We all have come to love Google Drive apps because of their
simplicity and ease of use. The new features Google has added to Docs, Sheets,
and Slides are just in time for the start of the new school year. The good
thing about it is you don't have to be a student in order to utilize these new
useful features. Below are highlights on some of the newest features Google
Drive is now offering in order to create powerful and more creative documents
and presentations that will surely impress your professor, colleagues, or your
boss.
Google has been mastering
voice recognition for some time now and those skills are now being introduced
with voice typing in Google Docs. With this feature, you can now dictate
instead of type, just by speaking what you want to write. Voice Typing by
Google Docs currently supports 40 different languages.
Want to know how to use
this feature? Open any document from Google Docs in the Chrome browser. Then
head to Tools, then select Voice
typing. Now, click on the microphone, and then start speaking
for Google to transcribe what you are speaking, including punctuation marks.
You may speak freely, but keep in mind that Google will censor profane
language.
The Google Drive Android
app has a new Research tool for Docs that allows you to perform a search in
Google without having to leave the document you are working on. This feature is
helpful when it comes to finding and reading information, copying and pasting
texts or phrases from online into your document, inserting images you have
chosen from Google, as well as inserting links.
Research has been
available on Google Drive's website, but this is the first time it's featured
on the Android app.
If you need to add
multiple links to your article or other document, the Power Linking feature is
definitely faster than Research Tool in accomplishing that job. To use it,
highlight the target text, then press [Control] + [K] or ⌘ + [K].
The search menu will then auto-suggest a link. If one of the suggestions given
doesn't give you the results that you're looking for, change the text in the
search box to more specifically match your target.
Google Sheet now lets you
create charts in no time and make you look like a data whiz that easily. If you
want to try it out, select the Chart icon on the menu bar or choose Insert > Chart to bring up the chart editor box.
Going to the Start tab, you can edit the range of cells
and choose different layout settings. It also suggests some recommended charts
based on the type of data you have. If none of those options suit your
preference, you can click the More link and select from some other
options. Afterwards, click on Insert to place the chart you have selected
into your spreadsheet.
This is another powerful
feature presented by Google Docs -- create a map out of location-based data.
For example, if you have population data or other kinds of results from
different countries, you can create a chart that will provide a better visualization
of this. The data will need to include specific locations in the cells in order
for the command to work. To use it, click the Charts tab and then select Map.
Next, select the GeoMap option. Then in the Customize tab, you can change the colors that appear
on your map. Trending data in Sheets can be represented by many different kinds
of charts and methods. Once you have these two features down, you should be
able to experiment and easily use any of the different options offered by this
great feature.
Google Slides is neither
similar to PowerPoint when it comes to template offerings nor with Keynote when
it comes to visual elegance, but it can make your work a lot easier, especially
if it's a group project. You can collaborate on a Google Slide the same way you
would with Docs or Sheets.
You can even upload a
PowerPoint file, convert it to a Slides presentation, and work anywhere you
want. If you want to upload a PowerPoint presentation, locate the file on your
computer and drag it to into the Drive interface. Select the box that converts
the file to the proper Google format. When you have your Slides presentation
started, you can then invite others to view and/or edit the presentation, if
necessary.
You can even embed a
presentation on a Google Site. In Sites, go to Insert > Drive > Presentation. Any user
who navigates to your site have the ability to click through the slides
directly from the webpage. To insert the presentation into your personal or
company website, click File > Publish to the web... In the dialog box that appears, copy
the HTML from the box labeled Embed code, and then paste it into the HTML of
your website. Once done, click on OK.
This feature also works
with other Google Drive files, giving you the option to easily display any of
your projects to other users.
0 comments:
Post a Comment