15 Google Docs Tips You May Need

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Sign files, compare versions and work with Google Drive directly.

1. Compare documents

This trick comes in handy if you have two versions of the same file, but you don't know which one is later. To find out, click Tools → Compare Documents and select an object to compare. You will see all the differences between your two files.

2. Renaming document versions

Often there are so many revisions of the same document that it is time to get confused in them. Click "File" → "Version History" → "Specify the name of the current version." Or in view mode, highlight the one you want, click on the ellipsis and select "Specify version name". Now you can easily find it among all the others.

3. Voice input

If desired, the text can be dictated. To do this, click "Tools" → "Voice Input" or press Ctrl + Shift + S. The words "comma", "period" and others insert the corresponding punctuation marks. Note, however, that this feature is only available in Chrome.

In addition, it is very convenient to recognize audio recordings using voice input - for example, interviews. Just enable playback and voice input at the same time, and the service will display most of the text on its own.

4. Insert pictures via links

Click "Insert" → "Image" → "Paste URL", enter there a link to a picture on the Internet, and it will be loaded into your document. So you don't have to download it and then insert it manually.

5. Create bookmarks

Let's say you've created a long document that you want to show to your colleagues. However, it will not be very convenient for them to scroll to find the places they want. Here's how to fix it: Click Insert → Bookmark. A blue checkbox and a pop-up menu labeled "Link" appear on the page.

When you click on it, the same place in the document will open. If you copy the link and send it to someone, you won't have to explain long and confusingly which page or line to find.

6. Installation of footnotes on materials from the Internet

It is quite easy to provide a document with a link to a scientific research - you just need to click "Insert" → "Footnote". But the most interesting thing is to insert links directly from the Internet. To do this, click "Tools" → "Advanced Search" and find the article that you need. Hover your mouse over it, click on the icon with a quotation mark - and a footnote will be added to the document.

7. Downloading images

You may have noticed that you cannot right-click and download a picture in Google Docs. It's frustrating when you need an image from a file that you didn't create. If so, click File → Download → Web Page. The document will be downloaded as a ZIP archive, which, in addition to HTML text, will also contain a folder with all the pictures.

8. Searching for pictures on the Internet

Click "Tools" → "Advanced Search" and open the "Pictures" tab in the panel that appears. Here you can search for images from the Internet and insert them into the document without looking up from the text. Or click Insert → Image → Find Online and the same search bar will open.

9. Insert pictures from "Google Drive"

You can add files from Google cloud storage to documents. These can be photographs or vector images. To do this, click "Insert" → "Image" → "Add from Google Drive" or "Add from Google Photos" and select the desired picture. To add vector graphics, click Insert → Picture → From Disk.

By the way, if you change the picture on Google Drive, it will change in the text too, and you won't have to insert it again. This is especially useful if one drawing is added to several documents at once. If you do not want the inserted image to change along with the original, click on it and click "Unlink".

10. Create notes

When you are working on a large document, it is often necessary to take “marginal notes”, capturing ideas and tasks for the future. Google Keep is suitable for this.

Select the text, right-click and click "Save to Google Keep". A panel with your notes will appear, where you can store reminders, to-do lists, text fragments and other data. At the same time, a link to this same document will be saved in the notes created from the text, so that you will not get confused in your files.

By the way, if you open Google Keep, hover the cursor over the note you need and click on the ellipsis, the "Copy to Google Docs" item will appear in the menu that opens. It transfers the text of the note to the newly created file.

11. Discussion of documents

Sometimes you need to communicate something important to your colleagues, with whom you are editing a document. It takes a long time to open Gmail and select each desired contact there. It is much faster to click "File" → "Write to co-authors" and enter your message without leaving the document.

12. Editing Microsoft Office documents

When you upload a DOCX file to Google Docs, you can only edit it after converting it to Google format. This will allow you to edit Microsoft Office files right away to preserve the original formatting and styles. A very useful thing if you need to open the DOCX format, but you don't want to spend money on a Microsoft Office license.

13. Signature of documents

In general, if you want to insert a signature into a document, you can click "Insert" → "Picture" → "New", play it on the trackpad and click "Save and Close". But in serious documents, this will not work. Therefore, install the HelloSign extension, and you can put your electronic signatures on the files, which will look decent. And you don't have to print, sign, and then scan the document again, as especially gifted individuals sometimes do.

14. PDF Editing

If you want to fix something in a PDF file, you don't have to look for special editors. Use Google Docs. Click File → Open → Upload, upload your PDF to Google Drive, and then open it. And it will become available for editing. Naturally, this does not work with scanned PDFs.

15. Search for keyboard shortcuts

Press Ctrl + / and a menu will appear with all the keyboard shortcuts used in Google Docs. You can search for the desired combinations through the search bar. Useful if you want to perform some action, but don't remember how. A complete list of hotkeys can be found in the google manual.