Many a person has said, “I’m going to write a novel someday.” Someday… as in, when your work slows down, or when you can go on a fancy writing retreat, or when your kids are grown up. Someday is usually a day that doesn’t ever arrive, which is why National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo, founded in 1999 by Chris Baty and friends) exists: to help you realize your creative dreams today.

The idea is straightforward. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 p.m. on November 30. You don’t have to take a novel-writing class or read how-to books; you learn to write a novel by doing it. In the words of NaNoWriMo: “Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel.”

If you are considering giving it a shot this November, here are five ways Docs can help you get cracking:

1. Write everywhere - Get the app for Android or iPhone/iPad, and add new paragraphs or make edits anytime an idea strikes—on the bus, while you’re walking the dog, or even those times you’re caught without Wi-Fi, like on a plane. Of course, you can also tinker with your burgeoning masterpiece from any desktop computer by signing in at docs.google.com, so you never have to worry about having the right machine or device with you. 
2. Know your word count - You’ve got one month to make it to 50,000 words, so it’s critical to track your progress as you go. To grab your word count, use the shortcut command + shift + C (mac) / Ctrl + shift +C (pc), finding it in the Tools menu, or by clicking the three grey dots in the Android app. Once you’ve got your tally, update your progress by pasting your wordcount into the NANOWRIMO header menu. 
3. Get & manage feedback - Wrimos, as they're known, like to get feedback from each other as they write, and Docs makes that easy. When you’re ready for input, hit the big blue Share button, set permissions to “Can comment,” and the people you've shared with will be able to add comments or make suggestions that you can choose to accept or reject. 
4. See previous versions - Docs comes with revision history built-in, so you never lose previous version of your novel. Click on “See revision history” in the file menu, and you’ll see all your edits, grouped by date, so you can easily go back in time—or even revert to a previous version that you prefer. If you do invite others to give feedback on your work, click the “See new changes” button at the top for an instant look at any edits they made. 
5. Share your novel - Once you’re finished (congrats, BTW!), you can choose to publicly share your novel for the world to read. Also in the File menu, hit “Publish to the web” and you’ll be able to share the URL of your novel far and wide—on your favorite social networks, in email, or however you’d like. 

Good luck, and godspeed!

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed. 

Hi Susanna! Tell us a little about yourself and what you do. 
I'm the founder & CEO of BridgEd Strategies, a consulting firm that works with education organizations to develop & implement strategy, communication, and change management plans that help them better serve low-income, first generation students. I'm a lifelong educator with experience ranging from being a K - 12 classroom teacher to a senior administrator at a technical college. Most recently I served as a program officer at a large national philanthropic foundation.

I returned home to New York City last year after a decade in Seattle.

How does Google Docs fit into your everyday work at BridgEd?
When I launched my consulting practice last year, I made the conscious choice to use Google Docs and other Google products instead of buying the other office software. I've had a Gmail account for over a decade and use Google calendar to organize (and keep a historical record of) my life.

I was nervous about solely relying on Google Docs- I was unsure how I would collaborate with clients who use the other office software. I initially gave myself six months to road test this approach. It's been seamless. I use Google Docs to write, collaborate, plan, and edit with clients and partners across the world. I’m able to access my clients’ Office documents with no translation issues.

I also chose to switch from an iPhone to an Android-based cell phone. Having all of my communications devices on the same platform makes it incredibly easy to access information, no matter where I am.

When my laptop recently stopped working, I wasn’t worried about whether I’d remembered to back everything up because all of my work was automatically saved to my Google Drive. As an independent consultant, I’m my own CEO, CFO, HR Director, and Director of IT. This peace of mind is a huge relief.

What are 3 tips you’d give for other organizations who use/would consider using Google Docs?

1. Google Drive is your most powerful asset for organizing and sharing information. A well-organized Google Drive will make collaboration and communication so much easier. Bonus: the search function means you don’t even have to be that organized. 
2. The “Suggest” feature in Google Docs makes co-writing easy and exciting. I have collaborated on two blog post projects with people I know only through Twitter-- and Google Docs made that process not only possible but easy as well. 
3. I’ve saved a photo of my signature as a .jpg in my Google drive to easily sign Google Docs.

Jarrett is a teacher and social entrepreneur based in West Philadelphia who uses Google Docs and Drive to power a student run organization that creates healthy snacks, called Rebel Ventures. 

We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed. 

