Last month, we partnered with National Novel Writing Month to see what happens when three writers come together, online from three different cities, to create a short story in Google Docs. The three authors ...Read More

Last month, we partnered with National Novel Writing Month to see what happens when three writers come together, online from three different cities, to create a short story in Google Docs. The three authors—Edan Lepucki, Tope Folarin, and Mike Curato—had one hour to create the story, based on an opening line submitted by Docs user Lauren Lopez in Malaysia.

Watch this short (and pretty entertaining) video to see how it all went down:
You can read the final story at g.co/docsnano, and watch their unedited process and Q&A in the original Hangout on Air.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

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Cross-posted from the Google for Work Blog

90,000 hours. That’s the amount of time the average person spends working during their lifetime. To put that in perspective, if you spend 90,000 hours watching movies and did nothing else — no sleep, no breaks — you would be watching for 10 years non-stop.

Since you spend so much time at work, we want you to have the latest Google Apps updates when they're available to make working easier. That means your apps are constantly being updated with new and helpful features almost every week to ensure you have the latest tools, security updates and speed improvements — as soon as they’re ready. And that applies across the Docs editors as well. So as a busy 2014 comes to a close, we want to highlight a few of the new ways get things done with Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings and Forms.

Work with any kind of file

You come across all types of files all day. The last thing you want to worry about is what software you need in order to view or edit these files. For this reason, we made it so you can open and edit Office files directly in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, on your desktop, phone or tablet.

Make suggestions

Editing files in real-time with others is a great way to work together across the Docs editors, and many of you asked for the ability to suggest changes in other peoples’ documents, rather than making edits directly. Now you can do just that with Suggest Edits in Docs. Make suggestions that can be accepted or rejected with a single click. And when you convert a Word file to Docs or vice versa, your tracked changes will convert as well.

Work on any of your devices. We created new mobile apps for Docs, Sheets and Slides across Android and iOS, where you can edit your documents, presentations and spreadsheets on the go. While working in the cloud means you have access to your documents on any of these devices, you can still access or create documents even if you don’t have a data or WiFi connection.

Edit your images directly Sometimes the best way to convey a thought is visually and you need your images to look just right, which is why we made it easier to edit and adjust images. You can now crop your images, even masking the crop to specific shapes, and add borders in Docs, Slides and Drawings. Plus, you can connect objects and images in Slides and Drawings, recolor and change opacity of images in Slides, and even add effects.

Get things done faster We want to help you take care of your common tasks. And you know what lots of people make in documents? Bullet lists. So now, just type an asterisk (*) and it will automatically become bullets in Docs and Slides. Nobody likes having to do the same thing twice (unless you’re Santa) so just copy and paste your charts between different spreadsheets in Sheets. For all the regression lovers out there, you can also add trendlines, and to further visualize trends, you can add miniature charts, or sparklines, into individual cells.

Get answers to your surveys Forms is a great way to gather information, and across 2014, we added lots of new ways to ask questions and get answers. You can customize themes in Forms to add your own flare and create short URLs that are easier to share. There are also lots of new question options, like limiting one response per person and shuffling the answer order.

Add tons of functionality from 3rd parties Add-ons for Docs, Sheets and Forms are tools created by developers that help you do those extra things you need help with, whether it’s printing mailing labels or adding MLA-approved citations, right from your document.

Let there be tables You can add borders and backgrounds to your tables, and merge cells together to get your tables to look just how you want. And when you convert your legacy files to Docs, the table cells and borders will still be there so you can keep working. And let everyone, including blind and low-vision users, get work done Across Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings and Forms, it’s much easier to use a screen reader, with better text-to-voice verbalization and improvements to keyboard navigation. You can now use braille support to read and enter text in Docs, Slides and Drawings. And you can collaborate easier with others in Docs, Sheets, Slides or Drawings because screen readers announce when people enter or leave the document, and you’ll hear when others are editing alongside you. We’ll continue to make a ton of updates behind the scenes to ensure everything keeps running faster and smoother next year. Four cheers (Docs! Sheets! Slides! Forms!) for a happy work life in 2015.

Posted by Ryan Tabone, Director of Product Management, Docs editors

The Docs editors don’t just make things easier at work—they’re handy for helping you get stuff done at home too, especially around the holidays. We’ve rounded up five ideas to help you focus on the cheer—we’ll take care of the rest.Read More

The Docs editors don’t just make things easier at work—they’re handy for helping you get stuff done at home too, especially around the holidays. We’ve rounded up five ideas to help you focus on the cheer—we’ll take care of the rest.

1. Sending holiday cards? Refresh your address book first. 
Use Forms to make it easy for friends and family to send you their most recent mailing addresses. Just create a quick form and email it out or post the link on social media. Everyone’s addresses will be neatly added to a private spreadsheet.

