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Docs

Aug 20
Love1

Google Docs icons explained

By Blog, Video

Google Docs has a new stripped-down interface. It may look modern, but it can also be puzzling to people who are new to Google Docs and Silicon Valley software design standards. What do all of the icons do, how can users find what they are looking for, and how is the Google Docs interface different than Google Drive? The following short video explains it all in just 4 minutes:

Topics include:

  • Main menu
  • New document
  • More actions icon
  • AZ/Sort options
  • List vs. grid view
  • File picker
  • How the Docs interface differs from Drive
Jul 21
Love1

Google Docs and publishing to the Web

By Blog

This option is something you won’t find in Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or other desktop word processors. Google Docs lets you publish a live copy of the document to a Google URL. The Web copy looks similar to the view that you see in Google Docs, but it can’t be edited. It lets you share documents on your social networks (personal or professional) or post something to a blog for readers to see.

While Web publishing is not currently supported on the Google Docs app for Android and iOS, it’s easy to publish a document to the Web using the browser and chromebook versions of Google Docs. Here’s how:

  1. Open the document.
  2. Go to File > Publish to Web.
  3. Link is selected by default, but if you want HTML code to display the document on a blog or another Web page, choose Embed.
  4. Use the optional Published content & settings to restrict the viewership or disable republishing when changes are made.
  5. Click the Publish button.
  6. Copy the link or embed code, and/or choose one of the options to share the document via Gmail, Facebook, or Twitter.

The Web copy will be updated if you or a collaborator update the original in Google Drive. Note that page numbers, line spacing, and other formatting may be changed or stripped out. Nevertheless, publishing to the Web is a great way to share content on Google Docs with a wider audience.

Note: publishing to the Web makes the document available to anyone who has a copy of the URL, so this option should not be used for sensitive documents.

Google docs publish to web

This is an excerpt from Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes (2nd Edition): The unofficial guide to the new Google Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides. To download the ebook or purchase the paperback edition, please refer to the links on this page.

Feb 13
Love0

Google Docs: How to add an image from the Internet

By Blog

This three-minute video shows how to add an image from the Internet to a Google Docs file, using a URL of an image from the World Wide Web. This is useful if you see an image on the Web that you want to include in a report, letter, or other document you are writing in Google Docs. Of course, only use the image if you have permission, or it’s marked with the appropriate Creative Commons or Public Domain license.

Without further ado, the video:

For more tips and tricks that can show you how to get the most out of Google Docs, check out my book, Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes.

Feb 02
Love0

How to convert a text file to a PDF using Google Docs

By Blog

This short video explains how to convert a text file (.txt) to a PDF using Google Docs. It’s quick, and the conversion process adds a few extra benefits that aren’t found in other text-to-PDF converters. The three minute video explains how:

Why would you want to convert a text file to a PDF? Perhaps it’s because you want someone else to see it, but you don’t want them to edit it. Or maybe you want to post it to the Web, Scribd, or some other online service.

For more tips about Google Docs, check out the latest edition of my guide, Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes, 2nd Edition.

Nov 15
Love10

How to convert Google Docs files to Word (or PDFs)

By Blog

Lots of people use Google Docs, the free Web-based word processor that’s part of Google Drive. If you’re a Docs user, at some point you will have to convert a Google Docs file to Word, either for your own use or to work with someone who only uses Microsoft Office. This short blog post explains how to convert Google Docs to Word, and I’ve also included a video at the end which shows an alternate method of converting the file types.

Here’s the standard method to convert from Docs to Word:

  1. Open the file in Docs that you want to convert to Microsoft Word. Then follow these steps:
  2. Click File>Download As
  3. Select Microsoft Word/.docx
  4. The exported file will download to your computer.
  5. If it doesn’t open automatically, open on your downloads folder to find it.

Note that you can also use the File>Download As feature to export PDFs — it’s a listed option below MS Word/.docx.

