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10 Awesome PuTTY Tips and Tricks You Probably Didn’t Know

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PuTTY is hands-down the best SSH client for Windows. It’s light-weight with a single putty.exe file and nothing else to install.

A while back we wrote about 12 powerfulPuTTY software add-ons

 and explained how PuTTY connection manager can help you to organize PuTTY SSH sessions in tabs.

In this article, let us review 10 awesome native PuTTY tips and tricks that you might have not explored earlier.

If you have not used PuTTY earlier and you have heard only about Silly Putty and Mighty Putty and not the PuTTY software, you may want to download PuTTY software from the official PuTTY download page here before exploring these PuTTY tricks.

PuTTY Trick 1: Delete All PuTTY Sessions Together

When you are swapping an old computer with a new computer, you may end-up transferring all PuTTY sessions to new computer. Once you’ve transferred all PuTTY sessions, execute “putty -cleanup” from the command line as shown below.

C:>putty -cleanup

This will display following warning message. Click on ‘Yes’ to wipe-out all PuTTY session and random seed files from the Windows registry. This is a better process to delete all saved PuTTY sessions from Windows registry instead of deleting one-by-one from the PuTTY session list.

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Fig: PuTTY Cleanup Sessions

PuTTY Trick 2: Change Font Size Automatically when Resizing PuTTY Window

By default when you resize a PuTTY window, the font size doesn’t change. Sometimes it would be good if font size decrease when you reduce the PuTTY window size (or) font size increase when you increase the PuTTY window size.

For example, when you are running Unix top command, if you try to resize the window, the output will get cut-off in the PuTTY as shown below.

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Fig: Partial output truncated during PuTTY window resize

Launch PuTTY -> Select a Session -> Click on Load. From left side tree menu click on Window -> select the “Change the size of the font” under “When window size is resized” section as shown below -> Click on ‘Open’ at the bottom of this window to start the session.

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Fig: PuTTY Change the font size automatically

After the above change, start the PuTTY SSH session and login again. Start the Unix top command and try to resize the window. When you reduce the window size, the font size will become smaller and adjust the top command output automatically to fit in the small size screen as shown below.

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Fig: Unix top command output not truncated

Note: Instead of automatically adjusting the font size during window resize, you can also set the following options “When window is resized” from the PuTTY configuration window.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Change the number of rows and columns.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Change the size of the font. (this is the option we discussed in this tip)

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Change font size only when maximized.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Forbid resizing completely. (This option can be very helpful, when you don’t want PuTTY window resizing to happen)

PuTTY Trick 3: Change the PuTTY SSH Session Window Title

By default, PuTTY software displays “username@hostname:~” in the PuTTY window title after you login. You can change this to any user-friendly text.

Launch PuTTY -> Select a Session -> Click on Load. From left side tree menu click on Window -> Behavior. On the right panel, in the ‘Window Title’ text box enter the desired windows title as shown below. After this change, make sure to save the session.

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Fig: Custom Window Title for PuTTY Session

Load this saved PuTTY SSH session and login again to the server, which will display the new updated window title as shown below.

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Fig: PuTTY Session showing user defined custom window title

PuTTY Trick 4: View PuTTY Event log

When you are logged-in to a PuTTY SSH session, right mouse-click on the PuTTY window title, which will display PuTTY menu. Select ‘Event Log’ menu-item, which will display the following PuTTY event log window.

This will be very helpful to debug any PuTTY SSH session issues.

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Fig: PuTTY Event Log Display

PuTTY Trick 5: Paste to Clipboard in Rich Text Editor (RTF) Format

Typically when you copy/paste from PuTTY window to a word document, it will paste only in plain text as explained below.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Login to PuTTY Telnet or SSH session without setting the ‘Paste to clipboard in RTF’ option that was explained below.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Execute ‘man ssh’ from the command line.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Copy the first few lines of the man output.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Launch Microsoft Word and paste the output. You’ll see only the text output without any formatting.

