Google
Docs and Sheets are excellent tools for creating word documents and
spreadsheets. They provide virtually all of the basic functionality
you need to edit, format and share your files. However, if you are
looking to Google's cloud service to replace MS Office you will have
noticed that there are still a few more advanced features missing.
The
new add-ons feature changes this. Add-ons are small third party
applications that can be installed directly into the Docs and Sheets
apps (Slides and Forms are not currently supported), and they fill in the gaps in the native features of the software. Launched in
March 2014, add-ons are still new and their number is growing all the
time. Most of the best ones are free, while some of the more powerful
utilities also offer premium versions with extra features.
In
this tutorial, I'll show you how to get started with add-ons—how to
install them, use them and remove them—and then guide you through
ten of the best to get you started.
Installing Add-ons
All
add-ons are found and installed through the Docs or Sheets interface,
in a very similar way to how Chrome extensions are installed. Open a document and go to
Add-ons > Get add-ons and you can see all the available options
for the app you are using.
Browse
through the highlighted add-ons, click the All button in the top left
corner to select a category, or use the search box to find something
you want to install.
Click
your chosen add-on followed by the + icon to install it. The screen
that opens shows what permissions the add-on requires—what data and
which parts of your account it needs to access. Assuming you are okay
with this click Accept and installation will complete.
Using
Your Add-ons
Once
installed your add-ons are accessible through the Add-ons option in
the menu bar. Hover your mouse pointer over them to reveal their
options. Most have two: the first launches the add-on, the second is
for help (which is normally very limited).
Click
to launch the add-on and it will open in a sidebar on the right of
the screen. You can only view one add-on at a time. To close it click
the X button.
Managing
and Removing Add-ons
You
won't need to do much to manage your add-ons. You don't need to worry
about updating them—they are loaded each time you use them so you
will always have the most up to date version. You can disable them
for specific documents, and also report bugs to the developer.
Go
to Add-ons > Manage add-ons. You will now see a list of all the
add-ons you have installed. Click Manage to see a list of options.
Untick Use in this document to disable the add-on from the current
document you are viewing. Click Remove to uninstall the add-on from
your account altogether.
10
Essential Add-ons For Docs and Sheets
There's a huge number of add-ons for both the Docs and Sheets apps, and the number is growing all the time. Here's ten of the best to get you started.
Thesaurus
Thesaurus
is the most basic and most essential of all Docs add-ons. A perfect
companion to the built-in spell checker, it will suggest alternative
words for you to use as you type. Sadly, add-ons are not yet
integrated into the right click context menus within the app, but
Thesaurus is still trivial to use. Simply highlight a word then go to
Add-ons > Thesaurus > Find Synonyms for selected word and it
will appear in the sidebar to the right.
With
the Thesaurus sidebar open you can now type words straight into the
search box to find suggestions for other words.
Table
of Contents
The
Table of Contents add-on automatically generates a contents list to
help you navigate longer and more complex text documents. They are
built based on your usage of paragraph styles within the document and
will only work if you use these consistently—it
won't recognise any other chapter or section headings if they are
only styled as regular paragraph text.
The
styles that used within Table of Contents are the default Heading
styles, and they produce nested results. So, each Part within your
document should be styled as Heading 1; each Chapter as Heading 2; each Section within a Chapter as Heading 3 and so on.
Go
to Add-ons > Table of Contents > Show in sidebar to view your
table of contents. It'll take a second to be created, and you should
the refresh icon to update it whenever you make any changes.
All
of the items in the list are clickable links so you can jump quickly
to any specific section or chapter. If you have a particularly
complex document click the Display until level option drop down box
and choose how much information you want to be displayed. For
instance, choosing 1 would show only content using the Heading 1
style. Click Refresh to activate this.
Finally,
it isn't possible to add the Table of Contents directly to the
document itself, but you can copy and paste it from the sidebar into
the document body. When doing this the links will also remain in
place. However, these links point to the online Google Docs file,
rather than acting as bookmarks within the file. If you're planning
to export the document for offline use in an application such as Word
remove the links first otherwise they will not work. Click on a link
and click Remove to do this for each item.
Track
Changes
If
you use Google Docs as part of a team then Track Changes is one of
the most important add-ons you can use. It tracks all the edits made
by all of the users working on the same document, and gives you an
easy way to accept, delete or change them.
Track
Changes is an automated tool. Open it in the sidebar by clicking on
Add-ons > Track Changes > Show Track Changes. All changes to
the document will appear in real-time, colour-coded by user. All
changes are listed, not only the content of text edits, but
formatting changes as well. Ticking Highlight my New Changes will
also cause your changes to be highlighted within the body of the
document.
To
accept or reject edits simply click the green tick icon or red x
icon. Alternatively click Accept All to accept all the changes that
have been made.
You
can override any changes to a document using the Revision history
option within all the Google Docs apps. Go to File > See Revision
history to see all previous versions of the document. Click Show more
detailed revisions to see all saved versions of the document and
click one to restore it.
Maps
for Docs
If
you ever need to add a map to a document the Maps for Docs add-ons
makes this possible with just a couple of mouse clicks.
Highlight
part of an address is a document then go to Add-ons > Maps for
Docs > Get location. A window will open showing the location on a
map. If it's right then click Paste to Doc and the map image will be
pasted into the document just below the address you selected. Drag
the image to the right place if you need to.
