There are three ways to create a Google Doc.

1.Option 1- Sign into your Google Account (SEE PAGE), Go to the Google Apps icon (“waffle” shape of 9 dots) next to the Google Sign in icon, click on the Google Docs icon.

2.Option 2- Go to Docs.Google.Com, You can choose a template to create a Google Doc or select the rainbow + to create a blank document.

3.Option 3- In the address bar URL type Docs.new.

Once you have created a new blank document- Rename the file by creating a name in the top left text box next to the docs icon.

Google Docs Text can be formatted just like any other word processor. Use the main toolbar to change the Font type, Font size, and Font color.

• Change Font Type- “Arial” is the page default font. Select the drop down, and select the font you would like to format. To add more fonts- Select the font dropdown in the main toolbar, on the top of the list select +add more fonts. Add or delete fonts from the menu and select OK.

• Change Font Size- “11” is the default font size. Highlight the text you want to resize, use the dropdown to change the font size number.

• Bold Text- Highlight text, select B

• Italicize Text- Highlight text, select I

• Underline Text- Highlight text, select U

• Recolor Text- Highlight text and click on the “A icon” on the toolbar. (The font color will be presented as a line under the icon.) Select the color you would like from the color menu that appears or click on custom if you would like to select a hex color.

• Highlight Text- The highlight icon (highlight brush) next to the color icon will “highlight” the text, by changing the background color of the text on the doc.

• Docs Paint Formatting Roller- You can easily change the format of a section in Google Docs to match in a document by using the paint roller tool. Highlight text, select the paint roller icon, and highlight the text you want to reformat.

Change the orientation on the page-

Paragraph Alignment- In the formatting toolbar select left, center, right or justified alignment.

Paragraph Line Spacing- Select the line you want to change. Select the line spacing icon on the formatting toolbar. Paragraphs options are single, 1.15, 1.5 or double spaced. Also remove or add space above or below a paragraph.

Google has an extra component called Text Style. You can easily create a linked document outline and reformat sections of your document using Text Style.

CREATING AN OUTLINE

1. Highlight the text you want to format. Click on the default style on the toolbar (The default text style is “normal text.)

2. Select Title, subtitle, or heading.

3. An outline will automatically be created based on the text styles that were selected. Click on the Outline icon in the left corner of the screen to pop-out the document outline.

FORMATTING SECTIONS

If you would like to reformat a style for the specific sections of a document, use the Text Style feature.

1. Highlight the text and format it with the font and color you would like.

2. While the text is still highlighted, select Text Style and click on the small arrow to the right of the word “Title”

3. Select “Update “Title” to match.” Every Title in the entire document will be changed to fit that particular format.

Repeat this process for any other sections of the document (headings, subheadings, normal text).

Create an outline of the document using Text Styles (see section above).

Google Docs will automatically create a digital Table of Contents based on the outline that has been created.

To insert a Table of Contents.

1. Go to the Insert on the main toolbar.

2. On the bottom of the drop-down menu hover over “Table of Contents”

3. Select either a Table of contents with Page numbers, or a Table of Contents with digital links to the sections.

Click on the table of contents and select the circle “refresh” icon that appears to update the Table of Contents.

You can create an interactive document with clickable links.

1. Type the text you want to link to a website.

2. Select either Insert > Link or click on the “link” icon on the toolbar.

3. Type or copy the URL address in the window.

4. Select apply.

The link is active when it is a new color and underlined.

There are various ways to insert images into a Google Doc.

INSERT AN IMAGE

1. Select the Insert option on the main toolbar.

2. Hoover or click on images. You can choose how to import the images- upload from the computer, from Google Drive, with a URL link or a photo.

3. You can also select Search the web.

• Select Search the Web, and a menu will appear on the right of the document.

• Search for the image in the menu . (Note all images are labeled for reuse)

• Click or drag over the image you want to insert.

FORMAT AN IMAGE

After you have inserted an image, the image can be formatted.

1. Select the inserted image- “Image Options” will appear on the toolbar. Select image options to pull up the formatting menu.

2. You will be able to change image with

• Size and rotation

• Text Wrapping

• Recolor

• Adjustments

3. Select each menu to see more options.

To create a table in Google Docs go to Insert > Table and select the number of columns and rows.

To change the table format go to Format > Table where rows and columns can be added or removed and the table sizes formatted.

To format the borders of each table cell, click on the small down arrow inside each cell to format the line borders.

Google docs have a variety of different “breaks” that can be built throughout the document. Breaks allow different headers and different sections with different settings as well as breaking up ideas by page breaks.

1. On the top main toolbar, click insert and select break.

2. Choose a break type

Page Break- A brand new page section.

Section Break- A new section, but on the same page as the previous.

In the top right corner of the screen there is a pencil icon labeled “editing” There are three different types of “view modes” in Docs.

• Editing mode- This is the default mode where tools and features can be used to edit the document directly.

• The suggesting mode- Use this when you are proofreading for others or if you are offering suggestions that will need to be accepted or rejected by others.

• View Mode- You can read or print the final document- you cannot make any changes accidentally to the document itself.

Click on the down arrow to access the different modes.

From the view menu toolbars can visible or hidden

• Show Ruler- Change indents and margins on the Doc ruler.

• Document Outline- Make the document outline icon visible.

• Equation toolbar- Make the equation toolbar visible. Using the toolbar dropdown menus choose the format of equation you want. A text box equation tool will be inserted into the doc. Insert equations directly into Google Docs. Toggle through equations with the left and right arrow.

• Section Breaks- If you have created section breaks throughout the document, they will become visible.

1. Highlight the text or image you want to comment on.

2. In the toolbar select the comment icon (Speech bubble with a +) or select the same Comment icon on the right side of the Doc.

