Google Docs Voice Typing is Your Personal Dictation Assistant

I hate doing other people's typing so when I send out a PDF for review, I ask users to type in their comments so I can just copy/paste text to update. So, when I get someone who prints, writes out their comments, scans and sends me the document, I'm a bit annoyed. 

Then I remembered Voice Typing in Google Docs! Just fire it up, read the paragraphs out-loud and typing done! Saves time, money and stress.

Note: mobile users can use the built-in dictation tools of their operating system.

https://goo.gl/tXff6z

#dictation   #ttips   #voicedictation  

Easily Send Email to Everyone Working on a Google Apps Document

There are many times while working on a document that I want to send an email out to everyone who's working on it (example: upcoming deadline). The Comments function (http://goo.gl/AljfqM) is great when want to ask a question about a piece of text, but it's really not the right tool for general messages.

I used to spend time trying to remember who I shared the document with or actually went looking under the Shared settings, but there's a better way. From within the document, select Email Collaborators from under the File menu. Google will display an email window with all the collaborators of the document listed. Now it's just a matter of updating the subject line, the message, and select who I want receive the email.

Sharing Your Agenda/Minutes with Google Docs

Sending out agendas, updating them before the meeting and then sending out follow-up minutes can be time consuming, especially if there's an error that needs to be corrected and you have to send it out again. However, by creating your agenda with Google Docs and sharing it with your group, they will have a link to the most up-to-date information that can quickly be updated. Best part - no downloading or emailing necessary!

Setup

1. Create a folder where all your agenda/minutes documents will be stored. Be sure to include your committee/department's name (eg: Web Services Meeting Agendas/Minutes).
    
2. Share the folder with your committee members. As only you will be responsible for updating the content, the others only need the ability to provide comments. Information on how to setup sharing can be found at http://goo.gl/sk03rp.
    
3. Create a document that will act as your template, including sharing (you can see an example at: http://goo.gl/7M6OkQ). As you create a new meeting's agenda, you can either create a copy of your template or duplicate/edit your previous meeting's agenda.

The Process

As long as you agenda documents are stored in the proper folder,  the committee members will have access at any time to see the agenda.

Here is the process for each meeting:

1. Create your document for the meeting and update the agenda.
    
2. Send out the agenda for feedback (you can use the Email collaborators command under the File menu).
    
3. Committee members can leave comments (http://goo.gl/AljfqM) or suggest edit changes (http://goo.gl/2yOEy7).
    
4. Before the meeting, go through and add/approve any changes to the agenda.
    
5. During the meeting, make notes in the same document.
    
6. After the meeting, clean up the notes and make any changes.
    
7. Send our a message (see Step 2) letting everyone know the minutes are complete.

Built in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in Google Docs

Ever had to retype a page of text? It's a long process that nobody really likes to do — except Google!

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) lets you convert images/PDFs with text into text documents. All you need to do is scan, upload and Google will convert your document.

So let's look at the steps:

1. Scan your document. You can use a regular scanner, photocopier/scanner or numerous apps for your mobile device to scan your document.
2. Upload the file. Currently, to take advantage of OCR, you must do this through your desktop browser.
3. Ensure Convert text from PDF is selected in the settings:
   
   
4. Start the upload

Once conversion is completed, Google will create a document for you that contains an image of each page followed by the text it converted for that page. This provides an easy way to check Google's work and make any corrections. You can see 2 samples here.

For more information see: About Optical Character Recognition in Google Drive.

Replacing PDFs with Google Documents

For years, PDFs were the preferred vehicle for creating documents that looked exactly the way you laid them out. Different browsers were notorious for reformatting text and layouts - you never knew exactly how things were going to be displayed. But PDFs bring their own challenges - it's a separate file you have to download, sometimes you need a different piece of software to view it, and it doesn't reformat itself for mobile devices.

As an alternative, take a look at Google Docs, the word processing app that's part of Google Drive. The power of these web based apps can allow you to create some beautiful looking documents with some great advantages:

• they're web pages so no need to download a separate file
• text will re-warp to fit your device (images may not always fit the window size0
• you can easily update them
• you can collaboratively work on keeping them up to date
• you'll never lose the original document

Once you have your document looking the way you want, just go under the Share settings and make sure all users (or only those you want) can view the page!

Discover more about the share settings!

