Google Drive Blog: 2010

Our favorite Docs things - 2010 Year in Review

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

most requestedmobile editingOCRadvanced sorting rulesa more consistent look

A new Google Docs built from the ground up for real-time collaboration

The new Google drawings editor for making flowcharts, diagrams and more

Upload and store your files in the cloud and stop worrying about losing files

Simplified sharing with new features like “Private”

New charts editor and chart types because pictures are worth 1000 words

New revision history UI in documents and spreadsheets make it easier to see what has changed

Horizontal navigation in Sites gives you more options when building your sites

More fonts in documents provide you with more ways to express yourself

Formula highlighting in spreadsheets makes it easier to understand your formulas

Google Docs demo makes it easier for anyone to try Google Docs

Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Director, Product Management

Demo Slam! Epic Docs Animation

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Google Docs videosDemo SlamGoogle Docs demo slam

vote for “Epic Docs Animation.”Posted by: Tu Uthaisri, Google Creative Lab

This week in Docs: Revision history in spreadsheets

Thursday, December 16, 2010

added to documents

Posted by: Niklaus Haldimann, Senior Software Engineer

Tips & Tricks: Building Organizational Charts in Google drawings

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

connectors in Google drawingsShapeInsert

snap to guides

connector

shareembedTry it out for yourself

template galleryPosted by: Teresa Wu, Consumer Operations Associate

How to share a big file (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)

Monday, December 13, 2010

sharing large filesTeachParentsTech.org

TeachParentsTech.orgPosted by: Yan Tseytlin, Technical Specialist

Tips & Tricks: More options for mobile editing on the the iPad

Thursday, December 9, 2010

edit your documents

If you want to insert formulas in a Google spreadsheet from your iPad, you can use the same trick. Just click Go to spreadsheet view at the top of the mobile view to try out the full version of Google spreadsheets. You can now insert formulas in from the editable formula bar.

Of course, mobile and even tablet browsers are still not as powerful as their desktop counterparts, which is why we recently launched the mobile-optimized version of the Google documents editor for the iPad.

But we figured for one-off times when you need to make an advanced change, that Desktop link might be just what you’re looking for.

Posted by: Peter Solderitsch, Software Engineer

Your feedback makes a difference: Product Ideas

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Real-time collaboration. While we’ve had real-time collaboration in spreadsheets since 2006, we enhanced our collaboration in documents in April 2010 to be truly real-time. Now you can follow along character-by-character with your friends, family and colleagues.

Google Docs on mobile devices. You can now view and edit on your Google Docs on the go.

Convert more file types to Google Docs format. You can convert a variety of file types - from .doc to .txt to .pdf - to Google Docs format and vice versa.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This new feature interprets scanned files and PDF files and converts them to Google documents format.

A stand-alone drawings editor. You requested a mind mapping tool, and we delivered Google drawings. And to make your mind maps and drawings even better, we just added connectors.

Chat in documents, presentations and spreadsheets. Now you can ask fellow collaborators a question right in the document.

A more consistent look for all Google Docs editors. Documents, presentations and spreadsheets used to have different interfaces and varying menus.

Advanced sorting rules and in-cell drop down lists. These two features in Google spreadsheets now make your spreadsheet editing and organization more streamlined.

help forumPosted by: Julia Harter, Consumer Operations Associate

Import WMF files into Google drawings

Thursday, December 9, 2010

upload page

When you click on the uploaded file, it will open in Google drawings. From there it’s easy to view the image, or to edit it yourself. Here’s what that same bag looks like with a green interior:

We hope this feature makes it a little easier to take your drawings and move them to the cloud.
Posted by: Chris Nokleberg, Software Engineer

Staying connected in Google drawings

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

most requested feature

Connectors are especially helpful for complex drawings with lots of shapes and lines.

We’re hoping connectors will make drawing online just a little bit easier. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Posted by: Chris Nokleberg, Software Engineer

New this week in Docs: Connectors, hidden controls, and more upload options

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Connectors in drawingsInsert images directly from Picasa

Hidden controlsintroduced compact controlsWMF uploadPosted by: Jeffrey Harris, Product Manager

Update on Google Docs offline and the new Chrome Web Store

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Chrome Web StoreannouncedInstallstore landing page

In addition, at the event today, we were excited to demonstrate a feature that we expect to deliver early in 2011 -- the return of offline support for Google Docs. For those who used offline, we are bringing back the much improved feature by taking advantage of advancements in modern browser technology like HTML5.

Together, the web app plus the upcoming offline feature will make it even easier to access your docs everywhere you are.

Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Group Product Manager

Tips and Tricks: Images in cells

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

=image("http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/images/srpr/logo1w.png", 1)variety of sizing options

Try them all out using this template and let us know what you think in the comments.

Posted by: Li-Wei Lee, Senior Software Engineer

Improving team collaboration and productivity with Google Sites

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

If you’re interested in learning more about Google Sites, this cross post from the Google Enterprise Blog might interest you.
To-Do gadgetRegisterPosted by Lisa Ding, Google Sites Team

New this week in Docs: Drag and drop upload and compact controls

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Drag and drop uploadadd images to your documents using drag and drop

Compact controls
The document editor borrowed a feature from spreadsheets to save screen space. You can now hide the title bar above the editor by choosing View -> Compact controls or pressing Ctrl Shift F (Cmd Shift F on Macs).

