Substituting Google Docs for Microsoft Word

This is by far the simplest substitution. Most features found in Microsoft Word are also in Google Docs. It takes a little patience to learn where all the features are, especially some formatting options, but transitioning from Microsoft Word to Google Docs is less painful than some of the Microsoft Word updates in terms of navigation. The best part about Google Docs, however, is that you never have to fear that you saved your document in the wrong version of Word or that you didn't hit save right before the power went out.

Don't mourn the loss of all the glorious Microsoft Word documents you have already created. With those documents, you have a number of options. First, Google Docs has an upload feature, which allows you to simply house your Microsoft Word document in your Google Drive. When you upload a Microsoft Word document to Google Drive and open the file, you will receive a message (see the red box below) indicating that your edits will not be automatically saved. Additionally, you will not have all of the usual formatting/editing tools at your disposal.

Second, if you click on the link in the red box to SAVE NOW, you will have your editing options back, which saves the document as a hybrid Word/Docs format. Third, your best bet is to select SAVE AS GOOGLE DOCS from the FILE drop down menu (see graphic below). This gives you all the formatting tools of a document originally created in Google Docs. Be sure to check your document to make sure you do not have to alter spacing or formatting from the transfer before using the document in class or as a handout.

If you wish to RENAME the document in your Google Drive, simply double click on the current document name. If you hover over the current name, a black text bubble shows up that says RENAME. When you double click on the document title, a box appears, where you can edit the title and click okay to save it.

Google Docs File Tab

This tab is very similar to the File Tab in Microsoft Word.
It includes familiar options such as new, open, rename (save as), page setup, and print.

It also offers some additional features such as:

Share--this enables sharing with individuals or groups through Google Drive, email, a URL link, and other Google Apps.

Make a Copy--this creates a new copy of the document, so you can edit without losing the original version. This means you can share worksheets with students, and they can make a copy where they add their answers before sharing the completed version with you or printing.

Language--this allows you to change the language of the document. This would likely be most useful in foreign language classes. This feature will not translate the document.

Download as--this offers options to download a document as a document formatted for Microsoft Word, Open Office, Rich Text, PDF, Plain Text, or Webage. 

Publish to the Web--this unique feature allows the document to sync automatically when you use it as part of another document, webpage, etc. or have provided someone with its shareable link. You do not need to upload the "revised" version of the file because it will already update itself!

Some features which are in grey in the graphic include move to trash (delete), see revision history, email collaborators, and email as attachment. 

Both of the email options allow you to share the document with others. They are pretty straightforward. Always make sure that you give the person permission to view the document, especially if someone outside of the school district may need to access the document later. 

One of the best features of Google Docs, from the teaching and grading perspective, is the revision history.

This makes revising easier, especially if students change their mind about something. 

it also provides accountability because both the teacher and the student can see what changes have been made to the document and when. 

This feature is tremendously useful with group projects because different users' work appears in different colors. 

With a quick glance, you can see which participants completed which sections of a document.

Google Docs Edit Tab

Most features in this tab are familiar. The edit tab consists of options like undo, redo, cut, copy, paste, select all, and find and replace. It also has a web clipboard option. For the most part, the use of these options is pretty straightforward.

Google Docs View Tab

The view tab also contains many familiar options such as print layout, show ruler, show spelling suggestions, and full screen. Additionally, it has options for mode, show equation toolbar, and compact controls. 

Hovering over the mode option brings up a submenu with editing, suggesting, and viewing. 

Viewing--this is when you want to read or print the final document.

Suggesting--this allows the insertion of comments, which appear as suggestions. These suggested changes do not alter the document; instead, they show up in the comment box, where the document author can choose what to do with the suggestions. This feature is great for peer revision or class analysis of projects. This feature is similar to the track changes option in Microsoft Word.

Editing--this is where the actual changes to the document are made. When in the editing mode, the document author changes the text. If students are collaborating, all collaborators can change the document in this view. Comments are also enabled in this view, but they do not appear as permanent document changes; they show up in the comment box (shown on the right in the picture below).

Show equation toolbar--this simply adds a toolbar for functions, like you would find at the top of an excel spreadsheet, below your formatting toolbar.

Compact controls--this feautre hides the formatting toolbar from the document. To retrieve the formatting toolbar, click on the double arrow button on the far right of the screen (see graphic below).

Google Docs Insert Tab

Most functions under this tab are self explanatory. You can insert a variety of content such as images, links, equations, drawings, tables, comments, footnotes, special characters, horizontal lines, page numbers, page counts, page breaks, headers, footers, bookmarks and table of contents. Many of these features are also available in Microsoft Word. I am not very familiar with the bookmark and table of contents features. Hopefully, I will learn more about their use in the future! They appear to  be about bookmarking and labeling sections of a (typically) long document, so you don't have to scroll through the entire document to find one specific section. 

Google Docs Format Tab

The formatting options mirror many of the same options Microsoft Word provides. In addition to using the dropdown menu, most formatting functions also appear in the toolbar at the top of the document. 

   First, you find the text options such as bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscript, and subscript. 

Next, you have options that bring up their own additional menus such as paragraph styles, align, line spacing, and lists. Lists is what we usually consider bullets and numbering. 

You can also clear your formatting, which basically restores the defaults to highlighted text.

The lines selection also brings up a separate menu when available. The separate menu focuses on line weight and line type or dash.

Another subsection of the dropdown menu deals with images. The functions allow you to access crop image, image options, replace image, and reset image.

The very last section of the format tab is for alt text. At this point, this is a feature that I am not very familiar with.

Google Docs Tools Tab

The tools dropdown menu has features you would expect such as spelling and word count, but it also has some additional functions like research, define, translate document, script editor, preferencs, and personal dictionary.

Spelling--this gives you suggestions for misspelled words.

Research--this allows your to search the web without opening a new tab. This is helpful when you want to add an image to your document easily.

Define--this brings up a dictionary definition for the selected word.

Word Count--this brings up a box that tells you word count statistics. Click here to see a sample word count box. 

Translate Document--this does exactly what it says. However, if you are translating to a language you are unfamiliar with, it is always best to check with someone to make sure everything is correct. 

Script Editor--this is a code editor, which allows you to add to your documents. Check out an Overview of Google Apps Script here.

Preferences--this allows you to change certain preferences as shown here.

The personal dictionary allows you to add words that may not be in a regular dictionary so that they are not recognized as misspelled words.

Google Docs Table Tab

The table features in Google Docs are almost identical to those in Microsoft Word, so the functions should be pretty familiar.

One difference I noticed was that to split cells, you have to start with what once was more than one cell. Maybe there is a way around this that I have not yet found, but in my brief time working with the program, I have not been able to split a single cell.

Google Docs Add-ons Tab

When you first use Google Docs, you won't really have anything in your add-ons tab other than the functions to procure and manage add-ons. Add-ons are additional programs or tools that work with the app you are using. 

For instance you can find add-ons that provide exra fonts, a thesaurus, clipart, templates, or table formatting to name a few. 

To find add-ons, simply click on Get add-ons from the dropdown menu. This will open a new window that looks much like the Google Web Store, but it is only for add-ons. It looks like this.