Hi Jarrett! Tell us a little about yourself and what you do. 
I work for an organization called the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative at Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships. Over the past 4 years, I’ve worked with West Philly HS students to build a business that produces healthy snacks called Rebel Ventures. Our mission is to make good food affordable to everyone. Simply put, good food is good for the people who eat it, good for the people who make it, and good for the planet. Our goal is to create healthy snacks and healthy jobs for our community.

How does Google Docs fit into your workday? 
The Rebel Ventures Google Drive folder is the foundation of our job training model. Our business is divided into 6 departments (accounting, operations, sales, marketing, design, r&d) and high-school students rotate through each department, learning and developing a diverse set of skills by running the business activities within that department. The more skills HS students master, the more more money they earn.
We store all our files in our Drive, no matter what software is used to create them. All HS students with smartphones download Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc for their phone so they can access and manipulate the content at all times.

We use Slides to create all the tutorials that students use to teach themselves specific Rebel skills when no one is available to train them. Our entire accounting and sales systems are built in Sheets called Master Accounts. Every week a HS student opens and updates our Future Sales tab, which is transcribed on a whiteboard, carried into our kitchen, and the rest of the crew work on fulfilling orders.

We also use Sheets to improve our product quality in the Research and Development department. Every time we create a new flavor or product, we conduct a crew-wide taste test, where each individual ranks the products in a variety of set categories. A HS crew member is responsible for entering the data from the paper taste test forms into a spreadsheet, and then uses different functions to analyze and visualize the data so we can make informed recipe development decisions.

Our performance management system is based on peer evaluation. Every two weeks all Rebel crew members (high school, college, staff) fill out an anonymous Google Form where they rate their colleagues in 3 categories, and provide comments to justify the ratings. Our high school Rebel crew leaders are responsible for analyzing this data and then using it to co-plan SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) goals for individual improvement.

What are 3 tips you’d give for other organizations who use/would consider using Google Docs?

1.  Trust your team and let them play. We give our high school students free access to computers as well as their phones during work, trusting that if they are using this technology they are working with Drive and Docs. The apps are simple enough that the students can self direct their activities, and they know to look to their peers and mentors if they need help manipulating a particular doc. 
2. Build and keep building. We usually don’t have any idea what the final form of any of our docs, spreadsheets, presentations, or forms will look like before we start making them. We have a goal in mind, but otherwise just start building from the ground up until we’ve created a tool that is useful. We test the tool and continue building. If more than one person is working on a doc at a time, we make sure they have their own device to access the doc so we don’t stifle creativity, independence, and cooperative communication. 
3. Be organized and be transparent. We do our best to keep our Drive organized through folders, and regularly train our staff on how to navigate the system. We also put everything our staff needs into Drive so there is open access to the information we need to do our jobs.

Bodie is an award winning writer and director of short films and other projects that have aired on MTVu, Logo, and the Sundance Channel, and has collaborated with DJ ShyBoy to create music videos for his debut album Water on Mars. Currently Bodie’s video work can be seen as part of the Los Angeles Public Library’s exhibit, “To Live and Dine in L.A.” exploring food culture and issues of food justice in and around L.A. 

We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed. 

1. Hey Bodie! Tell us a little about yourself and what you do. 
I see myself as a jack-of-all-trades film/media maker/storyteller/… . Although my background is firmly rooted in traditional forms of storytelling--like theatre and film--I’m fortunate that over the past few years I’ve had the opportunity to expand my knowledge of all things new-media related. 

Currently I’m an assistant professor of cinematic practice at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts’ division of Media Arts + Practice. I teach documentary film production, web design, installation-based storytelling, and everything in between. The incredible group of faculty, staff, and students in our department are exploring all types of media (interactive, immersive, web-based, etc.) and how it can be used to critically engage with the issues most pressing to our culture and society. It’s an exciting place to be and, even though I’m a professor, I feel like I learn more than my students every day!

With my newfound awareness of the possibilities inherent to these emergent modes of storytelling, I’m now collaborating with many artists and designers to develop stories that will harness these technologies. This doesn’t mean I’ve completely turned my back on narrative feature films (in fact, I’m in various stages of the writing process for three), but because every project can take such a long time to gestate, I’m a firm believer of casting as wide a net as possible to keep the artistic practice in tip-top shape.

2. How does Google Docs fit into your filmmaking and teaching?
Google Docs is integral to all that I do; I use it to keep track of any ideas I have for future projects, my artistic partners and I use all of the Docs tools for our collaborations, and I use it in my classes as a space in which my students can ideate for group projects.
Re-reading that paragraph I find it amusing because I don’t think I have ever thought of word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations as artistic tools, but the way Google has designed them (and continually improved them) they’ve truly become a key part of my creative process.

