Five Uses for Google Docs Besides Essay Writing
Over the last sixteen years I’ve used Google Docs and had students use Google Docs for lots of activities besides just writing essays. I’ve used Google Documents to facilitate analysis of primary sources, to create charts and diagrams, to facilitate group note-taking, to publish simple webpages, and to make collaborative task lists. All of those […]
How to Add Audio to Almost Anything in Google Workspace
Mote is a great tool for adding audio comments to Google Docs, Google Classroom, and Google Slides. You can also use Mote to add audio to Google Forms and insert audio into Google Slides with just one click. Mote also lets you record audio messages to share directly in Gmail and or via QR codes. All of […]
How to Scan and Search Handwritten Notes in Google Keep and Docs
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I shared a couple of studies that support the benefits of handwriting notes over typing notes. In the newsletter I also shared a couple of tips for digitizing handwritten notes. One of the things that I mentioned was using Google Keep to digitize handwritten notes. Google Keep’s free mobile […]
A New Google Bard Feature
Bard is Google’s alternative to ChatGPT. If you haven’t tried it yet, watch this video that I made in March and then give it a try. The newest feature added to Bard makes it easy to quickly transfer the transcript of your Bard chat into a Google Document. All you need to do is simply […]
Changes are Coming to Your Favorite Google Workspace Tools
If you opened a new Google Document today you might have seen a new little clock icon appearing in the upper-right corner of the screen. But if you didn’t see it, don’t worry because you will start seeing it before too long. That clock icon is one of the updates coming to Google Docs, Slides, […]
Three Tips for Math Teachers & Students Using Google Docs
Last weekend a reader reached out to me for advice on helping her students write equations in Google Docs. The add-ons she had tried were either too confusing or too expensive to use with all of her pre-Algebra and Algebra I students. My suggestion was to try having students just use the special characters menu […]
The Google Docs Features Starter Pack
I recently published a playlist of 76 Google Docs tutorials. But you certainly don’t need to use all of the features of Google Docs demonstrated in that playlist let alone watch all of the videos. In fact, I’m often asked for a list of the “must-know” features instead of all of the “could use” features. […]
How to Set Expiration Dates for Google Docs
Setting access expiration dates is one of the many “hidden” or frequently overlooked features of Google Documents. This is a feature you can use when you want to share a Google Document with a person or group of people for a limited time. By setting an expiration date you can grant access for as little […]
75 Google Documents Tutorials
Last week I published a new tutorial about how to add footnotes to Google Documents. After publishing it I decided that it was time to continue on my quest to bring some better organization to my YouTube channel. The next step in that quest was to create a playlist of my Google Documents tutorials. I […]
How to Add Footnotes to Your Google Documents
When it comes answering tech support questions it is often easier to show the solution with a screencast video than it is to write directions. That’s why I made this screencast video when earlier this week I was asked “how can I add footnotes into my Google Documents?” In the video I show where to […]
How to Add Checkboxes to Tables in Google Docs
Earlier this week when I was looking back at The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators I noticed that Google Docs was still a beta product back when that book was written. Google Docs has come a long way since then. Today, Google Docs is packed with some many handy little features that it’s […]
Why You Should Clean Your Phone
When was the last time you looked at your phone? According to my site analytics there’s at least a 55% chance that the answer to that question is “right now.” But when was the last time you looked at all the stuff that’s on your phone? How many files do have you that downloaded (knowingly […]
How to Use Voice Typing in Google Slides
Google recently improved the voice typing function in Google Docs and Google Slides. The tools work in the same way as before, but the voice recognition and accuracy is better than it has been in the past. If you’ve never tried voice typing in Google Slides, watch this new video to see how it works. […]
5 Google Docs Features You Might Have Overlooked or Forgotten About
Google Documents has been around so long now that some of us who have been using it from the start may have forgotten about some features. I did that just the other day when I “remembered” to use the version history to go back and look at a some edits that I had made to […]
Best of 2022 – Overlooked Google Docs Features
As I do at this time every year, I’m taking the week off to ski and play with my kids, shovel snow, and generally not think about work. I have some of the most popular posts of the year scheduled to republish this week. New posts will resume in the new year. As Google Docs […]
Tips for Managing Google Drive Folders
A couple of mornings ago a reader asked me to help her figure out how a Google Doc she didn’t remember sharing was accessed by a colleague. After ruling out that her account had been compromised I discovered that the document in question was part of a shared Google Drive folder. The document was created […]
How to Set Notifications for Individual Google Documents
Google Drive has long let you receive email and desktop notifications for edits and comments to your shared Google Docs. Unfortunately, it was an “all or nothing” setting. In other words, you could either receive notifications or not receive notifications for all documents. Recently, Google Docs was updated so that you can now set notification […]
Write With Emojis in Google Docs
Earlier this week Google added a new emoji option into Google Docs. The new option enables you to type @ followed by an emotion to add an emoji into a sentence in your Google Documents. For example, you can type “@smile” to generate a list of smiley emojis that you can pick from to insert […]
Three Google Workspace Updates to Note This Week
Just about every week Google makes updates to Google Workspace. Some only affect administrators of Google Workspace domains while others affect all end-users of Google Workspace products. This week there were three Google Workspace updates that teachers and students should note. More Accessibility Controls People who use screen readers, magnifiers, and braille now have more […]
Google Docs, Slides, and Forms Accessibility
As the new school year approaches and you start to update some of your old Google Docs, Slides, and Forms take a moment to assess the accessibility of those materials. And if necessary, it’s fairly easy to improve the accessibility of your Docs, Slides, and Forms. Google DocumentsGoogle Documents has some built-in accessibility options that […]
Custom Tables in Google Docs
Earlier this year Google added new table templates into Google Documents. Those templates include tables for project management and checklists. While those templates are good, there are still times when you might be better off creating your own custom tables in Google Documents. Today, there are more table customization options in Google Docs than ever […]
Best of 2022 So Far – Dropdowns in Docs
I’m taking the rest of the week off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year so far. A couple of weeks ago I shared some information about the new project planning templates in Google Docs that include dropdown menus. Today, I’d like to share how you can […]