Enable the RTF copy/paste feature in PuTTY software as shown below.

Launch PuTTY terminal -> Select a Session -> Click on Load. From left side tree menu click on Window -> Selection. On the right panel, select the check-box where it says “Paste to clipboard in RTF as well as plain text” as shown in the image below.

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Fig: Enable Rich Text Paste to Clipboard in PuTTY

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Login to PuTTY telnet or SSH session after setting the ‘Paste to clipboard in RTF’ option that was explained above.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Execute ‘man ssh’ from the command line.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Copy the first few lines of the man output.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Launch Microsoft Word and paste the output. You’ll see only the text output getting copied with all the format as shown below.

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Fig: Rich Text copied from PuTTY to MS-Word with formatting

PuTTY Trick 6. Make PuTTY SSH Session Always Stay On Top

Sometimes when you are running a monitoring session (for example, unix top command), you may want the PuTTY client window to stay on top all the times.

Launch PuTTY terminal -> Select a Session -> Click on Load. From left side tree menu click on Window -> Behavior. On the right panel, click on the check-box where it says “Ensure window is always on top” as shown below.

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Fig: PuTTY Window Behavior - Always on Top

After this change, login to the PuTTY FTP or SSH or telnet session. This particular session will always stay on top irrespective of any other application you open in the windows.

PuTTY Trick 7: Launch PuTTY Client In Full Screen Mode

Following are the two methods to launch PuTTY client in full screen mode.

Method 1: When the PuTTY client session is running, right mouse-click on the window title and select ‘Full Screen’ (or)

Method 2: Launch PuTTY -> Select a Session -> Click on Load. From left side tree menu click on Window -> Behavior. On the right panel, click on the check-box where it says “Full Screen on Alt Enter” as shown below.

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Fig: Press Alt-Enter for PuTTY Full Screen

After this change, when the PuTTY terminal session is running, press Alt Key + Enter Key to run that particular PuTTY session in full screen.

PuTTY Trick 8: Launch PuTTY Window Maximized by Default

By default when you launch any PuTTY terminal session, it runs in the normal window size. Sometimes you may prefer it to start in a maximized mode. Follow the steps mentioned below.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Create a new PuTTY windows shortcut.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Right mouse-click on this windows shortcut and select properties.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Click on the Run drop-down list and select ‘Maximized’ as shown below.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Now, anytime you use this PuTTY shortcut to launch any session, it will be displayed in maximized mode by default.

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Fig: Open PuTTY in Maximum Window Size

PuTTY Trick 9. Move Putty sessions to another computer

PuTTY stores all the session information in Windows registry. On the source machine, export the PuTTY session registry information as shown below.

C:> regedit /e "%userprofile%\desktop\putty-registry.reg" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Simontatham

Transfer this putty-registry.reg file from source machine to destination machine.

On the destination machine, import the PuTTY SSH session registry, by right mouse-click on the putty-registry.reg and click on ‘Merge’. This will transfer all the PuTTY session information from one windows system to another.

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Fig: Transfer Windows PuTTY Registry to another computer

PuTTY Trick 10: Launch Most frequently Used PuTTY Session Quickly

To launch a most frequently used PuTTY session quickly, follow the steps below.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Create a new PuTTY windows shortcut

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Rename this shortcut to your favorite name. For example, dev-db.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Right mouse-click on this shortcut and select properties.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>In the Target field, at the end append “-load putty-session-name” as shown below.

<![if !supportLists]>§                     <![endif]>Now, anytime you click on the dev-db windows shortcut, it will automatically launch the dev-db PuTTY session.