3. What are 3 tips you’d give for filmmakers who use/would consider using Google Docs?

1. Try to think outside of the box - I’ve adapted Sheets to a 3x5” index card technique I learned at UCLA as a way to map out my screenplays, Slides has become a good pre-visualization tool for my video shoots, and Docs can be adapted to use for almost any idea! 
2. Sync to your devices - I use the entire suite on my phone, laptop, and desktop at school. The mobility it allows is incredible and saves me from having to make multiple copies of documents for each device. 
3. Collaborate - the fullest potential of Google Docs is only revealed once you use it to work with others.

Forget fumbling with sticky notes or trying to recall that last item on your to-do list. When you’re trying to capture a moment or remember a task, Google Keep can help. And starting today, the things you love about Keep on the web and Android are now available on iOS:

• Find what you need, quickly by searching and filtering your notes by color and type like images, audio and text. You can also add labels to help you organize your thoughts. 
• Set time or location-based reminders so you won’t forget to swing by the dry cleaners or miss an item on your shopping list. 
• Do more, together by sharing your notes so you can divvy up the packing list and watch as the items get checked off in real time. 

Posted by Genevieve Cuevas, Software Engineer

School’s in! As you settle into your classes and start to juggle soccer practice, club meetings and homework, we’re here to help. We’ve been spending the summer “break” creating new tools to help you save time, collaborate with classmates and create your best work—all for free.

Schoolwork, minus the work 
With Voice typing, you can record ideas or even compose an entire essay without touching your keyboard. To get started, activate Voice typing in the Tools menu when you're using Docs in Chrome. Then, when you’re on the go, just tap the microphone button on your phone’s keyboard and speak your mind. Voice typing is available in more than 40 languages, so we can help with your French homework, too. Voilà!
Do more, together
We’ve made it easier for you to tell what was added or deleted in Docs—and who made the changes. Now when you’ve left a document and you come back to it later, you can just click “See new changes” to pick up right where your classmates left off.

Meet Ben Hundley--a fraternity president who keeps his chapter moving with a little help from Google Docs. 

We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed.

Hi Ben! Tell us a little about yourself and Delta Upsilon WSU. 
 My name is Ben Hundley and I am the current President of Delta Upsilon WSU. We are a small chapter between the size of 30-40 guys currently and we are based off of the four founding principles of: Promotion of Friendship, Development of Character, Diffusion of Liberal Culture and the Advancement of Justice. Our organization recently celebrated 120 years on our campus and we are extremely proud of the continued tradition and benefit our members offer to the community.
How does Google Docs fit into your chapter’s day to day? 
We as a chapter use Google Docs primarily with our executive board and recruitment team. The executive board has 8 sitting members and the recruitment team has 5 sitting members. For the executive board, we are able to keep documents saved via a house Google account. This allows us to ease the transition each year during officer elections.

This summer we have been using Google Docs heavily in order to allow the executive board to give input on the restructuring of our organization's bylaws. It has made it significantly easier for us to discuss changes and execute those changes in a timely manner because we can have multiple people addressing the same issues or action points without having to be in the same city or state. Our recruitment team is able to coordinate our recruiting efforts through Google Sheets. The lifeblood of any collegiate organization is recruiting new members and therefore, having an easily accessible spreadsheet to track who is calling who and which people have already been contacted is vital.

What are 3 tips you’d give to other fraternities & sororities who use/would consider using Google Docs? If our chapter had to give 3 tips to other greek life, they would be:

1. Host a training session!! Although Google Docs are easy to navigate, it is still essential to ensure everyone is on the same page. 
2. Don't forget to learn the ins and outs of privacy and sharing documents 
3. EXPERIMENT! Try out features and see if they can be adapted to your chapter's needs.

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

The tradition of ringing in each New Year with resolutions (whether we stick to them or not) is always an opportunity to reflect and start the year ahead on the right foot. As students and teachers around the world return to campuses and classrooms this fall, we’re embarking on a different kind of fresh start: a New (School) Year. And we want to help you make the most of it. So we’ve put together a few resolution ideas, plus tips to help you stick to them. We’ve also made a resolution of our own: to bring the best of Google technology to education.
The best of Google, for education
Like many resolutions, ours might sound familiar—and that’s because the Google for Education team has been working on it for a while. Over the last few years, we’ve spent a lot of time with teachers and students, witnessing firsthand how technology is helping in the classroom and learning about challenges that are yet unsolved. With feedback from schools, we’ve improved products like Google Apps for Education and Docs, building in new features specifically useful for education. We’ve also created new learning experiences like Google Classroom—a sort of mission control for teachers and students, offering a single place to keep track of all class materials, eliminating paperwork and making it easy for teachers to collaborate with students, and students to collaborate with each other.

