Google Docs: Introduction and Overview

Objectives and Overview

This lesson introduces Google Docs and provides a walkthrough of the interface.

Lesson Objectives

• Identify how to create a new Google Doc
• Be able to explain the uses and benefits of Google Docs
• Identify key items in the Google Docs interface

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What is Google Docs?

Google Docs is a tool for collaboratively writing and editing documents. The interface and function is similar to Microsoft Word.

Google Docs files are stored in your Google Drive. This means you can access them anywhere you can connect to the Internet. You’ll be using Google Docs throughout the youth employment program, and probably a lot afterward as well! You can work on a paper at school and continue it at home, or at the library.

Google Docs is also collaborative. You’re able to share a document with other people (even if they’re across the world) and work together. This allows for collaborative writing. You and a teammate can work alongside each other in the same document at the same time. Let’s get started by looking at the interface.

Creating a New Google Doc

There are two ways to create a new Google Doc document. This section introduces both ways. After practicing both, you can decide which way you want to use since it’s a personal preference. We’ll start by looking at how to create a new document using both ways and then explore the new document.

From Google Docs

The first way to create a new document is through Google Docs itself. To start, open your browser and go to docs.google.com. If this is your first time on that page, you’ll see a Welcome to Google Docs popup window. Click the Take a Tour button and work through this and then come back to this lesson.

Once you’ve completed the tour, let’s create a new document. Here’s a gif showing the steps:

The Google Docs homepage has a section at the top for creating new documents. From here, you can create a new blank document or use a template. This section is below the Start a new document heading:

For this example, you’ll be creating a new blank document. To do this, click on the + button above the Blank document:

The new document will open in a new browser tab. Go ahead and type in a name for it:

This will open up a new document for you to edit! We’ll return to this document after showing how to create a new document from Google Drive.

From Google Drive

The second way to create a new Google Document is from inside Google Drive. To start, open up your Google Drive by going to drive.google.com.

Here’s a gif showing the steps:

Once you have Google Drive open, find the New button at the top of the left sidebar. Click this button to start:

After clicking, a menu appears with options. Click on the Google Docs menu item to create a new document:

The new document will open in a new browser tab. Go ahead and type in a name for it:

Google Docs Interface

Both of the ways in the previous section create a new document. Let’s take a look at the new document we created!

The top of the document contains information about the file, and the main menu. You’ll see the file name and the menu options:

The formatting toolbar is beneath this. Here you’ll find formatting tools for changing your text, alignment, and other things.

On the right of the formatting toolbar is the file permissions. In the example, the file permission is set to Editor. This dropdown shows what you’re able to do with the file based on your permissions. The next lesson covers this in more detail.

The main document body looks like a blank page. This is where you’ll write your content. Click in this area and start typing! You’ll see the content appear on the page.

You’ll explore the document interface more as you dive deeper into Google Docs. For now, take some time to explore the interface and play with the text formatting! Move on to the next lesson when you’re ready.