Sharing Files in the Cloud with Google Docs
- In This Quick Guide:
- Inviting Googlers to Collaborate
- Inviting Non-Googlers to Collaborate
Google Docs allows you to do something that’s simply not possible on your computer: work together with other people on the same document at the same time by “inviting” them to work on a document with you. In this guide, you will learn how to invite people to collaborate on your files.
Inviting Googlers to Collaborate
Let’s begin with collaborations involving other people who have a Google account. To invite one or more people, follow these steps:
- Get things off to a rousing start by using either of the following techniques:
- If you’re currently hanging around in the Google Docs list of files, activate the check box beside the document you want to collaborate on, click Share, and then click Invite people.
- If you have the document open in a Google Docs application, click the Share button and then click Invite people.
- In the Share with Others dialog box, use the Invite box to type the e-mail address of the person you want to invite. Feel free to enter multiple addresses, separating each with a comma.
- If you want your peeps to make changes to the document, leave the To edit option selected; otherwise, click To view if you don’t want them to make changes.
- Google Docs uses the document name as the Subject line, but go ahead and change that if you feel like it.
- Use the Message box to type a high-spirited message to your troops.
- Click Send. Google Docs does what it’s told and sends an e-mail invitation to each person. You end up in the People with access tab, which shows who now has access to the document.
- Click Save & Close.
Your friends receive a message with a link to the document. Each person clicks the link, signs in to his or her Google account, and the collaboration fun begins.
Inviting Non-Googlers to Collaborate
When you invite cloud folk as I described in the previous section, those people must first sign in to their Google accounts to access the document. If people don’t have a Google account, thy can always create one, but unlike you and me, some people do not welcome our Google overlords, so they wouldn’t create a Google account if you paid them.
That’s okay, though, because you can still get people collaborating without requiring them to be Googlers. Here’s how:
- You have two ways to get started:
- If you have the Google Docs list of files onscreen, activate the check box beside the document you want to share, click Share, and then click Get the link to share.
- If the document is open, click the Share button and then click Get the link to share.
- In the Get the link so share dialog box, activate the Allow anyone with the link to view check box.
- If you’re okay with non-Googlers editing your document, activate the Also allow them to edit check box.
- Google Docs displays a web address in the Share this link via email or IM box. Click the address to select it.
- Right-click the address and then click Copy.
- Click Save & Close.
- Switch to Gmail or Google Talk, start a new message, and then paste the web address into the message (by pressing Ctrl+V).
- Address the message to whomever you want to work with and then send the message.
When the other person receives the message, he or she clicks the link to access your document without having to sign in to Google.
Now that everyone is invited, you can all work on the files at the same time—you can even see what people are doing as they are doing it! For more information on working with files in Google Docs, be sure to check out our Quick Guide Uploading and Organizing Files in the Cloud with Google Docs. Happy collaborating!
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Google Chrome and Chrome OS by Paul McFedries
