Google Docs and Sheets Launches Add-Ons

Google launches add-ons to its Docs and Sheets apps. With add-ons written by developers, users would now be able to add in even more features in their documents and spreadsheets e.g. easily send documents as emails to contacts, create Avery address labels and name badges from Google spreadsheet data, adding track changes and approval workflow, etc.

This is really many steps ahead for Google.

Permalinks for Google Drive Images

In December last year, I talked about How to Download Google Docs With a Click. An unofficial blog Google Operating System published an article on getting a permalink for images uploaded onto the Google Drive, hence, allowing you to embed it onto your own blog or website.

Here's how to do just that.

1. Find out the file id
2. The permalink will be as such: https://docs.google.com/uc?export=view&id=[FILE ID]

How to Download Google Docs With a Click?

If you were to open up any file, be it docs, spreadsheet, or even an unsupported file format, on Google Drive, you will either be brought to view or to an another page where you can perform a "File > Download". There is no direct and straightforward way to download a file.

This gets even more troublesome if your intention is to share a file to a friend through Google Drive. Your friend will not be able to download the file immediately without doing a "File > Download".

Luckily, there is a simple trick to share a link and your friend would be able to click and download immediately. Here's how to do just that.

1. Find out the file id
2. The download link will be as such: https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=[FILE ID]

Creating a self-destruct email using Google Docs

It is possible to create a self-destruct email using Google Docs and of course with a bit of scripting involved. The idea is to stop the self-destruct script once the document is opened.

Watch the demonstration video below:

» Send Self-Destructing Messages with Google Docs | Digital Inspiration

Comparing SkyDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox services and pricing plans

The Ars Technica has published an article to compare the services and pricing plans offered by the various online storage service providers - Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Dropbox, SugarSync, Box and SpiderOak.

It also offered some charts showing each service's free tier sizes, file size limits, and pricing, as well as some of the perks and drawbacks of each service. There is also a compilation chart showing which services are compatible with which platforms.

» Cloud storage: a pricing and feature guide for consumers | Ars Technica

Microsoft SkyDrive API SDK

More here on Microsoft SkyDrive API and SDK.

Google Drive SDK

More here on Google Drive SDK.

Gmail Meter offers analytics on how you use your email

After launching Google Account Activity last month, Google Gmail now releases Gmail Meter. Gmail Meter, a simple Gogole Docs script, uncovers statistical analytics on you uses your email.

So what does Gmail Meter offers?

• Volume Statistics show you the number of important and starred messages, the number of people who sent you emails, and more. Volume statistics can be very useful in determining how you are using email efficiency tools like Priority Inbox.
  
• Daily Traffic gives you an estimate of when you receive messages and when you send them during a given month. For example, in the graph below you can see how the peaks in my “Sent” curve indicates that I write emails in spurts.
  
• Traffic Pattern lets you get a sense of your overall email activity over the past week.
  
• Email Categories tells you how you are managing your Inbox. In the pie chart below, you can see that the majority of my emails are labeled. My Inbox is tiny compared to other labels which indicates that I keep a lean and mean Inbox.
  
• Time Before First Response shows you how long it takes you to reply, and how long it takes others to reply to you. By looking at this chart, I can infer that I reply faster than others I communicate with.
  
• Word Count tells you whether you are writing long emails. The example below shows that most of my emails are shorter than 200 words.
  
• Thread Lengths help you understand whether you participate in long conversations resulting in long threads. Top Senders and Top Recipients help you identify who you communicate with more frequently.

How to Setup Gmail Meter

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Log into your Google Docs account and create a new spreadsheet. Name Gmail Meter.
   
   
2. From the Tools menu, choose Script Gallery.
   
   
3. Type Gmail Meter in the search box and click the Search button. You should see one search result.
   
   
4. Click the Install button next to it and Authorize the script when prompted. You will also need to grant access to the script after that. You should now see a Gmail Meter menu option now. Note that installation may take a while.
   
   
5. From the new Gmail Meter menu, choose Get Report.
   
   
6. Choose the type of report to generate e.g. Monthly Report.
   
   
7. The script will start generating the report and you will receive an email when it's ready.

Once submitted for report generation, you should see this screen.

