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Who needs expensive, old-fashioned office software? Now, you can do everything online, free, with Google Docs! Experts Steve and Nancy Holzner offer simple, step-by-step instructions and great insider tips for making the most of Google’s powerful online word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation tools. You’ll get started fast... learn how to create and format professional-quality documents of all kinds... collaborate with colleagues to build better proposals and presentations... use advanced tools like revision history, templates, and charts... discover Google Docs’ latest features and shortcuts... and a whole lot more! No matter what kind of documents you create, this book can help you do the job better, faster, and more efficiently... and you’ll never pay for office software again!
You’ll Learn How To
• Get your free Google account and set up iGoogle for instant access to your documents
• Upload and use the documents you’ve already created with Microsoft Office
• Use Google Spreadsheet to create charts to display spreadsheet data
• Master Google Docs’ easy, powerful document-editing and formatting tools
• Insert images into your documents and presentations
• Share documents securely with your colleagues
• Back up your documents offline and edit them when you don’t have an Internet connection
Steven Holzner, former contributing editor at PC Magazine, is author of 108 computer books
that have sold more than 2.5 million copies. His most recent Pearson book is Facebook Marketing.
Nancy Holzner writes and edits technology books from her home in central New York state.
Her recent publications include books on Intuit QuickBase and Zoho. Nancy has also worked as
a medievalist, a high school teacher, and a corporate trainer.
CATEGORY: Productivity Suites
COVERS: Google Docs
USER LEVEL: Beginning-Intermediate
Introducing Spreadsheets in Google Docs
Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 6 and Index)
Introduction............................................................................................ 1
A Quick Overview of This Book................................................. 2
A Word About Security............................................................ 3
Technical Requirements for Using Google Docs......................... 4
1 Getting Started with Google Docs............................................................. 7
A Google Account: Your Passport to All Things Google.............. 8
Signing up and Signing in................................................ 8
What Can I Do with a Google Account?........................... 10
Managing Your Google Account............................................. 11
Changing Your Account Information................................ 11
Adding and Launching Google Applications..................... 12
Getting Familiar with the Google Docs Home Page.................. 12
Organizing Your Documents........................................... 13
Finding a Document...................................................... 16
iGoogle, You Google, Everybody Googles............................... 18
What’s an iGoogle Page?.............................................. 19
Setting up iGoogle......................................................... 19
Customizing Your Page................................................. 20
iGoogle and Google Docs.............................................. 24
2 Starting Word Processing...................................................................... 29
Creating Your First Document................................................ 29
Naming the Document................................................... 30
Entering Text................................................................ 31
Saving the Document..................................................... 34
Introducing Formatting........................................................... 35
Using the Formatting Toolbar.......................................... 35
Using Keyboard Shortcuts............................................. 38
Printing a Document.............................................................. 39
Inserting Headers and Footers........................................ 39
Inserting Page Breaks................................................... 40
Checking Your Spelling.................................................. 40
Choosing Your Print Settings......................................... 40
Exporting and Printing the Document.............................. 41
Deleting a Document............................................................. 44
3 Formatting Documents.......................................................................... 45
Formatting a Document......................................................... 45
Working with Templates......................................................... 47
Creating a New Document from a Template..................... 47
Saving a Document as a Template.................................. 50
Importing and Exporting Documents........................................ 50
Importing Documents..................................................... 50
Exporting a Document................................................... 54
Doing Research.................................................................... 55
Using a Dictionary, Thesaurus, or Encyclopedia............... 56
Searching the Web from Your Document......................... 57
Working Offline..................................................................... 57
Downloading and Installing Gears................................... 58
Activating Gears............................................................ 60
Using Gears to Work Offline........................................... 62
Tweaking Your Offline Settings....................................... 63
4 Taking Your Docs to the Next Level: Lists, Tables, and Insertions.............. 65
Working with Lists................................................................. 65
Creating a List.............................................................. 66
Editing a List................................................................ 67
Adding Tables to a Document................................................. 71
Creating a Table............................................................ 71
Editing a Table.............................................................. 72
Inserting and Editing Images.................................................. 78
Getting an Image into Your Document............................. 78
Editing Images.............................................................. 82
Deleting an Image......................................................... 82
Working with Hyperlinks and Bookmarks................................. 82
Inserting a Hyperlink...................................................... 83
Editing a Hyperlink........................................................ 84
Inserting a Bookmark..................................................... 85
Creating a Table of Contents.......................................... 87
Editing a Table of Contents............................................ 89
5 Sharing and Collaborating on Documents................................................ 91
Sharing a Document.............................................................. 92
Step 1: Choose Sharers and Set Permissions................. 92
Step 2: Send an Optional Email Invitation........................ 93
Receiving a Document-Sharing Notification...................... 94
Changing a Document’s Ownership................................. 95
Emailing All Viewers/Collaborators.................................. 96
Removing Sharing......................................................... 98
Other Ways to Share a Document.......................................... 99
Emailing a Document.................................................... 99
Publishing a Document on the Web.............................. 100