3. Type in the comment, to send a comment to a specific type in the + or @ symbol and type in the person's name and the comment. The person will be sent an email notification.

4. Click on Comment

5. You or others can reply to the comment or select the resolve comment to make the comment disappear.

6. Click on the speech bubble icon in the top right corner next to the blue share button to view all comments in the doc.

SHARE THROUGH THE SHARE BUTTON-

You can invite someone to become an editor on your document, which allows people to collaborate on a doc in “real-time.”

1. In the top right corner of the Google Doc, select the blue Share button.

2. Type in the name or email address of the person you would like to share the file with.

• A message option will appear. You can write a message that will be sent with the file through email. If you choose not to email the file, click the “notify people” option off.

3. Next to the email, select the pencil icon to change sharing permissions. There are three main categories.

• View- people can view, but can’t make any changes to the file itself, or share the file with others. They can make their own copy.

• Comment- People can make comments and suggestions in the document, but can’t share the file with others.

• Edit- people can make changes, accept or reject suggestions and share the file with others.

*To access more settings- select the “advanced Options” in the bottom right corner. You can prevent editors from changing access and adding new people as well as disable the option to download or copy the file when shared.

4. When you are finished click done.

The shared file will be in the recipients “shared with me” drive. They can share the file.

SHARE USING A SHAREABLE LINK

If you don’t have a specific person you want to share a file with, or the number of people you want to share with is large, share with a shareable link.

1. In the top right corner of the Google Doc, select the blue Share button.

2. In the top right corner of the pop-up select Get Shareable link

3. A pop up to share with others will appear. Use the drop-down arrow to change the setting for the shareable link. (This is separate settings than the “share” button settings.)

4. Select if you want members in your domain (ours is APS) to edit, comment or view the document. Remember if you select edit anyone can change the document.

5.If you want to share the document outside of the domain, select more- you can then make the document accessible to anyone with the link, or public on the web. Before clicking on save, be sure to change the settings for access to view, edit or comment using the blue drop down menu.

6. Select save. Select copy link and send that link to anyone you want to share the document with.

Google Docs save automatically. To see different versions of the documents from inception, use Version History.

1. Select File

2. Select Version History > See version History.

3. A new screen with a menu on the right will appear with dates and time stamps. To see specific changes, choose the time stamp, click on the small black arrow for a drop down.

• The drop down will show who had performed specific changes in the document.

4. Click on any previous version of the document in the menu. The version will appear on the screen. Using the more menu (three dots on the right) of the date, you can name the particular version, or make a copy of that version.

Click on the back arrow in the top left of the screen next to the date to return to the “live” version of the document.

The explore tool brings quick access to drive files, web searches and images straight from the file.

1. On the bottom right of the screen is the explore tool icon (diamond logo), click on the explore icon.

2. The explore window will open on the right of the document. The Explore tool will read the contents of the page make suggestions, but you can also type in a keyword in the search box.

3. There will be three tabs to pull information from in the document- web, images and drive.

Web Explore Tool-

with the web tool, you can reword or directly quote information from the internet, citing the source with a footnote. To use the Web Explore Tool-

1. Make sure you are on the web tab in explore.

2. From the explore window click on the direct link to a website to open the site in a new tab.

3. Copy and paste information back into the Google Document or reword the information. Make sure the cursor is at the end of the sentence.

4. Find the original article the information was pulled from on the right of the Google Doc. Hover (don’t click) on the website link.

5. Two large quotation marks will appear next to the site link. Click on the quotation marks and a footnote with citation for that site will automatically be added to the Google Doc.

6. Google can provide citations in MLA, APA and Chicago. To change the citation format, go to the more menu (three dots) next to web results in the explore window. Toggle between the different formats.

Images Explore Tool-

Images can be inserted straight from the Explore tool, with information hyperlinked to the image itself for citation purposes. All images are labeled for fair use.To use the Images Explore Tool-

1. Make sure you are on the images tab in explore. Fair use images will appear in the explore window.

2. From the explore window, hover over the image to be inserted and a + will appear in the top right of the image.

3. Click on the + and the image will be inserted. A hyperlink to the original location of the picture will be attached with the image.

Drive Explore Tool-

Search for another Google Drive file to reference straight from the explore tool.

1. Make sure you are on the Drive tab in explore.

2. Search for the file you want to open. Matching documents will appear underneath.

Click on the file and it will open in a new tab.

Google natively supports Microsoft Office and PDF files. To open a Microsoft Word file in Google Docs-

1. From drive upload the Word document by selecting the + New button and File Upload.

2. Double click the document to open.

3. On the top drop down menu “Open with” select Google Docs.

4. The file will open as a .Docx file in Google Drive. It will stay as a Word file with most features of Google Docs compatible. (There are features that are not available in Google Docs).

5. To convert a Microsoft Word file to a Google Doc- In Google Docs select file > Save as Google Docs. A Google Doc file will be saved as well as a Word file.

*To automatically convert all files to Google Docs automatically change the settings in Google Drive to automatically convert files.

Google tools has some amazing built in tools for Google Docs. From the main menu select Tools for the Tools drop down menu. The options are-

• Spelling and Grammar Check- Spelling and grammar will check the spelling and grammar checks in the Doc.

• Word Count- Select word count to see the word counts. From this window you can also turn on a word count meter in the document.

• Compare Documents- compare one document to another in Google Drive. Scan both documents and see where the changes are and who has made those changes.

• Voice Typing- You can dictate information with a microphone into a Google Document. Allow the Microphone access, click on the microphone icon and talk for voice typing.

• Translate Document- Google will make a copy of the file in the selected language. Both files will be saved in Drive.

• Preferences- Have a code on the left side and that text will automatically be changed to the list on the right.