Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: So many colleagues are sharing their documents through Google Apps, but I don’t know how to do that. Can you help?
A: I love this part of Google Apps–that it’s easy to share your documents–whether they’re a document, a spreadsheet, a slideshow, a form, or even an image–with anyone you choose in a variety of ways. One is by embedding the entire document file into a blog or webpage so colleagues and friends don’t have to click through to another site and hope that works.
Here’s what you do when your Google Doc is complete:
- save it by a name of your choice
- File>Publish to the Web (on the menu bar)
- make a few selections (for example, if you’re sharing a slideshow, it’ll ask if you want it to be automatic)
- click ‘Publish’ (Google Forms skips this step–it assumes you are going to embed)
- click ‘Embed’
- copy html code
- paste into blog, wiki, website like I did below:
<iframe src=”https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Qm9xsxEl-hN-Wt2xyb3ylu9Y8qi3A5aQw-hvdadSqSU/viewform?embedded=true” width=”760″ height=”500″ frameborder=”0″ marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″>Loading…
Above is the HTML code. It looks weird because I pasted it into ‘visual’ on WordPress rather than ‘text’. Here’s what it looks like if I paste it into the right spot (well, I used a Google Form, but the idea is the same).
BTW, this might be the hardest part of using embeds–finding the right place to paste that confusing code.
Is that cool?
But, what if your doc is created in Word (or Open Office) and you uploaded to your Google Drive. Can you ‘Publish to the web’ then? Sure, but first, you must open the file through Google Apps. Here’s how you do that:
- Upload the doc to your Google Drive.
- Double click; go to Open With>Google Docs.
- Once it’s open in Google Docs, follow the directions above.
More tips on Google Apps and Google:
Google Apps Support Bloom’s Taxonomy–Take a Look
Weekend Website 123: Google Gravity
Weekend Website #109: Google World of Wonders
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
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Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner.
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When it comes to finding a spot to put code within the code, I usually mark the spot within Visual with a “—oOo—” and then I can find it easily within the Text.
Thanks for the tip. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
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well that’s a great tip. I have to Ctrl+F and hope I find it!
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Thanks, Jaqui!
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My pleasure. BTW, love your blog on Greece.
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I download from Google Docs but never explored anything else. thanks Jacqui.
P.S. what’s the name of the program you mentioned where I can do a voice-over with PowerPoint?
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Little Bird Tales (https://littlebirdtales.com/) is for youngers, but allows you to add images (like slides) and add your voice. Adobe Spark (https://spark.adobe.com/) can be created on a smartphone app. Adobe Sway (https://sway.com/) will let you import your entire PowerPoint and then add media (like a voice file) to it. All are intuitive,
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Thanks Jacqui!!!!!!! I’m printing it out because I’m an old fashioned paper-pusher.
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WOW – awesome, Jacqui, *Bookmarked* 😀
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This is a really cool feature of Google Apps. MS Office has a similar feature, but not as robust.
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Waaaay over my head!
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I get too geeky sometimes. Sorry about that!
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Not too geeky, just geeky enough!
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I’ve never even thought about doing this for myself, but I can see that one day I might have something I’d like to post. At least I understand how you’ve done it on your blog. Thanks for sharing this info, Jacqui. You are still the course for bloggers.
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You’ll see it in action when I ask for help on my blog hop. I hope it doesn’t scare people off!
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I like embedding google maps.
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That’s a great idea. I usually end up grabbing a screenshot, but the entire map is a much better idea. Then people can scroll through as needed.
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To think that a mere 10 years ago, I was up on Microsoft Office but now with all the changes, I feel like a lab rat not knowing where to start. Have tried Google docs but not fond of them. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have a file with good tips–like this one–for some future need. 😀 Thank you for sharing, Jacqui.
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I edit a tech curriculum for K-8. When I started this project, I thought I might update it every five years or so, before the curriculum seemed hopelessly dated. Not a chance–too many changes to wait that long. I usually get by 2-3 years and then I’m bursting with the changes.
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I gave up. Of course, I don’t need to keep up-to-date as I needed day-to-day then.
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Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog and commented:
Here is a helpful post on the topic of embedding Google docs
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Thanks for the reblog, Don. You always have lots of interesting articles on your blog. I am now a follower!
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Thanks so much!
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Thanks, Jacqui. Good tip. I don’t usually share through Google apps but it is good to know about. I usually share through the iCloud or one-drive or dropbox.
Shalom,
Patricia
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Those are great for sharing a completed document. Google Apps makes it easy to collaborate, collect names (like a potluck party sign-up)–that sort.
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Very clever, Jacqui! Thank you for for sharing – I had no idea about this so really appreciate the advise.
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You’ll see it in action when I collect names for my blog tour. I think you’ll be impressed how easy it is. Of course, I think I’ll also include the traditional email for those who want to help but don’t trust posting to an online form.
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I’ve yet to use Google Docs, but I’ll save this for future reference. Thanks, Jacqui!
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It doesn’t work well for writers. My 400-page ms won’t load at all (I guess it’s too long). But, for fliers and announcements, or crowdsourcing, it’s great.
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Ah, this is really helpful, Jacqui. There are times when I’ve hosted a blog tour and the banner has been in a format that my blog won’t show (mental block this morning) so I’ve had to ask for it to be sent in a Jpeg. All I have to do is the above? If I can figure it out… Save and embed?
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Or, take a screenshot and save that as a .jpg. Here’s the tip on that: https://worddreams.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/tech-tips-for-writers-116-how-to-screenshot/
I do that more often than I want to admit to!
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Ah! Thank you 😊
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Thanks Jacqui. have struggled with Google Docs a bit, with all the sharing, commenting, updating that goes on from all over. I think it is a generation later than when my processor maxed out 😦
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Office has moved that way, too, so all you have to do is NOT invoke those collaborative tools. On the other hand, I’m going to try it when I collect names of those interested in helping to promote my book. It should be an easy way to collect information.
More on that later!
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