Google Docs: Sharing Documents

Google Docs: Sharing Documents
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Sharing Documents

Have you ever collaborated on a project using a standard word processor? The constant emailing back and forth, wading through comments is just frustrating. Sometimes you have to take time from editing to check the project history to even find the changes. This is were Google Docs excels. You can share documents with just a few clicks. And what’s even better is that all collaborators can work on the project at the same time. Edits are shown every time your page refreshes. Google Docs even tells you when you’re trying to edit the same sentence as another collaborator. With color coding, collaborators can even leave notes for each other, and Google docs will send an email to your team when the document is updated.

Whether your using Google Docs, Spreadsheets, or Presentation, you can share your work from the main document page, or from within the document. In this article, we’ll talk about sharing from the main document page. To learn how to share from within the document, click on the links at above.

1. Select the document you’d like to share, by clicking the checkbox to the left of the document name. You can select more than one document at a time, but all documents selected together will be shared with the same people, and have the same settings.

  1. Invite people as collaborators or as viewer. Select as collaborators if you’d like those you share with to have permission to alter the documents. Select as viewers if you want them to only be able to view the document.

3. In the text box, type the email address of those with whom you are sharing the document. Alternately, you can choose email addresses from your Gmail address book by clicking Choose from contacts.

4. Set the Advanced Permissions

Collaborators may invite others – Select this if you want grant permission to others working on the document to invite other collaborators and views. This setting can only be changed by the owner, or person who created the document.

Invitations my be used by anyone. This setting allows anyone with an invitation to view your document, regardless of whether they have a Google Docs account. This feature is useful if you want to share with a mailing list.

5. Review your email addresses and permissions settings before you click the Invite collaborators button.

Tell these people about the file?

1. By default, Google Docs sends an invitation to the people you’ve shared your document with. You can choose not to send the invitation by clicking Skip sending invitation at the bottom of the window, next to the send button. Change the subject line, and include a message with the invitation, just type your subject in the subject line, and your message in the text box.

2. Check Send myself a copy, if you’d like a copy of the invitation and message sent to your email.

3. . Click Send to send the invitation.

Google Docs will share the document with the people you selected, and send them an email to let them know the document is ready to be viewed.

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