Google Docs-Lessons 2-11

Seeing I am sick and not going to class, figured I would get some work done still by getting as much done on the last set of tutorials - googledocs.

Documents 
From what was reviewed in the docs chapters, I had no troubles following along as the interface is similar to any other word processing software I have used over the years. There are some minor differences. I like how googledocs automatically saves your title after some time period. One big difference when working on a doc file is that you can't open a file unless you go back to googledocs home. When printing don't hit print from your browser menu rather, use print under File in the googledocs menu. In a long document, there is no page separation and you must insert a page break. I like the fly-over feature when adding links in your doc. I like the ease of sending an email with attachments rather then opening up a separate mail program then looking and attaching, a couple less steps. Also a nice feature is that you share the document as collaborators or as viewers, could be great if several people are working on the project. The revisions feature for collaborative docs is very handy. Googledocs shows the full list of revisions and allows you to compare them.

As I was following the document section of the tutorials, it reminded me of a free word processing software for the mac (not sure if on pc) called Bean. I use this a lot as I hate using Microsoft word.

Spreadsheets 
The main difference with the spreadsheet feature in GoogleDocs is there is no menu bar, rather it uses tabs with buttons. In spreadsheets you have to save your doc as the automatic name save is not feature in spreadsheets. One difference in this application is that there is no overrun feature when typing text in a cell.I must say that the interface is rather user-friendly with the drop downs. Seems like in Word in you have to dig around for needed features or formatting. I do agree with the author that the fill-handle is a great tool with any spreadsheet application. This feature allows you to replicate data in column or row that follows a pattern or just to duplicate that same info in the highlighted designated area. One new thing I have learned is the ability to freeze rows so you can always see certain rows or columns as your spreadsheet grows.

It's been a long time since I have worked with formulas in spreadsheets. Chapter 9 covered these features were a great refresher. To add a total of a row you would use a formula that starts with an "=" then you type each row and title that needs adding such as "b4+c4+d4". To create an avg total of the one just listed you would go to the next row and hit "=G4/5".

To streamline long formulas, functions come into play. To sum a range of cells you would go to the formulas tab and you can find a range of different functions to suite your needs. The example given using the Sum function would go like this "=Sum(b4:b15)". A colon must be used to separate the range. You can also click and drag the range to select it after you started the function. Wish I knew about some of the extra functions when I took math last semester! But then again we had to write everything out. The chat feature is a cool touch to googledocs. Another interesting feature is that you can publish your spreadsheet to the web and get an actual url.

Be back soon to finish up the rest of the tutorial!