3/19/2024: Do more with Google Docs
A note from Jared
Hey folks,
For the last five days, I’ve been addressing a family medical emergency that’s left little time or mental bandwidth for the newsletter. I should be back next Tuesday, and I appreciate your understanding in the meantime.
For now, please enjoy this special guest column from Jeremy Caplan, who shares a lot of useful tech productivity knowledge in his Wonder Tools newsletter. I’ve previously featured Jeremy’s advice on taming your email inbox and keeping a digital journal.
This week, he shares some ways to make the most of Google Docs, along with some other document editing apps to consider.
12 handy Google Docs tricks
By Jeremy Caplan
Google Docs is the bicycle of digital work. It’s simple, functional and ubiquitous.
It’s so reliable—and has so many capabilities—that I still use it even after newer, fancier challengers have emerged. I’m not alone. Google’s suite surpassed Microsoft’s in 2023 global market share, according to Statista. Read on for the GDocs features I find most useful.
Save time on your documents 🕰️
1. Create a new doc instantly
Type doc.new in your browser’s address bar and you’ll have a new document. This works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Arc.
- Bonus: You can also type sheet.new, slide.new, form.new, site.new, drawing.new, or cal.new to create instant Google spreadsheets, slides, forms, sites, drawings or calendar events. (From Jared: Typing note.new also works for Google Keep.)
2. Translate your text automatically
Share your doc in another language. Your original is preserved, but GDocs creates a translated copy. It’s not human quality, but it’s good enough to convey the gist of your message.
- How: Go to _Tools > Translate document.
- Note: For a good translation alternative, try DeepL.
3. Add a table of contents
For long documents, add a clickable outline at the top to make it easy to jump immediately down to any section.
- How: Go to Insert > Table of Contents
4. Display a live word count
Show a persistent count at the bottom left of your editing window.
- How: Go to Tools > Word count—or type Command+Shift+C—and check the box for “Display word count while typing.”
5. Type with your voice
This works well when you’re tired of typing. Instead of facing a blank page, think out loud, then edit your dictated draft.
- How: Go to Tools > Voice typing
6. Type @ to quickly add elements to your doc
This new feature lets you more quickly add checklists, numbered lists, and bulleted lists. Or insert images, tables, and charts.
- How: Type @ for a keyboard shortcut to insert whatever you need, rather than hunting through menus with your mouse.
7. Add email drafts and project trackers inside your doc
Inspired by Notion & Coda, GDocs now lets you insert “building blocks.” These include mini-templates for meeting notes and tracking content. For instance, one block lets you create an email draft. You can collaborate on it in a doc, then send in Gmail.
- How: Type @ and choose the block you want.
Improve your doc’s appearance 🎨
8. Add a gif to show how something works
Gifs are a nice way to get around not being able to embed videos in a doc. Make gifs with Giphy or use Zight to record a screen capture as a gif.
- How: Go to Insert > Image and select your gif to add it to your doc.
- See it in action: Visit my 🐈 cat jibberish public doc. 🐱
9. Create a highlighter effect
Make important text stand out by adding a color to it.
- How: Select text, click the highlighter button & pick bright yellow, as in the gif above.
10. Use bigger fonts
Bigger text is easier to read. People will appreciate the readability of your docs. Use size 14 if you can get away with it. Look at the second page of the cat jibberish doc to see the difference a larger font makes.
11. Try Georgia, Raleway, Proxima Nova or Oswald
These fonts are easy to read, elegant and professional. Tip: Use WhatTheFont or WhatFontIs to identify nice-looking fonts on other sites.
- How: For more font options in GDocs, click the font button on the tool palette and then More fonts to add alternatives. To learn more & try out styles: Google Fonts.
12. Break text into sections
Use horizontal line breaks to clean up long docs.
- How: Use Insert > Horizontal line
Alternatives ✨
- Google Docs isn’t as powerful as Notion or Coda, which to me was the underrated tool of 2023. Notion & Coda both enable embedded media, interactive tables and more.
- GDocs isn’t as well-designed as Craft, which I love using to make handouts. With Craft you can tuck content inside elegant visual cards, streamlining pages.
- GDocs lacks many of the AI features of Lex or other AI-enhanced editors. Lex suggests titles for your writing and gives you feedback.
- GDocs doesn’t have organizational features for managing bigger projects. For your magnum opus, try Scrivener. (Read my post about how it helps keep writing projects organized).
A Simple Option 🌱
If you’re easily distracted by menus and options, consider Bear, Ulysses, or iA Writer. My favorite streamlined app for deep-focus: iA Writer. It works for macOS, iOS, Windows & Android. I find it to be the simplest way to write.
Other clean, simple apps for writing include Calmly Writer and Drafts. Each offers a minimalist interface to help you focus more on writing than on tinkering. (Note from Jared: I’ve also recommended Typora for similar reasons.)
Thanks for reading!
Thanks again to Jeremy Caplan for allowing me to republish his Google Docs tips here in Advisorator. Check out his Wonder Tools newsletter for more neat productivity tools and tips.
Again, I appreciate your patience as I work through a family medical emergency. We should be back to the usual newsletter format (written entirely by me) next Tuesday.
Until then,
Jared