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            Tips to edit & collaborate on files

            Modified on Wed, 9 Jul at 4:55 PM

            On this page

            Tips for authoring & editing

            • Use shortcuts to create new files
            • Add text with your voice
            • Share “Make a copy” links to your files
            • Email your collaborators
            • Insert smart chips & building blocks

            Track file updates & comments

            • See who changed what
            • Check or revert to earlier versions
            • Get notifications of file activity in Chat or Gmail
            • Get notified about spreadsheet changes
            • Find and act on comments
            • Show resolved comments (non-Google files)

            Tips for authoring & editing

            Learn how:

            To quickly create new files, enter one of these URLs in your browser:

            • docs.new
            • forms.new
            • sheets.new
            • slides.new
            • vids.new

            A blank file opens, and you can add your content.

            Add text with your voice

            Chrome Browser only, microphones required

            Learn how:

            Start voice typing in a document

            1. Open a document in Google Docs in a supported browser.
            2. Click Tools and then Voice typing. A microphone box appears.
            3. When you're ready to speak, click the microphone.
            4. Speak clearly and at a normal volume and pace.
            5. When you're done, click the microphone again.

            Start voice typing in Slides speaker notes

            1. On your computer, in a browser, open a presentation in Google Slides.
            2. At the top left, in the menu bar, click Tools and then Dictate speaker notes .
              • The speaker notes open and a microphone box displays.
            3. When you're ready to speak, click Microphone .
            4. Speak clearly and at a normal volume and pace.
            5. When you're done, click Microphone .

            Share “Make a copy” links to your files

            Learn how:

            Invite people to make a copy of a file in Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms

            1. On your computer, open a Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms or Vids home screen.
            2. Open the file you want to make a copy of.
            3. In the menu, click File and then Make a copy.
            4. Type a name and choose where to save it.
              • If you want to copy comments from a document, spreadsheet, presentation, or video, click Copy comments and suggestions. You can choose to include resolved comments and suggestions in your new copy.
            5. Click Ok.

            Email your collaborators

            Not available if you use Office Editing for Docs, Sheets, & Slides

            Learn how:
            1. In Docs, Sheets, or Slides, open the file.
            2. Click Fileand thenEmailand thenEmail collaborators.
            3. (Optional, shared drive files only) To email all members of the shared drive, check the Members box.
            4. (Optional) Change the email recipients or add a subject.
            5. Add a message.
            6. (Optional) To send a copy of the email to yourself, check the Send yourself a copy box.
            7. Click Send.

            Insert smart chips & building blocks

            Add smart chips for people, files, dates & events

            1. On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
            2. Type "@" anywhere in your document or click the "@" button on a blank line.
              • Tip: To find all the chips, click Insert and then Smart chips.
            3. To narrow your suggestions, select from the list of suggestions or enter letters, numbers, or symbols.
              • Tip: To add a people smart chip, start typing the name or email address of the person you want, or type @me to add yourself.
              • Tip: To add a file smart chip, enter the file name or related keywords.
            4. To add a smart chip that a collaborator can fill in, select "Placeholder chip." Then select the type of information you want your collaborator to add when they fill in the smart chip.
            5. Hover over the chip to view related information.

            Track file updates & comments

            Learn how:

            See who's viewed your file or who you've shared it with

            1. In Docs, Sheets, or Slides, open the file.

              Note: You will need to have edit access for the file to see the Activity dashboard data.

            2. Click Toolsand thenActivity dashboard.
            3. You can see information about the activity on your file, including:
              • Shared with tab: Shows people you’ve shared the file with. You can also email collaborators.
              • All viewers (organization) tab: Shows people in your organization who have viewed the file.
              • Viewer trend tab: Shows a chart of viewers over time.
            4. (Optional) If you don’t want your view history to appear in Activity dashboard, click Privacy Settingsand choose an option:
              • Turn off view history for all files: Under Account setting, turn off Show my view history for all Docs, Sheets and Slides files.
              • Turn off view history for one file: Under Document setting, turn off Show my view history for this document.
            5. Click Save.

            See who commented, edited, moved, or shared a file

            You can see activity on files in My Drive or in a shared drive.

            1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
            2. On the left click My Drive.
            3. In the upper right, click Info Info.
            4. Select an option. To access:
              • Recent changes, select an option:
                1. Click Activity.
                2. Scroll down the right side.
              • The activity of a specific file or folder, click the file or folder.

            Check or revert to earlier versions

            Learn how:

            View or revert to earlier versions of Docs, Sheets, and Slides files

            Note: You need Owner or Editor access to see the version history.

            1. In Drive, open your file.
            2. Click Fileand thenVersion historyand thenSee version history.
            3. Click a timestamp to see a previous version of the file. Below the timestamp, you can review:
              • The names of people who edited the document.
              •  The color next to each person’s name. The edits they made appear in that color.
            4. (Optional) To revert to this version, click Restore this version.

            Upload a new version of a file to Drive

            1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
            2. Click the file you want to replace.
            3. At the top right, click More More and then Manage versions and then Upload new version.

            Get notifications of file activity in Chat or Gmail

            Learn how

            Turn on Drive notifications in Chat or Gmail

            Normally, app notifications are turned on. If you previously turned them off:

            1. On your computer, open Google Chat or Gmail.
            2. Send any direct message (such as "hello") to the Google Drive app.
            3. In the response, click Turn On Notifications.

            After you turn on notifications, you get direct messages about Drive events, such as:

            • A new file or folder has been shared with you
            • A new comment or action item mentions you or is assigned to you
            • Someone has requested access to a file you own
            • You're close to running out of storage

            Note: If you want to delete an app message, in the conversation, point to the message and click Delete .

            Turn off Drive notifications in Chat or Gmail

            1. Send any direct message (such as "hello") to the Google Drive app.
            2. In the response, click or tap Turn Off Notifications.

            To turn notifications back on, send another direct message to the Google Drive app.

            Get notified about spreadsheet changes

            Learn how:

            Set up email notifications

            1.  On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
            2. At the top, click Tools and then Notification settings and then Edit notifications.
            3. In the window that appears, select "when" you want to receive notifications. Notify you when:
              • Any changes are made: Set notifications when someone makes a change to a spreadsheet.
              • A user submits a form: Set notifications when someone fills out a form.
            4. In the window that appears, select "how often" you want to receive notifications. Notify you with:
              • Email - daily digest: Send a daily summary of all changes.
              • Email - right away: Send an email for every change.
            5. Click Save.

            Find and act on comments

            Use the Activity tab in Drive to find and act on unresolved comments that are assigned to you.

            Learn how
            1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
            2. On the left, click Activity.
            3. Next a comment, click Open comment. 

            Show resolved comments (non-Google files)

            With Google Drive, you can show or hide any resolved comments on Microsoft Office and Adobe PDF files, images, and other files, directly in Drive preview. 

            Learn how

            Show or hide resolved comments (non-Google files)

            Note: To show or hide resolved comments, there must be at least one active comment and one resolved or unanchored comment.

            1. Open Drive and sign in with your username and password.
            2. Double-click a Microsoft Office, PDF, image, or other non-Google file. 
            3. In the preview window, at the top right, click Moreand then Show comments column.
            4. (Optional) To hide the comments again, click Moreand then Hide comments column.

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