2015 was a year for the books for the former website, The Gooru. The website welcomed over 2 million visitors and published hundreds of articles to help train more than 60,000 Gooru subscribers. We hosted over 7,000 attendees at the gCON Bootcamp in September, our free online training series. Since the event, which was made possible by sponsors and loyal fans, tens of thousands of people have watched the recordings.

The variety of subjects covered in the top 10 posts of 2015 represents how The Gooru has evolved since we began a short four years ago. These 10 posts are the most read articles and watched videos of 2015. The top subjects of interest are add-ons, extensions, and the ‘hidden gem’ tips on how to be more efficient in Google Apps.

Thank you so much to all of our fans for making 2015 our best year yet. We can’t wait to make 2016 even better.

1. 10 CHROME EXTENSIONS THAT WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER

The Chrome browser is a blank canvas and Chrome Extensions are the paint that can make it into a work of art. Much like shades of paint, there are tens of thousands of Chrome Extensions to choose from, making it hard to find the essentials you need to improve your web browsing experience. This list includes our 10 favorite Chrome Extensions and the real life problems they solve, from security to grammar correction.

2. 12 FREE ADD-ONS THAT TAKE DOCS AND SHEETS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

There are countless add-ons to choose from and it can be overwhelming to filter through them all to find the true superstars. But don’t be disheartened, plenty of add-ons can kick your work efficiency into hyperdrive. Send a fax from a Google Doc or create personalized mass emails from Google Sheets, the sky’s the limit when you are using the right add-ons. This list of 12 of our favorite add-ons for Google Docs and Sheets will leave you wondering how you ever got your work done without them. And the best part is, they’re free!

3. HOW TO HOST AN IMAGE FROM GOOGLE DRIVE

Have you ever needed to host a public image on the web? Now you can on Google Drive. Hosting an image on Google Drive can be helpful when you want to link directly to an image in your email signature. Google no longer allows users to host public image files directly in Drive. Google Drive discontinued the ability to host an image directly from Google Drive, however, we’ve found an easy workaround, so you can link directly to the image that lives in Drive.

4. HOW TO TRANSFER OWNERSHIP OF GOOGLE DRIVE FILES

There are plenty of reasons why people may want to transfer ownership in Google Docs. If you are the file owner, you might want to pass along responsibility of a project to someone else in your organization. If you’re a Google Apps Admin, you probably want to have a process in place when employees leave the company. On the end user side, transferring ownership of files in Google Drive is really easy and it only takes a few steps.

5. How to Convert Images of Text Into Editable Google Docs

Google continues to blur the line between physical and digital. What used to only live on ink and paper can be edited right in your Drive. The OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature in Google Drive can convert an image of a physical page of text into an editable Google Doc. You can use this feature to make changes to recipes in cookbooks, legal documents, or school assignments – the possibilities are endless.

6. OUR GOOGLE DRIVE TEMPLATE GALLERY

This template gallery can get you on your feet and running when starting a new document in Google Drive. In the gallery, we’ve listed out templates for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. All you have to do is create a new copy and it’s all in your hands.

7. ADD ATTACHMENTS TO GOOGLE CALENDAR EVENTS

A meeting is rarely “just a meeting.” There is prep work to be done and documents that need to be read before any productive discussion can take place. Adding attachments to Google Calendar events is a great way to ensure everyone is on the same page before you meet. This feature used to only be available through Gmail Labs, but has since become a permanent feature.

8. 3 STRANGE THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH GOOGLE DOCS THAT ARE ACTUALLY SUPER USEFUL

Google Docs has always been much more than just a cloud based text editor. However, some of its best features are also some of its most obscure, but once you discover them, you won’t forget. From allowing you to create pre-made templates to transcribing images right into text for you, there are likely some functions you probably aren’t yet using in Google Docs. These three favorites are not only unexpected, but unexpectedly useful.

9. 12 GOOGLE SEARCH TRICKS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW

Search is Google’s main business and they take it seriously. They constantly release new features and updates to improve the display of information that is most relevant to you, so you don’t need to scroll through multiple pages of results. If you can’t remember song lyrics that are on the tip of your tongue or need to review your spending habits from last month, you can do it with Google Search. Check out a few more of our favorite little known search tricks that can take your searches to the next level.

10. 5 HIDDEN FEATURES IN GOOGLE APPS THAT EVERYBODY SHOULD BE USING

Every application in the Google Apps suite has its own deep feature set. Even when you think you have them all mastered, they surprise you with a few more hidden tricks. Whether you are trying to ignore a group email thread that keeps appearing in your inbox or want real-time analysis of your Google Form results, there are tools that can help you out. Check out some of these favorite “hidden gem” features that are tucked away in Gmail, Forms, Calendar, Sheets, and Docs.