Faster access to Google Apps products

Recently, I had one of those “how did you do that?” moments with a tech-savvy client.  This client, like me, set up his domain with Google Apps.  During a meeting, he told me he wanted to show me a spreadsheet he created in Google Docs.  In the web browser, he typed d.(his domain).com and the browser opened his Google Docs login page. Not long after that, as we were scheduling our next meeting, he typed c.(his domain).com in the browser, and his Google Calendar instantly appeared.  I could not help but look with amazement and say “wow, that was fast! – how did you do that?” I love finding faster and more efficient ways of doing things, so I also set up my domain this way for the quickest access to Google Apps.  Like many of Google’s products, I found it was incredibly easy to set up.
  • Go to your Google Apps domain management page and click on settings. Click on the product to the left that you want to change the URL for (Docs is shown below).
  • Click on the “Change URL” link which will take you to the page you see below.  Click on the second button and change the subdomain to whatever you like.  My client prefers the one letter subdomains, for example, “d” for Docs and “c” for Calendar.
  
  • I then had to go to my domain host’s DNS Management page and add a CNAME.  Google has step-by-step instructions for this.
In a prior post, I wrote about how I set up a Gmail address with my domain.  I also have a short URL for my e-mail.  By typing mail.dustinwheelercpa.com, I go straight to my e-mail page.

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Comments (5)

  • Avatar

    Chris Farmand

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    Preach it Dustin!!!!

    Reply

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    Dustin Wheeler

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    Thanks Chris. Sometimes I think my domain name is too long. You’ve got a nice short one (apr16.com).

    Reply

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    Kara

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    Awesome tip, Dustin! Chris showed me how to do this in Vegas and I forgot (ssshhhhh) … Great reference to archive.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Dustin Wheeler

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    Kara, that’s one of the reasons why I blog. It seems that once I write a blog post about something, I don’t forget it.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Michelle Edwards

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    I love this! I just might have to give it a try. Thanks for the tech tip, Dustin!

    Reply

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