Five Ways to Work With PDFs in Google Drive
Some of the questions that receive more than frequently than others revolve around working with PDFs. The answers that people are looking for are often “hidden” in plain sight. Case in point, just uploading a PDF to Google Drive gives you a handful of ways that you can work with it. In this new video […]
New Google Docs Features You Might Have Missed
This spring (fall for my friends in the southern hemisphere) Google has added some new features to Google Docs. I’ve written about a couple of them in the last month. There are others that I haven’t covered until I published this new video. Watch Five New Google Docs Features You Might Have Missed to learn […]
Add Dropdown Menus Into Sentences In Google Docs
A couple of weeks ago I shared some information about the new project planning templates in Google Docs that include dropdown menus. Today, I’d like to share how you can also insert dropdown menus into any part of a Google Document without using a template. It is possible to add a dropdown menu into any […]
New Google Docs Templates for Project Management
For years I’ve used tables in Google Documents to help students organize group notes and to keep track of who is doing what in group projects. On Monday Google introduced some new table templates that can be used for those same purposes. The new table templates in Google Docs appear to have been developed with […]
How to Download and Reuse Google Drive Files
Yesterday I published a post about using Google Takeout to download the contents of your Google Workspace account before leaving a job. If you only want or need a handful of files, there is an easier option than using Google Takeout. That option is to simply download the individual files in your Google Drive account […]
A Better Way to Update Charts in Google Slides and Docs
Google Forms provides handy charts and graphs summarizing responses to the questions within your form. Those charts and graphs can be embedded into Google Slides, Google Docs, and Google Drawings. This week Google made it easier to make sure you have the latest version of those embedded charts and graphs in your Slides, Docs, or […]
Five Frequently Forgotten Google Docs Features
Perhaps it’s just me, but do you ever feel like you’ve been using Google Docs for so long that you forget about the basics until you need them? For example, the other day when a friend asked me about options for sharing a Google Doc with someone who didn’t use Google Docs I completely blanked […]
Ten Overlooked Google Docs Features for Students and Teachers
As Google Docs has improved and added more features over the years some of those features get forgotten or just plain overlooked. Just because those features don’t jump out, doesn’t mean they’re not helpful to students and teachers. In this new video I highlight ten of my favorite “overlooked” Google Docs features for students and […]
Citing Sources in Google Docs and Word Docs
The other day I sarcastically Tweeted, “can you imagine if we let students cite sources the way that ESPN lets reporters name anonymous sources?” My Tweet was in response to ESPN’s somewhat botched reporting of Tom Brady’s retirement from playing in the NFL. Tweeting that question did prompt me to dig up some tutorials on […]
How to Prevent Printing of Shared Google Documents
At the end of yesterday’s post about adding watermarks to Google Docs I included a reminder that you can disable printing options for when you share a Google Document. Disabling the printing option is helpful when you want to improve the security of a document that you share with someone else for review. For example, […]
How to Add Watermarks to Google Docs
Late last year Google finally added a built-in option for adding watermarks to Google Documents. Unfortunately, that option only allowed you to use images as watermarks and the implementation of those watermarks was a bit clunky. Thankfully, last week Google added a new option for using text as the watermark in Google Documents. The new […]
Try Screencastify & Google Keep for Adding Comments to Google Docs
On Sunday evening I got an email from someone who had seen my videos about Mote and wondered if there was something similar for adding video comments to Google Docs. One of my suggestions was to try the e-Comments Chrome extension which I reviewed last spring. Another option is to use a combination of Screencastify […]
How to Record and Embed Audio in Google Docs
Last Friday I published a video about all of the things that can be done in Google Workspace when you have the Mote Chrome extension installed. The latest of those things is the ability to record audio and embed it directly into your Google Documents. When you do this you’re able to play the audio […]
Best of 2021 – How to Find Public Google Workspace Files
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year. Here’s one from May. Last week I published an animated GIF of how to search by domain to find publicly shared Google Workspaces files. Over […]
Best of 2021 – Interactive Checklists in Google Docs
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year. New blog posts will resume on January 1st. This week Google announced more than a dozen updates to Google Workspace products. Included in those updates […]
How to Create Google Docs and PDFs With Hyperlinked Chapters
A kind reader who purchased my new ebook asked me how I was able to create the hyperlinked sections within the ebook. There are a couple of ways that it can be done, but the way that I did it is built into Google Documents. Like nearly every document that I create, I created 50 […]
How to Use Google Keep as a Comment Bank
Last week I had a reader ask me if there was a way to have a comment bank in Google Documents without using Chrome extensions or Google Classroom. My suggestion was to try using Google Keep as a comment bank in Google Documents. To use Google Keep as a comment bank in Google Keep you […]
An Easy Way to Quickly Add Voice Notes to Google Docs
Yesterday morning I published The Easiest Way to Add Narration to Google Slides. In that blog post I featured a Chrome extension called Mote. Mote, as I’ve mentioned in the past, can be used for adding audio to a bunch of Google Workspace tools including the comments on Google Documents. In this short video I […]
Helpful New Table Options in Google Docs
This week Google added a handful of helpful new features for customizing tables in Google Documents. A couple of the new features are things that I’ve wanted for years. The first new feature that I’m excited about is the option to specify that a table row not be split at a page break. Making that […]
Google’s Favorite Chrome Extensions of the Year
On The Keyword Google has announced their favorite Chrome extensions of the year. I have no idea what the criteria was to be included in the list. That said, I took a look at the list and noticed that some of Google’s favorite Chrome extensions are also some of my favorite Chrome extensions. Those favorites […]
Display a Timer With a Google Document
Earlier this week a reader of my weekly newsletter emailed me to ask for advice on how to display a document and countdown timer on the same screen. The idea being that the document is displayed on a large screen via an LCD projector or Chromecast and a small timer is also displayed. The document […]
Three Updated Google Docs Features
Over the last month or so Google has added some handy new features to Google Docs. I’ve written about them as they were announced by Google. But if you would like to see how they work, watch this new short video. In the video you will see the following Google Docs features that have been […]
Take a Look at Your Google Docs Activity Dashboard