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Fig: Launch PuTTY session with one click from command line

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Having 16gb of Fun with Your Nexus 7 Tablet--A Basic Step-by-Step Setup

Disclaimer: This is my personal setup, reflecting my personal biases and is not meant to represent Google nor to present a balanced point-of-view. It is my hope that readers will find parts or all of my setup useful. I also need to point out that I'm not a gamer, Backgammon Free being about as wild as I get. Stating it plainly, games are not part of my fun so you'll seek other members with more expertise for your gaming needs. I also have Windows 7 desktop/laptop, a XP desktop and use them as tools to enhance my Android experience. Lastly, I'm also not a sports fan so while there surely are a lot of great sports apps, I couldn't give you any good advice.

The universe for a Nexus7 is either 8 or 16 Gigabytes, 16 GB for most of us. As such, the Nexus7 is a minimalist on-the-go tablet. If you root, you can use a OTG USB cable to plug in a flash drive or you might also get an Airstash, GoFlex Satellite, Kensington Wi-Drive etc. all to extend data access on the go, but in the end we live in a 16 GB universe. If you want to rely on the “Cloud” you can leverage services such as Google Drive (5 GB Free), Dropbox (2 GB Free), Box.net (5 GB Free).

Most developers are targeting their apps toward cell phones not tablets and given the glacial pace that Ice Cream Sandwich is rolling out to other devices, let alone Jelly Bean, Google fragmentation is here to stay. 

This setup is predicated on keeping your data in one folder: docs, videos, pictures etc., selecting a file and choosing an application to open it. It is data centered rather than app centered. Apps store and associate your data according to their preferences so it becomes a quest to locate one's data, scattered here and there. In a data centered setup, data opens apps—not the other way around. 

Connect your Nexus 7 to your computer via the USB Cable

• Go to Internal Memory
• Right-click and make a new folder called Data
• Open the newly created Data Folder
• Right-click and make the following folders: Docs, Ebooks, Videos, Tunes, Pics and as many others as needed. Keep in mind that you need to differentiate your data folders from other pre- existing internal Android folders such as: books, DCIM, movies, music, pictures, podcasts etc., presumably used for cloud service, play store content etc.
• Copy a reasonable amount of docs, music, photos, no more than one or two videos—keeping in mind that the universe is 16 GB. Copy what you intend to use. After you watch it, edit it, view it, listen to it—delete it and add other content.

Getting Started – ES File Explorer

Go to the Play Store on your tablet or to https://play.google.com/store on your PC and download ES File Explorer or send it to your tablet:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...gs.android.pop

• Download and install ES File Explorer.
• Open ES File Explorer. At the top it will say: Local /sdcard. Press the open box under the clock to make the menus appear.
• Click on the List tab in the upper right-hand menu bar.
• Long-press the Data folder you just created and select shortcut.
• This will send a Data shortcut folder to your home-screen.
• Open the Data shortcut and you'll have full access to all of your data. Press a doc file and open with the office suite of your choice. Click on a video and open with Dice or Mobo etc.
• After you install ES File Explorer, add a shortcut to ES Media Player by installing the following app in the play store. This should aide in streaming music: [url7. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=diewland.es.player.audio&hl=en[/url]

Getting Content in Your Data Folder

It's a lot easier to copy videos, images, photos, documents, ebooks and most content from your desktop/laptop computer than streaming through the cloud. Just use the USB cable, attach it to your computer, open internal memory and put it in your data folder. The tablet will warn you that you may not be able to open your word files, .doc, mp3... just ignore the warning. FYI, wma files probably won't work so you'll need to convert them to mp3.
I've been able to connect my Nexus 7 to both my XP and Win7 desktops without a problem. Plug your USB into your Desktop USB slot and see if it works. Open Computer/My Computer and see if Nexus 7 appears. If so, you're good to go. If not, try this:
Others have reported that you might need to have Windows Media Player 11 installed on XP and/or make sure to open Settings (on the Nexus7), scroll down to system, press developer options. Make sure USB Debugging isn't checked. 

Open With...

