Sunday, August 14, 2011

Google | Google Apps: The Missing Manual

Among its many amazing applications, Google now has web-based alternatives to many of the applications in Microsoft Office. This comprehensive and easy-to-follow new book enables you to explore Google's new office applications in detail. Once you do, you'll be in good company -- more than 100,000 small businesses and some corporations are already looking to take advantage of these free Google offerings.Google Office: The Missing Manual teaches you how to use three relatively new applications from Google: "Docs and Spreadsheets", which provide many of the same core tools that you find in Word and Excel; and Google Calendar and Gmail, the applications that offer an alternative to Outlook. This book demonstrates how these applications together can ease your ability to collaborate with others, and allow you access to your documents, mail and appointments from any computer at any location.Of course, as remarkable as these applications are, Google's office suite is definitely a work-in-progress. Navigating what you can and can't do and -- more importantly -- understanding how to do it isn't always easy. And good luck finding enough help online. Google Office: The Missing Manual is the one book you need to get the most out of this increasingly useful part of the Google empire. This book:Explains how to create, save and share each of Google's web-based office applicationsOffers separate sections for Docs and Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, and GmailDemonstrates how to use these applications in conjunction with one anotherGives you crystal-clear and jargon-free explanations that will satisfy users of all technical levelsMany of you already use Gmail, but do you know its full potential? Do you know how you can increase its power by using Gmail with Doc and Spreadsheets and Google Calendar? You'll find out with Google Office: The Missing Manual. You'll also come to understand why large corporations such as General Electric and Proctor & Gamble are taking a long, hard look at these applications.

A free alternative to Microsoft Office? Google Apps gives you that plus plenty of bonus reasons to switch: collaborate on documents with others at the same time; whip up a Web page stocked with downloadable files; and work on it all from any Web-connected computer. About the only thing Google doesn't offer is a guide like Google Apps: The Missing Manual--the authoritative and reader-friendly way to break free of Office.

Top 14 Google Docs Tricks
1. If you install Google Gears (you can edit Docs word-processing documents offline, and Docs automatically syncs them with the online version the next time you sign in online.
2. If you make other folks collaborators on Docs documents and spreadsheets, everyone can work on the files simultaneously. To invite collaborators, head to the upper-right Share button (for documents) or Share tab (for spreadsheets).
3. It's a snap to publish documents created in Docs as blog posts"just select "Publish as web page" from the Share menu, and then click the "Post to blog" button.
4. If you want to embed a Docs presentation in a Web site, just go to the Publish tab, click "Publish document", and then copy the HTML that appears in the Mini Presentation Module box. Paste the code into your site's HTML, upload the revised version of the site, and voil!
5. Google gives you a whole slew of functions to help make working with spreadsheets more efficient. For the complete list, go to www.docs.google.com/support/spreadsheets. (The GoogleLookup function is particularly nifty.)
6. If your Docs list is getting cluttered, you can hide files (documents, spreadsheets, or presentations) to keep your list clean. Just turn on the checkbox next to any file you want to hide (you can select more than one), and then click the Hide button. To make a hidden file reappear, find All Items in the left-hand menu and, if necessary, click its + sign to expand it. Then click Hidden to see your hidden files; select the one(s) you want to see in your Docs list, and then click Unhide.
7. You can easily turn spreadsheet data into all kinds of charts: column, bar, pie, line, area, or scatter. To create a chart, open your spreadsheet to the Edit tab, select the range of cells you want to convert into a chart, and then click the "Add chart" button. In the Create Chart box that appears, tell Docs what kind of chart you want to create and fill in the other info it needs, and then click "Save chart."
8. If you create a chart based on a Docs spreadsheet, you can save it as an image and insert it into a Docs document. After you create your chart, click its upper-left Chart link and select "Save image". Save it to your computer, and then open the document you want to put it in. Click Insert and select Image, then tell Docs where to find the file on your computer.

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