The activity dashboard is one of the “hidden” or overlooked features of Google Docs that I use on a fairly regular basis. It’s a handy little feature to use whenever you’re sharing a document, but is particularly useful when sharing with more than one other person. Through the activity dashboard you can see who the […]
Google Docs Gets an Improved Citation Option
For a few years I recommended EasyBib’s Google Docs add-on for creating citations and bibliographies in Google Documents. I got away from it when it started to get glitchy. What I always liked about it was that it had an integrated resource search that made it easy to quickly look up books and websites then […]
Accessibility in Google Docs and Slides
On Saturday morning I published a video about word art, fonts, and special characters in Google Docs and Slides. Later in the day someone Tweeted at me to “make sure the fonts are accessible.” I replied with a section of my free Practical Ed Tech Handbook that is dedicated to accessibility. An excerpt of that […]
Tips on Word Art, Fonts, and Special Characters in Google Docs and Slides
Earlier this week I received an email from a reader who wanted some advice to pass along to colleagues about using custom fonts in Google Docs. I made this short video to lend some assistance. Before you watch the video there are a few things to note about fonts in Google Docs and Slides. Unfortunately, […]
A Helpful New Feature for Formatting Google Docs
Google Docs users who regularly create multiple page documents will be happy to learn that Google is adding a new page break feature to Google Docs. The new page break option will let you insert a page break before any new paragraph. This means that you’ll no longer have to manually insert spaces to create […]
How to Add Watermarks to Google Documents
Earlier this week Google announced that a new watermark feature would soon be added to Google Documents. That new feature appeared in one of my Google accounts this morning so I immediately gave it a try. The new watermark feature in Google Docs is very easy to use. In this short video I demonstrate how […]
Two New Google Docs Features to Note
This week Google announced the addition of two new features in Google Docs. Both new features will be welcomed by teachers and students. The first new feature is an increase in the size of the comments box in Google Docs. Currently, the comments box accomodates 35 characters before a new line is created. The new […]
How to Cite Sources in Google Docs
At the beginning of every school year I like to revisit some topics with my students to which they always say, “we learned this last year.” One of those topics is citing the sources of the information that they use in their writing and in their presentations. It never hurts to review this information with […]
Comics, Docs, and Posters – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we’re getting ready for a weekend of fun. We’re planning to go for a little hike and do a little fishing. I hope that you have something fun planned for your weekend as well. This week I hosted a couple of professional development webinars for schools. If you’re interested in […]
Five Google Docs Activities Besides Just Writing Essays
Over the last fourteen years I’ve used Google Docs and had students use Google Docs for lots of activities besides just writing essays. I’ve used Google Documents to facilitate analysis of primary sources, to create charts and diagrams, to facilitate group note-taking, to publish simple webpages, and to make collaborative task lists. All of those […]
A Tip for Structuring Group Notes in Google Docs
Fourteen years ago when I first started using Google Docs with students I got the idea to have my whole class take notes on the same document. It sounded good in my head on my drive to school. In practice it was a disaster as my students were quickly frustrated by accidentally writing over each […]
Getting Started With Google Drive and Google Docs – Everything You Need to Know
This week I’m releasing a series of videos designed for new Google Workspace users. All of the videos will be published on my YouTube channel throughout this week and next week. The first videos in the series is Getting Started With Google Drive – Settings and Uploads. This video explains how to adjust the display of […]
21 Google Docs Features You Should Know How to Use
This week I’m releasing a new series of videos covering everything a new Google Workspace user needs to know. The videos will be released throughout the week on my YouTube channel. I actually teased the series a little bit on Friday when I published two videos detailing twenty-one features of Google Docs that all users […]
Wordtune – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days I’m going to highlight some of my favorite new and new-to-me tools so far this year. Wordtune is a Chrome extension that will make suggestions on how to change and or improve […]
How to Create Interactive Checklists in Google Docs
This week Google announced more than a dozen updates to Google Workspace products. Included in those updates is a new text box feature in Google Documents. The new text box option can be used to create interactive checklists. Those checklists, just like any other Google Document, can be shared with colleagues and students who can […]
15 Updates Coming to Google Workspace for Education
This week Google announced a bunch of updates that will be coming soon to Google Workspace for Education products. If you missed them, as I did earlier this week, here’s a short summary of the key updates to note. File / Video Security Updates Some shared files in your Google Drive will require using a […]
Sharing vs. Publishing Google Documents
A couple of days ago I Tweeted my video about how to find public Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. That Tweet prompted a couple of people to ask me about publishing Google Docs compared to sharing Google Docs and why you’d use one option versus another. To answer those questions I made this short […]
An Easier Way to Share in Google Meet
Last week a new menu option appeared in Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets. That new menu appears just to the left of the share button in Slides, Docs, and Sheets. It’s icon resembles and upload icon, but it’s not an upload option. The new option is to present to a Google Meet meeting. With just […]
How to Overlay Text on Images in Google Docs
Earlier this week Google finally added the option to overlay text on top of images in Google Docs. Since then I’ve had a few people email me to ask for clarification about how that works. The most important “trick” of the process is to write your text before adding your image. Then when you insert […]
New Text Overlay Options in Google Docs
Google has finally added a feature to Google Docs that many of us have been waiting a long time to see. That feature is the ability to overlay text on top of images in Google Docs! For years the only way to work with text and images in Google Docs was to wrap the text […]
Grackle – Check Slide and Document Accessibility
This spring we have some grackles nesting in our hanging plants and in the eve of our covered back porch. Every morning I take a quick look at them when I’m drinking my coffee and letting our dogs out. This morning, looking at one of the mother grackles reminded me of a Google Docs and […]
How to Find Public Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Sheets, and Drawings
Last week I published an animated GIF of how to search by domain to find publicly shared Google Workspaces files. Over the weekend I was asked if I had a video of the process. I didn’t have one, so I made this short one to demonstrate how to use Google’s advanced search function to find […]
Two New Google Workspace Features for Students – Including Saving Google Forms in Progress!
