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

Table of Contents:
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