Google text editor. School of Electronic Business - online business magazine

To get access to full-fledged work with Google documents, you just need to create your own account, that is, mail, on gmail.com. You need to create a regular account, like on Yandex or mail.

After this, you can start working with all the Google applications that are already installed in each mailbox, and there are enough of them. However, some of them are available immediately after activating your account, others are paid.

Google specialists' main goal was to create a space for storing information that would be accessible from any place where there is Internet access to any number of users.

Google Docs are regular text and spreadsheet editors. They make it possible to work directly in your account, as well as transfer existing documents from your desktop or other media to Google Drive. This is convenient and reliable, because Google acts in this case as a guarantor of saving the information of each of its users.

Create a Google Doc

So, you have logged into Google Drive in your account, or mailbox, and you see two buttons directly under the company logo: “Create” and “Upload”. The first, respectively, is used to create Google documents, the second allows you to upload ready-made documents to your account.

When you click on the “Create” button, several possible options for creating documents appear. This can be a text document, a form, a table, or a document folder.

The text document is an analogue of MS Word, which is familiar to almost everyone. This is a text editor, so you can perform all the actions that are typical for a text editor. For example, working with text.

To create tables, select the “Table” sub-item in the “Save” section. A Google spreadsheet is almost identical to Ms Excel format tables. Google Docs also allows you to create a form along with a table. This is convenient, for example, when implementing a survey, since a Google form will make it possible to survey a large number of people and process the results quickly and reliably.

In addition, Google Docs suggests creating presentations similar to those implemented in Power Point. The main advantage of Google documents is the ability for multiple users to work on them. This is achieved through access settings that are found in every Google document, regardless of its type.

The owner of the mailbox, that is, the account, at his discretion, can provide any user with the opportunity either only to view the document, or to edit it together. In addition, it is possible to chat while working on a Google document, including through video meetings using Hangouts technology.

Thus, Google Docs is a step into the future in the effective use of Internet space.

The Google Document service allows you to work with text files in real time. By connecting your colleagues to work on a document, you can jointly edit, design and use it. There is no need to save files on your computer. You can work on a document anywhere, anytime, using the devices you have. Today we will take a look at creating a Google Doc.

To work with Google Docs, you need to sign in to your account.

1. On the Google home page, click the services icon (as shown in the screenshot), click “More” and select “Documents”. In the window that appears, you will see all the text documents that you will create.

2. Click the big red "+" button at the bottom right of the screen to start working with a new document.

3. Now you can create and edit a file in the same way as in any text editor, the only difference being that you do not need to save the document - this happens automatically. If you want to save the original document, click “File”, “Make a copy”.

Now let's adjust the access settings for other users. Click "Access Settings" as shown in the screenshot above. If the file did not have a name, the service will ask you to specify one.

Click on the drop-down list and determine what those users who receive a link to it can do with the document - edit, view or comment. Click "Done."

There are a lot of programs that allow you to work with documents. But sometimes there is no text editor at hand.

For example, you are on a business trip, but your computer (or a device that replaces it) does not have the Word text editor from Microsoft, and you urgently need to send a report to your boss.

When away from home (or from work), cloud technologies are a great help, especially if you have another device that does not have the necessary software.
Content:

Google took care of its users by integrating the MS Word text editor into the Google Drive service.

The result is a good free text editor “in the cloud”, with which you can not only type, edit, print reports or other documents, but also instantly send them. These are Google Docs documents.

Why did I write: “Google took care of its users”? Yes, yes, Google provides its services only to those users who have their own Google account, or rather, have their own mailbox on gmail.com something like this Nadezda @ gmail.com.

If you don’t have an email account on Google, it will take 10-15 minutes to create one. The main thing is to come up with a suitable login and password for your email. I write everything below for those who have (or will have) their own Google account.