This week Google announced two new Google Workspaces for Education features that are sure to be beneficial to students. Both of the new features are things that teachers and students have requested for years. The first is a new set of citation options in Google Documents. The second is a new “save in progress” option […]
Google Meet Transcripts Automatically Saved as New Google Docs
For Google Meet users one of the easiest ways to improve the accessibility of your live online instruction is to enable captions during your meetings. A transcript of those captions can be quite helpful to students who miss the meeting and or those who want to revisit the highlights of the meeting. Google Meet Transcripts […]
5 Ideas for Using Threadit in School
This is an excerpt of my full article that I published on my other site, Practical Ed Tech. Threadit is Google’s new tool for recording webcam and screencast videos. The best way to think of it is as “Google Docs meets Flipgrid.” Here’s my preliminary list of five ways to use it in school. Group […]
Wordtune Helps You Tune Your Sentences
Last week I wrote about a Chrome extension called Wordtune. It’s an extension that will make suggestions on how to change and or improve the structure of your sentences. It will work in a lot of web applications including Google Docs. Google Docs is probably the application in which most students can benefit from using […]
Seven Free Tools That Help Students Format Bibliographies
Back when I was in high school we had to learn how to create bibliographies by working from a template that my history teacher, Mr. Diggs, provided to us. When I went to college, I referred to that template and an early version of The Student Writer to make bibliographies. Today, students have a wealth […]
How to Make a Copy of a Google Doc That Isn’t Directly Shared With You
From time to time I publish charts and other digital hand-outs that I have created in Google Documents. For example, I recently shared this chart comparing student blogging tools and this chart comparing multimedia timeline creation tools. When I share those charts I publish them as Google Documents marked as “view only.” If you want […]
Some of my Favorites – Grackle Slides & Docs
This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that’s not happening this year. Instead I’ll be “staycationing” and working on some projects around home. While on my staycation I’ll be sharing some of my personal favorite tools. Grackle Slides is […]
How to Quickly Record Audio in Google Slides, Docs, and Classroom
Last week I wrote a short overview of a new Chrome extension called Mote. In that blog post I focused just on the aspect of Mote that lets you record audio in Google Slides. As a slew of people mentioned to me in emails over the weekend, Mote can be used for more than just […]
Google Docs Comments Now Include Autocorrect and Smart Compose
Smart Compose is a feature of Gmail and Google Docs that some people dislike, but I love it. I know that it saves me time when writing responses to emails. I also use it in Google Docs when I’m writing lesson outlines and find that it’s helpful there, most of the time. That’s why I […]
Three Ways to Share Docs in Google Classroom – When to Use Each Method
As I do every year, I’m taking this week off from writing new blog posts. This week I’ll be re-running a few of the most popular posts in 2020. As you might guess, I’m getting flooded with requests for help with all kinds of things related to online teaching and learning. I’m doing my best […]
Mix Landscape and Portrait Layouts in Google Docs
If you have ever wanted to use landscape and portrait layouts in the same Google Document, you’re going to like the latest announcement from the Google Workspaces blog (Google’s official place to announce updates to Google Docs). Starting today and by the end of January all Google Docs users will be able to mix and […]
Seven Tools for Creating Word Clouds
This morning I received an email from a reader who was looking for an alternative to ABCya’s word cloud generator. ABCya’s word cloud generator was a good one. Unfortunately, it is no longer available. Here are some other word cloud tools to try. Uses for Word Clouds: Word cloud generators can be useful in providing […]
Five Free Tools That Help Students Format Bibliographies
When I was in high school we had to learn how to create bibliographies by working from a template that my history teacher, Mr. Diggs, provided to us. When I went to college, I referred to that template and an early version of The Student Writer to make bibliographies. Today, students have a wealth of […]
The Week in Review – Maps, Docs, and Games
Good morning from Maine where it is cold, but clear. The leaves are rapidly changing color and falling to the ground. There is a significant amount of raking time in my near future. The only good thing about having to rake leaves is that my daughters love to jump in leaf piles. Earlier this week […]
How to Share Sections of Google Docs in Google Classroom – And Why You Might Do That
Yesterday a reader sent me an interesting question about Google Docs and Google Classroom. She wanted to know if there was a way to share just one of a few pages of a Google Doc with her students via Google Classroom. One solution would be to copy the content of that one page and paste […]
How to Create Citations and Bibliographies in Google Docs – No Add-ons Required
For years I used the Easy Bib add-on to add citations and create bibliographies in Google Docs. A couple of weeks ago Google added an updated citation tool to Google Docs that makes the Easy Bib add-on redundant. With the latest update to Google Docs you can now create MLA, APA, and Chicago style citations […]
G Suite Becomes Google Workspaces – What’s That Mean for You?
