An effective and powerful OCR.

Occasionally, we are writing a text, which needs to be accompanied by several quotations, and we must transcribe them all from a physical book. We have good news for you, it can be done with minimum effort. You only have to take a clear photo, where you can size each of the letters in the image. Then upload it to Google Drive.

You must do the next part of the process on your computer. In Google Drive, you stand on the image you uploaded and right click on it. Now, select Open with and finally, Google Docs, you will have the image transcribed in seconds.

Voice typing.

This is a very effective trick for Google Docs. In effect, we will be able to create a new document without typing. With this in mind, we will use voice typing. That is, through the microphone, we will be able to indicate the text and the tool will copy it automatically. Check how to do it. First, open a new document from Google Docs. Next, go to Tools. Then scroll down to the Voice Typing option.

Then, we just have to start dictating. The tool will start copying what we indicate via voice. It is so effective that it even works with YouTube videos.

We should add that Google has one of the best voice recognition, thanks in part to the development of its assistant. This technology applied to text documents becomes a really reliable and fast dictation service. Note that it is possible to modify the dictation language and choose from an infinite number of languages.

Wizard to create a web page.

Do you need to create a website and don’t know how to do it? Don’t worry. With Google, you can create it from scratch. This time, we will not use Docs itself. Actually, we should go to Google Drive. Once there, just click on the +New icon. Now scroll down to the bottom under More. Finally, click on Google Sites.

And you can start editing immediately, with all the customizations you require.

Create a new document from the navigation bar

If you want to create a new document quickly, type in the Google Chrome navigation bar:

• http://doc.new. This will create a new text document.
• http://sheet.new. This will open a new blank spreadsheet.
• http://slide.new. Use this shortcut to create a new presentation.
• http://form.new. With it, you can create a new form.
• http://site.new. Quickly create a new website in Google Sites.

Create customized drawings for your documents

Google Docs incorporates a simple graphic editor that will help you insert custom drawings in your documents. Just go to Insert>Drawing>New. A pop-up window will display a blank canvas where you can add shapes, text, images and more. Then click Save and Close to add it to your document.

Add a comment for another user

Notify other users of changes with comments. Indeed, collaboration is one of the pillars of Google Docs. It is very easy to add users to a document, a spreadsheet or a presentation. This way, they can edit it completely. Or simply view it. People who have access to a document can add comments. As a result, everyone else will know that a modification has been applied or that a task is pending in a particular place. Add comments easily like this:

• Select a text, an image or any other element.
• Right-click to reveal the context menu.
• Select Comment. You can also use Control + Alt + M.
• Type your comment and save it.

From that moment on, your comment will be visible to all users. You can assign comments to specific people or quote them in the text using the @ symbol.

Change the page configuration

Like its competitors, Google Docs allows you to modify some page parameters. In File>Page Setup you can change the margins, orientation and even the background color.

Export your files to popular formats

Google Docs supports the most popular formats. Indeed, the Google suite uses its format. However, it is compatible with other file types. Exporting a document, a spreadsheet, or a presentation to a known format is easily done in the menu. Just go to File>Download. As a result, you can get your file in the format corresponding to its Microsoft Office equivalent or create a PDF.

Go back to a previous version of your document

Google automatically saves changes made to any file and does so every few seconds. Therefore, it is very difficult to lose data or information with Google Docs. Additionally, it saves a history of changes that will allow you to quickly return to the previous state of the document. Just click on the link next to the Help menu. It indicates when the last change was made and whether a copy has been saved to Drive.

Add functionality with add-ons

All Google Docs tools can be extended with various add-ons. To get them, just click on extensions. Then click on Add-ons>Get add-ons. Among the functionalities you can add are document signing, formatting functions for spreadsheets and advanced database management. There are also spelling and grammar tools.

Protect your spreadsheet data

Finally, we will tell you how you can protect a specific part of a calculation book. Click on Tools>Protect sheet. Then, select the sheet you want to protect to avoid unintentional changes. You can also specify a range of cells. This way, even if you share your sheet with other users, the data in that area will remain secure.

Okay, we have finally seen the best tricks for Google Docs. So you can get the most out of Google’s office suite. Bye.

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Markdown comes to Docs, yes. But it is disabled by default.

Docs already used Markdown, albeit in a limited way. Recall that Google previously allowed this format for lists and boxes. However, it now offers more complete support. Consequently, we can take advantage of this format to add headings, bold, italics, links, etc. On the other hand, this format is increasingly implemented on multiple websites we visit daily.

To activate this feature, we have to open Google Docs and in the Tools tab select the Preferences option. If you still do not see this feature, you should give it a few days. Remember that although this feature is already implemented in Docs, it will take a few days to reach everyone. The company says it could even take a little more than 15 days.

