In yesterday’s newsletter my “free tool of the week” was Loom, because it saves so many 30 minute calls.

The next time you’re trying to explain an issue you’ve found to a developer, make a short, free loom.com video of it. You can record your screen and you speaking, and send it to them for free (I think free ones can be up to 5 minutes long) and it can save a lot of back and forth over email, or a whole call needing to be scheduled.

And it works both ways. I was explaining how something needed to work to a client last week, and was on the verge of suggesting a call – but I know how busy she is. So instead I sent her a video of me talking her through the issue and why our solution was going to help, and she loved it! Everyone was on the same page, and the solution could be moved forward without a 30 minute call.

BUT, today I had to downgrade my Canva account as I have used the free trial for 30 days and today I was going to be charged. (Yes, I may have left it to the last minute even though they email you a week before renewal…) I do LOVE Canva but it’s not a tool I want to pay for right now.

So, I went to click into my account to change my tier… but I couldn’t find the option to access my account anywhere! Their help told me to click on the picture of my face on the top right or bottom left. There was nothing in the top right (my face is in these screenshots because it’s there on the free tier it seems, but I promise it wasn’t earlier!), and just my Loom icon from the browser extension I’ve got installed sitting in the bottom left. I tried zooming in and out, or moving the Loom icon and nothing was working.

I went into my husband’s office and asked him to open Canva, and sure enough, there was his face in the bottom left, where my Loom icon was.

So I actually got him to tell me the URL that his face took him too, and then I visited that URL in my browser and downgraded my account. And then thought, you know what, I should have just disabled the extension. And then kicked myself as I’m the one who shares this stuff!

So I right clicked on the blue loom icon at the top right of my browser window (I’m on Chrome), and clicked “manage extension”. Near the top of the next screen (shown in the screenshots) was a toggle for turning the extension on and off. Once marked as off, the icon disappeared. I then clicked on the icon next to where the blue one had been (top right) that looks a bit like a jigsaw piece, clicked “manage extensions” and toggled Loom back on again.

Extensions can be great when you want them, but don’t waste time when they’re in the way (like I did for 5 minutes!) – just toggle them off.

Below are the stills I posted on Instagram about this here.

Expand