Yesterday, Google announced a rebranding of G Suite. G Suite will now be called Google Workspaces. That change is happening now for some domains, but won’t happen until months from now for G Suite for Education users. The change from G Suite to Google Workspaces appears to be designed entirely for business users and doesn’t […]
How to Add Shapes and Drawings to Google Docs
Yesterday morning I had a colleague come into my classroom to ask me how she could create a document that had some arrows and boxes in it. Basically, she was trying to replicate and then slightly modify a diagram she’d seen in a textbook. I showed her a couple of methods for doing this. I’m […]
Using Google Docs to Lead Small Group Discussions
Last week I received a question from a reader who wanted to know if I had any ideas for running small group discussions in a socially distanced classroom. Here’s what he wrote: We are back in person at school, but wearing masks and sitting 6 feet apart. I was wondering if you had any suggestions […]
How to Check the Accessibility of Your Google Slides
Yesterday afternoon I saw someone on Twitter ask if there is a way to evaluate the accessibility of a slide presentation. My answer was to try Grackle Slides. Grackle Slides is a Google Slides add-on that will evaluate the accessibility of your presentation and give you suggestions on how to improve the accessibility of your […]
Convert Handwritten Notes Into Google Documents
This week my Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week newsletter was about tools for digitizing physical notes. There are tools like CamScanner and Office Lens specifically made for that task. There are also tools that have the “hidden” capability to digitize physical notes. One of those tools is Google Drive. When you snap a […]
Google Adds Spanish Grammar Suggestions to Google Docs – But Not for Schools
Grammar suggestions has been one of the best improvements to Google Docs in the last year. So far those suggestions have only been available in English. Yesterday, Google announced that Spanish grammar suggestions are going to be rolling out to Google Docs users over the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, this feature will not be […]
Sharing vs. Publishing Google Docs
I have published more than 1,000 tutorials on my YouTube channel over the last ten years. Some of those videos feature older versions of tools that many of us every day. This was pointed out to me this week when I was asked if I had a current video covering the differences between publishing and […]
How to Convert a PDF Into a Google Document
On Friday during Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff someone asked if there is a tool that I would recommend for converting a PDF into a Google Doc. Fortunately, you can do that without having to use any third-party tools. PDF to Google Docs conversion is built right into Google Drive. […]
An Overview of How Students View and Return Assignments in Google Classroom
Over the last week I’ve spent a lot of time helping some of my colleagues get up and running with Google Classroom. One of the things that they’ve asked about is what a student sees when he or she receives an assignment in Google Classroom. A few readers have emailed me with similar questions about […]
Three Ways to Share Docs in Google Classroom – When to Use Each
As you might guess, I’m getting flooded with requests for help with all kinds of things related to online teaching and learning. I’m doing my best to respond to all of them although I am placing priority on the requests from my colleagues at my school. One of the requests that I got was to […]
Now You Can Fix Images in Google Docs
Google Docs has offered handy image editing tools for years. But until this week Google Docs hasn’t offered a good way to fix images in place. On Monday Google announced an update to the image editing tools in Google Docs. That update includes the ability to fix or lock an image in place in your […]
Write Faster With These Two New Google Docs Features
Two new Google Docs features are rolling out to all G Suite users beginning today. Today, Google announced the addition of Smart Compose in Google Docs for G Suite users. Earlier today, Google also announced that autocorrect is being added to Google Docs for all users. Smart Compose in Google Docs works much like Smart […]
Local vs. Online Documents
I’ve been a Google Docs user longer than most middle schoolers have been alive. I don’t need convincing that online documents are great. But not everyone is convinced. In fact, just last week I had a conversation with a teacher in my school who wasn’t convinced that there could be any benefit to moving away […]
Tips on Using Voice Typing in Google Documents
A couple of weeks ago I published an article and video about accessibility settings and tools that are available in Google Documents. One of those tools is voice typing. What I forgot to mention in that piece, as a few people have pointed out, is that you have to speak very clearly when using voice […]
How to Add Alt Text to Images in Google Documents
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech newsletter I included a seven page handout containing tips and tutorials for improving the accessibility of documents, slides, websites, and videos. In that handout was a note about adding alt text to images in Google Documents. It’s an easy thing to do that can make your documents more accessible […]
An Overview of Google Docs Accessibility Options
A couple of weeks ago I published an overview of tools to improve the accessibility of websites, videos, and slides. I thought that I should expand on that article by creating an overview of accessibility options available in Google Documents. To that end, I made the following video overview of Google Docs accessibility options. In […]
A New Version of Easy Accents for Google Docs
Easy Accents is a Google Docs and Google Slides add-on that I’ve been using and recommending for years. This morning I went to use the add-on in Google Docs and noticed that there was a little message informing users to install a new version of Easy Accents. The new version works the same way as […]
7 Google Product Updates to Note from November
The end of November is here. During the last month Google announced a bunch of updates to many of the products frequently used by teachers and students. I covered many of them during the month, but there were a few that I missed. And there are few updates to the original updates from earlier this […]
5 Google Product Updates for Teachers to Note This Weekend
As I mentioned in this week’s episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast, Google released a handful of updates to products that teachers and students frequently use. A few of those I reported on earlier in the week and a couple I haven’t mentioned except on the podcast. If you missed the podcast or the […]
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast – Episode 20 – Cool Updates and Q&A
This afternoon I recorded the twentieth episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. In this podcast I shared five Google product updates teachers should note, a Microsoft Forms update that should prove to be super handy, and a new way to use Padlet. As always, the episode concludes with me answering a handful of questions […]
Make Long Google Docs Easier to Navigate With a Hyperlinked Outline
One of the “hidden” or frequently overlooked features of Google Documents is the built-in outline tool. The outline tool lets you create an outline that is hyperlinked to sections of your document. Any section that begins with header text or bolded font can be automatically added to the hyperlinked outline in your document. Watch the […]
Lesson Plan Submit – A Handy Tool for Reviewing Lesson Plans