2. Now that you’ve got your addresses up to date—print out mailing labels. 
Use the handy Avery Label Merge add-on to pull your holiday card addresses from Sheets into an Avery label template in Docs. Pop your labels into the printer, hit print and start sticking!

3. Send a digital, collaborative holiday letter with Docs. 
 If you’d rather send holiday letters instead of cards, Docs can let everyone in the family contribute, no matter where they are in the country or the world. Just create a doc, give everyone edit access and write your card together (and leave your thoughts and opinions with suggested edits & comments). When it’s ready to go, you can publish it and share a link, or go old school and print and mail it out.

4. Give your documents and presentations a holiday touch with royalty-free images. 
Choose from a bunch of free holiday-themed images in Docs and Slides to make your holiday projects a little more festive. Just click Insert > Image > Search > Stock images to browse.

5. Create visual wishlists to share. 
Have a bit of fun with your family's holiday wish lists by making Slides for Santa. Share these visual wish lists with anyone who’s looking to pick up something for your family.

Today we're making two updates that make it even easier to work better—together—in Drive and the Docs editors.

After you add an email address to the sharing dialogue, you’ll see profile pictures for everyone you’ve added. This can come in handy when you need to confirm that you’re inviting the right contacts, especially if you work with people that have similar names.Read More

Today we're making two updates that make it even easier to work better—together—in Drive and the Docs editors.

After you add an email address to the sharing dialogue, you’ll see profile pictures for everyone you’ve added. This can come in handy when you need to confirm that you’re inviting the right contacts, especially if you work with people that have similar names.

It’s also quicker to find all the people you need to share something with. Once you add two collaborators, you’ll see suggestions for related people who you frequently email or share files with. 

For an overview and tips and tricks about sharing visit the Help Center.

Posted by Lev Epshteyn, Software Engineer

The holidays are a great chance to reflect on your year and spend time with family. They can also provide extra stress when planes get delayed, cookies burn, and family photos go missing.Read More

The holidays are a great chance to reflect on your year and spend time with family. They can also provide extra stress when planes get delayed, cookies burn, and family photos go missing.

This holiday season, try these 5 tips for using Google Drive to keep yourself and your family organized, connected, and above all, happy.

1. Organize your holiday essentials
   
   Having trouble keeping track of the flight itineraries your children are sending your way? Maybe you just need a central space to store photos from a family trip? With Google Drive, you can organize your stuff into folders so you can easily come back to it.
   
   To create a folder, click New in the top left corner of Drive, choose Folder, and name it. From there, you can drag and drop your stuff into it or right-click a file and choose Move to to add it to a folder. Now the need to dig around your desktop is gone!
   
   
2. Quickly share files with your entire family
   
   Have a pie recipe that you want to send to others? Quickly share it straight from Drive. You can even decide whether the people you are sharing it with can edit, comment on, or simply view what you send them. That way, you can keep your grandson from “accidentally” adding an extra pound of sugar to your recipe.
   
   To share your recipe (or any other file), select it in Drive, click the Share icon and add the email addresses of the people you want to share it with. Next to the addresses, choose from the drop-down menu which level of access you want people to have (e.g. edit, comment or view). Then let the family bake-off begin.
   
   
3. Go attachment-free in your holiday emails
   
   When sending invitations to your family’s annual holiday party with Gmail, you can also add a big file straight from Drive, like the home video you put together for the occasion. Adding the file from Drive keeps you from using up storage space in Gmail and allows you to control who has access to the file you’ve included.
   
   When writing an email in Gmail, you can add a file from Drive at any time by clicking the Drive icon at the bottom of the email and choosing a file to add. Now everyone can see that video showcasing your unparalleled baking skills.
   
   
4. No Internet at the cabin? No problem
   
   Relaxing with nature doesn’t mean you shouldn't be able to see your photos or keep working on the holiday newsletter. Before you lose access to your Internet connection, simply sign in to your Chrome browser and visit drive.google.com. That way, anytime you lose Internet or WiFi, you can just go back to Drive in Chrome and your files will be immediately viewable offline!
   
   You can even edit your Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides offline, and all the changes you make will be saved for when your Internet connection comes back. That way, you can enjoy the end of fall without falling behind.
   
   
5. Family photos and shopping lists on every device
   
   Whether you’re in your living room or at the holiday party, on your laptop or your phone, you’ll never be without the ability to show off your family photos with Drive. You can download the Drive app for your Android or iOS device and have all of your files available on your phone or tablet — even offline.
   
   On your Mac or PC, install the Drive app so files in Drive are synced to those devices, too. As always, Chromebooks automatically use Drive to store files so those all important shopping lists and recipes are safely stored and available from anywhere.
   
   Bonus – Scan your holiday receipts on Android
   
   It can be difficult to keep track of all your receipts when you’re at the mall doing holiday shopping. With the Drive app for Android, you can scan all of your receipts directly into Drive so that you can easily organize them when you get home.
   
