Bidness Etc looks at the crucial features added to Google Docs; Voice Typing is supplemented by new templates, forms, editing-viewing options and Explore and Research features
Google has officially announced additions to Google Docs as a part of its educational Google Classroom venture. The new additions are useful for everyone, not just students. The most notable addition is Voice typing, a feature that allows users to dictate and enter documents to Google Docs, which will then transcribe them in a text form. Other key additions include a Research tool, Explore tool, new forms and a history tracker that keeps track of all the changes made to a document by various users. Furthermore, users can input their thoughts and even compose entire documents without pressing a single key on the keyboard. Chrome users, on Google Docs, can enable Voice typing from the Tools menu. A simple tap on the microphone button activates the feature which supports over 40 languages. Surely, this feature can save a lot of time, and those who are not habitual of using a keyboard will benefit most from the new Google offering.
Explore in Sheets is, effectively, a substitute for pivot tables in MS Excel. This function automatically creates graphical presentations of data, giving users a real insight into the way that they can manage their crucial data. Users who had to learn the functions of pivot tables might find this update fairly useful. It does not do everything for users but helps create basic graphical representations.
Another crucial addition is the See new changes feature which keeps track of all new changes made to an online Google Docs document. If a certain user has shared a set of documents with multiple users online then the feature enables all of them to modify the docs. This can be extremely helpful for online users who collaborate with each other on some project, but if someone has changed anything crucial in a particular doc, it is possible that the composition or idea is no longer descriptive for readers. Therefore, the new feature allows users to ensure that no unnecessary (or damaging) changes are made to any online document.
The new Research tool has been added to the Android version for Google Docs, allowing users to find crucial information on an article without leaving the Docs app. Google says that this feature is particularly useful for students who want to find facts, images and quotes to enrich their document or thesis. While there is a lot of information available on the Internet, yet not everything is true. So it is best for users to double-check the facts before entering them in a file on Docs.
The new Google Forms make surveying and getting opinions easier, with a variety of new colorful themes which can improve the visual appearance of the form. Users can also insert their own photos or logos, and Google will even pick out the matching color palette for the image. The forms have not changed that much, but the new customizable themes provide users with something new to work with. The feature is similar to the new templates for things such as resumes, reports and portfolios added to the documents, slides and sheets to create better overall documents.
All of this helps reinforce Google’s Classroom, which was upgraded recently, and is a part of the Google in Education initiative. Google has also launched the Share to Classroom extension for Chrome which will allow users to undertake the company’s Classroom initiative. As pointed out by Tech Crunch, Google is perhaps targeting young customers in the same way Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have done. The idea is to reach young customers early to establish brand loyalty, allowing users to increase with the company.
This is something that many young adults in the US will remember from the days when Apple struck partnerships, and was basically everywhere. Google hopes that integration into the Docs format will help students who excessively use laptops and tablets particularly for Google Docs. Effectively, the Google Docs are looking to replace Microsoft Office, which has been the standard tool for most office and school environments. But given Microsoft’s diverse Education initiatives such as those with Minecraft in Education and its Hololens augmented reality tech, the software company apparently will not give up ground in the education space without competition.
No comments:
Post a Comment