If you’re using Google Docs in a team setting, there may be times when you need to redline an entire document. This can be a tedious process, especially when it requires multiple people to go through every single line of text in the file. To simplify the process, you can now add a table of contents to the file. This will help your collaborators easily navigate through the document.
Google has made it easier to work with tables in its Docs service. You can now adjust a table’s rows, columns and alignment in the new Layout menu, which is found under the Insert menu. You can also add and remove columns, resize rows, create new ones and move existing ones around with a simple click of the mouse. The feature is rolling out to users today and should be available across all platforms.
One of the biggest problems with Google Docs is that it wastes screen real estate by making its menu and toolbars bigger than they need to be. This can lead to a lot of wasted space that you could use for actually writing. To help fix this problem, Google has now added the ability to view documents in compact controls. To access the option, select View, Compact controls or press Ctrl-Shift-F from inside a document. This feature is available in all formats, including documents, drawings, spreadsheets and presentations.
You’ll still need to enable the compact controls in each of these different types of documents to get them working, though. That’s because the default settings in each of those formats are set differently. This will hopefully be the first of many improvements that Google will make to its online office suite.
Another issue with Docs is that it doesn’t offer some functions that are common in desktop text editors. For example, desktop text editors like TextExpander let you quickly autocomplete frequently used words and phrases. Google Docs now offers a similar function, but it’s not as robust as what you’ll find on the desktop. To activate it, head to Tools, Preferences from inside a document. From there, you can choose to automatically complete words and phrases like Needs more explanation or nme in any context where they appear in the text.
Other improvements include the ability to create a table of contents, resize the headers in a document and edit the numbering for numbered lists. It’s not perfect, but these updates are an improvement over the status quo. They should help to speed up the time it takes to complete a document and make Docs more useful to a wider audience.
