Tag Archives: Editors

Work with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in Dropbox with a new beta

What’s changing 

This Dropbox beta will allow Dropbox users to work with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly in Dropbox.

G Suite admins with a Dropbox Business subscription for their organization can find more details and apply for the beta here.

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users.

Why you’d use it 

When users are signed in to both their Google and Dropbox accounts, they can create and store Docs, Sheets, and Slides files in any Dropbox folder, alongside traditional files. You’ll be able to:

  • Create and edit web-based files: 
    • You can start a shared Docs, Sheets, or Slides file right from dropbox.com or from apps on Windows and Mac, and have it stored in Dropbox. When you open files, you’ll be taken straight to familiar Google editors within Dropbox.
    • You can also open .docx, .xlsx, or .pptx files from Dropbox in Docs, Sheets, or Slides, and save them back to Dropbox in their original format. 


Create Docs, Sheets, and Slides from within Dropbox Web UI

  • Share Files and manage access: 
    • Adding a Docs, Sheets, or Slides file to a shared Dropbox folder will automatically grant members access. You can also share files on a one-off basis without adding it to a shared folder by inviting people from Dropbox or creating a shareable link. 


    • Whether sharing files directly from Dropbox or with a link, you can set edit or view-only access. You’ll also have the option to set permissions to team only when sharing within your organization or anyone when sharing files outside your organization.


Dropbox sharing modal overlaid on Slides presentation 



  • Search your files: Docs, Sheets, and Slides files will show up when searching in Dropbox, including results from the content within your Docs, Sheets, and Slides in addition to file names. 


  • Collaborate: You’ll be notified of any comments or edits made on your Docs, Sheets, and Slides files in your Dropbox notifications, so you can easily stay on top of what’s happening with your files. 

We hope this feature will streamline workflows by reducing the time spent switching between multiple tools helping you use data more effectively.

How to get started 



Additional details 

Dropbox users on desktop, web, and mobile can view, comment, search, move, copy, and delete files. Note that mobile users will not be able to edit files.

Helpful links 

For more details and how to apply for the beta, see here.

Availability 

G Suite editions 

  • Available to all G Suite editions.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Easily customize theme colors in Slides

Quick launch summary 

You can now edit the theme colors for your presentations in Slides, making it easier to set up a new theme, or apply bulk color changes to existing presentations. Previously, we only supported custom colors that were not linked to the presentation theme.

Now, users can easily customize the color palette associated with a theme. In any color picker dropdown, click the edit button for your Theme color palette. In the Theme color sidebar, select a color from the dropdown to begin editing.



Note: These changes will only apply to the current theme and will not create a new theme.

We hope this new feature will help you customize your presentations in Slides, especially when it comes to incorporating your company’s brand colors.

Availability 

Rollout details 


G Suite editions 

  • Available to all G Suite editions. 


On/off by default? 

  • This feature will be ON by default.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Office editing makes it easier to work with Office files in Docs, Sheets, and Slides

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

With Office editing, you can now edit, comment, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files using Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. This feature brings the collaboration benefits of G Suite to Office files while streamlining workflows by eliminating the need to convert file types.


Who’s impacted 

End users

Why you’d use it 

Office editing will make it easy for G Suite users to open and edit Microsoft Office files that have been shared by partners, vendors or other teams. In cases where some members of your organization use Office while others use G Suite, this ensures seamless collaboration and eliminates the need to consider or convert file types.

Office editing brings everyone the benefits of G Suite’s real time collaboration tools and intelligence features to Office files.

How to get started 

Admins: If your organization uses the Office compatibility app in Chrome, you may experience issues using this feature. To learn more about disabling this app for your domain or having users remove it, see here.
End users:
  • In Google Drive, double-click your Office file. This will open a preview of the file. 
  • At the top, click Open in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides. 
  • From here, you can edit, share, view version history, collaborate in real-time with others, and more. 
  • All changes you make will be saved to the original Office file. 

Additional details 

The following Office file types are supported: 
  • Word files: .doc, .docx, .dot 
  • Excel files: .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm (macro enabled Excel files), .xlt 
  • Powerpoint files: .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .pot 
Note: If you edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents older than Office 2007, files will be saved to a newer format when editing using Office editing. 

Helpful links 

To learn more about removing the Office compatibility app, see here. 

