Google Workspace is an expansive suite of enterprise and productiveness apps. Its core apps — Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Gmail, and Meet — are value mastering individually. They even have options that combine with different Workspace apps. Knowing how these apps can work collectively can save time and broaden the way you and your co-workers use Workspace.In this text we’ll information you thru a sequence of helpful Workspace cross-app options, from turning a Gmail message right into a activity in Google Tasks to collaborating on a Docs doc in Google Spaces. This checklist is not complete; we’ve targeted on options that we discover essentially the most useful, particularly for collaboration.We’ve written the following pointers primarily for individuals with paid Google Workspace accounts utilizing the apps in an internet browser, however most work equally within the cellular apps and for customers with free Google accounts.1. Tap into Google Contacts for quick doc sharingThe very first thing it is best to do is undergo your contacts and replace any details about your co-workers and different collaborators. Many collaborative options of Workspace apps combine together with your contacts.For instance, if you wish to share a doc in your Google Drive with somebody, you are able to do so extra simply if they’re already in your contacts. In the Drive sharing interface, you simply begin typing their identify, and the remainder of it’ll routinely be crammed out by Drive so that you can insert. The similar is true whenever you share a doc from inside one other Workspace app like Docs, Sheets, or Slides.2. Start an electronic mail, occasion, chat, or video name from ContactsIf an individual in your contacts is in your Workspace group or has a Google person account (via Gmail), their contact web page will present icons you can click on or faucet to speak with them via different Workspace apps:
Send electronic mail: begin an electronic mail message to them in Gmail.
Schedule occasion: make an appointment with them or add them to a scheduled occasion in Google Calendar.
Send message: chat with them in Google Chat.
Start video name: in Google Meet.
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A contact’s profile card has icons for communication by way of different Workspace apps. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
3. Schedule a Meet name or map an occasion in Google CalendarMany Workspace apps can combine the occasions that you’ve scheduled in your Google Calendar. For instance, you possibly can set an occasion as a video assembly to be carried out via Google Meet. Or if it may be held as an in-person get-together in a bodily location, you possibly can add a map location for it from Google Maps. Howard Wen / IDG
Google Calendar integrates with each Google Meet and Google Maps. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
4. See Google Task gadgets in CalendarA extra direct integration is with Google Tasks, the duty supervisor constructed into Workspace.You entry Google Tasks from the sidebar that is alongside the correct of most Workspace apps. In truth, it is best to make use of it when it’s open alongside Google Calendar. When you create a activity in Google Tasks, you possibly can set a date to be reminded of it. This activity will then seem in your calendar on that date. Howard Wen / IDG
Tasks that you just’ve set reminders for present up in your calendar. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
5. Schedule duties from CalendarYou may carry out the reverse motion: create and schedule duties from Google Calendar. Click a date and choose the Task tab on the pane that seems. Here you possibly can schedule a activity to remind your self to do on a sure date. After you’ve got set this up, the duty can even seem in Google Tasks. You’ll be despatched a notification (via electronic mail and your telephone) on the date that you just set in Google Calendar for this activity.See our Google Tasks cheat sheet for extra particulars about utilizing Tasks and Calendar collectively.6. See Google Keep be aware reminders in CalendarOne other Workspace app that integrates with Calendar is Google Keep. This app is designed that will help you make fast notes via both its internet or cellular model. When you create a be aware in Keep, you possibly can select a date and time to obtain a notification reminding concerning the be aware. This be aware with a reminder will seem additionally in your Google Calendar. Howard Wen / IDG
When you set a reminder for a be aware in Keep, you’ll see the reminder in Calendar.