Go to your home-screen and press the Data shortcut folder and open your docs folder. Press any existing doc file and you will see a list of word processors that can open the word file,video file, music file... Use the same method in your music folder or videos or images.

Fun by Category

A note on apps: Echoing Good Intentions, I urge you to support developers with creative apps. Most of these donation apps only ask for a buck or two. Most of them also have a free version which I will leave you to find on your own. 

Finding Free, Inexpensive & Expensive Apps

• What's the best app for ….? Read and search this forum. Loads of talented and helpful folks.
• Search in the sister Asus Transformer/Prime/300/Infinity Forum. Lots of Android experience: Asus Eee Pad Transformer Forum.
• Search in the Play Store
• Allowing installation of non-Market Apps: Go to Settings, Security and check unknown sources.
• Go to Amazon.com and download the Amazon App store app at Appstore for Android Make sure you allow unknown sources. Amazon has a free app daily.
• Getjar. Go to GetJar | Mobile | , once again making sure that the third party app option is checked. They have many free apps.
• Read the forums, checking the General and Apps section: Your fellow members have your back and will announce any sales, notable free apps etc.
• Check Android news apps: Engadget, Android Central, Phandroid etc. all will announce most sales.

Virtual Keyboards

• I like the Hacker's Keyboard, free, with its arrow keys: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ion.pckeyboard
• Many like the Thumbs keyboard, $2.99: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oardplus&hl=en
• Many like Swype Swype | Text Input for Screens
• Look to the forum for others.

Accessories

• Already, there is a dizzying variety of cases, screen protectors etc. The forum is your friend: Nexus Tablet Accessories
• No matter what case you choose, you might consider this low-tech plastic folding stand: Arkon Portable Fold-Up Stand, $9.35: Amazon.com: Arkon Portable Fold-Up Stand for Apple iPad, Galaxy Tab, BlackBerry Play Book: Computers & Accessories

Email

• Personally, I like the stock Email app, called Email. It works well with my Yahoo account with its many, many mail folders.
• Others like Kaiten, $4.99, a flexible app that's exchange friendly:https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...com.kaitenmail
• Gmail seems to be improving slowly.

Browsers

I exclusively use Firefox on my Desktop but it's just not very good on the Android platform. Firefox Beta is more tablet friendly. 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...a.firefox_beta 

You can sync your desktop bookmarks. For desktop browsing, go to Menu, three vertical squares, check Request Desktop Site. On the home page, press Browse all Firefox Beta add-ons and install Phony. Go to Menu, Add-ons, Phony, Select User Agent: Desktop Firefox. To sync: Go to your desktop, launch Firefox, go to tools, options, sync, pair a device, follow the pair a device prompts.

My favorite is still Opera Mobile:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....opera.browser 

It's reasonably fast and easy to make larger or smaller. Set desktop browser by pressing O, Settings, Advanced, User Agent: Change to Desktop to enable desktop as opposed to mobile browsing: Press the Red O at the top of screen, then press settings, then advanced and make sure User Agent is set to desktop.

The stock browser is Chrome.

Music

Go to the Play Store on your tablet or to https://play.google.com/store on your PC and download Music Folder Player Donate, 99 cents, or send it to your tablet:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...rplayer.donate.

Music Folder Player generates a playlist on the fly based on folders. Perfect for spoken word or music. It's a smart app that will automatically finds your mp3s by folder. If it's not in a folder, it won't see it. So even if you have a random group of mp3s, put them in your Data/Tunes in a folder called Random mp3s. Just launch it, it will scan your Data folder, choose a folder and it will play all the music. It won't display all of the cover art streaming across the screen but you won't need to spend your life creating ID3 tags.

Internet Radio and Music

Go to the Play Store on your tablet or to https://play.google.com/store on your PC and download Tune jn Radio Pro, 99 cents, or send it to your tablet:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...diotime.player

Listen to and record over 50,000 radio stations and 1.2 million on-demand streams from seven continents. Check out the podcasts and music by language.

