Porchester Junior School Learning Platform HelpSheets

Using Google Docs

1. Naming your documents

A new document will either be saved as “untitled”, or the first few words of the
document will be used.To change the name, click on “File” then “Rename”. Type in
the name for the document.

Tip: Click on the name of a document (top left of the screen) to change the name.

2. The Onscreen Toolbar

The icons / options available on the toolbar are (from left to right)
· Save – save your document
· Print – print the document
· Undo – remove the last step added
· Redo – replace the most recent undo action
· Styles – Automatically choose font sizes. H1 is biggest, H6 is smallest
· Font choices
· Font sizes
· B – make the writing BOLD
· I – italicize the writing
· U – underline the writing
· Text colour
· Text background colour
· Link – add a hyperlink (URL)
· Numbered list
· Bullet list
· Decrease an indent (move the writing left towards the margin)
· Increase an indent (move the writing right away from the margin)
· Left Justify – align the writing to the left margin
· Centre Justify – align the writing to the centre of the page
· Right Justify – align the writing to the right of the page

3. Find and Replace

Click on "Edit", then "Find and Replace"
To find a word, write it in the FIRST box, then click "Find Next". Press "Find Next" to
find the next occasion of the word, and repeat as often as needed.

To replace a word in the document, write the word to be changed in the FIRST box,
and the word to be used instead in the SECOND box. Press "Replace" to make the
first change, or press "Replace all" to change all the words within the document.

Tip: you can press Ctrl + F to open the Find and Replace options

Created by Mr. Widdowson

© 2009
 Porchester Junior School Learning Platform HelpSheets

4. Viewing your document

There are several ways to view your work on screen.

• Fixed width View - shows your document like a page of paper. There are
borders on the left / right of the screen. (You can see the toolbars above the
work).
• Normal View - show your document reaching across the whole width of the
screen. (You can still see the toolbars above the work)
• Full Screen View - is like the Fix Width view, but removes the toolbars from
the screen. Tip: press escape to leave the full screen view.

5. Adding a link
You can put a hyperlink (URL) into a document. Move the mouse to where you want
to add a link. Click on "Insert", then "Link" on the toolbar. A box will pop up asking
what type of link. Choose "URL", then type the address of the link into the URL box.
Click on "Insert" to put it into your work.

6. Adding images
Note: unlike Microsoft Word, there is no clipart within the Docs application. All
images must have been gathered already, and made available on your computer.
To add an image to a document click on "Insert", then "From this computer". Click
on "Choose File" and browse the computer for the image.

The "more image options" blue + allows you to decide how the image will appear in
the document (left / centre / right aligned) as well as the size of the document and
whether the text will wrap around it.

Once the image has been selected, click on "Insert" and the image will appear within
the document.

To remove the image, click on the image and select "Remove Image" from the
options.

Tip: you can use .gif .jpg . png and .bmp type image files.

7. Add page numbers

Click on "File", then "Print settings". Make sure that there is a tick in the "include
page numbers" box and choose the location for the page number.

8. Sharing Documents

You can share your Google Docs from your homepage list or directly from a
document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
• From the homepage list, select the box next to the item you want to share
(you can also select multiple docs), and click the blue "Share" drop-down
menu in the toolbar.
• From your document, spreadsheet, or presentation, click the blue
"Share" drop-down menu in the top right corner of the page. Then...
1. Select "Invite people…"
2. Select "To edit" or "To view".

Created by Mr. Widdowson

© 2009
 Porchester Junior School Learning Platform HelpSheets

3. Enter the school email addresses that you'd like to add.

4. If you'd like to add a message to your invitation, enter some text and click
"Send". To skip sending an invitation, click "Add without sending invitation".
Your collaborators and viewers will still be able to access the doc from their
Docs lists, but won't receive an email invitation.

Tip: You can share a spreadsheet with 200 combined viewers and collaborators. 50
people may edit and view at any given time.

Tip: You can share a doc or presentation with 200 combined viewers and
collaborators. 10 people may edit and view at any given time.

12. Limiting access to your docs

You can limit access to your documents, spreadsheets, or presentations. Click on
"Share" then "Invite people". Click on the "Advanced permissions" option. Make sure
that the "Allow editors to invite others to edit or view" is NOT selected.

13. Removing collaborators or viewers from a document

1. Open your doc.
2. Click the "Share" tab in the top-right corner of the page and then select "See
who has access".
3. Under "People with access", click the drop-down menu to the right of the
name you'd like to remove and select "None". Click "Save and close". If you
don't see this option, you don't have permissions to remove collaborators or
viewers.

After you select "None", the collaborator will no longer have access to your doc.

14. Publishing a document

To publish a document, click on "Share" then "Publish as webpage". Then,
click "Publish document".
You can link to the address (the URL) you are given to allow others to view your
work by copying and pasting the link into your learning space.

Tip: Make sure that there is NOT a tick next to “allow only porchester.net users to
view this”, otherwise you will not be able to view at home unless you log in.

Created by Mr. Widdowson

© 2009