Before the check in

This page will guide you as Academedia employees to know what is required of you to know before your check in.  Are you a former Microsoft Office 365 user and totally new to Google Workspace, then this site is for you. We will break down the easy need to knows to make your transformation easy. 

Google Workspace has 3 key elements, G Mail, Calendar and Drive. These are the most common tools you will work with and the best way to work with these is in Chrome since it supports Google Workspace in the best way. Before you start it is good to master these simple instruction. You can use a regular Gmail account to follow these steps.

Calendar

Lets' start with some very basic calendar functions.

Creating your first calendar event

Invite guests


Note: If you create an event in Calendar and don't give permission to your guests to modify an event, they won't be able to change the event's date or time on their own calendar.

Quick Invite guests (internal)

Hangout meet

When you add an event to your calendar and invite someone to the event the calendar adds a link to a videoconference system called Hangout meet. You and your guest then can join the meeting using Hangout Meet if one of you are on a distant location. When the meeting starts just click the "Join Hangout Meet" link to join.

Drive

So now let's have a look at Drive. Drive is actually 2 things. 

And guess what, you can decide if you want to work with the old Office document in original file format or if you want to convert it to a more collaborative document version (by converting it to Googles file format). Bellow we will list the most basic things in that you can try out on a regular GMail account.

Upload files to Drive on the web

One way to store files in Drive is to upload a copy of them using your web browser:

If you’re using the latest version of Chrome or Firefox®, you can simply drag files directly from your computer to the Drive page on your browser.

If you upload a file that matches the name of an existing file, Drive will add it as a new version, instead of creating a duplicate. To see the previous version of that file, manage versions.

When you see Upload complete, your files have uploaded successfully and can be accessed in any browser or device that has Drive installed.

Create folders

Any new folders you create in your computer’s Drive folder or in Drive on the web automatically appear on your devices so that you’re organized everywhere.

On the web:

Click New and select Folder.

Share files and set access levels and visibility

Share a file you own or can edit:

Everyone you shared the document with will receive an email notification. After you've shared a file, you can get the link by selecting the file and clicking Get shareable link link.

Stop sharing a file or folder you own:

Search and sort your files and folders

It can be difficult to browse through hundreds of files just to find the one you need. So, try searching Drive instead.

In Drive’s search box, type a word or phrase. To help you search faster, Drive suggests search terms as you type. Click one of the suggestions to open it, or click Search to see a list of results.

Search for files or folders in Drive: 

Drive documents

Creating a document

Creating a new document is super easy. When you re in Drive just click the "New" button and select what type of document you want to create.  

Another way is typing the following 3 different addresses in your browser address field (dependent on what type of document you want to create):

doc.new

sheet.new

slide.new

Sharing a document when working with it

Sharing is the essence of collaboration. From each Drive application you will find a sharing button on the top right corner once you are in the applications document.  Then you will see the same options you seen when you where sharing a file from Dive interface mentioned above in this page.

Commenting

Commenting in a document is a key feature often used. Just mark the text you want to comment and  a little comment symbol will appear on the right. Click it and add you comment.

In Sheets you just mark the cells, rows or columns you want to comment and in the top menu select Insert and then select comment.

If you want to learn more about Google Workspace and its application, bookmark this site. You will find lots of how to instructions and, videos and documents to become a Google Workspace master.