Tag Archives: Editors

Use Smart Fill to help automate data entry in Google Sheets

What’s changing 

We’re launching Smart Fill for Google Sheets, which detects and learns patterns between columns to intelligently autocomplete data entry. 


For example, if you have a column of full names, you may want to split it into a column with first names and a column with last names. As you start typing first names into a column, Sheets will automatically look for patterns. If Sheets detects a pattern, it will generate the corresponding formula, and then autocomplete the rest of the column for you. 


We previously announced that Smart Fill for Sheets was coming soon. See more details below. 



Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

We hope that Smart Fill will make it easier to prepare and use data in Sheets. Similar to how Smart Compose in Gmail helps you write faster with fewer mistakes, Smart Fill makes data entry quicker and less prone to error. 


We also recently launched Sheets Smart Cleanup, which uses similar intelligence to help prepare and analyze data in Sheets. By adding new, intelligent features to help automate data preparation and analysis, we hope to empower all users to harness the power of data and quickly make data-backed decisions. 


Additional details 

In addition to using data that’s in a sheet, Smart Fill can also use data from Google’s Knowledge Graph. For example, it can use public data to autocomplete a list of countries where a list of cities are located. 


For Enterprise Plus customers, it can also use information from your company’s people Directory to autocomplete data. For example, it can use organization-only data to fill in email addresses for company employees. 



Getting started 

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 15, 2020 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 5, 2020 

Availability 

  • Smartfill is available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers, and users with personal Google Accounts 
  • Smartfill integration with people directory is only available to Enterprise Plus customers. 

Resources 


Roadmap 

New default video playback option in Google Slides

Quick launch summary 

We’re updating the default way videos play when you present in Google Slides. Now, the video will start playing when you click to advance the presentation. Previously, the presenter had to specifically click on the video to start playing. 

With this launch, there are now three options to control playback: 
  • Play (on click) - Video will play when you advance the slide. (This is the new default option.) 
  • Play (automatically) - Video will play without you clicking to advance. 
  • Play (manual) - Video will play when you click specifically on the embedded video in the slide while presenting. (This was previously the default.) 

The new play on click option works the same way as any other animation or slide transition. When you’re presenting a slide with an embedded video, advance the slide by pressing a key, clicking a mouse, or using a remote clicker, and the video will start playing. You can adjust the sequence the video plays in the animations sidebar, so you can coordinate playback with other animations on the slide. 


Note that this change in default behavior will only apply to videos inserted after the launch takes place. Videos already in presentations will not change playback type automatically, but you can change them manually in the format options. 


The new default will help make presentations flow better and reduce distractions, so presenters can focus on content rather than where they have to click. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default and can be turned off for any video in video format options. Visit the Help Center to learn more about videos in Slides. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers and users with personal accounts 

Resources

Mention a user directly within a Google Doc

Quick launch summary 

You can now mention another user in Google Docs within the document itself. Previously, this was only possible within a comment. 

When another user is mentioned, you can hover over their name for information about them and suggested actions like adding that person to Contacts or reaching out via email. This is the same information you see today when hovering over a user's name in other Google Workspace apps, such as Gmail or Calendar. 

[Read more about this feature and other new features in the Google Workspace announcement]

Additional details 

Note that mentioning someone in a document will not send them a notification. Additionally, if you mention a user who does not have access to the doc, you’ll receive a prompt with sharing suggestions. You can share the document at that time or decline and use the regular Docs sharing function when the time is right. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature is available for all Google Workspace end users. When typing in Docs, press “@” — this will trigger a dropdown menu where you can search for the user you want to mention. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources: 

New features to help improve and analyze data in Google Sheets

What’s changing 

We’re launching two features that will make it easier to prepare and analyze data in Sheets: 
  • Cleanup suggestions, which helps ensure your data is accurate by identifying and suggesting fixes for common data errors. 
  • Column stats, which provides automated insights about the values within a column, so you can identify outliers and quickly get a sense of what your data looks like. 

We previously announced that these features were coming soon. See more details below. 


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

These features assist in the identification of possible cleanup actions, and help you be more confident that your data isn’t distorted by simple errors. It will also enable quicker analysis by generating intelligent views that can help surface insights, which you can then choose to look into more closely. 


Additional details 

Cleanup suggestions 
Before analyzing and making decisions based on data in your sheets, it’s important to clean up your data by rectifying errors and improving data consistency. Cleanup suggestions will help you do this by surfacing intelligent suggestions in the side panel. These suggestions may include removing extra spaces, removing duplicate rows, adding number formatting, identifying anomalies, fixing inconsistent data, and more. This can help make data cleanup faster and more accurate. 