If you want to catch some Hoosier Mojo, go to By Location, North America, United States, Indiana, Lafayette. 101.3 WBAA Classical. Stranger than strange, WBAA is much better than the classical station in San Francisco. Check it out and remember that the Internet was invented to bring Indiana media to you!

Honorable mention: 8tracks. Like Pandora but instead of choosing an artist and having a computer find similar artists, in 8tracks you choose mixes made by people.

Shazam: It'll name that tune for you.

BBC Radio: Catch local radio across the UK as well as Radio 4 without the BBC Player.

Google Play Music: You can download the music manager on your PC and upload up to 20,000 tunes to the Google Music Cloud (mp3, m4a, wma) that do not have DRM from folders, iTunes or Windows Media Player. Access them on your tablet using the Play Music app. You can make quick playlists and also make any amount of music available offline so long as you have space on your tablet to store it. Currently available in the US only. 

News

News360 for Tablets: 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....news360tablet 

Hands down the best news app with full articles from a variety of sources—coverage from the LA Times, Al-Jazeera and 1003 more. Hit the local tab on top for local coverage even if you don't live in a famous location. It's fairly fast, attractive and fun. 

Engadget & Phandroid Apps: Great for a quick scan through Android news and gossip.

World newspapers: It has digital feeds for local newspapers everywhere. Check up on your local newspapers, worldwide and your hometown. You can also check out Android Central, Engadget, Gizmodo, PC World, the Economist etc.https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...rld.newspapers

Huffington Post: There are two, Huffington Post for Android and Huffington Post (tablet). The later tablet edition is a real eyesore, with four columns of five rows assaulting your eyes and brain all the time. Stick with the Huffington Post for Android. Lots of categories and you can concentrate on one at a time: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...onpost.android

Google Currents: It's actually a fairly attractive way to keep up with a variety of Android news sources such as Lifehacker, Android Central, PBS, Gizmodo, the Christian Science Monitor, CNet, etc. I even have a feed from the news section of our forum.

Comic Reader: When you only have a short time to kill

Hundreds of comic strips to choose as favorites: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...id.comicreader 

Video/Movies

Surely one of the joys of owning a tablet is watching films in bed, on the sofa or on the run. The Android OS doesn't support plug and play drivers, so at this time you won't be able to use a usb dvd drive. You're going to need to convert your DVDs to a digital format and use a video app to play them on your tablet.

I've converted my DVD collection using DVD Catalyst, a $10 piece of software that runs on a pc:
Home of DVD Catalyst 4 - convert fast and easy AVI DVD MKV to Bionic Droid iPad3 iPhone4 iPod Touch4 Iconica Innotab Galaxy Tab Nabi Playbook Transformer Prime Thrive Vita Xoom XyBoard and more

DVD Catalyst is a sponsor of this forum, giving excellent support to our members. I've converted DVDs from many different regions, PAL, NTSC and enabled subtitles, even enlarging the subtitle space when it wouldn't fit. Best ten bucks I've spent in a long time.

DVD Catalyst converts movies to mp4 and an average DVD ends up being 1.4gb or so. I don't have a Blu-Ray drive and couldn't tell you how they convert. I see lots of users reporting success.
Rather than buying/downloading DRM movies, go to Ebay or Amazon and there are plenty of quality DVDs in the $5 range. Get them legally, convert them, store them on your pc or drive and copy them to the Data\Videos folder for viewing, one of two at a time.

My personal favorite player is DicePlayer, donation based:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....mediaplayer.a 

Dice Plugin:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...aplayer.tegra2 
It will play most formats including mkv. That being said, searching the forum will turn up a wide variety of players including BSPlayer, MoboPlayer, VLC Media Player and ES Explorer's own player, ES Media Player. Many Video apps have a free plugin, including Dice, Free DicePlayer plugin for tegra2.