Styles and Table of Contents in Documents

If you're using the Bold command for your headings and subheadings, now's the time to start making use of Google's styles! Not only can it help you quickly assign size/color/spacing/bolding to text, you can quickly update throughout your document with just one change!

Assign and update

As you're creating your document, instead of bolding, assign one of the heading styles (don't worry if you don't like it - you can change that). Once you've assigned a style to a piece of text, highlight the text and make the changes until you're happy with the result. Then you can update the heading (see image below) and all instances throughout the document will be updated!

You can even set the defaults for all future documents you create by selecting Save as my default styles from the Options at the bottom of the styles list.

Table of Contents from your styles

Once you've formatted all your text using styles, you can quickly create a Table of Contents. Just select Table of Contents from the Insert menu. Google will automatically insert the text from your styles and indent the subheadings like this:

Check out the sample document

Resources

Working with styles - Lynda.com 

Edit and format a Google document - Google Help Add titles, headings and customize the style of your document  - Google Help Table of contents in documents  - Google Help

Create a Merge Newsletter with Google Docs (Just in time for Christmas)

Many people enjoy sending out a year in review Christmas letter. One of the things I've always hated about them is that because they're so generic, they feel impersonal.

There are many App Scripts available that can add features and tools to Google Docs. Autocrat allows you to merge data in a spreadsheet with a Google Doc and save the merged files as a Google Document or a PDF. It will even email a copy of the document to individuals.

Now let's take the concept of the newsletter and expand it. In addition to adding the person's name at the top, let's customize the first and last paragraph (the middle will be the generic newsletter content). If I'm writing to my brother Bob, my first paragraph will be a personal message to him (eg: Great seeing you this summer - thanks for inviting us to your cabin). The last paragraph is also customized for him (eg: Looking forward to seeing you at Christmas - your room is ready for you!).

After you've gone through and created all this content in your spreadsheet (or if it's easier for you, use a form to enter your info), you can use Autocrat to create the merged newsletters. You can print them off or you can let Autocrat email them out.

Send Emails with Google Forms

Google Forms is a great tool for collecting information, but you can also use it as a contact form on your website. Unfortunately, it doesn't email you the contents of the form - at best you can have Google send you a notification when there is a change in the spreadsheet.

That's where scripts come in. Thanks to the genius of others, there are many scripts you can use to extend the functionality of spreadsheets. The one I use is FormEmailer by +Henrique Abreu. This wonderful script makes it easy to send emails with customized messages. Check out the video below and be sure to visit the FormEmailer  site!

Set background colour of spreadsheet cells using conditional formatting

I'll often use Google's spreadsheets as a sort of checklist - the collaboration function is great when you're working with others. However, looking at a long list of items and trying to see what has been completed vs what needs to done can become a task in itself. That's why I like to use conditional formatting to change the background colour of cells - helps me determine where to focus my energies.

Let's pretend I'm building a house and I have the framing all in place. I'm trying to co-ordinate 2 trades: electrical and drywall. Obviously, the electrical needs to be in before the drywall goes up. Once those two tasks are done, I can go in and paint.

As each trade is finished a room, I ask them to place a Y (Yes) in their column. Once both columns show green, I know the room's ready for me to go in and paint. This spreadsheet will also let the drywaller know when he can go into a room and do his work. Here are the steps you need to do this:

1. Select the cells you want the conditional formatting to run on.
2. Select Conditional formatting from the Format menu.
3. Select the condition you want met (in this case, text contains Y).
4. Select the colour of the text/background you want when this condition is met.
5. Save the rules.

As I like to visualize where the holdups are, I add an additional rule that makes the cell red if empty.

Check out the spreadsheet in action!

Using Google Presentations in a Hangout

Created January 8, 2013 by Trevor Beck and Ronnie Bincer

Using Presentations

Setup before starting your hangout

1. From Google Drive (not the Google Drive for Hangouts tool) open your presentation document (typically will open in a new tab).
2. Move new tab (Presentation) into a new browser window.
3. Using the dropdown menu (Present) in the upper right, select “Present with Speaker Notes”.
4. Resize the presentation window to remove any black bars (optional).

Once the hangout has started and you’re ready to give your presentation:

1. Select Screenshare App from within the Hangout window.
2. Select the presentation browser window to share.
3. Bluebox yourself to keep your presentation window front even when others speak.
4. Use the speaker notes window to drive the presentation forward by clicking on the thumbnail for the next slide.