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Posted by: Mike Procopio, Software Engineer

A bridge to the cloud: Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office now available to early testers

Monday, November 22, 2010

Cross posted on the Google Enterprise Blogchoiceacquired

All you need is a Google account, and you’re ready to go. That’s it!

If you’re a Google Apps for Business customer interested in joining our preview program, please sign up here. If you’re not, don’t worry- at launch, Google Cloud Connect will be available free to everyone, including consumers.

Posted by Shan Sinha, Group Product ManagerUpdatefill out this form

Tips & Tricks: Creating new Google Docs from your mobile

Thursday, November 18, 2010

mobile editing on Google Docs

For now, we support certain mobile devices, though we're working hard to accommodate other platforms as well.

Creating a new doc is just one of several new features available on your mobile device, and we'd love to know how you're using your Docs on the go -- be sure to let us know in the comments.

Posted by: Bob Rose, Senior Software Engineer

Editing your Google Docs on the go

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Cross posted on the Official Google Blog, Google Enterprise Blog and the Google Mobile Blognew documents editor

You can work on that important memo...while on the bus or train to work.

If you’re behind on a group proposal, but really want to make it to the ball game tonight, your whole team can work on it from the bleacher seats.

You can take minute-by-minute notes at a concert so you’ll always remember the setlist. And your friends can jealously follow in real-time at home.

...and the list goes on!

docs.google.comEdit

editing of spreadsheets from your mobile device’s browserhot dogPosted by: Andrew Grieve, Software Engineer

Faster typing, fewer mistakes

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

we addedLaTeX shortcuts in equationsInsert

The toolbar makes it easy to discover which types of equations are possible.

Today we’re making it a little easier for users to quickly type equations using LaTeX equation shortcuts. For anyone who heard of LaTeX before, it’s a document markup language that’s often used by academics to quickly type out complex formulas. In Google Docs, when you’re inside an equation you can type '\sqrt' followed by a space or a parenthesis to automatically convert the text into a square root sign √. Other examples of useful shortcuts are '\frac' for a fraction and shorthands like '\epsilon' for Greek symbols.

If you want to quickly enter a superscript or a subscript while inside an equation, you can do that with '^' and '_'respectively. Here’s a full list of the automatic equation shortcuts supported in Google Docs.

Text replacements
We also added the ability to substitute text automatically. For example, you can type '(c)' followed by a space to have it automatically converted into a copyright sign ©, or '2/3' and a space to have it automatically converted into the fraction symbol: ⅔.

This feature is especially useful if there are spelling mistakes that you notice yourself making over and over again. You can right click on a misspelled word, go down to the AutoCorrect option, and choose a way of automatically fixing this spelling mistake in the future.

If you don’t want text replacements, you can disable them from the Tools > Preferences dialog. From that dialog, you’ll also be able to manage your text replacements by adding and removing items from the list.

Finally, if a document ever makes an auto-correction that you don’t want, you can press Ctrl Z (Cmd Z on a Mac) to undo it.

We hope that these new features will help make you a speedier writer in Google Docs.

Posted by: Evgeniy Stepanov, Software Engineer

New this week in Docs: auto-corrections, LaTeX in equations and images in cells

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

LaTeXAuto-correctionssubstitute text automaticallyLaTex in equationsLaTeX shortcutsAdd images to cellsvariety of sizing optionsPosted by: Lindsay Hall, Software Engineering Intern

Tips & Tricks: Moving my files to the cloud

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Clutter (I believe papers not only accumulate but secretly multiply)

Access (I always need that bill/file that is at home and not at the office with me)

Sharing (It’s a common occurrence that I need someone else to also look at that file, and that person is hardly ever with me at the office either.)

Folders and sub-foldersWhat:Create NewTipShared foldersWhat:Sharesharing optionTip:Managing document versionsWhat:Tip:Exporting your filesWhat:export all the filesExportDownloadTip:Posted by: Rebecca Steelman, Consumer Operations

Tips & Tricks: Our favorite shade of beige, the ruler

Monday, November 8, 2010

we launched a rebuilt document editor from the ground upreal-time collaborationmore fontsadvanced revision history toolindentstab stops

first line indentleft indentright indent
Tab stops

Sometimes you need to control the display of your text with more granularity than what you can accomplish with just indents. That’s where tab stops come in handy.

With tab stops, you can align text relative to a specific spot on the ruler. So that means that a left tab stop

will left align text to a position on the ruler, a right tab stop

will right align text to a spot on the ruler, while a center tab stop

will center-align the text.

To move between tab stops, you can press the tab key, and subsequent text will align with the tab stop. You can add multiple tab stops by clicking on a spot on the ruler and selecting the appropriate tab stop.

You can move the position of a tab stop by dragging it around the ruler. And to remove a tab stop, simply drag it off the ruler.