Streaming Video

• I've successfully streamed videos from both Amazon Prime and Netflix through the Browser. I've also successfully streamed videos from my Win7 desktop to my Nexus7 via ES File Explorer's LAN Connection. As of now, I can't steam via my XP desktop.
• Press Local in the upper right hand corner, it will open a Change View menu.
• Choose LAN, make sure to press the box under the clock in the upper right-hand corner so the menu appears, press new.
• Choose Sever and enter your user name, password, IP address etc.
• You might choose scan, to find your IP Address. Otherwise, on a pic, click start, type in cmd in the search bar, hit enter and the type in Ipconfig in the resulting dos box and hit enter.
• You might find the following TechRepublic article, Connect Android to Windows and Samba shared directories: Connect Android to Windows and Samba shared directories | TechRepublic

Camera

The Nexus 7 only has a 1.2 mega pixel front-facing camera. There is no stock camera launcher. You can find a camera launcher app for the Nexus 7 here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...cameralauncher

Word Processing

Make a Docs folder in your Data folder. Go on your desktop, Mac or PC, and use Word to save a variety of template docs. One with the margins of your choice, one with columns and so on. 

Don't have Word on your desktop? Personally, I kicked the habit and use Open Office: There are free versions for both PC and Mac:

Apache OpenOffice - The Free and Open Productivity Suite

Just remember to save as Word 2003, .doc. Open Office will also open docx files and many doc files previously created in Microsoft Office that Microsoft Office will no longer recognize.

When I start a new document I open the appropriate template in my Data\Docs folder, write a few lines and then use save as to create a new document name.

Android applications are all a work-in-progress so there's no word processing hands-down winner. To draw from Good Intentions again, you might use one for its Excel strengths, another for spell checking and so on. Kingsoft Office is a good free alternative from an innovative company in China known for their mouse-over translation software:
Kingsoft Standard: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ps.moffice_eng
Kingsoft International: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...s.moffice_i18n

Many users like Documents to Go, not me, a paid app, look for sales. Install the main app and then buy the key:https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...taviz.docstogo
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...iz.docstogoapp

Personally, I like Office Suite Pro, a paid app s look for sales, for its easy access to formatting. They offer a fully functional seven-day trial:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ffice_with_reg

Ebooks

I enjoy reading books on the tablet and restrict my choices to four different formats: Epub, mobi, txt and pdf. I keep some of my ebooks in my Data\ Ebook folder , organized into subfolders such as fiction, history, literature, horror, etc. Remember the universe is 16 GB. 

I go to my shortcut to Data on my homescreen, go to the Ebook folder, select a book, go to the Open as Screen and choose an app. For pdfs, I use the free Adobe reader or EzPdf, a much loved pdf app with many useful features beyond the requirements of reading an ebook pdf. For text files, I use Jota Text Editor, a text app that will open large files. For mobi files, I use FBReader, an app that will open both mobi and epub files. Finally I use Cool Reader for Epub files:https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...org.coolreader 

• If you want to support the developer, after installing the app above, you can donate a buck here:
• https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...onation.bronze
• Cool Reader supports epub (non-DRM), fb2, doc, txt, rtf, html, chm, tcr, pdb, prc, mobi (non-DRM), pml formats.

Configuring Cool Reader for Two Column Paginated Viewing

• Open Cool Reader.
• Select the menu (four horizontal lines), then Options if you're selecting these options in a book.
• Under the Font Menu, AA, change the Hyphenation dictionary from Russian to English US.
• Under the Folded-Page icon, change orientation from Portrait to Sensor, change Landscape pages from one page to two pages, change Background texture from Paper 1 to Fabric and change Page Animation from Slide (2 Pages) to Paperbook.

You might not be surprised to see this kind of two page formatting, with page turning animation on an epub book but try it on a text document or a Palm book. Go back to the Menu icon, (four horizontal lines), then More, options include Night Mode, Read aloud, Autoscroll and show manual. The devs update frequently, keeping the cool in Cool Reader. You can download it for free but I recommend the $3 Silver donation to support innovative apps.