Collaborating on a Document................................................ 105
Collaboration and Offline Editing.................................... 106
Using Color-Coded Comments...................................... 106
Working with a Document’s Revision History.......................... 109
Viewing Revisions........................................................ 109
Comparing Versions.................................................... 110
6 Introducing Spreadsheets..................................................................... 113
Spreadsheet Basics............................................................ 113
What Is a Spreadsheet?............................................... 113
What Can a Cell Contain?............................................ 114
What Makes a Good Spreadsheet Design?.................... 114
Creating Your First Google Docs Spreadsheet....................... 117
Selecting Cells and Entering Data................................. 118
Saving a Spreadsheet.................................................. 118
Creating a New Spreadsheet from a Template........................ 119
Formatting a Spreadsheet.................................................... 120
Formatting Numbers.................................................... 121
Formatting Dates and Times......................................... 122
Formatting Appearance................................................ 122
Creating Formatting Rules............................................ 125
Working with Multiple Sheets....................................... 126
Working with Data............................................................... 127
Importing Data into Google Docs................................... 127
Exporting Data from Google Docs................................. 128
Exporting as an XLS or ODS File.................................. 129
Entering Data.............................................................. 130
Clearing Data.............................................................. 133
Working with Rows and Columns.................................. 133
Sorting Data................................................................ 136
Printing and Deleting Spreadsheets....................................... 139
Printing a Spreadsheet................................................. 139
Deleting a Spreadsheet................................................ 140
7 Spreadsheets: Formulas and Charts..................................................... 141
Working with Spreadsheet Formulas..................................... 141
What Is a Formula?..................................................... 142
Creating Formulas: The Basics..................................... 142
Supercharging Your Formulas with Functions................. 147
Getting the Big Picture with Charts, Graphics, and Gadgets.... 150
Kinds of Charts........................................................... 151
Creating a Chart.......................................................... 154
Editing a Chart............................................................ 156
Putting an Image into Your Spreadsheet........................ 159
Editing an Image......................................................... 160
Google Docs Spreadsheets and Google Gadgets........... 161
Editing a Gadget......................................................... 162
8 Sharing and Collaborating on Spreadsheets........................................... 167
Sharing Spreadsheets.......................................................... 167
Publishing a Spreadsheet on the Web........................... 168
Embedding a Spreadsheet in Your Web Site or Blog...... 170
Inviting Others to Share a Spreadsheet.......................... 170
Collaborating on Spreadsheets............................................. 176
Working Simultaneously.............................................. 176
Chatting as You Work.................................................. 177
Commenting on a Spreadsheet..................................... 178
Receiving Notifications................................................. 180
Creating a Form to Gather Data............................................ 181
Creating a New Spreadsheet by Designing a Form......... 181
Creating a Form for an Existing Spreadsheet................. 184
Emailing a Form.......................................................... 184
Embedding a Form in a Web Page or Blog.................... 185
Editing a Form............................................................ 186
Editing a Form’s Confirmation Message......................... 187
Analyzing Form Data................................................... 188
Disabling or Deleting a Form......................................... 189
Working with a Spreadsheet’s Revision History...................... 189
9 Introducing Presentations..................................................................... 191
What’s a Presentation?........................................................ 191
Why Use Google Docs for Presentations?..................... 192
Some Pointers for Designing a Presentation.................. 192
Your First Presentation........................................................ 193
Starting from Scratch................................................... 193
Naming Your Presentation............................................ 194
Getting an Existing Presentation into Google Docs......... 195
Adding a New Slide..................................................... 196
Selecting a Slide and Inserting Text.............................. 197
Saving a Presentation.................................................. 198
Giving Your Slides Pizzazz.................................................. 199
Adding Some Style with a Theme................................. 199
Giving Your Slides a Custom Background...................... 200
Formatting Text........................................................... 201
Adding Images, Shapes, and Videos............................. 204
Moving and Resizing Elements..................................... 207
Arranging Elements on a Slide...................................... 207
Revealing Elements One by One................................... 208
Deleting an Element.................................................... 209
Working with Slides............................................................. 209
Importing Slides.......................................................... 209
Copying a Slide........................................................... 210
Moving a Slide............................................................. 211
Adding Speaker Notes................................................. 211
Deleting a Slide........................................................... 211
Working with Presentations.................................................. 212
Previewing a Presentation............................................ 212
Exporting a Presentation.............................................. 213
Printing a Presentation................................................. 213
Deleting a Presentation................................................ 214
10 The Main Event: Sharing and Viewing Presentations............................... 217
Sharing a Presentation......................................................... 217
Collaborating on a Presentation............................................ 218
Giving a Live Presentation.................................................... 219
Starting the Show........................................................ 220
During the Presentation................................................ 220
Ending a Presentation.................................................. 226
Publishing a Presentation on the Web................................... 226
Making a Presentation Public....................................... 226
Embedding a Presentation in Your Web Page or Blog..... 228
Working with Revisions........................................................ 230
TOC, 1/16/09, 9780789739360