Lesson Plan Submit is a Google Docs add-on that is designed to make it easy for student-teachers or teachers to submit lesson plans for someone else to review. That other person could be another teacher or a supervisor. Lesson Plan Submit is easy to use. Once the add-on is installed you simply click the “prepare […]
How to Create and Distribute Google Docs Templates
At the beginning of the school year you might find yourself reviewing or introducing to your students the best way to take notes. You might also find yourself teaching them things like to how complete a science lab report. I was reminded of this yesterday when a former colleague asked if there was a way […]
Ten Tools for Telling Stories With Pictures – Updated for 2019-20
Four years ago I published a PDF that outlined ten tools and how students can use them to tell stories with pictures. On Monday I received an email from a reader who had recently stumbled upon that PDF. She rightly pointed out that a couple of the tools featured in that document were no longer […]
How to Add New Fonts to Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets
Last week Google announced the addition of a new series of fonts that you can add to Google Docs, Slides, Sheets. The new fonts are called Lexend fonts. They are designed to improve reading speed by avoiding the visual crowding that is associated with some font styles and types. You can read more about the […]
How to Add Video and Audio Comments to Google Docs
The comment bank feature in Google Classroom is nice for quickly adding text comments to your students’ Google Documents. But there are times when hearing your voice and or seeing your face can make the feedback that you give to kids a little bit more memorable than just a text comment. That’s why I’m a […]
Add Video Comments to Google Documents
e-Comments is a Google Chrome extension that offers three great ways to add comments to Google Documents. You can use e-Comments to add canned text comments, you can use it to add audio comments, and you can use it to add video comments to Google Documents. All three options are equally easy to use. Add […]
How to Embed Google Docs Into Your Blog Posts
One of the things that makes Google Documents popular is that you can easily publish your documents for anyone to read online even if they don’t have Google accounts of their own. How to Embed a Google Doc Into Your Blog You can do this by choosing the “publish to the web” option found in […]
Knowt – Quickly Turn Notes Into Practice Quizzes
Knowt is a free service that students can use to quickly turn their notes into practice quizzes. I recently learned about it from Larry Ferlazzo and I gave it a try right away because of his description of it. At its core Knowt is an online notebook. It has all of the text editing functions […]
Green Screens, Posters, and Books – The Week in Review
Good afternoon from Maine where I’m enjoying watching a replay of today’s Tour de France stage after a fun morning participating in a team triathlon. My team finished, “The Team With No Name,” finished first and won a cowbell. I hope that you’re also having a great weekend. Next week I’m hosting the Practical Ed […]
Six Google Product Updates Made in May Impacting Teachers and Students
Google is constantly making updates to the services that they offer. Some of the updates are only affect the administrative side of G Suite for Education. I rarely write about those updates. Then there are updates that have a direct impact on teachers and students. Those are the ones that I usually write about. Here […]
The Ethics of Making Copies of “View Only” Google Docs
Last week I published a blog post about how to make copies of Google Documents that are shared as “view only.” In that same post I included a video on how to find public Google Documents. That post raised a good question from a reader who asked about the ethics of making copies documents that […]
How Make Copies of Google Docs Marked as “View Only”
On a fairly regular basis I’m asked some variation of the following question, “is it possible to duplicate a Google Doc if it wasn’t shared with me?” Yes, you can make a copy of Google Documents that weren’t directly shared with you. If you have the link to a Google Document that has been made […]
A New Way to Access Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets Offline
Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets have had an offline mode for many years. Enabling offline access for those tools takes just a minute (watch this video to learn how).Today, Google announced some forthcoming updates for the offline modes for Docs, Slides, and Sheets. Over the next few weeks you will start to see a new […]
How to Set Google Drive to Automatically Convert Files
Google Drive is more than just a suite of document, slides, and spreadsheet tools. You can use it to simply store all kinds of files like videos, pictures, sounds, and more. You can also use it to convert your existing Word, PPT, and TXT files into Google Docs format. In the following video I demonstrate […]
How to Manage Chrome Extensions & Google Docs Add-ons
Earlier this week during the Practical Ed Tech Live Q&A I addressed a topic that I have received a lot of questions about during the last few weeks. That topic is the vetting or trustworthiness of add-ons for G Suite tools (Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Forms) and Chrome extensions. One of my recommendations on that […]
How to Install Google Docs Add-ons Individually and School-wide
I’ve written about Google Forms and Google Docs add-ons in a coupe of recently posts. It occurs to me that if you’re new Google Docs, you might not know how to install the add-ons that I’ve featured in those recent posts. How to Distribute Add-ons School-wide If you’re in a school that uses G Suite […]
My 5 Favorite Google Docs Add-ons
Last Friday I shared my five favorite Google Forms add-ons. That same day I posted a video featuring a convenient hack for speeding up the process of commenting on students’ Google Docs. Those posts spurred a couple of emails from readers regarding Google Docs add-ons. The following are my favorite Google Docs add-ons. Kaizena is […]
Six New G Suite Features for Teachers and Students
Every month Google adds new features to G Suite. Some features only matter to administrators and some features only matter to business users. The complete list of new features is always available on the G Suite Updates blog. If you don’t want to scroll through that blog, here’s a summary of the new features that […]
Google Has Improved Access to G Suite Accessibility Settings
One of the new G Suite features that was announced in February was an improvement in the way you can access the accessibility settings in Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets. The accessibility settings themselves aren’t new. What’s new is the location of the settings. The accessibility settings are now found under the “Tools” drop-down menu […]
How to Save Time When Adding Comments to Google Docs
This morning I showed one of my favorite time-saving tricks to a great group of adult education teachers. The “trick” is to save time when adding comments to students’ Google Docs. You can do this with canned comments in Google Classroom and there are some Google Docs Add-ons that do similar things. The most straight-forward […]
Find & Replace in Google Docs
I have a bunch of template documents that I keep in my Google Docs account. Whenever I have to use one I also use the find & replace function in Google Docs. Find and Replace is a simple and convenient Google Documents function that has a ton of utility when you’re re-using a document and […]
How to Make Room in Your Google Docs Dashboard
One of the participants in my current Getting Going With G Suite course asked me about how to change the layout of her Google Docs dashboard. In this case we’re using dashboard to refer to what you see when you visit docs.google.com. In particular, my students’ question was about applying the linear layout to the […]