Maps
for Docs works with precise or broad addresses. Searching a house
number and street name, or postcode, will show a zoomed in map of an
exact location; a city or even country name will produce a zoomed-out
image of that location.
Mapping
Sheets
Along
similar lines to Maps for Docs, Mapping Sheets is an add-on for
Sheets that converts a list of addresses in a spreadsheet into a
Google Map.
Mapping
Sheets works off a tab in your spreadsheet called Data. If you're
using a pre-existing spreadsheet then you need to rename the tab
containing the info you are mapping. Right click on the tab and
select Rename then enter Data.
Now
go to Add-ons > Mapping Sheets > Start Mapping. In the sidebar
that opens choose the columns that contain your addresses, plus any
other columns you have that you can use to filter the data with.
Click Build, followed by View to see the data on a map.
HelloSign
The
HelloSign add-on enables you to get secure and legally binding
eSignatures on your documents. It is free for up to three signatures
per month, and requires a subscription for unlimited use, with prices
starting at $13 per month.
HelloSign
can be used to have documents signed by just yourself, by yourself
and others or just by others. To only sign it yourself click Just Me
then draw, using your mouse, a signature in the box and drag that
signature onto the appropriate place on the document.
To
get signatures from other users too, you need to set up the document
first. Click Me and Others or Just Others under Who needs to sign?
and then enter the names and email addresses of all the required
signers. If you need them to sign in a specific order tick the Assign
signer order box and click on the up and down arrows to re-order
them. Click Continue.
Now
you must add the signature boxes to the document. Drag the Signature
icon into place on the document and click the Who Signs here drop
down list to choose the signer. Add as many signature boxes as are
needed and click the dotted-square icon in the top left of the window
to align them.
You
can additionally add boxes for the signer to add their initials, a
comment in a text box, to tick a checkbox or to add the date they
signed.
Finally,
click Continue and your document will be prepared for emailing. The
addresses of the signers will be displayed for you to double check,
then add a subject header and message. Click Request Signature and
the mail will be sent.
To
view your signed documents click the Settings icons in the HelloSign
sidebar in Docs then click Documents. All your signed documents are
stored here for your reference.
Split
Names
Split
Names is a simple add-on for Google Sheets that separates a single
Name column into separate columns for each part of the name. It won't
just split John Smith into their own first name and last name cells,
but can optionally add a title, middle name and suffix as well.
It's
perfect for use in conjunction with the Forms feature in Google Docs,
where you may prompt a user to enter their name but may not want to
give them separate boxes for each part of their name. Once you've
split their name you can then use the data alongside a mail merge
add-on and address the person by their first name only.
To
use Split Names highlight the Names column in your spreadsheet then
go to Add-ons > Split Names > Start. In the box that open tick
or clear the My column has header option as necessary, then choose
which columns you want to add. Each column will be added to the right
of your selected name column.
UberConference
UberConference
is another add-on to aid users collaborating on a project. It is used
to create conference calls or text chats between the users working on
a document.
Click
the Invite button and the sidebar will display the users with access
to the document. Choose the ones you want to add—they will have the
option to join the chat via computer or phone, and a text chatting
option is also available.
For someone to connect through their phone
they will need to dial-in to the call and use the PIN they will be
sent when you invite them. The dial-in number is US-only for the free
version of UberConference. You'll need to upgrade to the premium
version to get country-specific numbers.
Workflows
If
you need feedback, approval or sign-off on a document then Workflows
is the ideal add-on for this. You can add one or more reviewers who
will be sent a link to your document, and will be given the ability
to add a comment as well as approving or rejecting your document.
Each reviewer will need to have the Workflows add-on installed as
well.
To
add reviewers you first need to give them edit access to your
document. Go to File > Share and add their email address and
ensure they have the edit permission (which is turned on by default).
Then add the same email address in the Add a reviewer box in the
Workflows sidebar, along with a message if needed.
The
reviewer will get an email with a link to the document, and they can
provided their feedback. The approval status of the document will be
displayed in the sidebar. If you should need to make changes, do so,
the click Reset approval in the sidebar and re-add your reviewers.
Consistency
Checker
For
any document—and especially technical documents—consistency of
language and grammar is vitally important. If your budget doesn't
stretch to a human proof reader then the Consistency Checker will
take care of the job for you.
This
add-on checks that you are using spelling and grammar in a consistent
manner. It will check for spellings, abbreviations, numbers (for
example, that you don't type both three and 3 in the same document),
hyphenations and more. It's a very simple tool: go to File >
Add-ons > Consistency Checker and click Open. Now just click Scan
and the add-on will work through the various categories it tests,
suggesting changes along the way.
Conclusion
Add-ons are a very useful yet very simple way of
enhancing the functionality of Google Docs and Sheets. They add no
bloat and there's no performance hit when using them, so there's
really no downside to installing them. New add-ons are constantly
becoming available, and each one only serves to increase the value of
Docs and Sheets. If you've been holding off uninstalling that old
copy of Office for fear that Docs is not a worthy replacement, now
might just be the time.
Give Google Docs add-ons a try, and let us know your favorites—or any problems you hit with the add-ons—in the comments below!