So as part of our resolution this school year, we’re launching some new features in Google Classroom. Teachers can now easily ask students questions in Classroom, alongside all the other class materials in the stream. Teachers also told us that they want more ways for students to engage with each other, and flex their critical thinking muscles. So now students can comment on each other’s answers in Classroom and have open-ended discussions. In the next month, we'll also make it possible for teachers to add assignments, due dates and field trips to a shared calendar.

So what’s your resolution?
We’re sure you’ve already set some big goals for the year ahead—from acing AP Bio to landing that killer internship. Whatever your plans, it can be tough to stick with those goals once assignments and social commitments start to pile up. So we’ve collected 50+ tips from more than 15 Google products to help you follow through with your resolutions. Here are some ideas:
Resolution 1. Get (and stay) organized
When you’re bogged down by clutter, it can be tough to get stuff done. Make this your year to be more organized. Never miss another study group with help from Google Calendar. Use Google Sheets to keep all your classmates' info in one place, and better manage your inbox by emailing everyone at once with a Google group.

Resolution 2. Get (mentally) fit
Push yourself to take your studies to the next level. Teach yourself how to code with Made with Code. Make the most of language class by saving your most used words and phrases with Google Translate or magically translating webpages with Google Chrome.

Resolution 3. Get some worldly perspective
Not studying abroad this year? No problem. You can still unleash your inner explorer with Google Maps Treks and visit the Pyramids of Giza or the Great Barrier Reef without leaving your room. Or bring your art history class to life by seeing those masterpieces up close and in perfect detail with Cultural Institute.

We hope these give you new ideas for how you can make this school year your best yet. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be announcing more tips and other updates—so follow along with #GoogleEdu and on Google+. We’ll be doing our homework to stick to our resolution, so we can hopefully give you what you need to do the same. Now go hit those books! 

Meet Kaitlin Kominsky--a publicist from New York who considers Google Docs to be her best kept secret to keeping on top of her busy personal and professional schedules. 

We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed. 

Hi Kaitlin. Tell us a little about yourself.
Hi! My name is Kaitlin and I live in Brooklyn, New York. I’m a publicist at an agency called M18 PR that specializes in global media relations and brand strategy for clients in the intersecting fields of hospitality, real estate and design. I work with a roster of restaurants, bars and hotels - and it’s my job to make sure their stories are told.

How did you first get introduced to Google Docs?
When I moved to New York, my first job was interning at a hotel in Tribeca and helping with event production after my college classes. Every night, the hotel would host a few different parties on property, including film premieres, live concerts, tech conferences and art openings. Each event had a different guest list, and I was tasked with editing them throughout the day as RSVP confirmations came in. Google Docs made it easy for me to keep each list up to date, which seems like a small task, but is actually very important (Have you ever been denied entry because “you’re not on the list”?) It also allowed me to pull up my class notes while working late, between checking in guests at the door on my tablet. Thanks Google, for helping me graduate.

I hear that you’ve been using Google Docs for a long time, in a lot of different ways. Tell us more about this.
It’s important for me both personally and professionally to stay organized. Working in a field that requires a lot of travel and socializing beyond the desk, I’m often bouncing between the properties I work with, meetings with press, and late night events. Google Docs not only make it easy for me to access important documents and schedules on the go, but also to create a common space to connect with my colleagues when we are in different cities. Because I work in real time with the news cycle, my presentations and meeting materials are constantly in flux. I often find myself updating case studies and press reports in my cab with the Google Docs app, minutes before meeting with a client (but shh, that’s a secret).
Beyond the office, I like to create a checklist each week of things to do, articles to read, and people to see. Though I like the idea of keeping a beautiful, leather-bound planner, it’s just not feasible for my lifestyle. My checklist, which I create in Sheets (“Sheetz To Do”) is an informal and non-fussy way for me to ensure I’m managing my time. Depending on my mood, I may throw a horoscope or ironic .gif in there too. If “Do Your Laundry” has been carried over for more than a week, I know I’m in trouble.

I also have a running summer calendar with my roommate of things to do around the city. We update it as we hear of outdoor shows & movies, new restaurants, art openings, and readings. I’m more artistic while she’s more literary, and because we can both update it, it often inspires me to check out a part of her world that I wouldn’t normally be inclined to. It also helps eliminate the “What are we going to do tonight?” problem. Well, sometimes at least... I’m a Libra.