1. What can you do in Google Docs?

Google documents online have almost the same functionality as in the usual local Word from Microsoft (MS Word), namely:

• The mobility of Google Dox is useful for those who move and work with documents where it is convenient and where there is an Internet connection. You can continue working on a document even if you are disconnected from the Internet.
• Want to create documents from scratch? Easily! In addition, it is possible to upload regular Word documents from your computer and edit them.
• Documents in html, txt, odt, rtf, doc, docx, pdf formats are uploaded to Google Dox.
• You can work as a whole team on a document: just send your colleagues a link to the document.
• All changes in the document are logged and in an unexpected case, when, for example, “a cat walked across the keyboard,” you can “roll back” to the previous version of the document.
• You can work with Google Docs documents on Android and iOS devices. To do this, you will need to install the appropriate free Google Docs application on your Android or iOS device.

2. Google Docs tools for working with text

The first thing to note is the ability to write text, perhaps this is the most important thing.

There are also tools that allow you to work with text:

• color,
• size,
• fonts,
• alignment,
• formatting,
• spell checking,
• inserting tables, figures,
• and "children's" opportunities.

3. How to create a google document

Before you start working with the text, you should write it or download it, for example, from your computer. Let's try to create a new document, as they say, “from scratch.” So, this can be done as follows.

Enter your username and password.

2) Click on the “Create” button located in the left vertical menu (number 1 in Fig. 1), after which a list will appear in which we select Google documents (Docs).

The same can be done using the Shift + t keys.

Rice. 1. In Google Drive, find a GoogleDocument and create it

After you enter text, you can style it or “comb it.” Let's start with styles. We are invited to format our text as regular text, with headings and even make a table of contents.

If you place the cursor in any place in the text or select any part of the text, then in the window marked with number 1 in Fig. 2, the style that matches the marked text will immediately appear.

Rice. 2. How to change text styles: Plain text, Heading, subtitle, etc.

In Fig. 2 the text “Punish me with contempt” is highlighted and in window 1 in Fig. 2 you can see that this is “Plain text”.

To make a document title, you need to select the corresponding text and click on “Title” (number 3 in Fig. 2), it will have the largest font. This is usually the title of a book or project.

The following chapters can be made in the text:
Heading 1 – number 5 in Fig. 2,
Heading 2 – number 6 in Fig. 2, smaller font than Heading 1,
Heading 3 – number 7 in Fig. 2, smaller font than Heading 2.

In addition to headings, there may be subheadings - number 4 in Fig. 2.

5. Automatic table of contents

1) After the text is marked up using the above styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.), you can create a Table of Contents for the entire document.

2) Place the cursor in the place where the table of contents will be, usually this is the beginning of the text.
3) Go to the “Insert” menu (number 8 in Fig. 2).
4) There we select the last menu item – “Table of Contents”.

This will automatically generate a table of contents for the text.

6. Select the text font

Fonts are created by designers and have a specific license. You cannot add it for the Russian language - this is considered a violation of copyright. Therefore, in the Google Dox service there is a choice of free fonts for which the service has the right to use.

Rice. 3. How to change the font in Google Docs

To select a font, select the text (number 1 in Fig. 3). And then click on the list with fonts (number 2 in Fig. 3), and select the one you need (for example, number 3 in Fig. 3).

What is in Fig. 3, a check mark next to the Arial font means that the selected text (number 1 in Fig. 3) is typed in this particular font.

Just click anywhere in your text and the Google Docs Toolbar (number 2 in Fig. 3) will tell you everything about this text: what font it has, color, font size, style, etc.

7. Text font size

To change the font size of text in a Google Docs document, you need to select the desired piece of text (number 1 in Fig. 4), and then click on the appropriate font size from the drop-down list (number 2 in Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. How to change the font size of text in a Google Docs document

If there is no suitable size for the selected text, for example, 13 or 20, then click in the field marked with number 2 in Fig. 4, and enter the desired font size there.

8. Text formatting

If you want to format the text, first be sure to select the part of the text that needs to be “combed” using formatting, and then click on any formatting option (Fig. 5).

Rice. 5 Buttons for formatting text in Google Dox

As can be seen in Fig. 5, the following formatting options are available:

• B- Bold

To make an important part of the text bold, you need to select (in other words, paint over) this text, and then click on the “B” icon, or press the hot keys Ctrl+B.

If you need to remove the bold text and make it regular text, select this text and click on the “B” icon, or press Ctrl+B.

• I- Italics

If you select the text and then click the " I", or press the hot keys Ctrl+ I, then the text will also become inclined(highlighted italics).

