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5 Gmail and Google Drive Updates You Missed Over the Summer (In Animated GIFs)

4 minute read

This summer was a relatively slow time for Google Apps updates, especially compared to all the changes centered around I/O ’13. But for those of you who were away for the summer (or maybe you just needed a break from technology), you missed a few important updates to Gmail and Google Drive. Here’s a recap of our five favorite updates you may have missed over the summer in animated gifs.

1. Now you can paste a Google Spreadsheet into Gmail

paste a spreadsheet in gmail

There used to be severe limitations when copying content from one Google product and pasting in another, but an update from earlier this summer drastically improved the copy / paste functionality across several of their products.

My favorite aspect of this update is the ability to copy cells from Spreadsheets and paste them directly into Gmail (while using keyboard shortcuts, of course!). The formatting stays the same which can save you tons of time.

2. Now there’s a full-screen option for the New Gmail Compose

full screen for new compose

Were you upset when Google introduced the new Compose Window for Gmail? This threw a lot of people off because of the drastic changes from the previous version. Opponents of the new Compose Window were very vocal, and it looks like the Gmail team has heard you loud and clear.

You can enable the full-screen option by clicking the expand icon in the top-right corner of the compose window. This will open up the compose window in the middle of your screen, centered in your inbox to fit your screen. You also have the option to set this as the default setting for your inbox. If you’re interested in learning more about the new Compose Window for Gmail, check out our post when it was first released.

3. Now Google recommends links when you hyperlink text

Recommended links in Google Docs

Google announced earlier this summer that recommended URLs would be displayed in Google Drive whenever you try to hyperlink text. This is a really cool feature that is definitely helpful when you don’t already have a link in mind. It can also apply to bookmarks if you’ve created them in the Doc.

4. Now you can create custom bullets and numbered lists in Google Docs

custom lists in google docs

Using Google Drive as your default document and presentation suite used to be a little frustrating when you tried to format bulleted and numbered lists. A recent update (8/12) fixed this functionality, and makes it really simple to edit and customize your lists.

You can finally select your bullets and numbers, which is a really welcomed change on its own. From there you can change the entire format of your lists from the toolbar, or from the Format section at the top of your file.

5. Now you can spell check an entire Google Doc at once

spell check a google doc

We’ve all grown accustomed to the red line under text that lets us know whenever we’ve made a spelling mistake. It’s great to make these changes as you go along, but what if you’re working on a really long document and you want to make all those changes at the end?

This update allows you to spell check all at once, so you can quickly fix these changes without disrupting your writing.

The new spell check features takes you through all of your errors one-by-one, from the beginning of your document until the end. There are also options to fix errors in bulk, ignore errors or add a word to your dictionary.

Bonus update – Now you can search the menus in Google Docs

Search the menus in Google Docs

The most recent update to Google Docs allows you to search for actions inside of Google Docs, which is a pretty revolutionary feature. Instead of manually finding an action in the Docs menu, you can actually search for it and perform the action directly from the search bar!

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