What are 3 tips you’d give for other people who use/would consider using Google Docs?

1. Download the app! It’s easy (and free, very important). 
2. Make use of the “Personal Dictionary” tool, it puts Word’s ‘synonyms’ button to shame. 
3. Share with your colleagues, friends and family! The best feature about Google Docs is that it provides a platform to contribute and communicate.

Meet Jessica Scheer, an Executive Director at a non-profit, who as a team of one, uses Google Docs to help her keep things running smoothly. 

We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed.

Hi Jessica! Tell us a little about yourself and what you do. 
I'm the Executive Director for the EB Research Partnership. We are the largest organization in the U.S. dedicated to funding research for EB, a group of rare and life-threatening genetic skin disorders affecting children from birth.
As the first and sole staff person for this dynamic organization, I’m focused on raising funds, communicating with our community, and building the organization. I need easy ways to keep our founders, families, board members and volunteers engaged and informed and Google Docs addresses that need in a way that no other tool can.
How does Google Docs fit into your work with EB Research?
Google Docs is instrumental to what we do. I use Google Drive and Docs for our communication pieces, event planning documents, grants management- everything really! One of the best uses of Google Docs to date was when we recently created a quick survey with Forms, prior to one of our Community Council webinars. I built a beautiful form that I then embedded into our website. That data helped us frame an important discussion about Advocacy with our community.

What are 3 tips you'd give for other organizations like yours who use/would consider using Google Docs?
It’s been noted before, but it helps to familiarize people with the tool whenever you can.
If your team isn't familiar with Docs yet, let them know that they will receive an email when comments are made. This helps orient them to a live editing process and keeps your communication about the doc on track.
You can use comments to provide context about the set-up of a Doc, Sheet or Slide. I found it helpful to explain why I color-coded rows by people’s ownership in a Sheet.

Meet Dara Castiglione, a wedding planner from New Jersey. After reading one of her tweets about Google Docs, we chatted to better understand how she uses the family of products to run her wedding planning business. 

We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed. 

Hi Dara! Tell us a little about yourself and what you do. 
Hi! My name is Dara and I am the Owner of Castiglione Events, a boutique wedding and special events planning company in New Jersey. I plan around eight weddings a year in New Jersey and New York, as well as other small parties. My primary focus is to keep my clients organized and on schedule during the hectic planning process, which typically lasts about a year. I do have assistants, but the day-to-day tasks and the bulk of the major planning are done by me alone. Google Docs is a great tool that helps to keep myself and my clients organized.
How does Google Docs fit into your wedding planning business? 
There are many contracts, budgets, spreadsheets and timelines that are used during the planning process. They have to stay organized or you’ll go crazy trying to piece everything together. I offer full service planning, but the majority of my work is partial planning/day of coordination. With this type of service, clients are very involved in the planning process. So the use of Google Docs is imperative to ensure we’re always on the same page. I collect pertinent information from clients through shared spreadsheets which allows all of us to go in and modify in one shared, organized space. Most of my clients live far away and work full-time, so in lieu of meetings and constant phone conferences that no one today really has time for, we work together in a shared space that allows a constant stream of communication. We work on wording for menu cards, ceremony programs, and even ceremony scripts and readings through Google Docs as well. Commenting is key because it allows all parties to address a question, concern, or issue head-on as opposed to writing a whole email about it. We can work together right there in the document. It’s a definite time-saver!

What are three tips you’d give for other wedding planners about using Google Docs? 
Show clients how to use it if they’re unfamiliar! Don’t just settle for them not knowing how. It will seriously make your life (and theirs!) so much easier and they will thank you for it. It’s worth taking the extra time to give them a quick lesson.

Don’t forget about revision history. It allows you to view all changes and additions that have been made by you and the person you’re sharing with. Check every once in a while. You never know if something they typed in and erased out of uncertainty is actually important info or an incredible idea!
Invite vendors to join in working this way. I’m always collaborating with DJ’s and caterers to establish the perfect timeline and flow for each event. I send draft timelines in Google Docs, which allows them to add in specific elements important to them, or comments in areas they need revised to fit their requirements after they see my proposed timeline.

Meet Marie Forleo. Named by Oprah as a thought leader for the next generation and one of Inc.’s 500 fastest growing companies of 2014, Marie's mission is to help people realize their greatest potential and their gifts to change the world. She’s the creator of the award-winning show MarieTV, founder of B-School and has been featured in Inc. Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine among others. After reading one of her tweets about Google Docs, we chatted to better understand how she uses the family of products to run her business. 