To remove italics from text, you need to select the italic text and use the “ I", or Ctrl+ keys I.

• U - Stressed

Select part of the text and click on the “ U", or press the Ctrl+ keys U, the text becomes underlined.

Didn't like it underlined text? Select (paint over) it and use the “ U", or Ctrl+ keys U.

• A- Text color

First of all, select the text, and then you can change the font color or background color for the selected text

9. Change text color and background

To change the color or background of text, first select the section you want. Then click the button on the toolbar, select “Text Color” or “Background Color” and specify a color.

Rice. 6. Change the text color, text background color

The Google Dox service offers to stylize text by changing its color and background. To do this, just select the required area of ​​text and click on the button with the image of an underlined capital letter “ A”, after which a list will drop out (Fig. 6), in which you can select the appropriate font color and background.

10. Comments on the text for editing

If any text causes you doubts, then you can mark it: select it, click “Insert comment” (Ctrl + Alt + M) and indicate the reason, so that later it will be clear what needs to be corrected.

Rice. 7 Insert comments on selected text to explain corrections that need to be made

This can also be useful when several people are working on the same document.

11. Other formatting tools

You are writing an article in which you want to cite a source that confirms your words, then click on the “Insert link” button, then enter the text of the link, and add it in the field below.

Rice. 8 Formatting tools in Google Doc

There is also a situation where it is necessary to align the text. Most often this is a heading that needs to be placed in the center. To perform this procedure, select the desired area and from the top menu choose how you want to align: left, center or right.

From left to right there are buttons:

• Align text left (Ctrl+Shift+L)
• Center (Ctrl+Shift+E)
• Right Align (Ctrl+Shift+R)
• Align Left (Ctrl+Shift+L)

To perform Alignment, select the desired area and in the top menu choose how you want to align: left, center or right.

4 in Fig. 8 - Line spacing (or Line spacing)

There is no need to select anything here, just click on the “Line spacing” button and select the required indentation; by default it is 1. You can also set the spacing yourself: click on the “Adjust spacing” button and adapt it to suit you.

5 in Fig. 8 - Numbered list (Ctrl+Shift+7)

Are you creating a menu for a restaurant that includes different types of salads? Of course, a list tool comes in handy here. You can choose a bulleted or numbered list. You can also change its design: click on the dropbox (arrow) next to the one you want to select.

6 in Fig. 8 - Bulleted list (Ctrl+Shift+8)
7 in Fig. 8 -Decrease indent (Ctrl+[)
Increase indent (Ctrl+])
8 in Fig. 8 -Clear formatting (Ctrl+Space)

12. Google document viewing modes

Despite their uselessness when creating files, it’s still worth familiarizing yourself with them, in case they come in handy.

In the “View” menu (Fig. 9) you can select different document viewing modes.

Rice. 9 Google Doc Viewing Modes

This tool will be needed in any case, since you can go into viewing mode and see what the final document will be like, and then return to editing and correct any errors found.

13. Insert

Rice. 10 You can insert a table of maximum 20x20

Using the “Insert” tool (number 1 in Fig. 10) you can insert

• image,
• table or
• formula
• and also make a footnote, used in books to explain something.

You can also work with pages: add a table of contents, numbering, bookmarks. As you can see, there are enough tools to write your book.

14. Useless buns

Of course, it’s hard to believe that such a serious service will include children’s buns. Yes, they are quite unchildish. But they can be called that because they harm the document.

This is a translation of a document through Google Translator, as well as a spell check. You shouldn't use them. It's better to pay a little and get quality results.

15. Allow your colleagues to help you with your work

To do this, you need to give them access to the Google document.

Rice. 11 We give access to Google documents to our colleagues

You can make your work publicly available. To do this, in the upper right corner, click on the “Access Settings” button (number 1 in Fig. 11), go to “Advanced” settings (number 4 in Fig. 11) and configure the file access level (number 3 in Fig. 11) .

Setting up access is also useful if several people are working on a Google document, when there is team work. You can add people who will subsequently have the right to edit, read and comment on the document. A very useful tool if used correctly.

