Introduction to Google Docs
Google Docs is Google’s Microsoft Word competitor and the application Cross Company uses for word processing.
You can create a new Google Doc by going to the Drive website and clicking New -> Google Doc. If you have Google Drive for Desktop installed you can open the G: drive and under My Drive or a Shared Drive where you have permission to create, you can right click and go to New -> Google Docs.
Collaboration is one of Google’s strong suits! You can open the same Google Doc (this works for other Google Apps as well) in multiple browsers on multiple devices on multiple networks at the same time. You can start editing a Google Doc on your PC in the office and open the Google Docs app on your smartphone and continue editing the same file.
There is no Save button! This is a big change for long time Office users. Every change is quickly saved as you edit the document. This is a good thing, even if you accidentally delete the entire document and close the tab before you can click undo. No more worrying about working on a document for the last hour without clicking Save then having your computer crash or the power go out. Let’s talk about version history.
In any Google Doc you can go to File -> Version history -> See version history and you will see a pane on the right with the history of this document. Files that are in the native Google format do not have limits on how many versions are stored. These are points in time that you can restore the file back to.
When you click the 3 dots to the right of a previous version, you’ll see the option to restore a previous version, name a previous version and make a copy of it. If you restore a previous version you do not lose the versions after it. They continue to be listed as other versions. You can name a version if it is significant and you want to quickly find it by using the Only show named versions slide in the previous screenshot. If you want to fork a document into a new file you can choose the option to Make a copy to generate a new file.
Something that has hindered associates from using Google Docs instead of Word is that some customers require documents to be in Word format. That is no problem for Google Docs. Under the File menu you will see the option to Download the current document in several formats, including Word and PDF. Choose either of these options if your customer requires it.
You don’t have to change from the Google format to give someone access to the file. Share a Google Doc with anyone in or outside of the company. This does NOT require them to sign up for a Google account. Click the Share button at the top right to access the Share with people and groups dialog box. Use this screen to add collaborators and set the level of access you want them to have. Viewers cannot make any changes. Commenters cannot make changes but can highlight sections and make a comment on the side. Editors have the ability to make changes to the document. In order to add someone outside of the company who may not have a Google account, click the Get link section of the window to open this screen:
If you click on Restricted you’ll see the option to change it to Anyone with the link. Choose this option and set the permission level you want, then click Copy link and paste the URL into an email, instant message, text message, RC chat, etc. Anyone with the link will be able to view, comment or edit the document whether or not they have a Google account, right away.
The final section of this training covers how to convert your Word documents to Google Docs or to keep them as Word documents and edit them in Drive. You can drag and drop a Word document into Google Drive on the web or to your G: drive in File Explorer and the file will rename in the original format.
If you right click the Word document you can choose Open with -> Google Docs and you can make changes to the file without converting it to a Google Doc. Any changes you make are instantly saved just like a Google Doc. If you close the tab, you’ll still see your .docx file.
Since it is still a Word document it will continue to count against your storage quota. In order to convert your file to a Google Doc you’ll need to open it then go to File -> Save as Google Docs. This will generate a new file. You can tell the type of document it is by the icon:
If you choose the Save as Google Docs option it does not convert your document. It creates a new file. If you want to reclaim your storage and prevent duplicates you’ll need to find the file that has the W icon and remove it.
We encourage you to create all new documents in the native Google format and share them with your contacts in this format. If you are working with someone who isn’t familiar with Google Docs, being able to be in the file at the same time with them and talking to them about it on the phone while highlighting a row of text is a cool experience!
If you forget to share a file while you’re editing it you can still send it to someone in GMail by click the Drive icon in the toolbar in GMail. When you select the doc you want to share you can send the email normally. Google will recognize the recipient doesn’t have access to the file and will automatically offer to share the file to anyone with the link, with view permission. You can accept this or change it to a different sharing level if you would like.
If you have any questions about Google Docs please contact the helpdesk by emailing helpdesk@crossco.com or calling x2580.
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