Column stats 
Column stats can help you quickly get a sense for your data by automatically generating visualizations and key stats that provide insight into the data in a specific column. These insights can include count and distribution charts, frequency tables, and summary statistics. This can help you quickly catch potential outliers and confidently move on to deeper analysis. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for these features. 
  • End users: 
    • Cleanup suggestions: When you are in Sheets, go to Data > Cleanup suggestions. When you import data into Sheets, you may see a proactive notification as well. Visit our Help Center to learn more about cleanup suggestions. 
    • Column stats: When you are in Sheets, go to Data > Column stats. Visit our Help Center to learn more about column stats. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

New features to help improve and analyze data in Google Sheets

What’s changing 

We’re launching Sheets Smart Cleanup, two features that will make it easier to prepare and analyze data in Sheets: 
  • Cleanup suggestions, which helps ensure your data is accurate by identifying and suggesting fixes for common data errors. 
  • Column stats, which provides automated insights about the values within a column, so you can identify outliers and quickly get a sense of what your data looks like. 

We previously announced that Sheets Smart Cleanup was coming soon. See more details below. 


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

These features assist in the identification of possible cleanup actions, and help you be more confident that your data isn’t distorted by simple errors. It will also enable quicker analysis by generating intelligent views that can help surface insights, which you can then choose to look into more closely. 


Additional details 

Cleanup suggestions 
Before analyzing and making decisions based on data in your sheets, it’s important to clean up your data by rectifying errors and improving data consistency. Cleanup suggestions will help you do this by surfacing intelligent suggestions in the side panel. These suggestions may include removing extra spaces, removing duplicate rows, adding number formatting, identifying anomalies, fixing inconsistent data, and more. This can help make data cleanup faster and more accurate. 



Column stats 
Column stats can help you quickly get a sense for your data by automatically generating visualizations and key stats that provide insight into the data in a specific column. These insights can include count and distribution charts, frequency tables, and summary statistics. This can help you quickly catch potential outliers and confidently move on to deeper analysis. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for these features. 
  • End users: 
    • Cleanup suggestions: When you are in Sheets, go to Data > Cleanup suggestions. When you import data into Sheets, you may see a proactive notification as well. Visit our Help Center to learn more about cleanup suggestions. 
    • Column stats: When you are in Sheets, go to Data > Column stats. Visit our Help Center to learn more about column stats. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Easily add and manage citations in Google Docs

Quick launch summary 

We’re launching a new feature to help you add, manage, and format academic citations in Google Docs. This will make writing academic papers easier since you won’t have to use add-ons, or copy citations from other tools. 

Using this feature, you can easily insert in-text citations and create a bibliography in the MLA, APA, or Chicago (author-date) styles. Sources types supported include books, book sections, websites, journal articles and newspaper articles. 

Citations tool in Google Docs 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers 

Resources 

Office editing on Android brings G Suite collaboration to Microsoft Office files

Quick launch summary 

We’re making Office editing available on Android. This feature brings the collaborative and assistive features of G Suite to your Microsoft Office files when you’re using your Android device. Already available on the web, it: 
  • Allows you to edit, comment, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files using Google Docs’, Sheets’, and Slides’ powerful real-time collaboration tools. 
  • Improves sharing options, improves sharing controls, and reduces the need to download and email file attachments. 
  • Streamlines workflows by reducing the need to convert file types. 
Office editing will replace QuickOffice (sometimes known as Office Compatibility Mode), which has more limited functionality and collaboration capabilities. See more about Office editing in our announcement for the feature on the web. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Office editing on Android brings G Suite collaboration to Microsoft Office files

Quick launch summary 

We’re making Office editing available on Android. This feature brings the collaborative and assistive features of G Suite to your Microsoft Office files when you’re using your Android device. Already available on the web, it: 
  • Allows you to edit, comment, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files using Google Docs’, Sheets’, and Slides’ powerful real-time collaboration tools. 
  • Improves sharing options, improves sharing controls, and reduces the need to download and email file attachments. 
  • Streamlines workflows by reducing the need to convert file types. 
Office editing will replace QuickOffice (sometimes known as Office Compatibility Mode), which has more limited functionality and collaboration capabilities. See more about Office editing in our announcement for the feature on the web. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Google Docs line spacing will now adjust based on font

Quick launch summary 

We will now adjust line spacing in Google Docs based on the font used. Previously, line spacing was based only on the font size and line spacing you chose. Now, the font you choose will also be a factor in the spacing. 

This will increase consistency in document length between Google Docs and other word processing programs, and help make sure converted Microsoft Word documents retain a similar length. It will be particularly useful for education and enterprise users, who may have documents with specific length requirements based on specific formatting combinations. 
Line spacing will adjust based on the font used 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default for new documents only. Existing documents will not be affected. Use our Help Center to learn more about formatting in Google Docs. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts. 

Resources 

Google Docs line spacing will now adjust based on font

Quick launch summary 

We will now adjust line spacing in Google Docs based on the font used. Previously, line spacing was based only on the font size and line spacing you chose. Now, the font you choose will also be a factor in the spacing. 

This will increase consistency in document length between Google Docs and other word processing programs, and help make sure converted Microsoft Word documents retain a similar length. It will be particularly useful for education and enterprise users, who may have documents with specific length requirements based on specific formatting combinations. 
Line spacing will adjust based on the font used 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default for new documents only. Existing documents will not be affected. Use our Help Center to learn more about formatting in Google Docs. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts. 

Resources