This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.
I posted five useful things to do with Google Docs last week. This is a follow-up with some handy-but-hidden Google Docs features.
1. TRANSLATE TEXT INSTANTLY
Share your doc in another language. Your original is preserved—Google Docs just creates a translated copy of your document. It’s not human quality, but it’s enough for the gist.
How: Go to Tools > Translate document.
2. DISPLAY PERSISTENT WORD COUNT
Word counters, delight! This is new. Show a persistent count at the bottom left of your editing window.
How: Go to Tools > Word count—or Command-Shift-C— and select “Display word count while typing.”
3. CREATE A WEB PAGE OUT OF A DOCUMENT
You can publish docs to the Web fast, easily, and free. In an emergency, this can be a convenient way to create a public Web page. You can even make it publicly editable, thereby converting it into a community Wiki. This approach has been used to provide emergency info and to track people’s safety after natural disasters.
How: Go to the File menu and click Publish to the web.
4. CREATE TYPING SHORTCUTS
You can tell Google Docs to expand any short phrase or letter combination you type into anything else. This is useful for any long word or phrase you type frequently. You can set them up for your email address or mailing address, a word you often misspell or anything else. When you type “myemail” or whatever letters or phrase you choose, Google Docs will automatically expand it into your email address.
How: To set up shortcuts, go to Tools > preferences, then select Substitutions on the top right.
5. CHECK ON CHANGES
is a great tool for checking out what people have changed without having to examine every sentence manually. At a glance, it will show you what was changed, by whom, and when.
How: Go to File > Version history
is a great tool for checking out what people have changed without having to examine every sentence manually. At a glance, it will show you what was changed, by whom, and when.
How: Go to File >
Version history is a great tool for checking out what people have changed without having to examine every sentence manually. At a glance, it will show you what was changed, by whom, and when.
How: Go to File > Version history
6. NAME VERSIONS
If you’re editing a doc and ending up with multiple different versions, go to File > Version history and then “Name a Version” and give the version you’re working on a specific name. Like “Jane’s edit” or “Prepublish version without images” or whatever else makes sense to you.
How: Here’s a 30-second video demo:
7. ADD A TABLE OF CONTENTS
If you’ve got a long document, automatically create a table of contents (TOC) so people can quickly find what they need. Put your cursor where you want the TOC to appear.
How: Select Insert > Table of contents and decide whether you want the links to be black or blue. Pick the black option for a cleaner look. Then adjust key titles in the doc so they’ll appear in the TOC by using the Format menu to style section headers. Here’s step-by-step help on this if you need it.
8. CLEAN UP YOUR DOC
Use horizontal line breaks to clean up long docs into neater sections.
How: Use Insert > Horizontal line
9. ADD A GIF TO ADD A VISUAL EXPLANATION, OR TO GIVE A DOC MORE LIFE
Add visual movement directly next to your words with GIFs. It’s a nice way to get around not being able to embed videos.
How: Go to Insert > Image and upload a GIF.