How to: Functions of Google Docs

July 29, 2009 | Willis Wee

This is the 2nd post in Penn Olson’s Google Docs Series. If you know it, use it and love it, please send this post to your friends and help them get started!

The bots and nuts of Google Docs. This post will help you get started quickly. We’ll be discussing Google Docs’ functions. – Simple • Efficient • Free.

Google Docs Basics (Recap)

This is the page you’ll be directed to upon logging on to Google docs. The ‘New’ tab, (which is also the most important tab) is located on the top left corner. Clicking on it gives you options to create Documents, Presentations, Spreadsheets and Forms. The other tabs are explained via the image. Spend some time to explore to get the hang of their functions.

MS doc, ppt, xls

Similar to MS Office, Google docs allows you to create doc, ppt and xls with similar functions such as inserting images and tables, changing ppt background themes and adding formulas in spreadsheets with super subscript and subscript for Mathematical documents.

For Business Proposal & Presentation

Working on a business proposal or presentation can be demanding. The normal practice during a team meeting would be to split and delegate the workload.
For example, a marketing proposal would typically consist of the following (with tasks allocated to individual team members):

Introduction – By Sarah
Target Audiences & Profiling – By Aaron
Marketing Media & Strategy – By Jane
Financial Projection & ROI – By Willis

After every member has completed his/her task, the next step would be for them to edit and comment on each others’ work. Instead of the conventional email cycle method of sending, editing and re-sending (which goes on until the document is finalized), Google Docs provides a more convenient and efficient system.

Google Docs enables each individual member to see other members’ latest work progress. Comments could be made visible to all members immediately. An error could be spotted earlier and any doubts could be raised in just one visible-to-all document. Gelling up the 4 separate parts of the proposal would be a piece of cake and a superior could also easily monitor the progress of the team real time.

Ultimately, this makes the whole process so much more efficient and organized. No more clogging of everyone’s inbox and problems of undelivered emails.
(P.S. Steps are similar when creating Presentation slides)

For Database & Survey Forms

Creating a real time database is easy with Google Docs, especially when it is integrated with a form for easy data entry. It also comes along with a timestamp for superiors who want to check on its employees’ efficiency

Likewise, a Google Docs form could also be used for gathering customers’ feedbacks and conducting surveys.
Watch the video on how to use forms in Google docs.

For Meeting Room Booking System

Have frequent meeting clashes in your company?

With Google docs’ spreadsheet, you could create a simple booking system. Again, this could be shared across all company staff in real time. Google docs’ spreadsheet could also be utilized for other tasks such as sales tracking, accounting or KPI monitoring.

With Google docs real time functionality, there are many ways a business can improve its operation efficiency. The tool is freely available and all you need to get started is a gmail account.

Have fun!