7. Turn a Keep be aware right into a Docs docGoogle Keep supplies a number of methods you can customise a be aware, comparable to altering its textual content format and elegance or including checkboxes for an interactive to-do checklist. You may add photos or use a easy drawing instrument constructed into Keep to sketch one. In different phrases, Keep can be utilized as a easy phrase processor that will help you compose and edit textual content.When you’re able to develop a be aware right into a full-fledged doc, click on the three-dot icon within the toolbar beneath the be aware and choose Copy to Google Docs. This converts your be aware right into a Google Docs doc that might be saved in your Google Drive. You can then open it in Google Docs and resume engaged on it, increasing your writing as an everyday doc.For extra about working with Keep, see our Google Keep cheat sheet.8. Start a Google Meet name from Docs, Sheets, or SlidesGoogle Meet, Workspace’s videoconferencing platform, is constructed into Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. With a doc open in any of those apps, you possibly can click on or faucet the Meet icon on the higher proper to start out a video chat session in a panel that opens alongside the correct. Howard Wen / IDG
Starting a Meet name from Google Sheets. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
To invite others, select the Copy icon subsequent to This video name solely or, if you would like others to have the ability to work on the doc, subsequent to This file and video name. Then you possibly can paste the hyperlink into an electronic mail or chat with these you wish to invite to the decision.This is supposed to make it extra handy so that you can collaborate in actual time together with your co-workers on a shared doc. Or you possibly can work on a doc throughout a gathering, after which current it to everybody to see when it’s prepared.Note that you just should be utilizing both the Chrome or Edge browser to launch a Meet name; Meet calls can’t be began from Firefox or Safari.9. Embed linked charts and tables from Google Sheets in Docs and SlidesEach Google Docs and Google Slides can extract and insert a chart or desk from a Google Sheets spreadsheet that is in your Google Drive.The neat factor is that at any time when this chart or desk is modified within the supply spreadsheet, then the identical chart or desk that you just added to your doc or presentation is routinely up to date. (If you don’t need this to occur, you possibly can unlink the chart or desk that you have added from the supply spreadsheet.) Howard Wen / IDG
This linked chart will mirror any modifications made to it in its supply spreadsheet. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
See “Google Docs power tips: How to add charts, citations, and more” for particulars on embedding linked charts.10. Embed contacts, recordsdata, and calendar occasions in Google Docs and SheetsA comparatively new interactive characteristic in Google Docs and Sheets known as “smart chips.” These are small capsules you possibly can embed in a doc or spreadsheet; whenever you transfer the mouse pointer over one, it’ll pop open a card with data on it.There are a number of sorts of sensible chips you can insert. Three of them immediately combine your knowledge from different Workspace apps:
People sensible chip: reveals a card with the identify, contact information, and different stats about an individual in your Google Contacts, with icons for contacting them by way of electronic mail, chat, and extra. This will be helpful for, say, designating the first contact for a number of duties in a venture administration doc.
Calendar occasion sensible chip: lists an occasion scheduled in your Google Calendar, comparable to a gathering associated to the venture.
File sensible chip: shows details about a file that is in your Google Drive, together with a hyperlink to open the file. It’s an effective way to offer easy accessibility to related recordsdata.
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Hovering over a file sensible chip reveals a thumbnail of the file it hyperlinks to.
Clicking any of those sensible chip playing cards will open the corresponding Workspace app in a brand new browser tab.For extra concerning the sorts of sensible chips and easy methods to work with them, see “How to use smart chips in Google Docs and Sheets.”11. Launch Google Chat or Meet from GmailOver the previous few years, Google has been pivoting its electronic mail service to be the middle of many issues in Workspace. The toolbar alongside the left of your inbox web page has icons for Google Chat and Google Meet you can click on to open an occasion of those apps in the primary panel.If you don’t see these icons, you possibly can add them by deciding on the Settings (gear) icon on the higher proper and selecting Customize underneath “Apps in Gmail.” On the panel that seems, verify bins to have a number of of the app icons seem.12. Save a Gmail or Google Chat message as a activityIn Gmail, whenever you open or choose an electronic mail that you just wish to comply with up on later, you possibly can flip it right into a activity merchandise that seems in Google Tasks by deciding on the Add to Tasks icon. Howard Wen / IDG