The implementation of Markdown in Docs may be a bit different from what you are used to. In fact, generally, when writing in this format, it is displayed in plain text with Markdown elements. Additionally, in another section we see how it would look, already with the formatting applied. Concerning Google Docs, the autocorrect will replace the text in Markdown, instead of seeing a preview of how the document would look.

Markdown is especially beneficial for users who don’t want to struggle with HTML to format text. Certainly, Markdown mainly benefits those users who don’t want to struggle with HTML to format text. Additionally, its implementation in Docs is entirely personal preference. As mentioned above, we can enable or disable it from the preferences panel whenever we want. Google assures that the feature will be disabled by default. On second thought, it is a good idea. Certainly, many users will be confused if the text changes radically when applying a ‘#’.

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Backing up the hard disk

This is one of the recently added features of Google Drive. Indeed, it is possible to copy all the content of your hard drives, cameras or SD cards to Google Drive. However, you must have enough space available. This is done through the Drive desktop application that you can download here. After installing it, you must restart the computer. Then, from the Windows search bottom, please enter Backup and Sync from Google. As a result, the app will start loading for the first time. After a while, a Google Drive icon will appear in the taskbar. Specifically, on the right side, next to the time and date. Just click on it to display the menu. From there, you will access the Backup and Synchronization options.

You must choose the folders on your hard drive that you want to synchronize with the Google Drive cloud. Any changes you make from both PC and Drive will be reflected from one to the other. That is, it is a bidirectional synchronization. You can also set how to save the photos: in original or compressed quality. Remember that this decision will affect the size reduction available in Google Drive.

Commenting on Office documents

Google Drive now allows direct commenting on Office files. The interesting thing is that it is not necessary to convert them first to Google Docs format, or use a Chrome extension. Simply find an Office document and click on it. If it asks you if you want to open it with Google Docs, answer yes. In the upper-right corner, a couple of icons will appear. The one with a + is the one that allows you to add a comment. Consequently, highlight the text you want to comment on, and type the comment. This comment can be read by anyone with whom you share the document.

Convert a document to PDF

Maybe you didn’t know, but it is possible to convert documents stored in Google Drive to PDF. You don’t need to install any application or Chrome extension. Once you open the document with Google Docs. Once the document is open, go to the File menu and choose Download. In the next menu, you can download the file as PDF.

Using other non-Google applications

When you open a document or file from Google Drive, by default it opens with the related Google application. I.e. Google Docs, Google Photos, etc. However, you may want to use different apps. Fortunately, Google Drive allows you to switch them. Just click on the New icon. In the menu that appears, tap on More. Then click on Connect more apps.

In the new window, you will be able to select dozens of third-party programs. These apps work as a browser application and are compatible with Google Drive:

Select the ones you want to add, and you will be able to use them when you handle files related to these tools.

Create new documents with a URL

Last October, Google Drive released a very original feature. Indeed, we will be able to create a new document in Google Drive instantly. Just type doc.new in the browser, and Google Drive will automatically open with a blank text document, ready to be edited. There are other URLs that open different types of blank documents. These are:

• http://doc.new: opens a new Google document
• http://sheets.new: opens a new Google Sheets spreadsheet
• http://deck.new: opens a new Google presentation
• http://site.new: create new website in Google sites
• http://form.new: create new form in Google form

This is one of the best time-saving tricks. So, you can get the most out of Google Dive.

Voice typing

This trick is also very practical. In fact, writing a document while you are doing other things. Even if you don’t have the computer in front of you. Google Drive allows you to dictate texts with a microphone. If you haven’t done it, we urge you to try it. The results are excellent. With this in mind, open a new document. You can use the link we showed you above: doc.new. Next, from the Tools menu click on Voice Typing.

Tap on the microphone to dictate the text. If you are not using a laptop, you will need a headset with a microphone to dictate. You can then dictate while doing other activities.

Saves web content

You probably surf the web for a long time. In the process, you may have seen content that you want to keep. It may be an address, an interesting article or a nice picture. Well, here is another appealing feature of Google Drive. Indeed, we will be able to save any content from a web page directly to Google Drive, simply by touching a button. You only have to install an official Google Chrome extension called Save to Google Drive. When installed, the extension icon will appear in the browser. When you see something you like, click on the icon to save it to Drive. Please remember that you are not only saving what you see on the screen, but the entire web page that is currently in the foreground.

All right, we have finally seen the best tricks for Google Drive. Although most of them are intended to be used from the PC, they can also be managed from the mobile. Note that you must have a Google account to enjoy Google Drive. If you don’t have one, just sign up for the service. Something easy to do and it is also free. See you soon!

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