7 Google+ essentials (photos)

Now that you're on Google+, it's time to master the basics. Here are seven tips and tricks in Google+.

Sharon Profis

July 5, 2011 8:49 a.m. PT

1 of 7

Bold, italics, and strikethrough

Add some flavor to your text with these simple formatting tricks: *bold*, _italics_, and -strikethrough-.

2 of 7

Tag friends in posts

To tag friends in posts, type "+" or "@" followed by their name. You'll see an autocomplete drop-down menu show up as you type their name, which presumably includes people in your circles and extended circles. Your friend will be notified they've been tagged in a post, and post visibility will automatically be set to just that person. Don't forget to add more circles and friends (if you want to) before sharing.

3 of 7

Use permalinks

Permalinks come in handy for sharing and cleaner viewing of single posts. Just click the timestamp of any post and you'll be taken to a new page displaying just that post.

4 of 7

Quickly share posts on Twitter and Facebook

Oh, the irony. To share a post with your Twitter or Facebook network, use the Extended Share for Google Plus Chrome extension. Upon installation, you'll see a new option ("Send to...") below each post in your stream.

5 of 7

Edit photos in Google+

Here's a nice feature for any on-the-fly photo editing. Go to your photos (accessible via your profile), select a photo. Click Actions > Edit photo, and you'll be presented with several photo filters. Scroll through other photos in the album for consecutive editing.

6 of 7

Send a direct message

To send a message to just one friend, tag him or her in the beginning of a post and let them know it's a private message. Then, comment on the post to establish your own private thread.

7 of 7

Add an e-mail button to your profile

With this setting, you can let people e-mail you directly from your profile. Head to your profile, then select "Edit profile". Below your profile photo, you'll see a grayed out "Send an email." Click it, and check "Allow people to email me from a link on my profile." Then adjust the privacy settings below.