November 9, 2017
Over the last few weeks, Google Drive released a number of interesting updates to enhance your overall Drive experience. Here is a quick round-up of the recent releases that are relevant to us as teachers and educators. Some of them have already been featured in previous posts and others are new. Check them out below
1- New languages added to Docs, Slides, Sheets and Forms editor temples
Docs, Slides, Sheets and Forms templates now support four new languages: French, European Spanish, Latin American Spanish, French. Hindi is expected to be added soon.
2- Copy comments and suggestions in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
Collaborators on Docs, Sheets and Slides are now able to save a copy of the history of their work that includes comments and suggestions. ‘To copy your comments and suggestions, simply select “Make a copy” from the File menu and check the box for “Copy comments and suggestions” or “Copy comments.”These comments and suggestions will then contain a note indicating that they were copied from the original document’.
3- More fonts added to Docs Slides
The font catalogue in both Google Docs and Slides has over 60 new fonts that includes non-latin scripts such as Crillic and Devanagari. To access these fonts, ‘click More fonts at the bottom of the Fonts menu. There you’ll also find suggested fonts, based on your document’s language.’
4- Easily insert images into Docs, Slides and Drawings
You now have five options for image insertion in Google Docs, Slides and Drawings. These are : upload from computer, search the web, use images from your Google Drive, insert images from Google Photos or through URL.‘If you select “Upload from computer,” you’ll be taken to your computer’s file manager, which many users are familiar with. If you select “Search the web,” “Drive,” or “Photos,” you’ll be taken to a menu on the righthand side of your screen that is easier to navigate and more intuitive to use. You can also drag and drop images directly from this menu into your document. If you select “By URL,” you’ll be given the option to input the specific URL for an image.’
5- New features for Google Slide
If you haven’t already seen them, Google Slide released a number of new features to help you design professionally looking slides. Check out this post to learn more.
