New: Forms added to the templates gallery

We've recently added a whole new section to the templates gallery for form templates. You'll find 13 new forms that cover a wide range of uses including personal health management, improving customer satisfaction and planning a party.

Here are three shining examples:

• Training for a marathon? Check out the 'Running Log' template below. This will make getting into shape much easier.

• Curious to know what your visitors think of your website? The 'Website Satisfaction and Feedback Survey' form provides companies a way to easily collect user feedback & improve satisfaction.

• There's more to life than working out and working, like planning a party. With the holidays around the corner, the 'RSVP form for a Holiday Party or Event' form below will buy you a little more time.

 

I hope that you get a lot of use out of these new forms. Don't forget that you can either email the form to your respondents directly for them to fill out or embed your form into your website or blog to collect responses online.

Posted by: Joelle Fornengo, Google Docs Operations

Get to Google Docs from Gmail

Are you a Gmail addict? Ever wanted quicker access to your online documents without having to leave your precious inbox? Well, we've recently launched a Google Docs gadget to give you direct access to your documents straight from Gmail.

By default the gadget shows a list of your most recently accessed documents, but you can change this to documents you own, you have opened or you have starred. And let's not forget search - you can find any document by typing a few letters into the search box.

This gadget isn't just about accessing your documents. You drag any document from the gadget into an email you are composing and the unique link to your document automatically shows up in your email - a quick and easy way to share your documents with others. Similarly, you can also create a document while composing an email with the "New" menu in the gadget.

We've launched this as a Gmail Labs feature - so to turn on this gadget, sign in to Gmail. Then click Settings, then visit the Labs tab. Scroll to the bottom to find the Google Docs gadget, select "Enable", and then click "Save Changes."

Posted by: Aleem Mawani, Product Manager & Ted Chen, Software Engineer

Get a headstart on the holidays with Docs templates

The holidays are a time to celebrate with family and friends, but preparing for the holidays can sometimes be time-consuming and stressful. Whether you're still planning your Thanksgiving party, or already working on your gift shopping list, you might want to check out our new templates for the holidays -- a series of templates designed to help make your holidays a little more efficient (and cost-effective, too).

You'll find everything from party invites, holiday cards, to gift tags and much more. We've highlighted a few of our favorites below. These ones in particular were custom-designed by Googlers; and as with all of our templates, they are available to you for free in our Template Gallery.


Gift Certificate (Snowflake Theme)









Holiday Newsletter (Candy Cane Theme)









Party Invitation (Snowman Theme)








Only 8 days until Thanksgiving... :)

Posted by: Vivian Leung, Product Marketing Manager

Online petition for an organic farm at the White House

In early September, Daniel Bowman Simon and Casey Gustowarow visited Google in their modified double-decker school bus. Their bus is really two buses fused together with an organic garden on the roof. (The picture above shows our very own Jen Mazzon holding a cauliflower in front of the bus).

Daniel and Casey are leading a petition-based initiative to request that the next president plant an organic farm on the grounds of the White House. Their visit to Google was one stop in their cross-country drive in the bus. At Google, they had lunch with employees, including a Google chef. Daniel and Casey recently arrived in Washington, D.C., just in time for election day.

Everywhere they've gone, from farmers markets to truck stops, they carry a physical petition with them. They've also created an online version of their petition using a Google Docs spreadsheet form. Daniel tells us that they've collected over 1,500 online signatures so far using this form. Check out their online petition and then let us know in the comments of this post if you've used forms for your own petition or cause.

Posted by: Andrew Chang, Marketing Manager