Availability 

Rollout details
  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 17, 2019. 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting no earlier than May 6th, 2019. 
G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite editions 

On/off by default? 
  • This feature will be ON by default. 

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Work with billions of rows of BigQuery data with connected sheets, launching in beta

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

We’re introducing connected sheets in beta (coming soon). This new type of spreadsheet activates when using the Sheets data connector and will allow users to access, analyze, visualize, and collaborate on up to 10 billion rows of BigQuery data without the need for SQL scripts.

With connected sheets, it’s easier for users to surface insights in Sheets and make sense of that data using tools and features already familiar to them — like formulas, Explore, pivot tables, and charts. 

Admins can learn more about the beta here.


Who’s impacted 

Admins

Why you’d use it 

Connected sheets makes it easier to do the following:

  • Access and refresh large volumes of connected data without CSVs or SQL scripts 
  • Streamline reporting workflows and easily build data driven reports 
  • Simplify collaboration with other analysts and stakeholders. 

How to get started 



  • Admins: To learn more and apply to the connected sheets beta, see here. 
  • End users: No action required. 

Additional details 


Users can refresh their data which in turn will refresh any associated data within a chart, pivot table, function or table.

Data can also be set to refresh automatically, making it even easier to stay up to date on the latest and greatest data.

Helpful links 

To learn more about connected sheets, see here. 
To apply for the connected sheets beta, see here. 

Availability 

G Suite editions 

  • Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Enhance presentations in Slides with audio

What’s changing

We’re adding the ability for users to embed MP3 and WAV audio files from Drive into Slides.



Who’s impacted 

End users

Why you’d use it 

We have listened to your requests and are adding audio files as additional media types in Slides. We know that adding audio clips can bring your presentations to the next level. Short audio clips can grab attention, while longer ones can set the tone for the entire presentation.

How to get started 

  • Admins: No action required. 
  • End users: To insert an audio file into Slides:
    • Insert > Audio and select from your audio files in Drive 
    • Hover over the icon to see playback controls
Once the audio file is inserted, you can find more audio settings by clicking “Format options” in the toolbar. From there, you can set playback options, volume, and looping. You can also hide the audio icon, or replace it with an image of your choice.



Additional details 

The ability to add an audio file into Slides is currently only available on desktop, though audio will play on all platforms.


Helpful links 

Availability 

Rollout details 
G Suite editions
  • Available to all G Suite editions. 

On/off by default? 
  • This feature will be ON by default.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Minor updates related to the Activity Dashboard in Editors and the Admin console

Quick launch summary 

We’re making two minor updates to verbiage found in the Activity Dashboard in Editors and related settings within the Admin console. As we launch more features to the Activity Dashboard, these updates will help keep things clear for both admins and end users.

In the Admin console: 
In the Activity dashboard settings, where it previously read “Access to activity dashboard” on the left hand navigation, it will now read “Access to view history.”



From here, Admins can set the ability for users to access Viewers and Viewer trend activity in the dashboard to ON/OFF. To learn more about file activity visibility, see this article in the Help Center.

In Editors: 
Within the Activity dashboard, the “View time” tab has been renamed to “Viewers.” From this tab, document owners can see the last time users with Edit access viewed the file and take action to follow-up. To learn more about view history in Docs, Sheets, and Slides, see this Help Center article. 

We’re also changing the icon for the Viewers tab — previously it was a clock, now it will be a person. This change is to better indicate the purpose of this tab, which is viewer history, not time viewers spent in the document.



Availability 

Rollout details
G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite Editions.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

It’s now easier to insert images in cells in Google Sheets

What’s changing  

We’ve made it simpler to add images inside of cells in Google Sheets. Previously, it was only possible to insert publicly hosted images into a cell using the IMAGE function.

Now, you can insert any image, like those saved on your desktop or mobile device, into a cell by using the IMAGE function or the new option found inside the Insert menu.


Who’s impacted 

End users

Why you’d use it 

  • You’ve told us this feature would be helpful for many tasks like: 
  • Adding receipts to expense-tracking spreadsheets 
  • Adding icons to icon libraries 
  • Adding logos to better brand your resources 
  • Adding product images to inventory lists, and more. 

How to get started 

  • Admins: No action needed. 
  • End users: You can add images directly to cells in two ways on Desktop: 
    • Use the IMAGE() function 
    • Via the menu bar at the top of a Sheet: Insert > Image > Image in cell 
      • Select image from Drive or upload one. 