   To scan a receipt or another file, open the Drive app, click the plus (+) sign in the bottom right, and click Scan. You can then scan the item with your phone’s camera and it immediately gets uploaded to your Drive. And with that, no more boxes of receipts to sift through on Tax Day.
   

Impress the loved ones this holiday season by staying organized with Drive, regardless of whether you plan to travel cross-country to visit family or simply spend a few days at home in comfortable sweatpants.

Happy holidays!

Posted by Max Davidson, User Education Specialist for Google Drive

Chromebooks make day-to-day computing fast, simple and secure, whether you’re searching for a great pumpkin pie recipe or sharing a family photo from Google Drive. And now, as a bonus for the holiday season, new Chromebook buyers can get 1TB of Google Drive storage for two years — almost $240 in value — absolutely free.Read More

Chromebooks make day-to-day computing fast, simple and secure, whether you’re searching for a great pumpkin pie recipe or sharing a family photo from Google Drive. And now, as a bonus for the holiday season, new Chromebook buyers can get 1TB of Google Drive storage for two years — almost $240 in value — absolutely free.

That’s enough space to keep more than 100,000 awkward holiday sweater pics safe and shareable in Drive. With that much free storage, you can use your Chromebook for work, play and pretty much everything else you’ll do this holiday season.

The 1TB comes with the purchase of a new, eligible Chromebook for as little as $199. You’ll find them at these retail stores and online outlets or on Google Play. Just be sure to redeem the offer by January 31, 2015.

Happy holidays!

Posted by Alex Vogenthaler, Group Product Manager & Holiday Sock Collector

Browsers are pretty amazing things. Before, if you wanted to do any serious computing, you’d have to install software onto your computer. But these days, most of that can be done right from within the browser. For example, you can use Google Drive to preview files ...Read More

Browsers are pretty amazing things. Before, if you wanted to do any serious computing, you’d have to install software onto your computer. But these days, most of that can be done right from within the browser. For example, you can use Google Drive to preview files directly in Gmail, create and share Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, and even edit other file types like Microsoft Office documents without installing a single thing on your hard drive.

But here’s the catch: when it comes to browsers and installed applications working well together, they aren’t quite on the same page. To change that, today we’re launching a new extension for Chrome that lets you open files from Google Drive directly into a compatible application installed on your computer. This includes apps like advanced image and video editing software, accounting and tax programs, or 3D animation and design tools. So, no matter what you keep in Drive, using the web to access and manage files doesn’t mean you’re limited to using applications that only work in your browser.

To get started, install the latest version of the Drive app for Mac or PC (version 1.18) and sync your files. Then, visit Google Drive in your Chrome browser (make sure you’re on the new Google Drive). Finally, right-click on the file and select “Open with” to see a list of compatible applications on your computer that can open it. For example, you can choose to open a PDF file with Adobe Reader, or a .psd with Photoshop, make your edits and save back changes to Drive which will sync across all your devices and other collaborators. If you have any questions about this feature, you can learn more in the Help Center.

Please note: This extension will be rolling out over the next several days.

Posted by Rachel Barton, Product Manager, Google Drive

Every year on November 1, thousands of people aim to start and finish a 50,000-word novel by 11:59pm on November 30. This fun, seat-of-your pants approach to creative writing is called ...Read More

Every year on November 1, thousands of people aim to start and finish a 50,000-word novel by 11:59pm on November 30. This fun, seat-of-your pants approach to creative writing is called National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo), and we think it’s pretty awesome. But you know what could make it even more awesome -- doing it together... live!

To celebrate we’ve invited three of our favorite writers to get creative together. They won’t be writing a full novel, but on November 18, they will be collaborating in Google Docs to write a short story in just one hour. You’ll be able to watch the whole thing as they swap sentences in real time. Afterward, we’ll have a Q&A with the authors moderated by NaNoWriMo director (and dedicated participant), Grant Faulkner.

Of course, every great story needs a great beginning, and that’s where we need your help! You’ll tell the authors how the story should begin, whether it’s with the classic “Once upon a time…” or something completely random like “Before he came to Tuberville, Roger Pickens had never seen a chicken.”

To participate, send us your opening line ideas until November 12th. Then, on November 18, you can tune in to view the winning prompt, and watch as the writers transform that sentence into a one-of-a-kind story, right in front of your eyes.

One prompt, one Doc, one hour. Three talented writers. And the tale unfolds from there...

Meet the collaborating authors 

(Edan Lepucki, Tope Folarin, Mike Curato)

Edan Lepucki’s debut novel, California, debuted at #3 on the New York Times Bestsellers List and has been the #1 bestseller on the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle bestseller lists. California was also recently chosen as a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection.

Tope Folarin made his fiction debut in Transition with 'Miracle' in 2012, for which he won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2013. In 2014 he was named to the Africa39 list of the most promising African writers under 40. Tope currently lives in Washington, D.C. where he is at work on his first novel.

