Every product of Google stands out as unique and worthy.
Not only has the brand helped online businesses to generate greater revenue, but it also does value addition via Google's best products, apps and services.
One such Google product is Google Docs, Google Docs features are the perfect alternative to MS Word. It's a free word processor that helps the business to create and share documents easily.
We are going to share a complete guide about Google Docs; whether you are a beginner or a professional, this guide will help you explore all the features of Google Docs. Even if you spend a minimum of 5-10mins on Google Docs, this Google Doc guide will aid you to be more productive with Google Docs.
It is a tool provided by Google, a multi-functional platform that helps to create and share documents. It's completely free and universally accessible. To work on it, you need a Google account, the same free account that you use for your G Suite or Gmail.
Google Docs provides in-built layouts, or you can also create your layout and work on the document freely. The best part of Google Doc features is that it works in autosave mode. So even if you lose the internet connection or close the tab by mistake; your work will not be lost.
What are the basic steps to use google docs?
We can begin with the features that are used the most.
The features of Google Docs have the utmost utility, and that is the reason it has become a part of the daily routine of many organizations. However, without understanding the basics of Google Docs, we cannot make the most out of it.
To create a Google Doc, you can either click on the plus sign (+) or select the layouts that are already listed on the panel.
The new document will be created, and by default, it will work in autosave mode.
Pro tip: You can make a new docs directly from chrome. Just type "docs.new" in the URL bar.
As soon as you create a new document or use the template you can start working on google docs. Whether you are a Google Doc beginner user or an advanced user, formatting will help to create an outstanding impression of the google doc.
Professionals shall use Google Docs for sending proposals or creating some important data and proposals. So doing proper footing and formatting is essential.
With the help of the toolbar, you will be able to change the fonts, font size font style and manage the alignments. It works exactly like MS Word.
When we initially start using Google Docs, we kind of stress adding images or can’t figure out how to make a table in google docs?
It’s simple and easy.
From the insert option, you can add the images and tables to google docs. Upload, Take a snapshot, By URL, Your albums, Google Drive and Search. Make sure that the image you select must be less than 50 MB and should be one of the following file formats – .gif, .jpg or .png.
If you want a particular Google Doc to be in your language, you can rely on the option of translation.
Select the tools option from the menu bar and in the drop-down, you will find the option of Translation.
Enter a name for the newly translated document and select a language of your choice, a translated copy of your document will open in a new window.
A tip to remember is that if the language that you selected has some non-Latin characters then you can type phonetic spelling of that after then you can select the best match option; it will help to get the translation better.
A lot of people are using Google Docs daily, but they are unaware of such an interesting and important feature of Google Docs.
If you are looking for an answer, what does publish to the web mean in google docs?
Here’s an answer; Within a click, you can directly upload the content or the entire document on the Internet, just in one go. It not only saves time, but you can easily manage the deadlines and upload the content side by side without forgetting about it or without adding a special reminder for the same.
You can directly do it from the file menu, just click on File Menu then select Publish on Web. After you select this option, a dialogue box will open wherein you need to select the Embed option.
Select Publish and copy the code in the text box and paste it into your site or blog.
It becomes easy for bloggers or writers to immediately publish their work without wasting their time after copy-pasting. This makes the entire process simpler.
Google Docs is already providing a wide range of templates that refer to a different kind of usage. So based on your use or purpose you can select the doc that goes with the flow and helps you to work better and speedily.
But it is not necessary to set the boundaries around those predefined layouts and templates. If you think you want to design a layout that can be made public and it will benefit many other Google Doc users, you can do it.
You must be eager to know How to set up google docs or google doc template.
Step 1: Create a new document in Google Doc and add the specifications you want in the document. As further, you will be uploading it as a template.
Step 2: Next step is to submit the template; for that, you can click on the Submit a template option.
Step 3: Click to choose from your Google Docs
Step 4: Select the template you had created in step 1.
Step 5: You will be asked to submit a description for the same. Make sure you have created a proper description for the same as it helps users to understand what that template is about.
Step 6: You will be asked to select a category of the document, if the document is available in the form of a contract, then select the category that defines it or is nearly applicable to it. But don't randomly select any category as it will not help to reach the right audience.
Step 7: Select the language the template was originally written in.
Step 8: Click Submit template.
Step 9: Go to your template gallery page and select your custom-made template and start working.
It is simple and easy to share your creativity with other users, and it will help them to work better with more such templates.
You can also create templates for your use, and it's not necessary to make them public. You can keep it restricted to yourself.