We want to know how you use the Google Docs family of products, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed. 

Hi Marie. First, tell us about who you are and what you do. 
I’m an unshakable optimist. I believe in a world where the vast majority of people wake up everyday excited to use their gifts to create a kinder, more meaningful life for all. My job is to help you reach your highest potential and use your unique talents to change the world. I do that through writing, teaching, and speaking each week on our show MarieTV, and through our online courses and programs.

How do you guys use Google Docs? 
As a virtual company, our team spans from Hawaii to Los Angeles to New York and more cities in between. And 99.9% of everything we create happens first in Google Docs. We constantly collaborate online and it’s all powered through Google Docs. We write our show scripts, craft and edit newsletters, generate all of the ideas for our free and premium content, brainstorm and execute strategies, track our priorities and goals, and review customer feedback. I’m not kidding when I say Google Docs powers our entire company. We love it and could simply not function at the level we do without it. We have a running joke that if anyone has an idea or initiative they want to bring to life, the first step is “Start a Google doc about it!”

What are three suggestions you’d have for other folks who are using or thinking about using Google Docs to run their business? 

1. Make sure everyone on your team understands Google Docs and is comfortable with how the basics work (sharing, formatting, adding and replying to comments, etc.). A few minutes spent training each other prevents frustration early on and leads to massive gains in productivity down the line. 
2. Be aware of who your documents are shared with. Realize everyone can see comments so be conscious of how you frame feedback to avoid upsets and misunderstandings. 
3. Hot Tip: If you’re collaborating in real time in a super long document, you can quickly and easily “hop to” where a fellow collaborator is writing within the document by clicking on their icon in the upper right corner. It will bring you to exactly where their cursor is. This trick saves us a lot of time and helps us (literally) stay on the same page as each other while working in a virtual environment. 

Do you use Google Docs for anything in your personal life or around the house? 
Oh my goodness, yes. I use Google Docs for everything from tracking family expenses, mapping out home renovation strategies, brainstorming vacation plans and working on personal visions and goals. I seriously LIVE in Google Docs and I love it.

When you’re working with spreadsheets, it’s important to turn your raw data into a story. With today’s updates to Google Sheets on the web, you’ll find even more ways to visualize and analyze your data.

Customized charts, made easier 
Charts can make even the largest data sets digestible, so we’ve made a few improvements to help you highlight what’s most important.

Starting today, you can add data labels to display the exact value of bars or points. And when you’re using line or scatter charts, you can change the shapes of your data points. Choose from stars, triangles, pentagons and more.
Your data, your way
Today’s update also includes new tools for analyzing your spreadsheet data. For example, you can:

• Preview formula results—instantly—as you type. This feature is especially useful for catching formula errors quickly and is unique to Sheets. 
• Filter rows and columns by conditions, including “greater than” and “text contains.” This way you’ll only see the numbers, dates and text you need. 
• Add calculated fields to pivot tables when you want to apply formulas to pivot table data. 
• Use the GETPIVOTDATA function to more easily retrieve data from your pivot table. 

The more the merrier when it comes to collaborating in Sheets, but sometimes you need to take extra steps to preserve your hard work from accidental edits. With Sheets, you’ve been able to restrict editing to a specific set of users and a specific range, but now you can also warn folks who try to edit certain cells. This way you can collaborate with others, and remind everyone (even yourself) to edit with care.
Try these updated Sheets features on the web today and start telling better stories with your data.


Posted by Dan Gundrum, Product Manager

Google Slides helps you tell beautiful, meaningful stories. But sometimes, presenting these stories can be a hassle, especially when wires, cables and connectors are needed.

Now it’s even easier to share your presentations on big screens—whether you’re in a school board meeting, in charge of the slideshow at your best friend’s wedding or pitching your dream business idea.

With just your phone or tablet and the Slides app, you can present easily to any screen with Chromecast or AirPlay. So you can say goodbye to wires and set-up stress. When you’re up on the big screen, you can use your smaller screen to advance slides, view speaker notes and stay on track with a built-in timer. This way you can focus more on telling your story and engaging your audience...instead of on logistics.

Get the updated Slides app today for Android or iOS. And of course, if you want to cast from the web, you can do that, too. Let us know what you think!

Posted by Ajay Surie, Product Manager

Alice Keeler is a mother of five children, a Google Certified Teacher, and the author of the book “50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom.” Recently we sat down with the self-proclaimed “Queen of Spreadsheets” to learn more about how she relies on (and pushes the boundaries of) Google Docs both in the classroom and in her busy everyday life. 

