We explain what Google Docs is and what this service is for. How to create a document in Google Docs and differences with Google Drive.
What is Google Docs?
Google Docs is a Google tool that allows you to create and edit documents online and accessed through a computer or device connected to the Internet . With this word processor, the user can compose documents and writings that are stored in the cloud, that is, online. In order to use Google Docs, the user must have internet access and a gmail account (which is Google’s email service. From there you can use the tool for free. Documents created in Google Docs can be emailed, downloaded to your computer, or shared online with others for editing or suggested changes.
Features of Google Docs
Some of the main features of Google Docs are:
- It has a word processor that allows writing and editing documents.
- It is part of the Google tools service, which also includes Google Sheets (spreadsheets), Google Forms (forms), Google Slides (presentations), among others.
- To use it, you need a Gmail account and an internet connection (although it allows the option of working offline).
- It can be used from the computer or from electronic devices such as cell phones or tablets, through the browser or the application.
- It is a free service and does not require the installation of any specific program.
- All created documents are automatically stored in Google Drive (Google’s online hosting service) and can be downloaded to the computer or device.
- It allows you to save a large amount of space on the computer, because it does not store information within the computer’s memory.
- Allows one or more users to work on the same document.
- It is updated automatically and frequently to improve functionalities.
Google Docs Features
Google Docs is the online tool that allows you to create and edit documents. Some of the features it includes are:
- Letter format. It allows you to select from a large number of fonts, which can be changed in size, color, highlighting in bold, underlined, among other options.
- Paragraph format. Allows you to customize the line spacing, orientation, spaces and indentation of paragraphs within the text.
- Page orientation. Allows you to select the orientation of the document, which can be horizontal or vertical.
- Images and graphics. Allows you to add images, illustrations, graphs, drawings, among others, to the document.
- tables. Allows you to add and design tables.
- links. It allows linking some part of the document with a specific URL.
- Spelling and Grammar. It performs an automatic proofreading of the text and highlights spelling and grammar errors.
- Edition. It allows more than one user to work simultaneously on a document.
- Control of changes. It allows users of the document to see all the corrections and changes that were made to the text.
- Comments. It allows any of the users with access to the document to leave a written comment on any part of the text or image of the file. These comments can be answered, edited or deleted by other users.
- Download and upload files. It allows you to download files from the cloud to your computer or device and also upload files made with other word processors to the cloud.
- I work offline. It allows you to create and modify documents offline and which are then saved automatically.
- Voice dictation. Converts the words that the user expresses orally into written text.
- print. It allows the printing of the document in paper format.
How to create a document in Google Docs?
To create a new document in Google Docs, certain steps must be followed. It is important to mention that these documents can be created from the web browser or from the application and can be entered from both the Google Drive page and from Google Docs.
Create a document from the Google Docs page :
- Sign in with a gmail account to Google Docs.
- Go to the “Start a new document” section and choose the desired option, which can be a blank document or templates such as a letter, brochure, resume, among others.
- Pressing any of the options opens a document (blank or template depending on the case).
- Click on “Untitled Document” and enter the name of the document.
- Place the cursor on the blank page and start writing the text.
- Use the toolbar at the top of the document to make changes, such as font or size, page orientation, paragraph formatting, and to include images or graphics.
- In the case of wanting to share the document with other users, you must press the blue rectangle in the upper right margin and enter the email of the user with whom you want to share the document.
- The document will be saved automatically and you can find it in “Recent Documents”.
Create a document from the Google Drive page:
- Sign in with a gmail account to Google Drive.
- Click the “New” button on the left side of the screen.
- Choose the “Google Documents” option. Pressing this option will open a blank document.
- Click on “Untitled Document” and enter the name of the document.
- Place the cursor on the blank page and start writing the text.
- Use the toolbar at the top of the document to make changes, such as font or size, page orientation, paragraph formatting, and to include images or graphics.
- In the case of wanting to share the document with other users, you must press the blue rectangle in the upper right margin and enter the email of the user with whom you want to share the document.
- The document will be saved automatically and you can find it in “Quick access”.