For that you need to follow slightly different steps:
Step 1: After creating your template document.
Step 2: Go to your Google Drive and right-click File.
Step 3: Select Make a Copy.
Step 4: Use the copy of the original template document privately.
Google Doc gives you the freedom to have a conversational creation of the document. We all have passed from the phase wherein once the document is submitted, we visit our supervisor and collect feedback and rework the document.
But now with the collaborative features of Google Docs, the process is simplified.
These collaborative features make it different from MS Word, it helps to easily communicate about the doc and helps to make the editing process easy.
Maximum 50 people can edit the document at a time. You can easily work on an assignment with your colleagues without sharing different copies of the same file.
It also has the feature to see the history version, with the help of it you can trace who has edited the document and what changes he or she has made.
To make the task of editing synchronized, there is an option of chat. You can chat and do editing together – it helps to avoid any kind of confusion and save time.
By clicking on the arrow to the right of the names of the co-editor/s, you can instantly chat, share the query and work smoothly.
The Collaborative Experience can be better with this feature. Whenever you are checking or editing or reading content, and you have suggestions, feedback or want to make notes for that particular line, paragraph or word – you can use the option of the comment.
Select the content for which you want to drop a comment and select the comment option, and after that, a dialogue box will appear. You place the content in that.
If you have followed the practice of sharing the same document with multiple people and getting pissed off with 10 different versions of editing. You can get relief with this feature of Google Doc.
Now, Google Doc allows you to share the same document with 200 people in one go. So instead of sharing one document 10 times, now you can share it with 10 people in one go just by adding their email ids.
Apart from these collaborative features, you can also check several Google Drive Add Ons that makes working on Google Drive a piece of cake for you.
Also Read:
Did you know that a particular spreadsheet can be used for documents?
Google products have certain features that keep it ahead in the competition, and those features are irreplaceable.
Many times we have to work on Google Docs and Spreadsheet simultaneously. So when an entry is made or changes are done in Google Spreadsheet, the user has to keep shuffling between tabs and keep juggling Google Docs and Sheets.
To overcome this hustle, Google provides the option of integrating Google Docs and Spreadsheet.
With the help of this feature, one can embed charts from Google Sheet to Google Docs, make the changes in the sheet easily.
It saves time and efforts!
Step 1: First click on the Google Docs menu, select Insert > Chart > From Sheets.
Step 2: Select the chart you would like to embed, before that, select or tick the option of Link to Spreadsheet. A dynamic link will be created between the chart in your document and the data in the spreadsheet.
Step 3: Once it is done, if any changes are made in the original sheet, it will be reflected in the document.
The best part is this entire process is safe, and it can be conducted only by the authorized people. Only those who have edit access to Google Doc can conduct this function.
It is a fact that for many years constant efforts have been made to make collaboration between Google Docs and MS Word possible.
As we know, initially users were relying on MS Word and Google Docs, which came later. However, the current users of Google Docs are more.
A lot of users drifted from MS Word to Google Docs, at some point in time they all faced difficulty in converting their existing MS Word documents into Google Docs.
Here is the easiest way to make collaboration possible. By installing the Google Drive Office Compatibility extension, it is possible to do so.
Once you install this extension, you can see Google Drive in the Office menu bar, edit word documents or convert them into Google Docs formats just by downloading this extension.
Once the non-google document is converted into a Google Doc, you can have access to all the features on that document.
After converting the document, if you want the original document back, you can still get it. There is an option to re-download the document in the original word format.
If you are using slack you might be aware of the fact that it's like it helps to communicate easily with your teammates. it's a communication tool, majorly used for internal communication in the organisation.
Google doc has an option to establish a collaborative platform with slack, if a person is using Google docs and slack both, then he might face difficulty in switching from one platform to another.
You can easily integrate slack in Google Docs and place a seamless communication between two platforms.
Synchronise slack with Google Drive follow the below-mentioned steps:
Step 1: Open Google drive App directory page.
Step 2: Click on the install button ( which is next to the team name)
Step 3: Select or create your Google Drive account
Step 4: Open your Google Drive account, check for the notifications and click to allow authenticate with slack.
This integration can not only help multinational companies but also businesses and companies of any size because with the help of this configuration one can easily create documents and share it among the team without using any other applications.
The integration is done then you can directly create a Google document from your slack account.
To create a document from your select account you need to follow certain steps:
Step 1: Click the + icon, left to the message box.