16. Saving and other features

The main feature of Google Docs is that the file is saved automatically in Google Drive and you don’t have to press the “Save” or Shift + f12 button every time, as in MS Word.

For each Google document, a history of changes is saved (number 5 in Fig. 11) and there is a chance to find a normal copy, where everything was not as bad as it became.

You can also rename the Google document, and also download it to your computer in various formats.

In addition to these functions, the service allows you to print a document to a printer directly from the cloud: in the top menu there is a button with an image of a printer (number 1 in Fig. 9), after clicking on it, a page with file settings for printing will open.

In Fig. 9 you can see that in the top menu there is not only “File”, but also “Help”. By clicking on this option, you can get even more information than what is stated above.

Computer Literacy Exercise

Dear Colleagues! Checking the operation of Google Docs. To do this, follow the link:

We print a couple of lines of text. Is Google Doc working?

P.S. Check out other computer literacy articles:

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Google Drive gives users access to a range of useful tools that allow them to create and edit a variety of items, including documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Thanks to the functionality of the Google Drive service, you can create and edit tables.

There are five types of files that can be created using this service:

• Documentation. For creating letters, leaflets, reports and other text components (the same as Microsoft Word documents).
• Tables. For storing and organizing information (same as Microsoft Excel documents).
• Presentations. To create slide shows (like Microsoft PowerPoint presentations).
• Forms. To collect and organize data.
• Blueprints. For creating simple vector graphics or diagrams.

The process for creating new files is the same for all types presented. Let's find out how it's done.

Work in Google Drive is carried out through your own, so you must have it available. Once logged into your account, open this service (to do this, type drive.google.com in the address bar of your browser) and click on the New button. It's a blue button in the top left corner of the window. After that, select the type of element you want to create.

If you need to create a table, select Google Sheets.

A new component will appear in a new tab in your browser. Look for Untitled spreadsheet in the upper left corner of the window. Click on this label to change the name of the newly created element. Enter a new name and press Enter to confirm the changes.

Now the table is in your Google account and you can access it at any time. To open a document, just go to the main section of the service and double-click on the desired component. That's all, the document has been created and you can work with it, adding the necessary data to the table cells.

Using ready-made templates

A template is pre-structured markup that you can use to quickly create new documents. It usually contains formatting and styling so you can save a lot of time when creating a new project. Most templates are designed specifically to help you work with specific types of components. For example, you can use this feature to quickly create a resume or newsletter.

You can find a large number of templates in the Google library called Google Drive Template Gallery. It is located at drive.google.com/templates. To use the template, do the following.

1. Visit the above address.
2. You will see templates divided into categories.
3. Choose the one that suits you or that you want to take a closer look at. Click on it.
4. A new component will be created containing this template. You can start working with it right away, filling it with your own information while maintaining the formatting set for this file.
5. Don't forget to change the element name to your own.

Making a copy of the required file

You can create a copy of any file to use its data or formatting for another piece of information. For this:

Downloading a copy of the file to your computer

Google Docs File Settings

You can customize a number of features for each Google Docs component, including tables. The following settings are possible.

Although online editors are not a complete replacement for desktop office suites, they have their undoubted advantages, including the ability to collaborate with documents. No less important are the “cloud” properties of online offices and related services; this allows them to be used for file storage and document flow.

This review will examine in detail 5 online office packages based on the following criteria:

• Interface: convenience, design, response speed, observed failures during operation.
• Word Processor Toolkit: availability of all the necessary tools for working with text, inserting tables, images and other elements; Toolbar functionality, menu composition.
• Office Applications: since it is impossible to consider all the components of office suites within the framework of one article, key attention will be paid to the word processor as part of the office, other applications will be discussed briefly. Table editors will probably be covered in a separate review, since this is also a fairly broad topic for research and comparisons.
• Supported Formats: Import/export capabilities.
• Collaboration: tools for setting access rights, categorization.
• File storage: provided disk space (primarily in the free version, if available), synchronization with a PC; limits on the size of documents for storage/downloading, file sharing functions.
• mobile version: availability of a mobile web version, as well as applications for various devices.
• Rates: tariff plans, availability of a free version.