Mike Curato’s debut children's book, Little Elliot, Big City (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, Macmillan), has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. The first in a series of three, Little Elliot, Big City recently won the 2014 Founders Award from the Society of Illustrators, which is given to the most promising new talent in the field of children’s book illustration. Curato lives and works in Brooklyn.

Posted by Andrea Freund, Communications for Docs, Sheets, & Slides and closet writer

Google Drive makes it easy to keep your stuff safe and accessible from any device, but it doesn’t stop there. We want you to easily find and share your documents, photos, and PDFs with others. So, in addition to a ...Read More

Google Drive makes it easy to keep your stuff safe and accessible from any device, but it doesn’t stop there. We want you to easily find and share your documents, photos, and PDFs with others. So, in addition to a Material Design facelift, the latest update for Android gives you new ways to add, locate, and share from Drive.

Improved Search
The search tool makes it even easier to find the content you’re looking for by updating results as you type each letter into the search box.

Better Sharing
Now, you can add a custom message when you share a file so your collaborators know why you sent it—for example,  you can add a note asking for feedback. You can also turn on link sharing to make the file “public” and set access to view, comment, or edit. This automatically copies the link to the clipboard and allows you to paste it wherever you want.

Enhanced PDF Viewer
A new PDF viewer lets you find, select and copy text in PDFs, plus, it’s built right into Drive so you don’t need to launch another app.

Look for these updates to roll out over the next several days. If you don't have the Google Drive app, you can download it from Google Play.

Posted by Ganesh Shankar, Product Manager, Google Drive for Android

Google Forms is a free and simple way to collect information--from quickly polling your friends about who'll be attending your trip to the haunted hayride, to getting thousands of responses to an awareness survey for work.Read More

Google Forms is a free and simple way to collect information--from quickly polling your friends about who'll be attending your trip to the haunted hayride, to getting thousands of responses to an awareness survey for work.

Over the last few months, Forms has been getting a bunch of updates to help you make good looking surveys, like new theme choices and the ability to create your own personalized themes.

To give you even more flexibility and options, we’re introducing add-ons for Forms—new tools, created by developer partners, that deliver even more features to your surveys (just like add-ons for Docs and Sheets).

Add-ons bring handy extras to your survey building experience, like setting a survey end date, sending custom emails based on responses, storing lists of choices that you frequently add to questions, and more.

You can access add-ons from the “Add-ons” menu in Forms, or by directly visiting the Forms add-on store.

Here are just a few of the growing list of add-ons that you can use today with Google Forms:

• formLimiter: Close your survey automatically, after a maximum number of responses is reached, or at a date and time of your choosing. 
• Ultradox Trigger: Create custom emails, reports, invoices, newsletters, etc., based on information that people enter into your form. 
• Form Values: Store and pull from lists that you use regularly in Forms, like a list of staff, students, rooms, resources or anything you want. 

We hope these new tools make your Forms creation process even easier and more useful--and stay tuned for more--our developer partners will be launching even more add-ons in the coming weeks. 

PS: If you’re a developer with ideas for creating your own add-on for Forms, here’s some documentation to get you started.

Posted by Saurabh Gupta, Product Manager

Sometimes to get an image just right in a presentation, you need to make some small tweaks. To help you do this without leaving Slides, a few months ago we made it possible to crop and add borders, and today we’re giving you even more control of your images with a set of ...Read More

Sometimes to get an image just right in a presentation, you need to make some small tweaks. To help you do this without leaving Slides, a few months ago we made it possible to crop and add borders, and today we’re giving you even more control of your images with a set of new editing options.

You can now select “Image options...” from the toolbar, format menu, or right-click menu, where you can adjust the opacity, brightness, and contrast of an image, or recolor it to match the theme of your presentation.

Check out some examples of how you can edit images inside Slides in the animated gifs below.

Change the opacity of your image

Recolor your image

Earlier this month, Google Forms got snazzed up with new customizable and pre-designed themes that let you easily create beautiful surveys—and today’s updates give you even more ways to build and share those surveys.Read More

Earlier this month, Google Forms got snazzed up with new customizable and pre-designed themes that let you easily create beautiful surveys—and today’s updates give you even more ways to build and share those surveys.

Find what you’re looking for 
Similar to Docs and Slides, you can use the “Search the menus” shortcut to get quick access to nearly all the features in Forms, without having to dig through the different menus at the top of the page. To find a feature, simply press Alt+/ or look under the Help menu.

New ways to manage your questions 
You’ll also be getting new tools to control how your survey questions appear to others. For example, you can now:

• mix things up by randomizing the order of questions on quizzes or surveys with the new “shuffle questions” option. 
• make sure you only get one answer per person by turning on the “only allow one response per user” feature in settings. 
• limit people to one response per column for grid-style questions using the new option under “advanced settings.” 

