmarks” within the ‘Subscriptions’ section. 

Photos:

Select a photo you would like to view; After the photo is open click “Add to Bookmarks” within the ‘Photo Interaction’ section below the image.

Videos:

Within the ‘Video Interaction’ section below the video, click “Add to Bookmarks”

Groups:

1. Click “Browse Groups” in the subnav below ‘More Group Options’
2. When you are routed to a new page, click the group you would like to bookmark.  From that group page, click the text “Add to Bookmarks” below the group description.

After you have bookmarked any of these sections of the Community, you can click the “MY HOME” tab at the top of the screen to view all of your bookmarks. Within the “My Bookmarks” section you can click on any of the bolded texts to view your bookmarks. After clicking the bold text, a drop down will show your specific bookmarks.  Click the X if you would like to delete that bookmark.

Take the a second to bookmark a few things, it’ll save you time in the future!

Zach

Asking people to be your friend isn’t the only way to make friends in the community!  Sometimes people ask you to be their friend.  When they do this, you have the choice to accept it, ignore it, or reject it; until you do something, they are not your friend.  It can be easy to miss friend requests, so I want to show you how to accept them.

Follow these steps to accept friendship requests:

1. From your homepage, click “Friend Requests” within the My Messages section. 
2. When you are routed to a new page, you will see your friend requests on the top of the page above your friends titled ‘Pending Requests’.
3. You have the option to accept, take no action, or decline the friend request.  Click the bubble next to the option you choose.  After clicking the bubble, a black dot will appear in it. 
4. Click Submit and you are now their friend!

Click Here to view a PDF that gives an explanation with Images.

This is a cool feature that we have always had, but many times it is not utilized because we just don’t know how to use it.  The “Insert Image/Edit” feature is beneficial because it will help you insert an image within your post, giving it a clean and professional look.  It may seem like a long process, but it’s rather simple once you do it a few times.  Click Here to view instructions with images. If you feel you don’t need the images, continue reading!

First you will have to upload the image into your files within the community.  To do this:

1. From your home page click “My Content” in the grey subnav.
2. Click ‘Files’
3. Click Browse, find your photo, and click open in the browsing window.
4. After you enter a title and description, click ‘Submit’ (See Image Below)
5. When your image is uploaded it will appear in the ‘My Files’ section below the ‘Edit File’ section. Find your image and click on it; you will not be able to see the image, but you can find it by the title. After clicking the title, It will then appear in the ‘Edit File’ section. Click ‘Download Main Image’ and you will be routed to a new page with just that image.

This is where the image will be hosted and you can use the URL. You may omit these first steps if you have the image posted to another hosting site such as PhotoBucket.  Now it’s time for you to post the image to a thread.

Inserting the Image within your Post

These next steps will show you how to post this image to the specific post:

1. Go to the Specific Thread you would like to post to
2. Scroll to the end of the post and begin typing your message into the text box
3. When you are to the point where you would like to insert an image, put the curser after the text where you would like the image to be.  (It works best if you insert it at the end of your post)
4. Click the Icon that looks like a photo image of a tree next to the Smiley Face.
5. After clicking this image, a new box will appear that will ask you to fill out the specifics about the image.  To keep it simple we’ll just deal with the Image URL section.  Go to the window where your photo is and copy the URL
6. After you copy the URL, go back to the post window and paste it into the Image URL section of the new box.
7. When you are finished with this click “Insert”
8. Your image will now appear in your post
9. You may continue typing below the image, or simply click submit.

If you followed these steps correctly, you will have successfully posted the image to your post!

With technology changing and phones become more of a life line/networking tool than just a communication device from one person to another; companies are breaking the barriers with new features. 

I highly doubt anyone is as excited about the new iPhone as me.  I’ve been waiting for this moment for months now after living with a 4 year old Samsung Flip phone that was a hand me down after my other phone made friends with the laundry machine.  To me, some of the coolest new features of the iPhone are:

·         Internet Tethering:  This will allow you to surf the web from pretty much anywhere by sharing your iPhone internet connection with your computer.

·         Video Editing:  From the video you capture on your phone, you can edit video and post it directly to YouTube.

·         Remote Wipe:  Since you have a lot of private information on your phone, this feature allows you to wipe away all of that information if you lose your phone.  When you find your phone, you can completely restore the data. 

These are just a few of the features that helped me make the decision on why I want this phone.  To be honest, there are plenty of other GREAT phones out there.  I’m interested to know which phones YOU are partial to.  Why did you choose your phone?  What are some deciding factors that helped you make a decision on the phone you like?  What features do you like or dislike?

To view a blog with more discussion, Click Here! 

Hope to hear lots feedback!

Zach