Review participants:

1. Google Docs
2. Zoho Docs (Zoho Office Suite)
3. Microsoft Office Web Apps
4. Teamlab Office
5. Thinkfree Online

Google Docs

The Google Documents service, or Google Docs, appeared as a result of the merger of two components - Writely (a word processor) and Google Spreadsheets (working with spreadsheets), created by Upstartle and 2Web Technologies, respectively. Both products were taken over by Google and integrated with Google Accounts in 2006. In 2012, the online office was assigned to Google Drive, supplemented by other applications at this time.

Interface

The design of the Google Docs office applications is made in a style characteristic of other Google services - Gmail, Calendar, etc. Therefore, with a global design update carried out by Google, it is not so rare that changes affect all Docs applications.

Most functional elements have gray, white and blue tones. No colored icons, strict style. In principle, a similar move towards minimalism is also characteristic of Microsoft, as will be seen in the case of the Office Web Apps suite of applications.

The toolbar is located in one row, above is a menu, buttons for commenting and sharing. You can hide unnecessary panels at any time, leaving only the toolbar visible. It is also easy to remove the ruler and/or formula bar through the “View” menu section. This makes editing in the browser more comfortable by expanding your workspace and focusing on the tools you need most.

In general, editing documents occurs without slowdowns. Unstable operation can occur when opening several dozen documents - but in this case it all comes down to browser resources. Among the shortcomings, it is necessary to note failures, which, albeit rarely, still occur on Google servers - at such moments it is impossible to edit the document.

Writely Toolkit

The main operations are placed on the toolbar, auxiliary commands are placed in the menu bar. For some reason, the developers decided that inserting objects (tables, pictures, special characters, etc.) was not needed in the panel for quick access, so this group was also moved to the menu. Generally speaking, many menu and panel commands are duplicated.

Basic options are available for fonts: selection of paragraph style (with preview), typeface (limited to a set of 8 fonts), and outline style (among which there is no strikethrough, although it is found in the Sheets component). Alignment, indentation, and spacing settings are also available.

Interestingly, you can embed additional fonts into your document. and in addition, an extended list of default fonts is provided. So, if you change the document language to English, the result will be surprising. Why the developers hid the option to add a custom font to Russian-language documents is unclear.

You can add bookmarks, internal links (anchors), and a table of contents to the document. Almost everything that is needed to create structure and markup is implemented in a word processor. It has been noted that it is not possible to add a digital signature or watermark to the document for security purposes. In the latter case, there is an alternative way using a custom CSS style, but this, of course, is not very convenient and obvious.

Spell check available: you can add new terms to the dictionary, and correction options are offered in the context menu. However, you cannot manually specify the text checking language; the only workaround is to change it in the document settings (“File → Language…”).

Hotkeys can be found in the memo (Ctrl + /), by hovering over the command icon or through the menu.

Office Applications

Google Drive includes applications for working with text documents (the Writely component, or Docs), tables (Sheets), presentations (Slides), forms (Forms), and drawings (Drawings). According to , there are only three main components - Documents, Tables and Slides. You can access any of them from the Google Drive start page.

Sheets

The Sheets (or Spreadsheets) processor allows you to work with spreadsheets, functions, and perform calculations. In this online version, several remarkable features can be noted in comparison with any offline spreadsheet processor - say, MS Excel. Firstly, it is possible to connect Google Apps Script scripts (a kind of alternative to VBA scripts), which opens up enormous opportunities for creating applications, automation, etc.

Secondly, integration with forms for collecting data into tables. Forms is not mentioned in Google Help as a document component, but it is an important part of office applications. Forms interact closely with Sheets tables. Using the application, you can create questionnaires, polls, and data collection forms, which can later be conveniently viewed in the form of tables. At the same time, text fields, switches and other interactive elements can be used to build voting polls, etc.

The list of functions compared to MS Excel is limited and is available only in the English version. However, it’s not difficult to get used to, especially since you need to understand: this is not a copy of formulas from an offline office package. The list can be found in the section List of Google Sheets Features. You will notice that Sheets has its own functions: for example, for importing data from HTML and XML, Google functions, etc.

