5 Things You Didn’t Know About Google Docs
By Erin Sless - eGuide Operations Coordinator
Life teaches us not to take things for granted. However, I think we can all agree on one thing that is taken for granted a majority of the time: Google Docs. In this article, we’ll go over some features of Google Docs that may shine a new light on this staple collaborative platform that is the crux of businesses and individuals across the world.
1. Suggest Edits
Documents often require multiple sets of eyes for approval before they make their way across the finish line. Ongoing documents can act as a place setting for cross-functional teams to, well, cross!
It is a big time waster when points are made, then changed, then changed back after further feedback. Some documents can have hundreds of edits made by many collaborators. So, how do we add an extra layer of protection to documents that need feedback for their feedback?
That’s where this feature comes. Editors can limit others to only adding suggestions, comments, or emoji reactions. Fun, right?
To achieve this, first, “Share” the document with those you would like to allow access to. Make sure to select and make their role a Commenter. This role only allows commenting, suggesting, and emoji reacting without allowing for direct edits.
When an editor with full access accepts suggested edit ideas, they become part of the document right away. Suggested edits show up directly in the text, but they are outlined in a color for approval.
Those in the role of Editor can choose not to accept these suggestions, and they will disappear. The comments section of any document will be the source of truth throughout the editing process.
For those who are already Editors but wish to switch into Commenter mode to make suggestions, they can do so any time by clicking the three icons that show up to the side of a document upon highlighting information or by selecting the Suggesting option to the far right of the toolbar in the document.
2. Assigning Tasks
While we have comments fresh on our minds from our first bullet, let’s talk about assigning responsibility to a document collaborator through the use of comments. Assigning responsibility is appealing because it gives direction to an otherwise easily missed remark. When a comment is made in a document, those with the Editor or Owner role can receive notifications, but this can vary depending on their individual notification settings. To ensure someone sees the comment through email or another connected application, “@” their email in a comment. Then, check the box “Assign to __” to notify the necessary person. You can even use these as reminders for yourself!
3. Voice Typing
Sometimes there’s a lot to say but little time to say it. Any editor who feels they dictate words faster than they type them has a handy feature at their disposal called Voice Typing. When looking at the top toolbar, select Tools then Voice typing in the dropdown list. Then, allow Google Docs access to the microphone in your computer. Voila! A microphone box will pop up to the left side of your document and you can click this to use the talk-to-type functionality. Make sure to click the button again if you want to turn it off. If you need help troubleshooting or if you want to find a full list of voice commands, check out this Google Docs Editors Help page.
4. Offline Mode
If you know you’re going to be without Wifi in the coming future, then there is a way to still work on documents in Google Drive. Enabling “offline mode” will allow file access well beyond the reach of the internet. This can be enabled through the Google Docs app or through the browser, but be sure to do it before you lose internet connection!
In the toolbar, select File followed by Make available offline. Download documents to your computer or access them directly from the app while offline.
If two or more editors are present in the document and one is offline, then the version of the document from the offline editor will be restored when online access is restored. To avoid losing details, once the offline user comes back online, they should check the version history of the document and pull any edits from there that may have been overwritten.
5. Find and Replace
Last but certainly not least, I’d like to introduce the Find and Replace feature. With just a couple clicks, any word or string of words can be swapped with whatever else the editor chooses. A recent example of this from eGuide was shifting our usage of the word “client” to the word “partner”. Rather than sift through the sand in an endless sea, this change was made in our documents without a hitch by viewing the toolbar and selecting Edit followed by Find and replace. The possibilities are endless!
Conclusion
Generally, there are many ways the technology around us is designed to help. Oftentimes we don’t even realize we could be using these platforms more fully. By diving further into the quirks of each platform and venturing outside of the norms of a daily comfort zone, we can be surprised by what we find.
Cheers to you, Google Docs!
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