Here’s the video tutorial that shows an alternate method for converting a Google Docs file to MS Word:

Sep 28
Love2

How to convert .docx files to Google Docs

By Blog

If you are making the switch from Microsoft Office to Google Drive, you’ll eventually have to convert .docx files to Google Docs. Or, you may have a situation in which someone emails you a .docx attachment and you need to import it into Google Docs to edit it.

Fortunately, it’s not hard to do. The quick video at the bottom of this post shows how to import and edit a .doc or .docx file, or you can follow these instructions:

  1. In Google Drive’s main screen, click the red up arrow symbol next to the Create button. New button and select File upload.
  2. Choose the .doc/.docx file that you want to import. It will show up in your Google Drive list with a Word symbol next to it (a blue “W”).
  3. Open it by clicking the name of the file. It will be displayed in read-only mode, perhaps with altered formatting, owing to inconsistencies between Word and Docs. No editing is possible.
  4. To perform editing, choose File>Open With>Google Docs
  5. If you want to bring the document back into Word later, you can re-export the document as a .docx file (but not .doc).
  6. If the exported file is reopened in Word, the formatting you applied in Google Docs may look different.

A little additional explanation is needed for this last point. While Google Drive makes it very easy to import all kinds of MS Office files, compatibility may be limited. This is especially true of .doc or .docx files that were heavily formatted in Microsoft Word. If the formatting is not supported in Docs, it will be stripped out.

Here’s the video that shows how to convert .docx to Google Docs:

Apr 24
Love2

How to publish a Microsoft Word doc on the Web using Google Drive

By Blog

Here’s the scenario: You have a Microsoft Word .doc or .docx file. It’s important, and you want other people to see it, but you don’t want to email it around. The following short video (less than 5 minutes long) will show you how to publish a Microsoft Word document on the Web, using the free online word processor that comes with Google Drive.

While this method of online publishing may not preserve fine-tuned Word formatting, fonts, or special graphic treatments in the original .doc or .docx file, it’s great for publishing rough drafts of reports, letters, homework assignments, or other documents that you want to share with a wider audience. Google Drive will generate a link that you can copy and paste into other documents or email programs. Drive also lets you publish the link directly to Facebook or Twitter, and for those people who know how to use HTML, it’s also possible to embed the video in a blog post or some other type of online publishing system.

If you want to have a reference for this and other Google Drive tips and tricks, check out my book, Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes. In addition, if you enjoy the video, please share it or like it:

Nov 21
Love1

How to find good fonts using Google Drive

By Blog

At some point in the course of your work or studies, or maybe even a project at home, you will need to find a good font. Maybe it’s a sans-serif font for a report, a cool font for a flyer, a typewriter font for a list, or a stylist font for a Web project. How can you find good fonts? Many people use Microsoft Word and scroll through the available fonts. But there’s a better tool: Google Drive. Not only are hundreds of fonts available, you can use the fonts right away in a document or a slideshow, and print or share the results as needed.

To access the fonts, log into Google Drive, which is Google’s free online office suite (instructions on how to register and get started with Google Drive can be found in my Google Drive guide). Once you are logged in to Google Drive, create a new document (or slidehsow). The Font drop-down menu only has about a dozen fonts that are displayed by default. However, if you select “More Fonts” at the bottom of the list, you’ll be brought to a huge list of additional fonts that you can add to your palette. Here’s what it looks like:

Google Drive fonts

I didn’t count them all, but there are hundreds in the list, with more being added every month. The fonts run the range from conservative serif fonts to playful fonts with names like “Swanky and Moo Moo” and “Architect’s Daughter”. There are cursive fonts, kid fonts, gothic fonts, and fonts based on foreign or custom letters.

Once you’ve selected the fonts that you want to have available to your work, click the OK button. You’ll be brought back to your document. Then, highlight the text that you want to apply the new font to, and click the Font drop-down menu. The fonts that you just selected will be available in the list for you to choose. Apply the appropriate font, and look at the results. If you like what you see, that’s great, but if you don’t, you can go back to select another font.

The document or slideshow can then be printed out, displayed or even shared online. Doing these steps is beyond the scope of this post, but I recommend checking out Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes if you want to learn more.