Navigation & Getting Started

There are several ways you can start a Google Sheet!

Directly from your Google Drive

From your app launcher (waffle)

Going directly to sites.google.com

Read the labeled items below to understand the navigation of the Google Sheets interface.

  • Click into the title to rename the site file.

  • Click out of the text box to save the name.

Undo Last Action

This easy access button will undo the last edit you made in your site.

Redo Last Action

This easy access button will redo the last edit you made in your site, if applicable.

Preview

This button allows you to view your site as if it were published across multiple devices - computer, tablet, and cell phone.

Copy Published Site Link

This button allows you to easily retrieve and copy the published link to your site while in edit mode. The site would have to first be published in order to copy the published link.

Share with Others

This button works just like the Share button in other Google applications. From here, you can share the editable site with specific users, or you can set general permissions for the editable and/or published site.

Settings

Here you can alter overall site settings such as Navigation, Brand Images, and the Announcement banner.

  • Navigation - Alter where the navigation buttons appear (top or side) and the color (black, white, or transparent).

  • Brand Images - Provide a site logo that appears next to the site name and a favicon that appears as an icon in a tab when a user accesses the site.

  • Viewer Tools - Determine whether you want users to see Info Icons, which show page specific details, and Anchor Links, which allows users to copy links to specific sections on the page.

  • Analytics - Toggle on/off the ability to get insights and metrics on site usage.

  • Announcement Banner - Create a banner of short information and a linked button that displays above your site content. Select a color for your banner and whether it appears on all pages of your site or just the home page.

More Options

The three dots in the upper right corner provide access to:

  • Version History - See and potentially restore prior edits made on the site.

  • Duplicate Site - Make a new copy of the site with all formatting remaining the same.

  • Report a Problem - Report a specific issue to Google.

  • Help - Quick access to the Google Sites Help Center.

  • Take a Tour! - Get a Google guided refresher on the basics of Google Sites.

Publish

When you're ready to publish the site for the first time or to update your already published site, then simply click the Publish button in the upper right hand corner.

  • If publishing for the first time, you will be prompted to provide a site name (a default is provided).

  • If publishing new changes, you will be prompted to a screen that allows you to review the changes with a side by side view of the previously published site.

  • Select the Publish drop down arrow to:

          • Alter publish settings

          • Review changes and publish

          • View the published site

          • Unpublish the site.

  • Customize the page banner by selecting a preselected image, finding an image through a Google search, or uploading your own.

  • Change the header size by hovering over the banner and making your selection.

  • Page banners can be different for every page on your site.

The Design Tabs

Now you are ready to design your Site. The design tabs are to the right of the Site page and allow you to customize the features of your Site. Read below to learn what each design tab can do for your Site!

  • This tab offers ways to add content to your page.

  • You can add text, images, videos, GIFs, links, Google Drive files, calendars, buttons, and maps!

  • Individual content is initially placed on a page in separate "tiles".

  • Drag and drop tiles on a page to change the order of content.

  • Double click on a page for quick access to the Design Palette.

This is a screenshot of the Insert tab in Google Sites. The tab has four quick insert icons labeled "Text Box", "Images", "Embed" and "From Drive" with a descriptive label that says "Quickly insert text, images, embedded links, or files from Google Drive!". Under that is a "Layouts" area that is descriptively labeled with "Select from 6 prepared layouts!" Finally, there is a list of other content that can be inserted into a Site: Table of Contents ("Adds hyperlinks to main areas on each page"), Image carousel ("Select images that scroll through on your page!"), Button ("Add buttons that link to other pages and/or webpages!"), Divider ("Separate your content on a page using dividers for visual organization"), YouTube, Calendar, Map, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, and Charts. The last 8 options are labeled with "Quickly add specific Google Files, calendar, or maps to your page!"

  • The Pages tab starts the organization of your Site as users would navigate through it.

  • Add pages by selecting the + icon at the bottom of the tab.

  • Drag and drop pages to reorder.

  • Drag a page into another page to make it a sub-page.

  • Select the ellipses next to a page to change the page name, duplicate the page, make a sub-page of that page, or delete a page.

This is a GIF animation showing how to add pages, how to make subpages using drag and drop, how to reorder pages by drag and drop, how to delete a page and how to rename a page.

  • Start your Site by selecting a Theme.

  • The theme governs the fonts and color schemes of your entire Site automatically.

This is a screen shot of the Themes menu options in Google Sites. It shows the "Simple" theme as the default theme with five color circles and a fill bucket underneath as theme color options (blue is checked). Under the colors is a dropdown box for font styles with a label stating "Under each theme you can select Font Styles: Light, Classic, or Heavy". Finally, under font styles are additional themes: Aristotle, Diplomat, and Vision.