Grid for iPad App Resources
For a basic overview of the App and how to customize your Grid, check out the articles/links below!
- Select “Get Started”
- Input your information (please note that it is ideal to connect this account to the user or parent as they will need access to this in the future)
- Connect to dropbox if possible! (A DropBox basic account is free to create and will help you back up the vocabulary in the future)
- Choose a picture if you’d like!
- Choose your main language (you can change this or add another language once set up is finished)
- Choose a voice (you can listen to them by clicking on the blue play button before you select)
- Chat history (Toggle on or off)-> If on, this will create a history of your typing and store information
- Use online AI tools (toggle on/ off)
- Share usage data-> decide if you’d like to share feedback with Grid developers
*Please note that this account does not automatically back up your information (follow directions for back up below)
*Note that if you already have an account, you can sign in by selecting “Sign in” at the bottom left
There are different vocabulary sets that you can choose from for your Grid App.
Here are a few options that you can choose from:
You can add additional grid sets for Grid for iPad. This is helpful if you’d like a different type of communication or a different language.
- On the grid explorer page, select the three dots in the top right
- Select ‘add grid set’
- Select the category of grid set (symbol communication grid sets, text communication grid sets, etc.)
- Select the grid set and ‘add’, it will not appear in the grid explorer
- Open the grid set and navigate to the page to be edited
- Select the three dots in the top right – edit grids
- Select the button to be edited
- A menu will pop up with different options. For a button that will speak, select ‘write and speak’
- Type the button lablel in the text area of the button
- It will populate with an image, select the image – find image to search for other images
- Select ‘symbols’ to browse options
*other options for images include ‘photo library’ to pull pictures from the photos app, ‘web search’ to search the internet, and ‘camera’ to pull up the camera and take a photo - Select ‘done’ – ‘finish editing’
If you choose to hide buttons in a vocabulary, it is important to have a plan to systematically provide access to more vocabulary! Here are instructions to hide buttons in Grid for Ipad:
To hide one button at a time:
- Go into the grid set – select the three dots in the top right
- Select ‘edit grids’
- Select the button to be hidden
- Select ‘edit cell’
- Select ‘style’
- Scroll to and select ‘cell accessibility’
- Select ‘hidden’ – ‘done’ – ‘finish editing’
How to hide multiple icons at a time:
- Go into the grid set – select the three dots in the top right
- Select ‘edit grids’
- Go to ‘select’ in top orange banner
- Select the cells that you want to hide
- Select the paintbrush in the top right to pull up the style menu
- Scroll to and select ‘cell accessibility’
- Select ‘hidden’ – ‘done’ – ‘finish editing’
It’s important to back up your Grid for iPad so you don’t lose any of your customizations.
We have a dedicated article on how to do this: Please click this link to see full back up instructions.
- In the grid set, select the three dots in the top right > settings
- Select speech > speaking voice > select from the available voices
It can be helpful to hide access to settings and edit mode in apps to prevent unwanted changes. Below are a few options to help manage unwanted changes to the app or device
Here are instructions to hide access to settings/editing from within the app:
- Open iPad settings and select ‘apps’ on the left hand side
- Select ‘Grid’ on the right hand side
- Toggle off ‘Display options in menu bar’
- When in Grid for iPad, the three dots in the top right corner will disappear
If you would also like to restrict access to just this app, you can lock the device with guided access.
Here are instructions to set up guided access: https://support.ablenetinc.com/quicktalker-freestyle/the-importance-of-guided-access/
In Guided Access, if you’d like to lock out parts of the screen:
- Triple click home button or power button to end guided access
- On screen that says ‘start’ and ‘resume’, circle areas of the screen that will be locked
- A gray area should appear around these areas when guided access is turned on
How to access grid sets in other languages:
- On the grid explorer page, select the three dots in the top right
- Select ‘add grid set’
- Select ‘English (United States)’ in the bottom of the pop up
- Select the needed language and then browse the available grid sets in that language
How to create a button to toggle between two languages:
- Both grid sets must first be added to the grid explorer
- On the grid explorer page, select the three dots in the top right
- Select ‘add grid set’
- Select the category of grid set (symbol communication grid sets, text communication grid sets, etc.)
- Select the grid set and ‘add’, it will not appear in the grid explorer
- Navigate to a page to program the button to link to the other grid set
- Select three dots in the top right > edit grid
- Select blank button to edit
- Select ‘show more’ in bottom of pop up
- Select magnifying glass in top right and search actions for ‘change grid set’ and select it
- Under ‘commands’ on the right side of the screen, select ‘select’ in blue and choose the name of the grid set to link to
- Select the text area on the button to edit the button label and image
- Select ‘done’ – ‘finish editing’
- Repeat these steps on the other grid set
Remote Editing can be used to remotely access a Grid for iPad user from a Windows device and make changes to their grid sets
Click here for a detailed video of this feature
How to access interactive grid sets:
Grid for iPad offers interactive and educational grid sets. These include activities such as visual scenes, animated activities, and books. Here’s how to access them:
- Go to the grid explorer page
- Select the three dots in the top right
- Select ‘add grid set’
- Select ‘interactive learning grid sets’ or ‘education grid sets’.
Chat Switcher:
Chat Switcher is a multi-tasking option that makes it easy to switch between conversations in Grid using a single click.
NOTE: The Fast Talker used in the video is not available on Grid for iPad but the Chat switcher function can be added to any grid set in Grid for iPad
Click here for a detail video of this feature
How to Access AI Fix Feature:
The AI-powered Fix tool helps corrects text and grammar mistakes with one click
Click here for detailed video of this feature
