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4 Tips for Making Professional Looking Google Docs

2 minute read

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Google Docs has evolved from a simple collaborative text editor to a full-fledged word processing system. In fact, Google Docs’ collaboration, formatting and security capabilities now rival that of Microsoft Word, with many features the average user doesn’t even know about.

The 4 tips and tricks below will help you create beautiful, in-depth documents while boosting your collaboration and efficiency. Suggesting edits to collaborators, adding MLA compliant headers and page numbers, and inserting a table of contents will turn the most basic write-ups into easy to navigate, professional looking documents.

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1. Use suggested edits to track changes in a Google Doc

This is an excerpt from Suggested Edits in Google Docs.

The lack of redline editing in Docs has been a major issue for many users, especially those attempting the switch from Microsoft. Also known as tracked changes, redline editing is one of the best ways to collaborate while also making sure that all changes are accounted for. With Suggested Edits, users have access to a very similar feature, making it even easier to get off of Word.

2. Comply with MLA and APA formatting guidelines by creating first page headers

This is an excerpt from Create first page headers on Google Docs.

Complying with MLA formatting guidelines using Google Docs just got a whole lot easier. Google just made a quiet update that allows for you to insert a header that only displays on the first page of a document while using a different header for all subsequent pages.

3. Add Page Numbers to add professionalism to a multipage document

This is an excerpt from Add Page Numbers To A Google Doc.

Google has a built in and simple way to record page numbers for multipage documents. Navigate to “Insert” and then select “Page Number” and choose whether you would like the numbers to show at the bottom or the top of the page.

4. Make your documents easier to navigate with a table of contents

This is an excerpt from Adding a Table of Contents to a Google Doc.

Creating a table of contents in a Google Doc is quick and easy. It is a great way to make large multi-sectional documents quicker to navigate. This video walks you through the steps of adding a linked table of contents for a document with multiple topics and subtopics.

 

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