A New Look is Coming to Google Slides, Sheets, Docs, and Sites
The next time that you open Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, or Sites you might notice some changes to the look of the editing and design tools. The new look is being rolled-out to users over the next few weeks. As announced by Google, the new look doesn’t have any impact on how Docs, Slides, Sheets, […]
Customizing Fonts and Emojis in Google Docs
By default every document that you create in Google Docs will have 11 point Arial font unless you change it. You can change that to one of more than 450 font options. To access and add custom fonts to your Google Documents and Slides select “add fonts” from the bottom of the font selection menu […]
A New Way to Add Drawings to Google Docs
It’s the first full week of the year and Google has already added new features to G Suite for Education. Yesterday, Google’s G Suite Updates Blog carried the announcement that we’ll soon have a new way to add drawings to Google Documents. Google Docs has long given you the option to launch a new drawing […]
How to Create Charts and Graphs in Google Docs
A good chart or graph can sometimes help a writer paint a complete picture for his or her reader. I used to have students in one of my civics course include at least one chart of their creation when writing about voting patterns in state elections. Google Docs makes it easy for users to create […]
A Pre-search Checklist for Students
Last week I published two blog posts (here and here)in which I referenced having students make lists before they begin in-depth web research. A couple of readers have emailed me asking if I can give an example of the pre-search checklists that I mentioned in those posts. It’s not anything fancy, but I do have […]
How to Add Footnotes to Google Docs
For many people the difficulty in the transition from using Word or Pages to Google Docs lies in just knowing where little formatting features are found. One example of that is in adding footnotes to documents. In Word you find the option to add footnotes in the References menu. In Google Docs you will find […]
Best of 2018 – 250+ Google Tools Tutorial Videos for Teachers
This week is a vacation week for the vast majority of readers of this blog. As I do at this time every year, I’m going to republish some of the most popular posts of 2018. Here’s one from August. A few years ago I decided to start making video tutorials for the many Google tools […]
How to Make Your Own Emojis – And How to Use Them in a Lesson
During the summer Tony Vincent helped me see emojis as more than just annoying symbols that people use in text messages and social media posts. He did that with a slick graphic that he created and shared on Twitter. In the graphic, seen here, he created a game in which students have to decipher school […]
Best of 2018 – Ten Overlooked Google Docs Features
This week is a vacation week for the vast majority of readers of this blog. As I do at this time every year, I’m going to republish some of the most popular posts of 2018. Here’s one from January. Google Docs has a lot of features that new users often don’t notice. Some these are […]
Coming Soon – PIN Access to Google Drive Files
Sharing Google Drive files with people who don’t have Google accounts is possible if you set the file to “anyone with the link can view.” However, that’s not a great option if the file contains information that you don’t want the entire world to be able to access. Google has announced a potential remedy to […]
A Quick Tip About Changing Font Sizes in Google Docs
When it comes to formatting your documents Google Docs provides plenty of options. Some of those options are obvious and some are hidden deep in the menus of Google Docs. Here’s one that falls somewhere in between those ends of the spectrum. When you’re choosing a size for the font in your document, you don’t […]
An Easy Way to Download Google Drive Files in One Folder
Last week I shared a tutorial on how to download individual Google Documents. That method works well if you only need to download one item. But if you need to download a whole bunch of documents at once, it can be a little tedious unless you use the method that I demonstrate in the following […]
A Searchable Index of G Suite Updates
If you want to keep up with every update that Google makes to G Suite for Education, take a look at the What’s New in G Suite? searchable index. What’s New in G Suite? is a table of recent updates and changes to all of the core G Suite products. You can filter the table […]
Speakd – Listen to Your Google Docs
Speakd is a free Google Docs add-on that will read your documents aloud. When you have Speakd installed in Google Docs you can open the add-on and press play at any time to hear your document read aloud. Unlike some other text-to-speech tools, Speakd doesn’t require you to copy and paste text to hear it […]
How to Download Google Docs
It is not a secret that I’m a devoted Google Docs user. Since the first time that I tried it, I’ve done nearly all of my writing in Google Documents. Even when I was writing for a magazine that required all submissions to be in Word format, I wrote in Google Documents. I was able […]
How to Make a QR Code for Just About Anything
This fall there seems to be a renewed interest in QR codes, at least amongst readers of this blog. In just the last two weeks I’ve answered a half dozen emails with questions related to QR codes. QR codes can make it easy to get all of your students onto the same webpage, into the […]
A Digital Differentiation Model
This week I am hosting some guest bloggers. This entry is from Danielle Lagnese. Personalizing learning in my classroom four years ago was challenging. To say the least. Imagine eight red buckets from Dollar Tree filled with binder clipped packets of worksheets. We did the best we could, but humidity curled the papers beyond recognition. […]
CoRubrics – An Add-on to Facilitate Assessment Among Students
This week I am hosting guest posts. This one was authored by Jaume Feliu at the Salas i Xandri High School in Sant Quirze del Vallès, near Barcelona. More and more rubrics are coming into the classroom for assessment. Rubrics are tools that encourage formative assessment, especially when students use them for self-assessment and peer […]
Is Your Feedback Really Effective? – This Google Docs Add-on Will Tell You
Anyone who has ever spent a Sunday afternoon grading essay after essay has at some point wondered, “did anyone listen when I explained homophones?” This usually happened to me around the 27th essay of the day. It’s at about that point that it’s a fair question to ask, “is my feedback effective?” That’s the question […]
Supercharge Student Self-Editing Skills with this Writing Checker for Google Docs
Analyzing your own writing with a critical eye can be hard to do. I know, I try to do it every day and I still miss things that a fresh set of eyes quickly picks up. Like me, students often struggle to critically analyze their own writing. Peer editing is one solution to that problem. […]
How to Insert Equations and Special Characters Into Google Documents
Here’s a question that I get a lot when I conduct on-site G Suite for Education training, “is there an easy way to add math symbols to documents?” In fact, there is an easy way to add mathematics symbols, equations, and other special characters to Google Documents. To do that simply open the Insert drop-down […]
A Handy New Way to Create New Google Docs
A few weeks ago I published a chart of G Suite for Education shortcuts that included directions on how to quickly access the various tools within Google Drive. It appears that I need to add onto that chart because a couple of days ago Google introduced a new batch of shortcuts for making new Google […]
How to Format Tables in Google Docs