Step 2: Select Google Docs file after that define the file type & place a title
Step 3: Tick Share in the checkbox, choose the location for where the file needs to be shared.
Step 4: Click Create and a new document will open up.
Google constantly updates its products by doing great value addition Period people might not have used this feature a lot but it truly simplifies the work.
The feature that we are going to discuss is useful for every individual using Google Docs.
Isn't it magical that you just have to speak, use your voice and the entire document will be typed for you?
It is possible by using this feature of voice typing provided by Google you can refer to this feature from the tools menu and use it just by speaking out.
This voice recognition is not only used for typing but you can use it for giving additional commands like highlighting a certain word, bold, italics, removing a particular word for getting a particular but you can also conduct the task of editing easily with the tool.
The voice command is designed in such a way that it can conduct various tasks.
You can use this tool to highlight important words, add the links to the document & also use it for placing the comments.
If you are editing a document, there is no need to touch the keyboard; you can simply add the comments by using the voice command.
You can use this to the language of your choice which means that it supports multiple languages.
It is advisable to use an external microphone for better functioning and make sure pronunciations are loud and clear otherwise your work will be doubled.
The idea of typing with voice is great, and a true time-saver. But the list4 of hacks doesn’t end here.
We have brought you some of the shortcuts whose commands are widely used in our routine life. Using shortcuts helps to hold the grip of typing and give a command without leaving the keyboard.
Have you observed that you can get shortcut keys from the menu bar itself?
Yes, in the help section there is an option for keyboard shortcuts.
These are basic commands that we shall use on a routine basis. Apart from this, you can look for the shortcuts from this link: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/179738?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
Since it is a cloud-based product, people generally hesitate to use Google Docs due to unstable internet connectivity.
The network might fluctuate randomly, there is no trait to control it so in that case, it is best to use Google Doc in Offline Mode.
A few quick steps and you can manage your entire workflow on Google Docs without an internet connection.
Follow these simple steps to work on Offline Mode with Google Docs:
Step 1: Open Google Doc Home Page, after that click on Menu> Settings> Offline.
Step 2: Select Offline sync capability.
Step 3: As soon as you select the option, a dialogue box will open, it will request permission to enable offline docs.
Step 4: After that Google will also update you about the extension required.
Step 5: Add the extension and you can use docs in offline mode.
With this offline mode, the way of working will remain unchanged. You can edit or comment or work on Google Docs just like you normally do. You can create a new document and it will work on auto-sync.
However, some features like Add-Ons or Extensions will not work.
Recently when WhatsApp changed its privacy policy and agreed to share the data with other social media applications many people refrained from using WhatsApp.
Even though WhatsApp is wide across the world and many companies rely on it for their internal communication as well as people rely on it for personal communication, many people installed the application.
This clearly indicates that even if the application has a wide user base there is no guarantee that a user will use an application because of data security.
Data security is the primary of every user before they rely on a particular application or web extension.
Similarly, people might have security concerns for Google documents as well.
However, we are going to discuss the security perspective and authentication provided by Google for Google docs.
Few steps Taken by Google makes the user believe that Google and its products or applications are legitimate to use.
It is the best way to provide an extra layer of security that keeps the data secured and only authorized logins can be done.
Via this feature, as soon as one tries to log in, even after adding the correct id and password; an authentication message will be sent to the user whose mobile number is given for making the Gmail account.
Unless the second verification is done via mobile phone, the sign-in process will not proceed further.
Since Google uses Technologies like HTTPS and TLS it as an extra layer of security without a doubt however the Google documents are majorly secured.
With end encryption, it becomes easy to build up confidence that the document is not being used by any third party and is safe.
It is only being accessed by the people who are authorized to use it or have permission to use it.
When you share the google doc with someone who is not in your Gmail contact list or not from the organization mailing list - it will immediately show a pop-up message that this person is unidentified, do you still want to share the file with them?
Only if you click yes, then it will share the document with that person.
In nutshell, without giving permission no one will be able to access the document.
If we precisely look into it, we can conclude that majorly the security remains in the hand of users.
Whether they are giving access to everyone or they have not used two-factor authentication or which rights for the documents are given like the only view, or share or editable.
Set Up Google Docs, start utilizing its every feature as it's completely worth it. We have presented Google Docs 101 or Google Docs guide that can be of help for every individual relying on it.
The interface of Google Docs is completely user friendly and there is no google doc secret that makes it any simpler.
All you need to do is understand the features one by one and utilize them and work faster. Features of Google Docs are designed in such a way that beginners and advanced users both can make the most out of it.
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