Translation and undo smartquotes in documents

Document translation

You can now translate your documents in the new editor into one of the 53 Google Docs languages by selecting Tools -> Translate document.... From there, you can create a translated copy of the document by choosing a title for the translated document and selecting the language you want to translate into.


Undo smartquotes

When you type a quote character (') in Google Docs we automatically make it a smartquote (‘) which indicates its direction. If you don’t want a smart quote, you can press Ctrl Z (Cmd Z on a Mac) after you type it and the smartquote will become a regular quote. We’ll be adding a preference soon that lets you permanently disable smartquotes.

Let us know what you think on the forums.

Posted by: Lily Xia, Software Engineer

Tips & Tricks: GoogleLookup in Google spreadsheets

Have you been frustrated trying to find the populations or capitals of a list of countries? Would you like to easily get a list of the birthdays of all of your favorite musicians and actors? The GoogleLookup function in Google spreadsheets does all of the work, and in a matter of seconds you have all of the information you want. Using the information collected from the Web using Google Search, the GoogleLookup function finds the values for straightforward facts about specific things.

To use the GoogleLookup function, enter the following formula in the desired spreadsheet cell:

• =GoogleLookup(“entity” ; “attribute”) where “entity” represents the name of the entity you want to access and “attribute” is the type of information that you want to retrieve.

For example, I want to know the atomic number of gold. In this case, gold is the entity while atomic number is the attribute. In the desired cell, I enter =GoogleLookup(“Gold” , “Atomic Number”). Be sure to include quotation marks around both the entity and the attribute.

The atomic number of gold, 79, then shows up in the cell in which the formula was entered.

After experimenting with one GoogleLookup formula, I’d like to apply the formula to a larger list of elements, and also get information on the atomic weight. Instead of typing the formula out like before, I want to click the cell of the first entity in my list, in this case it’s gold. Next, I want to reference the cell in which I name the attribute I’m looking up, in this case, atomic number. Then I want to freeze the appropriate rows and columns with the “$” symbol.

Freezing the appropriate row and column allows me to drag the formula across to the “Atomic Weight” column and down the other rows to apply the formula to all of the other entities. When I apply the formula to all of the other cells, the results will show.

Keep in mind that while the GoogleLookup function knows quite a bit, it doesn't know everything. Although not all of the formulas you try will work, we encourage you to experiment. When GoogleLookup isn't sure if an answer isn't the best one for your entry, you'll see a dialog box with a handful of possible answers that you can choose from. Just select the cell and click More Options... to select a different value.

Here are a few more examples of entities you can access using the GoogleLookup formula, and a few popular attributes:

• Countries and Territories (like "Burkina Faso"): population, capital, largest city, gdp
• U.S. States (like "Tennessee"): area, governor, nickname, flower
• Rivers (like "Amazon River"): origin, length
• Cities and Towns (like "Chicago"): state, mayor, elevation
• Musicians (like "John Lennon"): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
• Politicians (like "Anwar Al-Sadat"): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
• Baseball Players (like "Wade Boggs"): games, at bats, earned run average, position
• Chemical Compounds (like "Isopropyl Alcohol"): chemical formula, melting point, boiling point, density
• Stars (like "Betelgeuse"): constellation, distance, mass, temperature
• Planets (like "Saturn"): number of moons, length of day, distance from sun, atmosphere
• Dinosaurs (like "Velociraptor"): height, weight, when it lived
• Ships (like "USS Chesapeake"): length, displacement, complement, commissioned
• Companies (like "Hewlett-Packard"): employees, ceo, ticker

Checkout the video below to see the GoogleLookup function in action and don't forget to give it a try to see what kind of facts you can find.



Posted by: Julia Harter, Consumer Operations Associate

Apply template themes to existing sites in Google Sites

With new site templates being created every day, there are times when you find the theme you want after you have already created your site. Based on your feedback, we added the ability to apply a site template’s theme to any existing site. To choose from the 100s of themes in the public theme gallery, select Browse the theme gallery from the Themes page (Manage site -> Themes), and start browsing.

Try it out and let us know what you think on the forums.

Posted by: Eric Zhang, Software Engineer

A zoom tool and more in drawings

In a visual application like Google drawings, we know the details count, which is why we’re excited to announce another batch of features and shortcuts that will help you refine your drawings. Create a drawing to check them out.

Zoom improvements
We’ve added several new and simple ways to zoom in and out within a drawing: a zoom tool on the toolbar; the ability to draw a rectangle around an area to zoom; zoom levels to the View menu; and keyboard shortcuts to zoom in (Ctrl Shift → or Cmd Shift → on a Mac) and zoom out (Ctrl Shift ← or Cmd Shift ← on a Mac).