Get the word out with shorter URLs 
And of course, what’s the point of creating a survey is you can’t share it with others? To make this easier, now when you click the “Send form” button, you’ll see a checkbox for creating a tidy URL to share. 

Learn more about all the ways you can use Google Forms at google.com/forms/about and stay tuned to our +page and Twitter account to follow along with the latest updates for all the Docs editors.

Posted by Elynn Lee, Software Engineering Intern

Cross posted on the Official Google Blog

Imagine trying to keep track of another person’s real-time edits in a document—using only your ears. Or trying to create a table from spreadsheet data—without being able to clearly see the cells. Whether you’re backing up a file in Drive or crunching some numbers in Sheets, it should be easy to bring your ideas to life using Google’s tools. But if you’re blind or have low vision, you may need to rely on assistive technologies such as screen readers and Braille displays—and that can make working in the cloud challenging. While screen readers can parse static webpages (like this blog) relatively easily, it’s much harder for them to know what to say in interactive applications like Google Docs because the actions they need to describe are much more complex.Read More

Cross posted on the Official Google Blog

Imagine trying to keep track of another person’s real-time edits in a document—using only your ears. Or trying to create a table from spreadsheet data—without being able to clearly see the cells. Whether you’re backing up a file in Drive or crunching some numbers in Sheets, it should be easy to bring your ideas to life using Google’s tools. But if you’re blind or have low vision, you may need to rely on assistive technologies such as screen readers and Braille displays—and that can make working in the cloud challenging. While screen readers can parse static webpages (like this blog) relatively easily, it’s much harder for them to know what to say in interactive applications like Google Docs because the actions they need to describe are much more complex.

With these reasons in mind, today we’re announcing some improvements to Drive and all our editors—Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and Forms—specifically designed with blind and low-vision users in mind.
Improved screen reader support in Drive and Docs 
In June, we introduced a new version of Drive that’s sleeker, easier to navigate and much faster. But just as importantly, the new Drive also includes better keyboard accessibility, support for zoom and high-contrast mode and improved usability with screen readers.

Across Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings and Forms, you’ll find that it’s now much easier to use a screen reader, with nicer text-to-voice verbalization and improvements to keyboard navigation. You’ll also notice other updates, including:

• Support for alt text on images in Docs, so you can tell a screen reader what they should say to describe an image 
• Better support for using a keyboard to edit charts and pivot tables in Sheets 
• Additional screen reader improvements specifically for Docs, Sheets and Slides, including support for spelling suggestions, comments and revision history 
• The ability to quickly search the menus and perform actions in Docs, Slides and Drawings (and soon Sheets and Forms)—even if you don’t know the action’s key sequence 
  

Collaborating with others is easier too: in Docs, Sheets, Slides or Drawings, screen readers announce when people enter or leave the document, and you’ll now also hear when others are editing alongside you.

Refreshable Braille display support 
If you use a Braille display, you can now use it to read and enter text in Docs, Slides and Drawings. Even if you don't use a Braille display, with Braille support, your screen reader’s settings for character echoing are automatically followed. Enabling Braille also dramatically reduces the lag between when you press a key and when it’s announced by your screen reader, and improves the announcements of punctuation and whitespace. Learn how to enable Braille support in our Help Center.

Get up and going faster
The first time you use a screen reader or a Braille display, getting up to speed can be a daunting task. But it’s simpler with new step-by-step guides for Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and Drawings.

You can also access the in-product “Help” menu at any time without interrupting your work, or use the updated shortcut help dialog to easily search through keyboard shortcuts if you don’t remember them.

Finally, we’re offering phone support for Google Drive accessibility questions. If you get stuck, visit support.google.com/drive to request a phone call and someone from our team will reach out to you.

What’s next
Referring to recent updates to Google Drive, Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said at this year’s National Convention: “The progress...during the last few months has just been positively extraordinary.” We’re pleased the community has welcomed these improvements, and will continue to work with organizations like the NFB to make even more progress.

Everyone, regardless of ability, should be able to experience all that the web has to offer. To find out more about our commitment to a fully accessible web, visit the new Google Accessibility site at www.google.com/accessibility.

Posted by: Alan Warren, Vice President, Engineering

Today we’re introducing a new sharing experience that makes it easier and faster to invite others to access your files.

As you may already know, anything you create in Docs, Sheets, and Slides or upload to Drive is automatically set to private, which means only you can view it. But when you do want to share a file or folder, there are a few ...Read More

One of the perks of using Docs, Sheets, and Slides—along with any other file types you’ve saved in Drive—is that you can invite others to view, edit, or comment on any file or folder you choose.

Today we’re introducing a new sharing experience that makes it easier and faster to invite others to access your files.

As you may already know, anything you create in Docs, Sheets, and Slides or upload to Drive is automatically set to private, which means only you can view it. But when you do want to share a file or folder, there are a few easy ways:

• Like always, just click the big, blue “Share” button at the top of an open file, or if you are in your Drive list, you can now click the person icon at the top of the page after you’ve selected one or more files.