» Know Your Gmail Stats using Gmail Meter | Official Gmail Blog

Monitor your website uptime using Google Docs (scripting)

Do you have a website? Would you like to receive alerts on your email address as soon as your site goes down or becomes inaccessible to users? It is possible to do just that using Google Docs and a bit of scripting and all for FREE!

» Monitor your Website’s Uptime with Google Docs | Digital Inspiration

Google Docs spell checker is contextual and awesome!

Google Docs has launched a revolutionary spell checker - one that not only correct spellings, but also is contextual. This contextual spell checker is able to make suggestions on the correct use of word based on the sentence. What's even better is the suggestions get smarter and smarter based on the words Googlebot sees as it explores the web.

The advantages spelled out are as follows:

1. Suggestions are contextual. For example, the spell checker is now smart enough to know what you mean if you type “Icland is an icland.”
   
   
   
   
   
2. Contextual suggestions are made even if the misspelled word is in the dictionary. If you write “Let’s meat tomorrow morning for coffee” you’ll see a suggestion to change “meat” to “meet."
   
   
3. Suggestions are constantly evolving. As Google crawls the web, we see new words, and if those new words become popular enough they’ll automatically be included in our spell checker—even pop culture terms, like Skrillex.
   
   
   

» Spell checking powered by the web | Google Docs Blog

Google Docs for Android - Collaboration and Edit Possible Everywhere

Google Docs for Android adds collaborative editing on the move. On top of that, it is now possible to add rich text formatting like ordered and bulleted lists, colours, and simple text styling like bold, italic and underline.

Nice app, Nice ad, Nice music.

Download Google Docs for Android now from the Android Market.

» Collaborate and edit anywhere with the updated Google Docs for Android | Official Google Blog

Google Drive coming soon?

Looks like Google Drive is approaching a reality soon.

Google is close to launching a cloud-storage service that will allow storing of files online so they can be retrieved in other Google services. The Google service, which is expected to launch in the coming weeks or months, will be free for most consumers and businesses.

» Google Near Launch of Cloud Storage Service | The Wall Street Journal

Offline Google Docs for Android

Google Docs for Android has gone offline according to a Google+ post. Files include Google documents, Google presentations, Google spreadsheets, uploaded images, and files in formats such as .pdf, .doc, .xls and .ppt. Google Sites, Google drawings, Google forms, Fusion Tables and collections can't be made available offline.

There may be times when you don’t have an Internet connection on your Android device, but you still want access to a file you’ve saved in Google Docs. Now you can select any file in Google Docs to “make it available offline”. So regardless of whether you’re connected to the internet, you’re always connected to those files.

For more information on how to enable offline files on Google Docs, visit their Help Center.

Google Docs Presentation Revamped

Google has added more than 60 new features to its Google Docs Presentation including several popular requested features:

• Transitions to move between slides with simple fades or spicier 3D effects
  
• Animations to add emphasis or to make your slides more playful
  
• New themes to create beautiful presentations with distinct visual styles
  
• Drawings to build new designs, layouts, and flowcharts within a presentation
  
• Rich tables with merged cells and more options for adding style to your data

These new features are still slowly rolled out to all its millions of users. To see the new features before they are rolled out to you, click on the gear icon in your document list, and select Document settings. Then, from the Editing tab, check the box to "Create new presentations using the latest version of the presentation editor".

» A fresh start for Google presentations | Official Google Blog

Translate PDF files and Word documents with Google Docs

An article on Techdows published a tip on doing language translation on PDF files and Word documents with Google Docs.

To do just that:

1. Go to Google Docs at http://docs.google.com.
2. Login using your Google Account.
3. Upload your PDF file or Word document and make sure you select "Convert text from PDF and image files to Google Documents" before uploading.
4. Once uploaded, open the file. The file should be opened in Google Docs Editor.
5. From the Tools Menu. select Translate Document.
6. Type the name of the “Document Title” and choose language you want the document to be translated into and click Translate button.

You are done!

» Translate PDF Files & Word Documents with Google Docs | Techdows

Offline Google Docs

As promised, Google started to roll out the offline version of Google Docs, after the release of offline Gmail and offline Google Calendar. Just like its earlier offline apps, Google Docs works offline only if you use Chrome and install an app from the Chrome Web Store.