Margins

Tab stops and indents are great for adjusting individual paragraphs, but sometimes you want to change alignment for an entire document. For that, you can use margins.

You can adjust the left and right margins by dragging the gray space on either side of the ruler.

You can also adjust the left and right margins, as well as the top and bottom margins of your document from File -> Page setup.

Once you get going, like with beige, it’s a bit surprising all of the things you can do with the trusty ruler.

Posted by: Luiz Pereira, Software Engineer

Google Docs on Twitter

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

http://twitter.com/googledocs

Writing a campaign speech with Google Docs

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Search Stories videos

Posted by: Bryan Carroll, Consumer Operations Strategist, Google Docs

Join the Docs Community on YouTube

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Google Docs Community

Check out the channelthis formPosted by: Julia Harter, Consumer Operations

Recapping the Google Sites webinar

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Guest post: Stephen Hind (commonly known as Steegle) has been a Top Contributor in the Google Sites help forum since its launch in January 2009. Top Contributors are Google-recognized participants of our help forums who exemplify excellent product knowledge, are consistently kind and respectful to others, and are helpful in the forum. He’s an avid user of Google Sites both professionally and personally, and creates and manages Google Sites for other businesses. His website (www.steegle.com) contains many FAQs and how-tos for Google Sites and receives 30,000 visits per month.webinargbbo.co.ukget more out of Google Sites

how to create and edit pages

revert to previous versions of pages

add a logo

change and customise themes

change site width

edit sidebar and horizontal navigation

add images directly and from Picasa Web Albums

add gadgets for maps, contact us forms and videos.

how to register a Google Site with Google Webmaster Toolshow to add Google Analytics to the sitePosted by: Stephen Hind, Google Sites Power User

New in Google Docs and Google Sites

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Version history Upload any file

Drop down menu in horizontal navs
Sometimes, you want to group information using drop downs and now you can by going More actions > Manage site > Site layout.

New sharing experience
Back in June, we made sharing easier in Google Docs. Today, we extended this simplified sharing experience to Google Sites, unifying the sharing experience across Google Docs and Google Sites. As with Google Docs, Google Sites now be set to one of three visibility options: private, anyone with the link, or public on the web.

The new visibility option is always available at a glance at the top of each site.

With this update, the new “Anyone with the link” setting makes your site available to anyone that knows the unique URL, but blocks search engines from indexing the site. And for those times that someone sends you a link to a site but you don’t have access, you can now request access to that site from the access denied page.

As always, we’d love your feedback and if you have any questions, please check out our document list and Google Sites help pages.

Posted by: Mike Procopio, Software Engineer

Guest post: Writing a book using Google Docs

Monday, November 1, 2010

Guest post: November is National Writing Month and to celebrate, we’ve invited Dr. Steven Daviss to talk about how he used Google Docs to write a book with two colleagues. Dr. Daviss is currently the Chairman of Psychiatry at Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Maryland and has been increasingly leveraging his clinical and administrative experience towards a career merging health care policy, informatics, and health care reform.

Shrink RapMy Three ShrinksWith 3 people doing this, I need to be able to keep track of what everyone wants to write. As I revise it, I'll change the file to reflect the date, but remember that if you and steve are sending me changes and edits simultaneously, I may not see them or it may get very confusing. Your color is red.Posted by: Steve Daviss MD

Using new visualizations to tell your story

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Give the new charts editor a try at goo.gl/newcharts, learn more from our help articles and let us know what you think on the forums.

Posted by: Hillel Maoz, Software Engineer

New and improved chart typesWe’ve added annotated time-lines, organizational charts, gauges, our popular motion chart (which makes it easy to visualize data changing over time) and more to our chart types.

We’ve also given our existing charts a more professional look and feel with with a refreshed color palette, improved layout and new customization options.

New charts editor
With these new chart types, we’ve also added a new charts editor that suggests recommended charts, matches your data labels and headers, auto selects colors, has a full size preview pane and more. The editor is designed to help you create the chart you need in just a few clicks.

The Start tab has basic options, including up to four recommended charts based on the data you selected. For example, if you have a charts with the following five columns: date, number, text, number, text, the first recommended chart will be an annotated timeline.

The “Charts” tab includes the full gallery of new and redesigned charts, and the “Customize” tab includes all of the advanced customization options.

Improved publishing
It’s easy to show charts you’ve created in spreadsheets with the world. Publish your interactive chart on any webpage and it will update as you change the data in your spreadsheet. Click the play button below:

Give the new charts editor a try at goo.gl/newcharts, learn more from our help articles and let us know what you think on the forums.

Posted by: Hillel Maoz, Software Engineer

Google Apps Script support in Google Sites

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Google Enterprise BlogGoogle Apps ScriptsGoogle Enterprise BlogPosted by: Laurent Tu, Google Apps Software Engineer

Drag and drop images in documents

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

For now, you can use image drag and drop with the latest versions of Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. We’ll enable it on other browsers as soon as they support the feature.

Posted by: Philipp Weis, Software Engineering Intern