• A box will pop up, and from there, you can add individual people to share with directly. But as a new addition, if you want to create a unique shareable link, you can now just click the “Get shareable link” button.

The shareable link will be set to view-only by default. And if you are ever wondering whether you’ve already made the link shareable, just look at the icon next to the button. Green means yes, grey means no, just like on your Android device.

If you want anyone with the link to be able to do more with your file, like leave comments and suggestions or make edits, just change “can view” to “can comment” or “can edit” in the dropdown. Check your accounts for these updates over the coming days.

Posted by Ajay Surie, Product Manager

Google Forms makes it easy to gather information from a group, whether it’s something as important as requesting RSVPs for your rehearsal dinner, collecting attendance from students for a class trip, or just keeping track of who’s bringing what on a camping weekend with your friends.Read More

Google Forms makes it easy to gather information from a group, whether it’s something as important as requesting RSVPs for your rehearsal dinner, collecting attendance from students for a class trip, or just keeping track of who’s bringing what on a camping weekend with your friends.

One of your top requests has been the ability to add your own personal touch to forms, and starting today you can with custom themes.

To add a custom theme, just create a new form and click the “Change theme” button in the toolbar.

From there, you can add your own photos or logos to the header, customize fonts and colors, pick a background, and more.

If you don’t want to use one of your own images, you can also choose from tons of brand new themes, like the ones shown below.

Posted by Bay Gross, Associate Product Manager

You suddenly remember you need to add "buy milk" to your grocery list, but don't have a pen or paper in sight. You’re on the subway with no reception and need to update your soccer club spreadsheet before you get to practice. You desperately need to make edits to your marketing strategy PowerPoint before you present, but you only brought your iPad to the meeting.Read More

You suddenly remember you need to add "buy milk" to your grocery list, but don't have a pen or paper in sight. You’re on the subway with no reception and need to update your soccer club spreadsheet before you get to practice. You desperately need to make edits to your marketing strategy PowerPoint before you present, but you only brought your iPad to the meeting.

We've all been in binds like this before, but the good news is, now there's a way out.

With today’s launch of the Slides app for iPhone & iPad and updates to the Docs and Sheets apps, we’re delivering on our promise to make it possible for you to work with any file, on any device, any time. You can now create that grocery list, edit that spreadsheet, and update that slide deck with no problem.

Here's the lowdown on what you can now do with Docs, Sheets, and Slides:

1. You can truly get stuff done from any device—your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, laptop or desktop computer. Any change you make on any of these devices is saved automatically, so you can pick up right where you left off any time, anywhere that you can sign in. 
2. The Docs, Sheets and Slides apps come with offline editing built right in. Just make the files you want to edit available offline. Any changes you make offline get automatically synced when you reconnect, just like when you make offline edits from your computer. 
3. And while converting Office files to Docs, Sheets and Slides is a cinch, the new iPhone/iPad apps also let you edit Office files directly -- just like on the Android apps and the web. 

Simply put, no matter where you are, how spotty the WiFi is, or what file type you're working with, you can get stuff done your way.

Posted by Li-Wei Lee, Software Engineer

Odds are, you don't use just one device throughout the day—maybe it's a tablet at home over breakfast, a phone on the train to work, and then a computer or laptop once you're in the office. In other words, you expect to be able to get stuff done no matter where you are, which device you’re using, or what you’re working on.Read More

Odds are, you don't use just one device throughout the day—maybe it's a tablet at home over breakfast, a phone on the train to work, and then a computer or laptop once you're in the office. In other words, you expect to be able to get stuff done no matter where you are, which device you’re using, or what you’re working on.

That’s why today, Docs, Sheets, and Slides are getting major updates on both mobile and desktop. With this release, you can now work on any document, at any time, on any device, both with and without an Internet connection.

Mobile apps for Docs, Sheets and now Slides 
We recently launched mobile apps for Docs and Sheets that allow you to create and edit files on the go, even if you’re offline. We’re rounding out the trio with a new Slides mobile app that’s available starting today on Android and in the coming weeks on iOS.

Edit and share Office files — without Office 
Sometimes people send you files and you need to be able to open them, make some edits, and send them back. If they don’t use Docs, Sheets and Slides it can be a challenge. Starting today, you no longer have to worry, because both the web and mobile apps for Docs, Sheets, and Slides let you edit Office files—without conversion—so you can now edit and send back files in their original format.

The updated mobile apps for Docs, Sheets and Slides come with Office editing built right in, and our new Chrome extension allows you to edit and share files directly from Google Drive, Gmail or from your Chromebook, where the extension is pre-installed. These updates will be available starting today, but may take a couple of days to fully roll out.

Of course, if you want to collaborate seamlessly with others at the same time, simply convert the files to Docs, Sheets or Slides.