We want to know how you use the Google Docs family of products, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed. 

Tell us about yourself, the self proclaimed “Queen of Spreadsheets.” 
I am a mother of five children, have a master’s degree in educational media design and technology and am working on my doctorate in EdTech with an emphasis in games and simulation. While working on my masters degree in 2009, I realized the power of games to motivate students, so I’ve been working on applying gamification techniques and games in my instruction, built with Sheets. 

I’m extremely high energy and I really enjoy innovating and sharing with teachers. I also have a unique talent: I can make people love data and spreadsheets. When you can get the information you need in the format that you need it, it’s truly exciting.

How does Google Docs fit into your teaching? 
Google Docs is essential for my instruction. I’ve been paperless for years and Google Docs makes that possible. If I were to choose one word that is most important when choosing tools for student use, I would say collaboration. Google Docs transforms group work from one student doing most of the work to a truly collaborative endeavor. Each student is able contribute concurrently to a single document; enhancing, adding, and editing work.

Tell us about one unconventional way you’re using Google Docs to teach. 
I use gamification techniques to motivate students. Rather than assignments, students have quests they can choose from, in a Google Sheet. Once a student selects a quest, they use a Google Form, linked in the spreadsheet, to turn in their quests. The ability to collect quests and have it neatly organized in one place saves me hours and hours of time.

Collecting work this way allows me to give students choices in what they learn and to be more flexible with due dates, and grading and feedback become immensely easier. When having a classroom discussion, it’s important to give every student a chance to participate and have their voice heard. This is nearly impossible with a verbal discussion. Having students respond to discussion prompts in a spreadsheet not only allows me to hear from every student, but allows the entire class to hear from every student.

What are the three best tips you can suggest for teachers that are using Google Docs? 
First, give feedback via comments to students before they submit their work. I highly recommend learning the keyboard shortcuts for inserting a comment (Control Alt M) and closing a comment (Control Enter) as this significantly speeds up the feedback process.

Second, a kid’s best day is when they can teach you something. Don’t be afraid to try something you do not know, embrace and celebrate help from your students. Challenge them to teach you something new about using Google Docs.

And third, if you use Google Slides or Google Sheets as a collaborative document with all of your students, this gives you only one document that you have to assess. Look for opportunities to do collaborative activities using Sheets and Slides.
You have a big family and a ton of extracurricular activities—do you also use Google Docs to take care of things outside of school? 
I use Google Docs for everything. Woe to anyone standing next to me in the grocery line or driving me in a taxi—I will tell you all about Google Docs and how it will change your life. I have a passion for helping find creative solutions to whatever problem someone has—and educator or not, more often than not the solution is a Google Doc. I used to make wedding cakes and created a massive spreadsheet that calculates the number of servings, the supplies I need, how much to charge, creates the invoice and more. Really, what can you not do with Google Docs?

Do you have any handy docs to share?
Teachers may be interested in creating rubrics with Google Sheets. This template allows you to create a rubric on the second tab and set the percentages for each category. Insert your class roster on the first tab and use the “Create Rubrics” menu to create a copy of the rubric for each student in your class. This makes it easy to assess students using a rubric.

From company meetings to school reports, pictures play an important part in telling your story. Today’s updates to Docs and Slides for Android and iOS help you work with images more easily, even when you’re on the go.

Insert images 
Now you can add pictures to your documents and presentations, directly from your phone or tablet. Choose an image from your camera roll, or take a new photo on the spot.

Picture perfect 
When you’re creating a presentation away from your desk, double tap any image in Slides to enter crop mode. From there, trim the sides of your image, or tap the mask image icon to crop it into a specific shape.


No connection required 
Your work doesn’t stop when your data connection does. Today’s improvements to Docs and Slides will remain available when you’re offline. You’ll just need the updated mobile apps.

Give these new tricks a try, and start adding images from just about anywhere—at work, in the air, or on the train ride home. The updated Docs and Slides apps are available now on Google Play and the App Store (Docs, Slides).


Posted by Zack Reneau-Wedeen, Product Manager

From college kids to billion-dollar companies, lots of people are using Google Docs to be productive, creative, and collaborative. On this blog, we'll be sharing some of their stories, starting with Rentity, a website that helps people find and rent apartments. Rentity recently used a publicly shared Slides presentation to spread the word about their work and collect feedback from investors, potential teammates and clients. Here’s their story, as told through an interview with their founder, Daniel Ahmadizadeh.

