We can't stop adding features!

Posted by: Chris Nokleberg, Google Docs engineer

We kicked off 2008 with a slew of new presentation features and your feedback is keeping us busy. Today's additions address some of the most requested features:

• Save as PDF, for when you really need to download your presentation as a file.
• PDF-based printing options (save trees and ink!). Go to File->Print, select how many slides you'd like on a page (up to 12), and preview your choice.
• Vector shapes, for your basic diagramming and drawing needs. Use block arrows to point out what's important, or say something in a call-out bubble.

Headers and footers

Posted by: Deepak Jindal, Software Engineer

In December, we told you how we've been working hard to improve the printing features in Google Docs. Over the holidays we added another popularly requested feature: customizable headers and footers for printed documents.

To insert a header or footer into your document, click on the "Insert" tab and select "Header" or "Footer." A box surrounded by dashed lines will appear, and anything you place in that box will be repeated on each page of your printed document. This has been a highly requested feature, so we're launching it now without a lot of bells and whistles. But we're not stopping here and we'll continue to improve your printed pages in the weeks and months to come. We'd like to hear from you, so please post your comments and suggestions in our Help Group.

Sub-sub-folders

Posted by: Olga Belomestnykh, Docs Engineer

Having read many requests to create sub-folders in Google Docs and having spent many hours building the new feature, I recently found the following note from a fellow Googler on my desk:

"Hi Olga: I have been trying for the last 79 hours to create a folder within a folder. Does 'Please try again later' mean it will work in the 80th hour?"

The answer was of course "no" -- because until now you couldn't create a folder within a folder in Google Docs. Though it's now way past the 80th hour, my co-worker need not wait any longer. As indicated by the gray triangle you may have noticed next to your folders in the All Folders view, everyone can now have folders and sub-folders and sub-sub-folders and -- you get the idea.

You can navigate your folder hierarchy by clicking on the gray triangles next to the folder icons to expand and collapse the folder contents. And if you want to move items between folders, simply select the items you want to move using the checkboxes and click the 'Move to' button in the toolbar. A widget will pop up for choosing a destination folder, or you can select the 'Remove from current folder' option to do just that.

New features for 2008!

Posted by: Wayne Crosby and Robby Walker, Google Docs Engineers

It's been two months since we launched Google Presentations and already we've got new toys! We've been listening to your feedback and working hard to get you new features as quickly as possible (so keep the suggestions coming). 2008 is going to be a feature packed year for Google Docs, and we are proud to kick it off with these cool new things you can do starting today:



But we didn't stop with these new presentation features - today we are releasing some top user-requested features that we've been working on for several months (yes, even over the holidays):

* Sub-folders, sub-folders, sub-folders...try selecting one of your folders and then choose New > Folder...et voila!
* Rename documents and folders from the Docs home toolbar (the Rename option is now between Delete and More Actions).

We'll do a follow-up post in a few days to talk more about these new features. In the meantime, please check them out & give us your feedback on the user boards.

Documents dress up and print out

Posted by: David Kuettel, Software Engineer, Google Docs

A Google document's natural habitat is online, and in the past, this is where it stayed. While it was possible to print a Google document, it was admittedly difficult to predict what the printed page was going to look like -- kind of like stepping out for an evening without knowing what you're wearing until you get out the door, an option that makes staying in pretty tempting.

Not that staying in is a bad option, of course. If you're a Google document, home means being safe and instantly accessible, never having to worry about the life-threatening disaster of a hard drive crash, or the pain of packing up and moving as multiple versions are emailed to and from multiple collaborators -- in short, a life of leisure!

Because of this, there are many Google documents that will never want to leave their online oasis. However, there are also documents that need to make an appearance in the "real world."

We hear from students and teachers, lawyers and accountants. They all let us know that keeping and sharing their documents online made their jobs infinitely easier. But they also made it clear that the end result of their work needed to be a well-formatted paper document, printed and presented outside of Google Docs' online home.

We took this seriously, and now we're introducing better printing for Google documents and the option to set the following specifications for your printed documents:

• Margins
• Page numbers
• Landscape or portrait page orientation
• Legal, Letter, or A4 paper size

So, while documents will always make their home online, we're happy to announce that for those of you with a need, Google documents can now come out to play. Right out of your printer and on to your desk, or your boss's desk, or your teacher's folder, or your client's briefcase...printed documents are here!

Teaching revision writing with Docs

Posted by: Cristin Frodella, Product Manager, Education Initiatives

Some of Google Docs' most loyal users are teachers; we get lots of emails, suggestions, and lesson ideas from you. Based on what you've told us, one of your favorite things about using Docs with your students is that they tend to work harder if their work is transparent to each other. They react well to seeing one another's writing and getting the opportunity to show off just a teeny bit. We've also learned that "writing buddy" programs give kids the opportunity to brainstorm with and inspire one other, while letting them learn crucial editing and interpersonal skills.

Google for Educators has buddied up with the good folks from the Weekly Reader to bring you a lesson on revision writing -- with a buddy. The talented writers at Weekly Reader have worked with teachers all over the country to come up with tips and checklists for incorporating buddy writing in the classroom. And as always, Google Docs allows your students to create their first drafts, fix their mistakes and hone the perfect paper, all while keeping track of each and every comma change, word replacement and new stroke of genius along the way.

Come check out the lesson, grab a few hints on using Google Docs and introduce your kids to buddy writing -- we suspect their collaborations will get your creative juices flowing, too.

Get Docs in 38 languages

Posted by: Ken Norton, Product Manager, Google Docs

Earlier today we launched Google Docs in 13 more languages, bringing our total number of supported languages to 38. That means 99% of the world's Internet users can collaborate in a version of Docs fully localized to their native language.

The new languages are: Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Filipino, Greek, Hindi, Latvian, Lithuanian, Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, and Slovenian.