Suggested Edits: a new way to collaborate 
People love using Docs because it’s so easy to work together in one place, rather than making edits and giving feedback by emailing multiple versions of the same document.

But sometimes instead of giving your collaborators free reign to edit away, you’d rather they make suggestions that you can accept or reject later. That’s why today we’re excited to add Suggested Edits in Docs. This new feature is now available for anyone with commenting access in Google Docs on the web, and is coming soon to our mobile apps.

Work the way you want 
With today’s updates to Docs, Sheets, and Slides, we’ve got you covered, regardless of how, where, or when you need to get something done. You now have mobile apps for Docs, Sheets and Slides, the ability to edit and share Office files, and a brand new way to collaborate with Suggested edits. It’s a big update, but more importantly, we hope it’s a big improvement for you.

Posted by Ryan Tabone, Director of Product Management

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It’s been a little more than two years since Google Drive launched, and already, more than 190 million people are actively using it to safely store and access their files on their phones, tablets, and computers. This tremendous growth has allowed us to offer more affordable storage plans and, today, we’re updating Drive so it’s faster and even easier to use.

For mobile
If you use the Drive app for Android or iOS, you’ll notice everything is now a bit speedier and easier to navigate. Thanks to faster background syncing, the new mobile app makes it easy to find and quickly open files. Plus, you get a host of new features that let you see who has access, view recent changes, or grab a link to share with more people. You can even enable offline access or print a file directly from the app.

For the web
You’ll be offered access to the new Drive for the web over the coming weeks. When you agree to give it a try, you’ll experience a new look and better performance. It's also easier to take some of the most common actions — simply click once on a file to see recent activity, share with friends, or enable offline access. For you organizational fiends, you now have three easy ways to take group actions on multiple files: right click on the selected files, use the menu above the file area, or simply drag the group to a new location in Drive.

For everyone
We are committed to making Drive useful for everyone. This includes having it localized in over 70 languages and, with this latest update, making Drive much more accessible for our blind and visually impaired users. The new Drive includes improved keyboard accessibility, support for zooming and high contrast mode, and better compatibility with screen readers.

For now
That’s it. Get the mobile apps on Google Play and in the App Store, and then visit drive.google.com on your computer to use Drive on the web. Should you run into trouble with any of these new features, check out the Help Center or reach out to our support team.

Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog 

Every year, phones and tablets get better, and more of you are starting to use your mobile devices not just to view, but also to create and edit content. And while the Drive app is a convenient place to store your stuff, we want to make it easier for you to quickly find, edit and create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the go. Starting today, you can download new, standalone mobile apps for ...Read More

Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog 

Every year, phones and tablets get better, and more of you are starting to use your mobile devices not just to view, but also to create and edit content. And while the Drive app is a convenient place to store your stuff, we want to make it easier for you to quickly find, edit and create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the go. Starting today, you can download new, standalone mobile apps for Docs and Sheets—with Slides coming soon. Need to find a spreadsheet? Go to the Sheets app. Need to create a document? Go to the Docs app. They’re all right there at your fingertips.

When you open the new apps, you’ll see your most recently edited files, which means less time searching and scrolling.

The apps also come with offline support built in, so you can easily view, edit and create files without an Internet connection. Now, if you have a brilliant idea for a best-selling novel while traipsing through the Amazonian rainforest (or you know, something more probable, like during flight takeoff)...no problem. You can jot down your idea in the Docs app on your phone, even when you’re offline.

You can get the apps on Google Play [Docs] [Sheets] and in the App Store [Docs] [Sheets]. If you don’t have time now, over the next few days you’ll be prompted to download the apps when you go to edit or create a document or spreadsheet in your Drive app. And of course, you’ll still be able to use the Drive app to view and organize all of your documents, spreadsheets, presentations, photos and more.

So enjoy the Amazon—we’re looking forward to buying that novel someday. And in the meantime, just remember: even if a crocodile eats your phone, your files are safe in the cloud!

Posted by Brian Levee, Product Manager

Google Slides and Drawings make it easy for you to tell a story and share your ideas. And a big part of storytelling is the images you use to bring a concept to life. Now it’s even easier to get those images just right, because Slides will let you crop, apply shape masks, and add borders to your images right within your presentation.Read More

Google Slides and Drawings make it easy for you to tell a story and share your ideas. And a big part of storytelling is the images you use to bring a concept to life. Now it’s even easier to get those images just right, because Slides will let you crop, apply shape masks, and add borders to your images right within your presentation.

Cropping
To crop an image, select it and click on the crop image icon in the toolbar.

Then drag the corners to your desired crop size and hit enter to make the crop.

Applying masks 
To crop your image to a particular shape, apply a mask from the pull-down menu next to the crop icon.

There are tons of shapes, arrows and callout designs to choose from, like the heart example below.

Adding borders 
Add a border to your image by clicking on the line weight icon, and give it a little extra pop by changing the line color.