Working with cells is standard: sorting, filtering, creating ranges, conditional formatting. At the same time, no freezes were noticed, although pauses occurred when capturing large ranges. Some familiar commands are missing. For example, for such a simple task as finding duplicates, you have to use Apps Script or other workarounds.

In Sheets you can build simple pivot tables. There are tools for constructing diagrams: linear, combined, columnar, pie, histograms, etc. There are also less common types of them - organizational, geographical. Perhaps the only thing missing is (available as a gadget, and not in the best implementation).

Slides (Presentations)

The slide application is designed for creating presentations and then exporting them to PDF, PPTX, or directly viewing them in a browser. Transition effects, animation, and templates are supported. You can add videos, diagrams from related Docs applications, WordArt, etc. to your presentation.

There are some features of Slides that should be listed for later comparison with other services. Firstly, multi-selection of slides, and in addition to standard operations with the clipboard, you can make changes en masse - change transitions, change the structure of layouts. Secondly, inserting notes. As a comparison of cloud offices shows, this opportunity is not obvious and conveniently implemented everywhere. Thirdly, a fairly simple, not overloaded interface.

Drawings

The Drawings application (in Russian it sounds more vague - “Google Drawings”) allows you to create drawings using lines, shapes, and text. Guides, grid snapping, and automatic distribution make your work easier.

The service can be used to create sketches, simple design, and to create graphs and diagrams. Drawings' strength is its ability to collaborate on a document. Without this, perhaps, the value of the program would decrease, because there are plenty of graphic editors of this kind.

Collaboration

One of the main cloud benefits of Google Docs is the ease of collaboration with documents and the distribution of roles. A few important functions can be briefly listed.

All changes in the process of working with a document are displayed in real time in the form of cursors of different colors in those positions where editing occurs (in the case of the Writely component). In Sheets and Slides, the corresponding cell/slide is highlighted.

A chat is available in the sidebar, so you can have a discussion in the document; this option is not found in the Drive interface. You can also comment on text, cells, and slides.

Access rights are quite easy to manage. You can share a document, as well as add a user and specify their access level (editor, owner, commenting, reading).

Contacts can be easily combined into groups, which makes the distribution of rights more efficient, especially when working in a team.

Collections used to be available in Google Docs, but after the “rebranding” to Google Drive, they were replaced by folders. And if before it was possible to add a file to several collections, now this option is missing. It can be assumed that this was done due to the impossibility of synchronizing collections and folders in local storage. In addition, when using folders, there are no difficulties with access rights for user groups. On the other hand, with tags (as, for example, in Zoho Docs) it would be much more convenient to put things in order in Google Docs.

Supported Document Formats

Documentation

Two ISO document standards are supported - OpenDocument (open/export) and Office Open XML (open only), plus proprietary formats. As a result, the import/export list in the Docs word processor looks like this: Word, ODF, RTF, PDF, HTML and ZIP. When uploading documents to the service, the files can be converted from MS Office into a format for further editing using the service tools.

Tables

Import: XLS, CSV, TXT and ODS
Export: XLS, CSV, TXT, ODS, PDF and HTML

Presentations

Import: PPT and PPS
Export: PDF, PPT and TXT

Images

Export: PNG, JPEG, SVG and PDF

In addition to the above list, there is also a separate list of formats supported by the universal Google Drive viewer, which is also available for mobile devices (see below).

File storage

There is no “Save” button on the toolbar in Google Docs applications; all changes are saved automatically. Documents keep records of previous versions with the ability to open them in preview mode or download to a computer.

As already mentioned, the file storage is Google Drive. 5 GB of storage is allocated free of charge. The maximum document size can be 1,024,000 characters or 1 MB for text files uploaded to Google for editing. For tables, the limit is 400,000 cells, for presentations - 50 MB, which is approximately 200 slides.

Rates

Google Drive is free, plans with increased disk space are listed. Discounts apply for educational and non-profit organizations. You can also use Docs as part of the Google Apps suite of cloud services.

[+] Free and no significant restrictions
[+] Convenient, non-distracting design
[+] Smart collaboration in the cloud
[+] Integration with Google services
[+] Regular innovations
[+] Template gallery
[−] Occasionally there are malfunctions
[−] There is no possibility of personalizing the workspace (branding)