Google Docs is a free web-based tool that allows users to create, edit, and save documents and spreadsheets online. Any machine with an Internet connection and a feature-rich Web browser may view files. Google Docs is a component of a wide range of online tools that Google provides and is linked to.
Users of Google Docs may import, create, edit, and update documents and spreadsheets containing text, formulae, lists, tables, and pictures in a variety of fonts and file formats. The majority of word processing and presentation programs are compatible with Google Docs. Work may be published as a print-ready document or as a Web page. The user decides who can see their work. Google Docs is great for publishing content internally, running blogs, and making content for the public.
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How to use Google Docs
Google Docs is an online word processor that lets you make documents, format them, and work on them with other people.
Step 1: Create a document
To create a new document:
- Open the Docs home screen on your computer by going to docs.google.com.
- Click Blank New in the top left corner, where it says “Start a new document.”
Step 2: Edit and format
To edit a document:
- Open a file in Google Docs on your computer.
- Double-click a word or move your cursor over the text you want to change to select it.
- Start to edit.
- To undo or redo something, click Undo Undo or Redo Redo at the top of the screen.
Step 3: Work and share with other people
You can share files and folders with other people and decide if they can see them, change them, or comment on them.
How to save a Google Doc?
You will never have to remember to save a document because Google’s online office suite will always save it to your Google Drive. So, there isn’t a Save button. So, from the File menu, you can Make a Copy, Email, or Download your Google Doc.
The useful features of Google Docs
1) Collaboration –
There is only one copy of the file, which users “share” simultaneously in real-time. All users present may change information and input data at the same time. This is maybe Google Docs’ best advantage. Share presentations, papers, or spreadsheets with ANYONE who has a Gmail account by creating or uploading them. As all Willamette teachers, staff, and students will have accounts on this platform, you’re off to a terrific start because you can share these papers with everyone on the planet who has a Google account. Google Docs also allows you to share your uploaded photos and videos with others.
2) Document History –
Every time a document is modified, the time and the editor are automatically recorded. Another huge advantage is that you can see who changed the document and when they did it, and you can even go back to a previous version before the modifications were done! You won’t lose any information if you unintentionally shut the browser window, lose power, spill coffee on your laptop, or carelessly toss it over a bridge since documents are saved every few seconds.
3) Simple Connections –
Access documents from any computer with an Internet connection and the majority of mobile devices. Android? An iPhone? Tablet? Your mobile devices, such as iPods, phones, and tablets, allow you to view, edit, save, and share your documents. at a meeting, taking notes? To ensure that everyone is, quite literally, on the same page, have participants connect to a single document and contribute to a combined, collaborative, single record of the conversations and action-related tasks.
4) Sharing –
Group projects in class, classwide cooperation, and active lecture participation are simple. Attending seminars where the speaker starts off with “Here’s the shared Google doc, let’s all get in and start a list of comments and questions” has become rather popular. Students may connect from a variety of devices and interact with the instructor on-screen, contribute their data sets to a shared spreadsheet, or even create slides for a presentation that is being created in class in real-time. It is a brand-new, interesting classroom dynamic that has a lot of instructional potentials.
Benefits of Google Docs
- A free tool is Google Docs.
- Your papers are accessible from anywhere thanks to Google Cloud Storage.
- Collaborates in real-time.
- Monitor document changes automatically, edit document history, and go back to any prior document version.
- Auto-saving.
- Work offline mode.
- Has strong document editing options and tools.
- Instead of writing, use voice-typing. To help users work more efficiently, this Google product now features voice input capabilities.
- Has more font varieties than Word for Microsoft.
- In a remark, tag a person. This feature enables users to monitor certain changes.
- Security: It will only be seen by those with the proper access.
Limitations of Google Docs
- It is not as simple to print from Google Docs as it is from Office. You may print your document from your local computer after downloading it in several file types (Word, PDF, etc.).
- Although Google Docs does support headers, footers, multiple font sizes, around 18 distinct fonts, sub and superscript, and normal page/paragraph indent and layout settings, it is preferable to leave complex formatting capabilities to MS Office products.
- The typical right-click options that the majority of Windows users are used to working with don’t actually work with Google Docs.
- Documents must be in certain Google Docs formats in order to be edited in Google Docs. It’s uncertain what could happen if you upload a Microsoft Word document with a lot of formatting; it might not even be readable.
- You’re out of luck if you’re not online. You require a live Internet connection to read, edit, save, or print files that are stored in Google Docs since they are web-based programs.
Conclusion
Google Docs is a very helpful tool for working together. It lets multiple people access, edit, and review the same document from almost any Internet-connected device. It has a lot of standard features for a web-based product, but it doesn’t do everything that MS Office does. It is free, simple to use, easy to share materials on, and simple to use as a learning tool in the classroom. When you’re signed in to your Willamette Gmail account, click DOCUMENTS to see how Google Docs can help you create, connect, and work together.
Frequently Asked Question
Your material is safely archived. A file that you produce on Google Docs, Sheets, & Slides and share is safely kept in our top-notch data centers. Both in-transit and at-rest data are encrypted. We save this information on your device in case you decide to view these files offline.
In the settings for Docs, Sheets, or Slides, you may enable offline access. The remainder will be accessible offline if you enable offline access for Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Drive. Alternatively, open any Google document, spreadsheet, or presentation to enable offline access.
Google Drive is more dependable, automatically backs up data, is comparatively safe against ransomware, and is nearly likely safer from theft for the majority of computer users. In general, the pros are much more important than the cons. When you put files on Google Drive, they are stored in Google’s safe data centers.
Google Docs is a free web-based tool that allows users to create, edit, and save documents and spreadsheets online. Any machine with an Internet connection and a feature-rich Web browser may view files.
You may create and modify text documents using Google Docs directly in your web browser; no other software is needed. Even better, you can work with numerous individuals at once, see changes as they are made, and every modification is instantly stored.
A free online alternative to Microsoft Word is Google Docs. All you need is a Google account, access to the internet, and these methods and tips.
Mr. Sam Schillace is presumably the father of contemporary word processing if Google Docs is the mother. He created the online text editor Writely in 2005, and Google bought it in 2006. After a month, 90% of the business was using it.
You may download your Google Doc as a Microsoft Word document using Google Docs. ODT, PDF, RTF, HTML, TXT, and EPUB are a few other file types. The distinction is that Google Docs’ interoperability with Microsoft Word is greater.
The Google Docs app for Android allows for file uploading and downloading.
Enter drive.google.com into your URL field. Use your Google account to log in. Open the document you want to download as a PDF by choosing it. Select “File,” then “Download as,” and then “PDF Document.”
Information derived from:
https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/Google-Docs
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/7068618?
https://graphem.com/the-advantages-of-using-google-documents/