With the explosion of telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic for more than two years, large digital companies are constantly developing and improving their software to facilitate online collaborative work. Google yesterday announced new features for Google Workspace and its Docs and Sheets software mainly.
A clear and simple objective: to transform the Google suite and adapt it to new ways of working by making its software fluid, clear and intuitive.
Simplify the reading of documents
In May 2021, the giant Google announced Smart Canvas: a suite of new features for its software integrated into Google Workspace. Some were included directly and others would come in the future. Yesterday, Google showed us what’s new in Smart Canvas.
First, the Mountain View firm worked on the development of AI on Google Docs to allow users to automatically generate a summary that gives the essential lines of a document and its key points. This summary is also obviously customizable by hand.
Google then explains that the Docs format was initially built to work best in business: the design favors the printing of different documents on paper. But today, things don’t work the same way, and online collaborative work has exploded. This is why the American giant has developed the format ” pageless ” which allows to remove the limits of the document for “ create a surface that expands and adapts to the device or screen being used “.
Basically, the lines of text adapt to the size of the window and, if the document contains a large image or a wide table, it is possible to scroll them horizontally to read them without having to lose sight of them the rest of the content.
More interactivity in documents
As announced during the Smart Canvas presentation, the construction of interactive blocks has been enhanced with additional options. By simply typing “@”, a menu unfolds below to let you choose what type of information or block you want to add to your document (images, meeting information, maps or tables). For example, it is easier to preview a Maps link by clicking on it on the document. A window on the side of the document opens with the map visualization and related information.
Google also offers to build a draft email in Docs with all the information to fill in, then export it to Gmail to send.
Finally, Docs is not the only software affected by changes. Google Sheets will also be improved with the addition, soon (with no other date communicated by the company than ” in a few weeks ”), a smart formula correction feature. Based on the data in your table, the software can make suggestions for correcting the formulas used.
Sources: google
, 9to5google
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