We want to know how you use the Google Docs family of products, too, so share your own examples at +GoogleDocs or @googledocs with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed. 

Q: Tell us a little bit about Rentity. 
A: Rentity connects people who are moving out with people looking for a new place to live. With Rentity, current tenants make 2.5% of their annual rent back when a new tenant is found for their apartment. We aim to give prospective tenants access to inventory at an earlier point in time, reduce vacancies for landlords, and incentivize the current tenant to be a part of the process.

Q: Why did you decide to share a public Slides presentation? 
A: We're looking to build a product that connects people to people. It felt natural to be able to essentially build it in public and allow anyone to help shape our direction to make something people want. And so we created a deck that outlines the problem, solution, business model and team—and shared it publicly, with comments enabled.
Q: How has the presentation been received and impacted your business?
A: The reception has been incredible. People have told us a range of things about what they think about having the deck public. From "bold" and "risky" to "refreshing" and "transparent" and everything in between. It's a huge benefit because the more people know about Rentity and engage with the product, the better. The public deck helped tremendously because people saw the feedback that others were providing and felt more engaged with the vision rather than seeing a non-collaborative deck which would never be able to capture/nurture a sense of community.
The presentation in turn has helped us build core values. Transparency started with Slides. Building community started with Slides. Thousands have seen our presentation to date. We believe that by being open with what we are building, we are better suited to catalyze connections and feedback loops that we otherwise would have never been able to create.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

This post comes to us from Zachary Elkins, Director of the Constitute Project. The Constitute Project was launched in 2013 as a way for constitution-makers, scholars, and everyday people to explore alternative ideas in constitutional design. -Ed. 

Constitutional reform happens more often than you might think. On average, countries around the world replace their constitutions every 19 years and amend them every two years. It’s not an easy task, even if it’s common. Constitutions are often the result of deliberation, discussion and discovery—discovery that often comes from writing together.

But collaborative writing can be challenging. It’s hard to write something with other people and still make it cohesive, harmonic and readable. These pitfalls are particularly salient for constitutions—documents that are supposed to represent the aspirations and principles of a people.

That’s where Constitute comes in. A project of the Comparative Constitutions Project and seeded by Google Ideas, Constitute allows anyone to read, search and compare every constitution in the world, indexed by topic. Constitute is built for people to analyze text, but they can move from analysis to drafting by exporting constitutional excerpts directly to Google Docs—a shared space to create and debate a new “founding” document.
Today a new set of exhibits at the National Constitution Center helps bring this hands-on approach to the general public. Created in 1988, the NCC is an interactive museum in Philadelphia dedicated to the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitute exhibit has two components. The first is an installation of Constitute that invites visitors to view the U.S. Constitution (and other Constitutions) in comparative perspective.
In the second component, select visitors can put this analysis to work in a space we’re calling the “Drafting Lab.” There, people can use Constitute and Google Docs to participate with fellow drafters in each of the stages of Constitution-making—from research to deliberation to drafting.
The Lab might be the first of its kind in the world: a space for citizens and drafters of all kinds to imagine, rethink and rediscover constitutional ideas. We don’t really know what happens when drafters work simultaneously on the same piece of “parchment” (a Google Doc) and share the same workspace. So the sessions in the Drafting Lab may be illuminating for both scholars and for participants.

If you're unable to visit the NCC and do some drafting in person, you can always give it a try at home by visiting constituteproject.org.

May the constitution-making begin!

Posted by Zachary Elkins, Director, Constitute Project

With Google Docs we want to help you work better, everywhere you are. So today’s Android and iOS updates for Docs, Sheets and Slides make it easier to get things done while you’re on the go. 

Doing, not just viewing 
You’ve asked for more editing tools on mobile, so today’s improvements include real-time spell-checking in documents, hiding rows and columns in spreadsheets, and grouping shapes in presentations.
Keeping your content safe 
Online security is really important, so we offer functionality like two-step verification to protect your Google account. Starting today, Google Docs supports Touch ID on iOS, so you can unlock Docs, Sheets and Slides with your unique fingerprint.
Making everything more accessible
If you’re blind or have low vision, we have improved support and performance for TalkBack on Android and VoiceOver on iOS to create, edit, and share files in Docs, Sheets and Slides. The updated apps also respond well to screen magnification, in case you need to zoom in for a closer look.

These updates are rolling out now, so look for them on Google Play and the App Store (Docs, Sheets, Slides), and download the new versions as they become available. For even more news and tips, you can now follow Google Docs on Google+, Twitter and Facebook.

Posted by Jude Flannery, Engineering Director