FB Reader:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ary.ui.android 

Jota Text Editor:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ora.jota&hl=en

• Both Cool Reader and FBReader will open epub books, FBReader in a larger single-page format and Cool Reader in a double paginated format. Some epub illustrated books and ones with photos might open better with Cool Reader, while others might be better formatted with FBReader. This could change back-and-forth as updated versions appear. You should be able to open most ebooks using either Cool Reader or FBReader.

Viewing Images and Photos with Quickpic

I use QuickPic for viewing images and Photos. It automatically scans your tablet card for graphics and gives many options to scroll through them in an attractive manner. Make a Pics folder in your Data folder with as many sub-folders as needed. Put some of your photos in your tablet. Again, the universe is 16 GB. https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ensw.PicFolder

MultiPicture Live Wallpaper as your wallpaper

We have five screens to populate with wallpaper. You can make your own wallpaper from your own photos, images on line etc. Gathering the images is a task easier accomplished on a desktop:
I made a California Screen Saver with 381 images, using 112mb. It put them in a sub-folder of Data\pics. It took me five hours or so but I've passed it on to many friends for their desktop, laptop, tablet or phone.

• Use Google Images: https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi or
• Use Google Search and then click on images at the side.
• I searched for the following, substitute search topics for your state/country/theme: Moon, lightning, fog, waves, mountains, rain, snow, hills, rivers, bridges, trains, waterfalls, redwoods, forests, desert, fireworks... matched with California, San Francisco, Berkeley, Sacramento, Berkeley Hills, Los Angeles etc. I made a CA folder on my desktop computer, did a search, opened the photo, right-click save and on and on. Most photos are public domain and most photographers will allow you to download a lower resolution version of their photo—plenty good enough for a screen saver. Eliminate any images below 44k and resize any images above 1.5mb. You can use the free programs: Irfanview and Paint dot net to edit your photos. Send me a PM if you need Irfanview and Paint dot net help.
• When you're done, copy your screensaver (whatever name) folder to your Data/pics folder.
• Download Multipicture Live Wallpaper from the play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...r.multipicture
• Open Multipicture Live Wallpaper, press the Multi-picture Live Wallpaper icon
• Under Common Setting, set crop size ratio to medium crop. Then hit the back button.
• Scroll to Transition type and select Random
• Scroll to Picture Change Selection, Picture Change interval and set to one hour
• Scroll to Advanced Settings, Workaround for some home application and set to Ignore vertical movement.
• Scroll to Other, Donation version, only a buck.
• Scroll to Add Individual settings and press the + icon and select screen 1, hit OK
• Scroll to Screen 1 settings, under Picture source and choose Picture Folder
• Under Folder Path: Data/Pics/your folder name
• Selection Settings: Check Search folder recursively, Rescan picture when modified and search from Gallery.
• Under Picture selection order, choose random.
• Repeat for other screens
• Enjoy!

Keeping it Organized

In Jelly Bean, dragging an application icon onto an existing icon will allow you to make a folder. So you can do it yourself but I'll pass and use Folder Organizer, $1.49. It allows you to create folders with custom icons, keeping your favorite apps at hand.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...m.abcOrganizer

• Open Folder Organizer
• Press the red plus sign in the upper right-hand corner and select New Label
• Give your Folder a name: Internet, Ebooks, Android, News etc.
• Select your new folder under Labels.
• In the lower right-hand corner, select change icon, choose among Default or Application items.
• In the lower right-hand corner, select Choose items, Apps, and check the apps you'd like in the folder.
• Go to the Application icon, six squares in the upper right-hand corner, select widgets, scroll through many screen, nine in my case, until you get to Folder Organizer and drag the folder onto the desired screen.
• I find it easier to switch between multiple news apps using Folder Organizer

Organizing the Task Bar (Dock)

The Nexus7 has a great Task Bar Feature that allows you to populate any six icons that travel from screen to screen. By default it has Chrome, Playstore books etc. The middle icon is for accessing all of your apps, I populated mine with: the stock email app, Opera Mobile, the Play Store App, Settings, ES File Explorer and the shortcut to the Data folder.