  • On Mobile: 
    • Tap once on a cell to select 
    • Tap again to bring up menu: Insert > Tap the “+” at the top of the screen > Image > Image in cell 
    • Select an image from the options presented to you. 

Additional details 

You can have multiple cells containing an image in a Sheet, but note that only one image per cell is possible at the moment. 

Images inside cells will be associated with a row and move along with the data—so, if you move rows, filter or sort them, the images will move with the content in the row, unlike previously when images would sit on top of the grid. 

Using the formatting and alignment tools, you can pin the image to a specific corner of the cell or set the alignment how you’d like. By default, images will align to the bottom left corner of the cell.

Helpful links 


Availability 

Rollout details 
G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite Editions. 

On/off by default? 
  • This feature will be ON by default 

Work smarter with the new Priority page in Drive

Quick launch summary

We’re launching a new Priority page in Drive as a new way to help you stay focused and get work done. This page will help you access the files you need through a combination of suggestions and workspaces. With the new Priority page, not only are the most relevant files served up to you, but you can take action on them, as well as sort them into workspaces.

We hope this makes accessing your most important files easier and helps you work more efficiently. 

You can access the Priority page from the left-hand navigation panel in Drive. Some features you’ll see on the Priority page include:
  • Priority: 
    • Here you’ll see the documents we think are most relevant to you right now. These machine-learning-powered suggestions are based on various signals from your activity. On each suggested document, you can also take actions in line, without navigating to the doc in question, like replying to a comment or reviewing recent edits.
  • Workspaces: 
    • In Workspaces, you’ll be able to see intelligent suggestions of related content to group together for easier access— like multiple files related to the same project. 
    • You can also create your own personalized Workspaces collecting any files you have access to, including content stored in your My Drive and various Team Drives. 
      • Right-click on any file and select Add to Workspace to dynamically group files as you work.
    If users would like to make Priority their default home page, they can do so in their settings, which is accessible via the gear icon in the upper righthand corner.


    Availability 

    Rollout details 
    • Rapid Release domains: Extended Rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 18, 2019. 
    • Scheduled Release domains: Extended Rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 1, 2019. 
    G Suite editions 
    • Available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, and G Suite Enterprise. 
    • Coming soon for G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits.  
    On/off by default? 
    • This feature will be ON by default.

    Stay up to date with G Suite launches

    Accessibility settings are now easier to access on Docs, Sheets, and Slides

    Quick launch summary

    It’s now easier to discover accessibility features like screen reader support, braille support, and screen magnifier support in Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

    While these accessibility features were previously available, they required additional steps to access the accessibility menu. This change will make these settings more readily available by placing the Accessibility settings in the Tools menu.

    Access the Accessibility menu by selecting Tools > Accessibility settings.

    The accessibility settings dialog showing screen reader, braille, and screen magnifier support options.
    If the screen reader option is selected from the accessibility settings dialog, an Accessibility menu will be displayed at the top of Docs, Sheets, and Slides for easy access.

    Availability 

    Rollout details 

    G Suite editions 
    Available to all G Suite editions.

    On/off by default? 
    This feature will be ON by default.

    Stay up to date with G Suite launches

    Spelling and grammar improvements in Docs for Enterprise

    Quick launch summary 

    Earlier this year we introduced a BETA for new grammar suggestions in Google Docs. Now we’re making this feature available for G Suite Basic, Business, and Enterprise users.

    The new features enhance existing spell check functions and highlight possible grammatical errors in your text. We’re also introducing a revamped interface for reviewing spelling and grammar suggestions which makes it faster and easier to spot and correct errors in your text.

    Some improvements you’ll see are:

    • Grammar 
      • Possible grammar corrections will be underlined in blue. To see a suggested correction or dismiss the alert, simply right-click. 
      • You will also see possible grammar errors when running a spelling and grammar check through the Tools menu. 
    •  New language review interface
      •  You can easily review all language suggestions for your document with the updated spelling and grammar check tool. Access it through the “Tools” menu or right-click on a suggestion and select “Review more suggestions” — you’ll see each suggestion and actions to correct any errors. 
    To learn more about how we’re using machine learning to recognize errors and suggest corrections to improve your writing, see here.

    Availability 

    Rollout details 
    • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 5, 2019. 
    • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 5, 2019. 
    G Suite editions 
    • Available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite for Education.
    • Not Available to G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits.  
    On/off by default?