Google Docs Editing

I was a reluctant convert to Google docs for a number of years, but after working on a project that required a lot of collaboration between 3 different organizations in three different countries, I quickly had to figure out a way to keep the the project members on the same “page” while also decreasing the revision burden my predecessors had struggled with.

I use Google sites for the majority of our collaboration, but I recently discovered the new Google docs editor which allows for comments (something you can’t do with the native Google site’s page editor).  We began including  Google docs as inline text in our Google site pages which allows for a number of collaborative editing features. One such feature, which lead to our transition from native Google site page documentation to Google doc inclusion in our Google site, is the “call-out” comment functionality.  While undergoing this transition we had some the problems and also some resolutions.  Some of these problems/resolutions are listed below:

  1. Why can’t I use the new Google doc editor I see in all of the Google doc help pages:  There is a settings menu at the top of your Google doc which allows you to check a check-box to ensure all new Google docs use the new editor.   After you check this box all new Google docs will use the improved editor.
  2. My comments are inline.  I thought the latest version of Google docs had “call-out” comments: I you didn’t follow the instructions in point number 1 above, then all comments will be inline and thus will clutter up your editing space.
  3. My editing space is only a narrow box in the middle of my wide-screen monitor: The new Google doc editor doesn’t seem to have a full/wide-screen editing view.  You can accomplish something similar by going to File–>Page Setup and choosing landscape or one of the alternative wide page options.  You can always change the layout after you’re done editing to match your desired “true” page/letter setup.  I work on 24″ wide-screen monitor and just using the landscape layout works great for me ( and allows me to see my comments).
  4. More to come.

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