Forcing Orientation from Landscape to Portrait or vice versa without root

• I'm using the Ultimate Rotation Control App with a free seven day trial, $2.99 to buy:https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....fameit.rotate
• There's also the free app, Display Orientor: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...per.Orientator
• Other's like Rotation Locker: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...onlocker&hl=en
• Custom Launchers like Apex Launcher and Nova Launcher allow home screen rotation as well. There is also a lot of other customizations such as number of home screens, swipe gestures, removing the Google Search bar, etc.
• Apex: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ddoes.launcher
• Nova: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oilsw.launcher

Battery Life

Auto Airplane Mode by Don, make sure you get the app by Don. “Automatically enables airplane mode when the screen is turned off. It is useful to save battery when you are not using your device. “
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...3.autoairplane

Volume Control and Display Brightness Screen Indicators

If you're like me, you may find your screen settings either too bright or too dim as well as suddenly switched in software and so on. I also find it particularly difficult to find the volume when the tablet is in landscape mode, upside down or rotated. The following apps allow you to put a small bar for each in different parts of the screen or autohide for a minimalist configuration. I find them handy. They are both free but the developer, RubberBigPepper, requests a donation:

Display Brightness
https://play.google.com/store/search...lay+brightness

Volume Control
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....VolumeControl

Expand the 16gb Nexus 7 Universe without Rooting—Nexus Media Importer $1.99

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ususb.importer

Nexus Media Importer allows you to attach an OGA MicroUsb cable, from the MicroUSB on the Nexus to a female usb, allowing you to attach either an SD/MicroSD or a flash drive and then stream or copy content to the tablet. It's a ground breaking app that allows expandable storage beyond 16gb on the go. Kudos to the developer, Homeysoft, for offering such noteworthy software at such a reasonable price.

You will need a working OGA cable. Here's the one I bought, $2.75, free shipping. It works:
Micro USB OTG to USB 2.0 Adapter compatible with Samsung© Galaxy S III / S3
Amazon.com: Micro USB OTG to USB 2.0 Adapter compatible with Samsung© Galaxy S III / S3: Cell Phones & Accessories

If nothing else take a look at the picture. If you search this forum or Xda, you'll see a dizzying variety or cables, some from China, some too long, too loose and hopefully at least one that's just right. You'll need to bite the bullet and choose one.

Attach the OGA cable to your Nexus 7, plug in a flash drive or card reader and launch the app. After you scan your usb device of choice, choose between different types of data via the menus:

• Video: I can confirm that Nexus Media Importer can stream in both landscape and portrait in the following formats using either VLC or Dice Player: mp4, avi, wmv, mkv and asf. It currently cannot see mpg videos.
• Photos: It sees also the jpg photos I've thrown at it.
• Music: It streams mp3. I haven't tested other formats.
• Docs: It streams text files in the browser of your choice and copies but cannot stream doc and pdf files.

Currently it does not support NTSF or ExFat so it's Fat32 with its 4gb file ceiling. The developer is working on a plug-in for ExFat. I'll update this section as I find time to test other audio/video/photo formats as well as future updates to the program. 

It's an incredible app but keep in mind that the Nexus 7 came crippled sans USB or MicroUSB slots, so it's never going to look very elegant with a wire and a usb device dangling below but an amazing workaround. 


**Honorable Mention: Check out Geeky Feeds for tech news on your cell phone. It has feeds from NY Times Tech, PC Magazine, BBC Technology, Lifehacker etc. It works on the tablet as well but only in Portrait.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oid.geekyfeeds