Google Docs Has Templates

July 20, 2008 Vol I

Google Docs Now Has Templates!

If you need to create a document in a hurry and need a few more bells and whistles thatn plain vanilla Google Docs then you are going to go to your happy place with Google Docs new templates.

There are hundreds of templates for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.  This document is using a template called Red Block Newsletter.  

At this point you access the templates from the New Features link at the top of the docs page but I am confident it will be incorporated into the document tool bars before long.

You will find templates in the documents section for letterheads, business plans, resumes, recipe cards, research papers, corporate calendars and so much more.  You can customize everything with your company logo and photos. 

This creates endless opportunity for you to modify the templates and create a set for your class, company, club, church - whatever and then store them in a central place for easy access.

As with the documents and presentations, there are over a hundred templates for spreadsheets including timesheets, grading pages, amortizations schedules, budget planners, sudoku creators, calendars and more. 

To use a template, go to the Google Docs homepage and sign in.  Click the new features link at the top of the page and browse the templates.  You can choose to wander through all templates, narrow it down according to application, and  narrow it down even further to usage category. 

Choose a template and it will open up in Google Docs as a “copy of template name”  Make your changes, rename it and you are done!

Go.  Now.  Play.

Example of a Google Docs spreadsheet PDA

• Create a new spreadsheet
• Create headers across the top - you can format the text and background color if you like.
• I used Subject, Date, Notes, Details
• At the bottom of the screen you will see a tab for the sheet you are working on.. If you click it you have several editing choices, including delete, duplicate, rename, and move right or left. For now you might want to rename it work.
• Now click again and duplicate it (I did this twice) You now have three sheets with the same headers and you can now click on and rename the other two sheets. I have named my sheets Work, Home, Ideas.
• Now here is where it gets fun
• You could just enter information directly into the spreadsheet but with Google Docs you can create a form that will make it easier to quickly enter data and have it automatically update in the spreadsheet.
• We will create a separate form for each sheet and show you how you can use those links to populate your spreadsheet PDA
• Click on the tab for one of the sheets so you will have that sheet open.
• You should see a row of light blue tabs across the top of the document - click the tab for Form
• Click create a form
• A new page will open with your form already created according to the column headers you used in your spreadsheet.
• As you move your mouse cursor over each field in your form you will see that you can edit that individual field, you can move it, you can even add or delete questions. Just remember that what you do on the form will be reflected on the spreadsheet. If you delete a field it will no longer exist on the spreadsheet either. A good rule of thumb is that the form is “the boss” of the spreadsheet.
• Now choose “next choose recipients” You can put in your own email address and if you look on the right you will see a note saying that if you have trouble viewing or submitting this form, you can fill it out online and there will be a link. This is the link you want to save as a shortcut on your desktop. You can change the name of the link to make it easier to find. On a PC you will right click on the shortcut and choose rename. If you use something like @Home the @ sign will cause it to be near the top if you arrange you icons in alphabetical order. On a Mac you will control-click the shortcut and choose info. There will be a field where you can change the name.

This would work for a student organizer - just change the column headings to something like assignment, due date, teacher/professor, class period, notes/resources.

A couple of modifications and you can share and collaborate so now you have an online project management system.

You can also click publish - this gives you an embeddable link and an RSS feed so you can subscribe to your own list.
Choose more publishing options and click in the drop down box and choose HTML to embed in a webpage. You can also choose which sheets and even which cells to show. The will generate some HTML that you can paste into your blog. Pay attention to the sizes shown in the HTML. If you paste it and find it is bigger than the space provided in the webpage you can usually adjust those numbers to make it fit.

I hope this is useful to you!

I am subscribed to so many more rss feeds that I have time to read and often I will subscribe to a blog that is written by someone with multiple interests because they occasionally write about something I am interested in.  This means that I will see a lot of article titles that are not what I want to read.  I discovered a new tool today that will help me shrink some of that reader “bloat”

It is called Feedsifter and can be found here

You just put in the URL of the site and then type in the keywords you are interested in and Feedsifter creates a second feed that you can subscribe to.  Now you have a feed tailored to your interest!

If you have a google account the easiest thing in the world is to sign in.  Go to igoogle and click add stuff .  Looking down on the left sidebar you will find a choice for entering a url - paste the feed URL that feedsifter created there and you will now have this feed show up directly on your igoogle homepage.

I have often used del.icio.us to create a feed of bookmarks on a specific subject.  Today I created one for googledocs and using Feedsifter I had it make a new feed that would show me only googledoc bookmarks that contain spreadsheet and/or form.  Now I have an area that helps me keep up with new blog posts on Google spreadsheets. This won’t be a perfect solution but it helps me narrow down some of what shows up in my reader now.

This tip came from The Simple Dollar - thanks to them for a great hint!

Let’s make a quick guide for someone planning to visit Paris soon. there is more that could be included but this will be enough to get you started! The instructions came from the Google Docs Blog which is a wonderful resource!

First, determine the sites you will use and open a Google docs spreadsheet

In the first column put the addresses

In the second column put the names and a short description (you can include a link)

Click and drag to highlight both columns

Click Insert on the toolbar and choose gadget

Select Google Maps

You can add a title but you now have a list of sites with their addresses and links and a map to boot! Cool and simple.

Save it, click publish and check the box - republish changes and you can continue to add to it and you can email a link to it to your friends and family!

Here is a link to mine:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pgVdUefx1CH0V_U5tumJrHw

Here is a screenshot:

To add a column of numbers in Google docs spreadsheets relax and just follow a few easy steps.

type a column of numbers

when you are finished place your cursor in the cell you want the sum to appear in

At the top right side of the spreadsheet window is a row of functions - click sum, then place your cursor in the cell with the first number and hold and drag to cover the column of numbers. The range will appear in your formula cell

If you have this the way you want it click enter (until you click enter nothing will happen)

the same process works for average and the other functions listed there.

If you click “more” you will see a list of available functions

If you are done click save and give your spreadsheet a title

Yay you! You have created your first Google doc spreadsheet!

Want to search for websites that have been indexed by Google in the last week or day?  Go here! http://www.researchbuzz.org/2003/09/goofresh.shtml

Got questions about Google?  Search here! http://www.google.com/support/

Do you like more picture with your news?  Go here and when you hover over a picture the headline on the side will scroll to match it with links to more on the story.

http://news.google.com/news?&imv=1

For an alphabetically ordered list of help topics go here:

http://www.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=alpha_index.html

Can’t find the answer to your question?  Learn from other users here: http://www.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=portal_groups.cs&hl=en

Google Docs

To embed a document into an email

Open the document you wish to send

Click Share

Choose Email as an Attachment

You will see a pop up menu
Choose Paste the document itself into the email message

Some email clients do not show images or embedded html pages so to be sure everyone can see it, publish the document and include the URL and a message letting the recipient know that if they cannot see the document in their email to click on the URL

This tip was found in the Google Docs How To Group courtesy of the awesome Ahab!