How to Use Google Docs

Google once again has figured out a way to make our lives easier, with its Web-based documents tool, Google Docs. The free application makes it extremely simple to create basic documents from scratch, including word processing documents, tables and presentations. The best thing about the tool is that it allows you to do most of your work online, without cluttering your desktop or hard drive with all that data. You can still keep your documents private.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A free Google account

1. Open the Google Docs website (see Resources below). When the Google login page appears, simply enter your user ID and password in the box on the right. If you don't have a Google account, create a free account, which will takes only seconds.

2. Create your first document by clicking on the "New Document" button at the top of the page, then choosing the kind of file you want to create from three options--"Document," "Spreadsheet" or "Presentations."

3. Begin using your document just as you would a Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint document. You will see pretty much the same task bars as you see while working on any of those Microsoft programs. For example, if you're working on a text document, you'll see buttons for fonts, bold, italics, underlining, indents, alignment, cutting, copying, pasting, and so on.

4. Save your document by clicking on the "File" button and choosing "Save" in the drop-down menu. Rename your document by clicking on "File" and then "Rename." Once you save or rename a document, you will be prompted for a file name. Choose a file name and click "OK," and you're done.

5. Choose tags for your documents. Because Google doesn't use folders to hold your documents, you will need a way to retrieve them, especially if your list of documents becomes lengthy. By tagging as soon as you complete and name a document, you save valuable time in the long run. To tag an article, choose it from your list of files by clicking the check box next to it. Then click on "Tags" at the top of the page, and in the drop-down menu, you will see tags for your document suggested by Google. Choose from those and/or add your own tags.

6. Share a document with others by opening the Google Docs page. When you see your list of documents, click on the "Share Now" button to the right of your document title. You will be prompted to enter the email addresses of people with whom you want to share the document. Enter the emails and decide whether or not you want these individuals to be "Collaborators" or "Viewers." Viewers can only read your document, and collaborators have your permission to edit the document. Anyone who wants to view the document has to sign up with Google.

7. Publish your Google document to the Web by opening the document from your list then clicking on "Publish," which is located in a tab at the top and the far right. Print your document by choosing "File" in your task bar, then "Print." If you would like to print the document from a PDF, choose "File" and then "Save as PDF" from the drop-down menu. Once Adobe Acrobat has converted your document into a PDF, you can print it directly from Google Docs.