Tips to edit and collaborate on files

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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

Use shortcuts to create new files

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

Start voice typing in a document

1. Open a document in Google Docs in a supported browser.
2. Click Tools  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 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

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 that you want people to make a copy of.
3. In the menu, click FileShareShare with others.
4. Click Copy link.
5. In a text editor, paste the link.
6. Replace the word edit, and everything after it, with the word copy.
   For example, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jgN20/edit?usp=drive_link becomes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jgN20/copy
7. Copy the new link and send it to other people.

Email your collaborators

Email collaborators

Specify who to email

1. In Docs, Sheets, or Slides, open the file.
2. Click FileEmailEmail this file.
3. Enter the email addresses of the people you want to send the file to.
4. (Optional) Add a subject and a message.
5. Choose a file type, or select the option to include the content in the email.
6. Click Send.

Email a 3P file

1. In Drive, open a 3P file in Preview or in a new tab.
2. Click ShareEmail this file.
3. Enter the email addresses of the people you want to send the file to.
4. (Optional) Add a subject and a message.
5. 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  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

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 ToolsActivity 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 .
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

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

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

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  Manage versions  Upload new version.

Get notifications of file activity in Chat or Gmail

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

Set up email notifications