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About this lesson

How to create a new Google Drawing and introduction to ‘file, edit, view’ options.

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 Drawings Basic Controls Solution
Link Google Drawings Basic Controls
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Quick reference

Creating a New Drawing and Basic Controls

Google Drawings is an image editing app.

When to use

When you have an image you want to edit, or when you want to create images from scratch.

Instructions

Creating a drawing

  • In Google Drive, click “New” - “Move” - “Google Drawings”

“File” options

  • Share - Share the drawing
  • New - Create a new file
  • Open - Open a file from Google Drive
  • Rename - Rename the file
  • Make a copy - Make a copy of the file
  • Move to - Move the file to a different folder
  • Move to trash - Remove the file from Drive
  • See revision history - See all changes made to the drawing over time
  • Language - Change the language used by the spell check
  • Download as - Download the drawing as various file types
  • Publish to the web - Make the drawing available to view publicly online
  • Email collaborators - Email the people the drawing has been shared with
  • Email as attachment - Send the drawing as an attachment to an email
  • Document details - See where a drawing is located in Drive, who created the drawing, where and when it was last edited
  • Page setup - Set the dimensions of the drawing
  • Print settings and preview - Change print settings and see how the drawing will look when it’s printed
  • Print - Print the drawing

 “Edit” options

  • Undo - Undo the last action
  • Redo - Undo an undo
  • Cut - Cut text
  • Copy - Copy text
  • Paste - Paste text
  • Paste without formatting - Paste text, but without it’s formatting (bold, size, font, etc.)
  • Delete - Delete an object
  • Duplicate - Duplicate an object
  • Web clipboard - Copy multiple things in different formats and paste them in different Google apps on different computers
  • Select all - Select everything in the presentation
  • Select none - Stop selecting everything in the presentation
  • Find and Replace - Find text and replace it with different text

“View” options

  • Fit - Fit the work space to the window
  • 50% - Make the work space appear 50% of standard size
  • 100% - Make the work space appear 100% of standard size
  • 200% - Make the work space appear 200% of standard size
  • Zoom in - Make the work space appear larger
  • Zoom out - Make the work space appear smaller
  • Snap to
    • Grid - Make objects line up with an invisible grid
    • Guides - Make objects line up with the edges and center of the work space and other objects using red lines as a guide
  • Show spelling suggestions - Display red lines under misspelled words
  • Compact controls - Display fewer options on the toolbar
  • Full screen - Hide all toolbar controls

NOTE: Press “ESC” to turn off full screen

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  • 00:04 No matter what application you are using within Google Drive,
  • 00:08 there's a very good chance that you're gonna want to add images to that document,
  • 00:13 that Spreadsheet, or Slideshow presentation.
  • 00:16 Google Drive allows us to edit our own images and
  • 00:19 even create images from scratch by using Google Drawings.
  • 00:24 To open up drawings, start by selecting New > More > Google Drawings.
  • 00:31 This will open up a brand new blank canvas within Google Drawings in a brand new tab.
  • 00:38 Here, we can start to create our own image from scratch or
  • 00:42 we can upload existing images and apply edits to them.
  • 00:46 In this case, I'm gonna come up here to the toolbar, and
  • 00:50 I'm gonna start by adding a few shapes.
  • 00:53 First, I'm gonna add a circle over here, and
  • 00:57 then I'm gonna come down and add arrow.
  • 01:01 To move the location of an object,
  • 01:03 simply click that object and drag it to its new desired location.
  • 01:08 And you may see some helpful guidelines along the way.
  • 01:11 If you'd like to upload an existing image, you can select the image icon, here.
  • 01:17 In this case, I'm gonna find an image from my Google Drive and
  • 01:22 I'm gonna place it right here in the middle of the circle, perfect.
  • 01:28 Now when you are finished your image and would like to download it so
  • 01:31 you can use it in other areas, you can come over here to the File menu.
  • 01:36 And while we are familiar with many of the other options here, such as New, Open, and
  • 01:41 making a copy, probably the most valuable one is the Download as option.
  • 01:46 Here we have four choices as to what type of file format we would like to download
  • 01:51 this image, PDF, JPEG, Ping, or a Scalable Vector Graphics image.
  • 01:58 Now while we're dealing with our images here within Google Drawings,
  • 02:02 we wanna make sure that we can get the most appropriate view of our images.
  • 02:07 By default, the standard view is fit to window, or fit to screen.
  • 02:13 That means that the canvas will be the same size
  • 02:16 as the window that you're viewing this in.
  • 02:18 But in some cases, you may want to take a much closer look or
  • 02:22 perhaps view the image from faraway.
  • 02:25 In this case, we wanna come to the View > Zoom.
  • 02:30 And in this case, let say I'd like to zoom in nice and close,
  • 02:34 to get details of this particular image.
  • 02:37 Otherwise, I can come to view and I can zoom out, in this case,
  • 02:40 I can zoom to 50% if I like, and take a more high-level view.
  • 02:46 But in most cases, you will probably want the standard zoom and that is fit,
  • 02:50 as in fit to window so that you can see the entire canvas.
  • 02:55 Many of the other tools and options here we are already familiar with
  • 02:59 by viewing and working with them in other Google Applications.
  • 03:03 And the same goes for the toolbar here.
  • 03:06 You will notice when I select on an object I will get many different and
  • 03:10 additional options available to us whether they are related to fonts colors or
  • 03:15 other sizing options.
  • 03:18 One additional function that we have within Google Drives is the ability to
  • 03:21 duplicate an object.
  • 03:23 You may already be familiar with the ability to copy and paste.
  • 03:27 Let's say I'd like another copy of this arrow, but instead of copying and
  • 03:32 pasting, we can come up here to the Edit window > Duplicate.
  • 03:37 By selecting Duplicate, I immediately have an exact copy of that object,
  • 03:42 of that image, and I can use it elsewhere within my Google Drawings.
  • 03:47 So it's worth your while to experiment with Google Drawings.
  • 03:52 Have some fun, add some shapes, upload some images from your own computer and
  • 03:57 see what you can make within Google Drawings.

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