Look out for image editing in Slides and Drawings over the next couple of hours. Here’s to more beautiful presentations and drawings!

Posted by Brian Levee, Product Manager

Having launched Google Drive just two years ago, we’re excited that so many people are now using it as their go-to place for keeping all their files. Whether it's all the footage of your kids' baseball games, the novel you're working on, or even just your grocery list for the week, we all have files that are too important to lose. Today, thanks to a number of recent infrastructure improvements, we’re able to make it more affordable for you to keep everything safe and easy to reach on any device, from anywhere.Read More

Having launched Google Drive just two years ago, we’re excited that so many people are now using it as their go-to place for keeping all their files. Whether it's all the footage of your kids' baseball games, the novel you're working on, or even just your grocery list for the week, we all have files that are too important to lose. Today, thanks to a number of recent infrastructure improvements, we’re able to make it more affordable for you to keep everything safe and easy to reach on any device, from anywhere. 

We've lowered the price of our monthly storage plans to $1.99 for 100GB (previously $4.99), $9.99 for 1TB (previously $49.99), and $99.99 for 10TB, with even more storage available if you need it. How big is a terabyte anyway? Well, that’s enough storage for you to take a selfie twice a day for the next 200 years and still have room left over for… shall we say… less important things. Like before, storage continues to work across Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos. And, of course, the 15GB plan remains free.

You can sign up for one of these new Google Drive storage plans at www.google.com/settings/storage. If you already pay for storage, you’ll automatically move to a better plan at no additional cost. You can visit the storage purchase page to make a change or review your account, and see the Help Center for more information on these simpler storage options.

Posted by Scott Johnston, Director of Product Management

You use Google Docs and Sheets to get all sorts of stuff done—whether you're staying up late to finish that final paper or just getting started on a new project at the office. But to help take some of that work off your shoulders, today we're launching add-ons—new tools created by developer partners that give you even more features in your documents and spreadsheets.Read More

You use Google Docs and Sheets to get all sorts of stuff done—whether you're staying up late to finish that final paper or just getting started on a new project at the office. But to help take some of that work off your shoulders, today we're launching add-ons—new tools created by developer partners that give you even more features in your documents and spreadsheets.

To browse through add-ons for Docs and Sheets, select Get add-ons in the Add-ons menu of any open document or spreadsheet. (Add-ons for spreadsheets are only available in the new Google Sheets).

Once you install an add-on it will become available across all of your documents or spreadsheets and you can start using it right away.

Here are just a few examples of how add-ons can help you do more with Docs and Sheets:

Print address labels and name tags 
With Avery Label Merge you can seamlessly import addresses or names from Sheets into Docs for printing. Just pick the type of Avery labels you’ll be printing and your document will be formatted to match the layout of your label pack.

Create a bibliography without leaving Docs 
Citing sources is about to get much easier for the millions of students who use Google Docs to write papers. The EasyBib Bibliography Creator helps you cite books, journals, and websites in MLA, APA, and Chicago style by entering in titles, journal article names, and websites right inside your document. 

Send customized emails 
With Merge by Mailchimp you can send customized emails from Google Docs. Use merge tags to pull info from a spreadsheet into your document. Once your data is merged, hit send and your personalized emails will be delivered.

Get approvals from Docs and Sheets 
Need to gather approvals or feedback? Letter Feed Workflows routes your document to the right people and adds a simple “Approve” button right inside your document or spreadsheet. You’ll be notified as soon as it’s approved, and can publish the final version with a single click.

These are just some of the many add-ons that are available for you to use right now in the Docs or Sheets add-on stores, with lots more on the way.

Posted by Saurabh Gupta, Product Manager

(Cross-posted from the Official Enterprise Blog)

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(Cross-posted from the Official Enterprise Blog)

Drive makes group projects easier because everyone can share files and work together. But in today’s busy world, it’s tough to track the changes to all your shared to-do lists, budgets and presentations, especially when content changes so often. So starting today, you’ll notice a new activity stream in Drive – a single, easy-to-view place to review every action taken on your files and folders.

When you open Drive, click the ⓘ button in the top right corner and the activity stream will appear, showing you who has taken action on files and folders in My Drive. You’ll see a rundown of what your team has been doing, such as editing and commenting on notes, adding a new spreadsheet, renaming a presentation, and more.

It’s also easy to only see what you’re interested in. Just select any file or folder and the stream will change instantly to show information relevant to that item.

And last month it became easier to take quick actions on your folders like rename, share, organize and more with a new drop-down menu at the top of each shared folder. Below this menu you'll see the entire folder hierarchy so you can jump to a different folder with a single click. And you can see profile pictures to help you understand exactly who has access to the shared folder.

Activity stream will rollout to everyone over the next week. Give it a try with your next group project and let us know what you think on our Google+ page.


Posted by Ian Gunn, Google Drive Interaction Designer