Saving an electronic mail in Gmail as a activity in Tasks. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Similarly, you possibly can flip a message from a Google Chat dialog right into a activity in Tasks by clicking its three-dot icon and deciding on Add to Tasks. See our Google Tasks cheat sheet for particulars.13. Open a Google Contacts card from GmailIn your Gmail inbox, you possibly can transfer the mouse pointer over any identify or electronic mail tackle to pop open a profile card for the particular person. (In the cellular app, open an electronic mail and faucet the particular person’s profile image to see their profile card.) You can choose icons on this card to ship them an electronic mail, add them to an occasion in your Google Calendar, and if they’ve a Workspace or Gmail account, ship them a message via Google Chat or ring them up for a video chat in Google Meet.14. Embed a calendar occasion in a Gmail messageWhen you’re composing an electronic mail, Gmail helps you to embed a card itemizing a calendar occasion in your recipient to attend or to find out about. In the toolbar beneath the message window, click on the three-dot icon and choose Set up a time to satisfy > Create an occasion.Doing this opens your Google Calendar in a panel alongside the correct. From it, you possibly can create a brand new occasion that might be embedded into your electronic mail. (You can’t choose an occasion that is already scheduled in your calendar.) Howard Wen / IDG
Embedding a calendar occasion in a Gmail reply. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
There’s additionally an Offer occasions you’re free possibility that lets you choose occasions you’re out there within the Calendar sidebar. When your electronic mail recipient chooses a time, the occasion is created and added to your calendar. Note that this system solely works for one-on-one conferences.15. Collaborate on paperwork in Google SpacesGoogle Spaces is a chat instrument the place groups can work collectively in varied methods. It’s built-in with Google Chat: to get to Spaces, click on the Chat icon within the left toolbar in Gmail. Spaces, collaborative work areas, seem underneath a separate heading close to the underside of the Chat navigation bar.In addition to chatting together with your co-workers in a Spaces chat, you possibly can collaborate on a doc, presentation, or spreadsheet that is saved in your Google Drive. This is completed by posting a message with the doc connected to it.You or one other particular person within the Spaces chat can then choose the Open in chat icon (a grey circle with a cut up rectangle inside) on the doc attachment to open it in a big panel to the correct of the chat panel. The doc seems in a simplified model of its corresponding Workspace app (Docs, Slides, or Sheets). Howard Wen / IDG
Collaborating on a spreadsheet in Google Spaces. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Everyone within the chat can view it and make additions and modifications to the doc, offered you’ve got set its share permissions to permit this. And you and others within the house can speak about it the doc in actual time within the chat space.16. Create and assign duties in SpacesGoogle Tasks can be built-in into Spaces chats as a tab you can swap to. On this tab, you sort within the title and outline for a activity, set a calendar date for it, and assign it to an individual in your Google Contacts. This activity will then seem in your Google Tasks. Howard Wen / IDG
Tasks you add in Spaces additionally seem in Google Tasks. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
17. Send an electronic mail from Google DocsWhen you’re writing a vital electronic mail, you would possibly wish to collaborate on it with a co-worker to make sure it’s good earlier than sending it out. To do that, you possibly can compose an electronic mail in Google Docs after which ship it out from this app.This will be executed by including a sure template that appears like an electronic mail composition window (it’s known as an “Email draft building block”) to your doc. You fill it out with the e-mail addresses or names of individuals to ship to, topic line, and message physique. You share the doc together with your collaborators, and whenever you’re completed, click on the Gmail icon on the template to ship out the e-mail via your Gmail account. Howard Wen / IDG
Composing an electronic mail draft in Google Docs. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
For full directions on utilizing the e-mail draft and different constructing blocks in Docs, see our Smart chips cheat sheet.18. View Google Forms leads to SheetsGoogle Forms is an easy app that you need to use to assemble suggestions from staff, co-workers, or prospects by way of on-line polls, surveys, quizzes, purposes, and different sorts of types. Forms helps you to select from all kinds of suggestions codecs, comparable to a number of alternative, quantity scores, textual content bins, and even permitting guests to add paperwork.When you are completed designing your kind, it goes dwell on-line for guests to work together with. Their responses are gathered and arranged right into a dashboard in your overview.Forms is a full-fledged app in its personal proper, however you may as well insert a kind right into a Google Sheets spreadsheet. If you achieve this, the response abstract is inserted as a brand new sheet within the spreadsheet. Howard Wen / IDG
A kind’s leads to a Google Sheets spreadsheet. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
For extra particulars about utilizing Forms by itself and with Sheets, see our Google Forms cheat sheet.
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