Autosmooth and UVmapping

[Mary]

Hi!

I'm having a problem with autosmooth not working. When I apply it, nothing changes, just the yellow outline thing shows up. I am trying to autosmooth a low poly mesh and export it. I don't want to use smooth, as it adds more polys. I have tried it in versions: 1.4.1, 1.5.1, 1.5.2 and 1.5.3.

I'm not sure if I am doing something wrong. I am making a hair mesh. I highlight all, then autosmooth, and it still looks blocky. When I click on the 'smooth block' icon, it looks good in Wings, but doesn't export (collada) as smooth.
I've watched videos and such, but it's hard to understand a video with no vocal walk through. (comprehension disability here! I'm a little slow! lol)

Also, say I have 30 boxes. All have the same texture on them. How can I make it that, when I export, I only get one material slot for all the boxes, and not 30 separate ones? (Is that understandable?)

In Wings, I am importing an .obj file from a mesh I made in Sketchup. Sketchup, as we all know (or don't) is useless for mapping textures properly.
When I click on the boxes, and choose UV Map, it will bring up all 30, individual boxes to be mapped. How can I manage them to just one map?
(did I say that right? lol)

Thanks for any help! If I confused anyone, just ask!