Last week Google added new ruler and margin tools to Google Docs. The new ruler that appears on the left edge of your screen can be used to format the vertical spacing of tables that you insert into Google Documents. I’ve had a couple of people ask me how to get vertical ruler to appear […]
A New Vertical Ruler and New Margin Settings in Google Docs
Google has added two new formatting features to Google Docs. First, there is now a vertical ruler that you can use to evenly space the rows in tables in your Google Documents. Second, you can now adjust the size of the margins in your headers and footers. Both of these changes will be helpful to […]
One Click Provides More Room to Work in Google Docs
I just spent the last three weeks working with students and teachers who had Chromebooks as their primary computers throughout the school day. One of the things that I showed some of the students during that time was how to expand the size of the Google Docs editor so that they had more screen space […]
How to Quickly Add Page Numbers to Long Google Documents
Since Sunday evening when I published the 2018-19 Practical Ed Tech Handbook I have had a couple of people ask how I added the page numbers to it and kept them straight in Google Docs. The answer is found in a simple, but often overlooked function in the “insert” drop-down menu in Google Docs. Simply […]
A New Way to Add Google Keep Notes to Google Documents
Last year Google added the option to insert your Google Keep notes into your Google Documents. That feature made it easy for students who use Google Keep to bookmark resources while conducting research to then insert those bookmarked resources into their Google Documents. This week Google changed the way that you can access Google Keep […]
How to Add Emojis to Google Docs – And a Classroom Activity
Thanks to the influence of Tony Vincent I’ve started to see the utility of adding emojis to documents and graphics. Scroll through Tony’s Twitter feed and you’ll see lots of examples of classroom uses for emojis. Here’s one recent Tweet in which Tony shared a little activity he developed for students to complete by guessing the […]
10 Overlooked Google Docs Features
The new school year will be here soon and I haven’t taken a break all summer. I’m taking a short break from the Internet to go fishing at one of my favorite places in the world, Kennebago Lake. I’ll be back with new posts on Saturday. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the […]
A New Grammar Checker is Coming to Google Docs
Google Docs has had a spell check tool for years. The grammar check tool has always been a bit rudimentary. That is going to change in the next few months. Earlier today Google announced that a new grammar suggestions tool is going to be added to Google Docs. The new grammar suggestions tool will automatically […]
Grackle – Assess the Accessibility of Your Google Docs & Slides
Grackle is a service that will check your Google Documents, Slides, and Sheets for accessibility. It is available as an Add-on for Google Docs, for Google Slides, and for Google Sheets. With the Add-on installed Grackle will run a check for visual accessibility then make suggestions for improvements. When you run Grackle’s accessibility checker it […]
Kaizena Now Offers Rubrics to Go With Voice Comments on Google Docs
Earlier this year Kaizena released an updated Google Docs Add-on that streamlined the way that you can add voice comments to your students’ Google Documents. The Add-on lets you simply highlight a word or a sentence in a document and then record a voice comment about that highlighted word or sentence. Voice comments can be […]
A Quick Google Docs Formatting Tip
Google Docs has lots of handy features that are “hidden” in plain sight. Many of those features address common formatting needs. For example, in the far right edge of the editor menu there is a function to clear all formatting. This is a handy function to use after copying and pasting from a Word document […]
Two Easy Ways to Create Printable Storyboard Templates
Next week Common Craft is hosting a free webinar about their video creation process. I attended one of their webinars last summer. In that webinar Lee LeFever stressed the importance of planning and using storyboards as part of that planning process. Both PowerPoint and Google Slides can be used to create online and printable storyboards […]
Write Notes and Save Bookmarks to Sync With Google Docs & Slides
This morning I was browsing Product Hunt when I saw someone pitching a Chrome extension that promised to let you write notes while browsing the web and save those notes to Google Drive. As I read the description I thought to myself, “that’s what Google Keep does.” The Google Keep Chrome extension will let you […]
A Cool Kaizena Update
Back in January Kaizena released an update that streamlined the process of adding voice comments to Google Documents. This afternoon they announced an update to how they handle voice comments. First, they’ve improved they speed at which voice comments appear in documents. Second, they’ve added the ability for to continue to record even if your […]
Why I’ve Stopped Making My Public Google Docs Printable
In a word, theft. In the last couple of weeks I’ve published a handful of charts that compare the features of popular ed tech resources. The most recent of those is this chart of 12 alternatives to Google Image search. I publish the charts in a Box.com widget that includes a download link. I also […]
8 Changes to Google Docs & Slides Menus
If you’re a regular Google Docs and Google Slides user you may have already noticed some changes to your menus and toolbars. If you haven’t seen anything change, you will see some changes soon. Yesterday, Google announced eight changes to the Docs and Slides drop-down menus and toolbars. None of the changes will impact the […]
Soon You’ll Have More Information About Who Views Your Google Docs
Version History, previously called Revision History, in Google Docs has always let you see when someone made a change to a document with him or her. But Version History doesn’t tell you if someone just went in and looked at the shared document. The same has always been true for Google Slides and Google Sheets […]
Ten Overlooked Google Docs Features
On Monday I featured ten overlooked Google Slides features. Like Google Slides, Google Docs has a lot of features that new users often don’t notice. Some these are features that even experienced Google Docs users overlook. Some of these features will save you time, some will give you more formatting flexibility, and others will improve […]
How to Add Voice Comments to Google Docs
Last night I shared the news of Kaizena’s updated Google Docs Add-on that streamlines the process of adding voice comments to Google Documents. If you haven’t tried it, watch the video that I just made about how to add voice comments to Google Documents. Applications for Education As I wrote last night, the combination of […]
Ten Overlooked Google Slides Features
Like any robust presentation tool, Google Slides has many features that often go overlooked by new users. Some of these features will let you accomplish the things that you used to do in PowerPoint or Keynote while others will just save you a bit of time. Either way, here are ten features of Google Slides […]
Kaizena – Streamlined Voice Commenting in Google Docs
Kaizena is a free Google Docs Add-on that makes it easy to add voice comments to your documents and to the documents that students share with you. Today, the Kaizena team announced a new streamlined version of their Google Docs Add-on. The new version lets you record your voice comments without having to ever leave […]
Music, Doodles, and Forms – The Week in Review
Good evening from Maine where I am getting ready to watch the Patriots play their first playoff game on their way to the Super Bowl. Before I enjoy the game and some delicious chili, I have this week’s post popular posts to share with you. This week’s list features some Google Slides and Forms tricks, […]
