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About this lesson

Introduction to Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Sheets and Drawings. This lesson will show how to create one of each and give a brief description of what each does. Each app will be covered in much more detail in its own section.

Exercise files

The exercises below will open in a new tab. When signed in to your Google account, go to File --> Make a copy to get an editable copy of the file.

Google Apps Within Drive Solution
Link Google Apps Within Drive
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Quick reference

Google Apps Within Drive

The native Google apps which are found by default in Google Drive are a suite of programs, including Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Forms, and Google Drawings.

When to use

They are used to create and edit text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, questionnaires, and images.

Instructions

Google Docs

  • Used for creating and editing text documents.
  • Example uses:
    • Writing articles, reports, proposals
    • Any kind of document for work, school or personal use

Google Sheets

  • Used for creating and editing spreadsheets.
  • Example uses:
    • Budgeting
    • Schedules
    • Calculations

Google Slides

  • Used for creating and editing slide presentations.
  • Example uses:
    • Sales presentations
    • Tutorials

Google Forms

  • Used for creating and editing questionnaires.
  • Example uses:
    • Tests
    • Quizzes
    • Surveys

Google Drawings

  • Used for creating and editing images.
  • Example uses:
    • Infographics
    • Annotating or marking up images
    • Schematics

Creating a file:

  • Click “New”
  • Click on the type of document you want to create
  • This will bring you to a blank document, spreadsheet, slide presentation, form or drawing depending on which you chose
  • All of your edits are automatically saved in Drive
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  • 00:04 Let's take a look at the different types of files that we can actually create
  • 00:08 within Google Drive.
  • 00:10 Although Drive is excellent for uploading and downloading existing files,
  • 00:14 we can create a large number of file types directly within the Drive application.
  • 00:20 By selecting the New button and scrolling to the bottom of the menu,
  • 00:25 we see a number of file types that we can create right here within Google Drive.
  • 00:30 The first one is Google Docs.
  • 00:33 Google Docs is a word processor, and is best suited for text based documents.
  • 00:40 You could think of such things as writing a letter or drafting a marketing report.
  • 00:45 In most cases, you'll want to use a Google Doc for writing long
  • 00:50 pieces of text and perhaps for things that may wish to be printed at a later time.
  • 00:55 The second option that we have is to produce a Google Sheet.
  • 00:59 And Google Sheets is short for spreadsheet.
  • 01:03 You may be familiar with other products such as Microsoft Excel.
  • 01:07 Spreadsheets are best for managing large numbers of data.
  • 01:12 Perhaps you want to manage a personal budget or
  • 01:16 manage the finances of your business.
  • 01:19 Spreadsheets are ideal for managing large numbers of quantitative data,
  • 01:24 since you can filter and sort that data by column or by row.
  • 01:30 The third option that we have here is called Google Slides.
  • 01:34 Now Google Slides is very similar to Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple's Keynote.
  • 01:40 Slides are used when you want to share information either in a live presentation
  • 01:45 setting or perhaps you'd like to share some slides during a webinar.
  • 01:50 You can add graphics and
  • 01:52 short amount of text that you would like to share with your audience.
  • 01:56 But even though those are the first three listed here, if we select the More option,
  • 02:01 we get even more types of files that we can create right here in Google Drive.
  • 02:06 The next one on our list is Google Forms, and
  • 02:10 this is a very powerful function of Google Drive.
  • 02:13 Google Forms allows us to quickly and easily create surveys and
  • 02:19 questionnaires, which we can send out to others and
  • 02:22 also manage those responses right here from within Drive.
  • 02:27 Here from the Question menu, you can see that it's just waiting for
  • 02:29 me to start inputting a question and then providing the options down below.
  • 02:35 Below Forms, we get even more options, the next one being Google Drawings.
  • 02:41 Google Drawings allows us to create our own images or
  • 02:45 even upload existing images and start to edit them here within Google Drive.
  • 02:50 So whether we want to draw something, whether we want to add some shapes,
  • 02:54 or add some color,
  • 02:56 Google Drawings allows us to be very creative with what we would like to do.
  • 03:02 Now, there are a few additional options that you'll see at the bottom
  • 03:05 of the More menu, including Google My Maps,
  • 03:09 which allows you to create customized Google maps.
  • 03:12 And Google Sites, which allows you to create and manage websites.
  • 03:16 For the sake of this video course, we will not be covering these two options, but
  • 03:21 we'll be focused on the first five, Drawings, Forms, Slides, Sheets, and Docs.

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