Google launches Offline Gmail, Calendar and Docs

After plans to shut down Gears and removing Gears offline support on Chrome, Google has now finally execute its plan to go offline using HTML 5 technology.

Google is launching a new Gmail web app and updates to Calendar and Docs, to equip them with offline capability.

Gmail Offline is a Chrome Web Store app that’s intended for situations when you need to read, respond to, organize and archive email without an internet connection. This HTML5-powered app is based on the Gmail web app for tablets, which was built to function with or without web access. After you install the Gmail Offline app from the Chrome Web Store, you can continue using Gmail when you lose your connection by clicking the Gmail Offline icon on Chrome’s “new tab” page.

When you’re offline in Google Calendar, you can view events from your calendars and RSVP to appointments. With Google Docs you can view documents and spreadsheets when you don’t have a connection. For now, offline editing is not yet ready but work is on its way to make this possible. To get started using Google Calendar or Google Docs offline, just click the gear icon at the top right corner of the web app and select the option for offline access.

» Using Gmail, Calendar and Docs without an Internet connection | Official Gmail Blog

Google Docs support viewing of ZIP and RAR files

Google Docs has added support to view ZIP and RAR files in their Google Docs Viewer. The viewing is extended to nested ZIP and RAR archives that are embedded inside other archives. Files in the archive, the file types, and the size of those files will be shown during viewing.

Viewing of Archive

On top of that, Google Docs has added support to save, download and print files.

When you hover over the list you can activate a menu by clicking Actions. You’ll be able to View items supported by Google Docs Viewer and Print (PDF) those that we offer PDF support. Save to Google Docs and Download appear for all files.

Actions Menu

To test this feature, Google Docs has put up a ZIP file.

» ZIP and RAR support now available in the Google Docs Viewer | Google Docs Blog

Open Google Docs files from Microsoft Office with Google Cloud Connect

One of the key features of Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is the ability to easily sync Office documents up to Google Docs and to collaborate on them with others. Editing of files can be performed all within Microsoft Office and any changes synced automatically to the cloud - Google Docs. It is even possible to edit files offline and then get them synced the next time you are back online.

Open files more easily in Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office [via]

10 Gmail gadgets to try

There is a powerful but little known Gmail feature that lives in Labs called "Add any gadget by URL". This feature has to be turned on before using it. The experimental feature allows you to add iGoogle gadgets (or any gadget specified by an .xml file) to the side of your Gmail account. While most of these gadgets are built by third-parties and not owned or maintained by Google, they can be super handy.

Assuming the "Add any gadget by URL" feature is turned on, go to the new "Gadgets" tab under "Settings" and add the relevant .xml address for installation of gadgets.

Googmle Gmail suggested 10 gadgets worth trying.

1. Wikipedia

Look for a specific query right from Gmail.
http://www.google.com/ig/modules/wikipedia.xml

2. Google Calculator

Make some quick calculations while typing an email.
http://calebegg.com/calc.xml

3. Note

Add a sticky note to the corner of your Gmail account.
http://www.google.com/ig/modules/sticky.xml

4. Remember the Milk

If you’re a fan of this task management system, accessing all your “Remember the milk” notes from right within Gmail can be super handy.
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/modules/gmail/rtm.xml

5. PolyClock

Gives you the time of day for any place in the world.
http://gad.getpla.net/poly/clock.xml

6. Currency Converter

A real time currency converter.
http://helloworld123---.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/currency-converter.xml

7. bit.ly URL shortener

Lets you shorten URLs in a single click.
http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/107368512201818821991/bitly-shortener.xml

8. Chuck Norris fact generator

Displays a different “Chuck Norris fact” every day of the year.
http://marsupialmusic.net/stu/scripts/chucknorris.xml

9. Google Calendar

Displays your Google Calendar agenda right from Gmail.
http://www.google.com/ig/modules/calendar.xml

10. Google Docs

Gives you quick access to your most recent documents.
http://www.google.com/ig/modules/docs.xml

10 Gmail gadgets to try [via]