Pie and arc drawing improvements
Once you’ve selected the pie or arc shape, drag from the center point, then release to set the radius, move your mouse along the circumference to set the angle, then click when you’re done. Hint - you can hold shift during step 2 to constrain your arc to 15 degree increments.

You can also select Edit > Change Shape to toggle between a pie shape and arc shape.

Duplicate while rotating and resizing
You may already know that if you hold Control (or Command on a Mac) you can make a copy of an object as you drag it. Well, we have extended the Control/Command modifier to duplicate objects while you resize and rotate objects too, which makes it easy to make both concentric and radial diagrams.

Hint: duplicating while resizing works better if you resize from large to small, since each new object gets placed on top.


New line decoration controls
Now you can change the style of the cap used at the end of your lines from the default butt cap to use square caps or round caps (see below).

You can also change the appearance of line joins within your polylines and shapes from the default round join to use miter joins or bevel joins. These options are available via Format > Line decorations.

Let us know what you think in the forums.

Posted by: Chris Nokleberg, Software Engineer

A Guide to Getting Started with Google drawings

Last year we published Getting Started Guides for spreadsheets, documents, and presentations -- because using a product for the first time can sometimes be challenging. People have found these very helpful, so we’ve created a Getting Started Guide for drawings.

This guide covers the basics about Google drawings and gives you all the information you need to start creating, editing, formatting, and sharing your drawings. It also includes some tips and tricks about features you may not know too much about. If you already use Google presentations, but aren't so familiar with drawings, you can read this guide to learn, for example, how to embed your drawing into a presentation.

Don't forget to share this link with your family, friends, and coworkers who may want to get started with Google drawings.

After you're finished reviewing the guide, check our Help Center for more information. And if you have questions or want to share your suggestions and comments, visit our product ideas page.

Posted by: Bryan Carroll, Consumer Operations Strategist

Page Navigation in Google forms

Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve expanded our logic branching capabilities in Google forms. Previously, a form creator had to add an extensive amount of multiple choice questions to the form to ensure that respondents were directed to the correct pages of the form. Form creators can now use a simpler page navigation feature to direct respondents to relevant pages regardless of their answers. Instead of using “dummy” multiple choice questions, form creators can now use “Go to page based on answer” multiple choice questions in conjunction with the new page navigation capabilities to make a simple, easy-to-follow form.

Let’s say you want to write a choose your own adventure story using Google forms (The Hunt for the terrible Dr. von Schneider). First, create a form and give your adventurer a difficult choice to make in a multiple choice question.


Next, check the box next to Go to page based on answer while editing the question. This enables the option for your form respondents to be directed to different pages of your form. In the drop down menu next to each answer, select the corresponding pages they should be directed to based on their answer.


Using page navigation, you can redirect form respondents previously split apart back to the same page. Under the Add Item menu, select Page break. Then, select what page you’d like your form respondents to be directed to under the drop down menu in the page break.


With page navigation selected, form respondents who landed on pages two and four of your form will both be directed to page five, where their adventure ends ... or does it? Find out here.

Try it out using another template we’ve created or share your own in the Google Docs template gallery.

Posted by: Dan Ferrara, Software Engineering Intern

Tips & Tricks: Using Images in Google documents

As anyone working on a term paper, project plan, or party invitation will tell you, there’s a lot of truth in the old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” With the new Google Documents editor, you can easily find and insert the perfect image into a document and it will behave exactly as you’d like it.

To get started, select Image from the Insert menu. In Google documents, you can import images from your computer or from a URL. But sometimes you don’t have the image you want to use on hand. Whether it’s a map of the Roman Empire or a photo of a golden retriever, you can now insert an image directly from Google Image Search.


You can add any .gif, .jpg, .png, .bmp image file, up to 2 MB in size.

Wrapping it up
It can be important for images in your document to interact in certain ways with your text. Maybe you want your term paper’s sentences to wrap around a country’s flag? Or perhaps you want images to embellish the lines of your restaurant’s menu?

In the new version of documents, we’ve added a new setting for images -- Inline or Fixed. An Inline image will behave like text -- as you add or subtract words and lines, the image will move around the page, just as words within a certain paragraph do.


Meanwhile, a Fixed image will stay anchored to a specific paragraph, and your words will wrap around it.


You can drag and drop the image around your document if the Fixed position is selected. Or, for an Inline image, you can copy and paste it as you would move around the text within your document.

Resizing images
To resize an image within your document, you can click on it, and a resize box will appear. You can maintain the aspect ratio of the image by dragging from the corner of the rectangular resize window. If maintaining that ratio isn’t important, you can click one of the boxes on any side of the image and drag until you’ve resized the image to your liking.


These advanced image options are available only for documents created in the new version of Google Documents. Let us know what you think in our help forum.

Posted by: Michael Thomas, Software Engineer