Note: this will provide you with a browser window that will allow you to display your presentation, as well as open additional tabs to surf the web. Any tabs opened on this window will be viewable through the screenshare.

Tips:

• you can adjust the size of the fonts for the speaker notes using the minus and plus signs at the top right of the Speaker Notes window. Or you can start the speaker notes at a larger size to begin with.
• for a more focused presentation, you can present the window without tabs by selecting “Present in new window” first.
• you can resize the slide window to a smaller size to give you more room on your desktop. Caution: this may slightly affect the displayed content size in the hangout.
• if you add animation to objects or transitions between slides that are set to appear on click, you can click on the thumbnail in the speaker notes. Do not advance by using the slide numbers drop-down menu below the thumbnails.
• your cursor will be visible to your audience (it’s a screenshare). Place your cursor away from the window if you don’t want it visible. (Could be a Bonus... for pointing to things in the live presentation... like a laser pointer). If you do utilize the pointer as part of the presentation, then use your Arrow Keys to advance the presentation.
• if you are presenting by yourself through Hangouts on Air (HOA), your screenshare will automatically display at full screen (no filmstrip will be visible to your audience). If there are other participants in the HOA, you can achieve the same effect of full screen by video-muting the participants’ video thumbnails in the filmstrip (Cameraman technique).
• remember to bluebox yourself/your screenshare so that others can talk without interrupting the display
• participants using mobile devices will be able to view the screenshare - they cannot collaborate on documents within the Hangout.
• remember not to use fast transitions for slides and objects (minimum of 2 seconds)
• if using your mouse as a pointer, make it larger
• Macs: System Preferences → Accessibility → Display
• Windows: Control Panel → Hardware and Sound → Devices and Printers → Mouse

#hangouttips #hangouts #googledriveinhangouts

Associated videos:

1. Google Drive Hangout App is NOT for Presentationshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zgd8ZXYz10
2. Using Google Presentations in a Hangout or HOAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD-UqlC8CuI
3. Summary with Q & A for Presentations in a Hangout or HOAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb4ljgq77lE

The Google Drive Hangout App is NOT for Presentations

Discover the proper way to use the Hangout App for Google Drive

Using Google Drive Documents inside a Hangout has a lot of value, but it is not very useful if you are trying to do a presentation to a group within the hangout or to a group watching it from the outside. The main problem is everyone in the hangout can open up their own version of the document and may be at a different place than the ‘leader’ or ‘presenter’ is. We have some great ideas on how to utilize Google Drive docs as a presentation method which will be shown in our example HOA/video.

What the Hangout App called Google Drive is really quite useful for is online collaboration inside the hangout. Inside a hangout, you can have a virtual meeting where each party involved can brainstorm, discuss, etc. and get those thoughts into a shared document all at the same time in the same meeting.

If you're any kind of a power user of Google Docs (i.e. Google Drive), you know about the power of collaboration. Your document lives in "the cloud" (i.e. Google Drive) and is only available to you. However, by "sharing" your document, you can assign specific rights (view, comment or edit) to individuals. Now a group of people can work on a document together - either at the same time or at a time convenient for the individual (how to set up document sharing: http://goo.gl/DnLsg).

If you understand this, then it's easy to see the purpose of the Google Drive tool within Hangouts - it allows you to *edit* collaboratively within a Hangout. You basically see the same window, except it’s within the Hangout. With Google Drive for Hangouts (GDH), you choose from the files you have access to that you want to work on with the participants of your Hangout. Just like working on a document together from Google Drive (web app) you can see changes being made in real time *if you're both looking at the same page*. This is where the confusion comes in.

Let's assume we're both working on a Google word processing document in a Hangout. By default, it opens on the first page and as I make changes, you see it happen in real time. Same thing goes for a spreadsheet or presentation. However, we can actually work on different parts of the document at the same time. With word processing, I could be editing on page 2 while you’re adding new text on page 5. However, because the default view for both of us is page 1, we can’t see the edits happening.

This is why many people are confused about using the presentation tool. When GDH is loaded, we both see slide 1. Here again, we could both be working on different slides. However, you’ll also notice there’s no way to actually view it as a presentation within the Hangout - the purpose of GDH is to *edit* the document collaboratively.

So, is there a way to present a presentation? Yes there is and we’re working on instructions on how to do that and will be presenting that very soon.

#googledrive #hangouttips #hangouts #googledriveinhangouts #HOA