https://googledata.org Everything Google: News, Products, Services, Content, Culture Thu, 19 Mar 2015 12:00:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.7.5 https://googledata.org/google-docs/just-to-clarify/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=just-to-clarify https://googledata.org/google-docs/just-to-clarify/#comments Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:34:00 +0000
The first concern that the researcher raised is that an image embedded in a document is not deleted when a document is deleted. Images are maintained because removing them would break image references in users' other Google documents and external blogs. In addition, image URLs are known only to users who have at some point had access to the document the image is embedded in, and could therefore have saved the image anyway (which is fully expected). You can always contact support to purge images from your account.

The second concern that the researcher raised is that viewers may be able to see revisions of drawings that are included in a document, using the new "Insert Drawing" feature. The ability for document collaborators to view revision history is a feature built into Docs. The ability to view past versions of the drawings is limited to authorized persons who have been given explicit access to the document with the embedded drawing. We may consider explicitly preventing viewers from accessing drawing revisions. For now, if document owners decide they don't want viewers to have access to their revisions, they can simply make a new copy of the document (from the File menu) and share that new version. The revision history of both the document and all embedded drawings is removed in copies of documents.

The final concern that the researcher raised is that users removed from documents can, in a specific case, regain access to them. The specific case is related to the use of a feature which allows document invitations to be forwarded to more than one person. That feature was provided in response to user requests for "invitation forwarding" and sharing documents with email lists. Invitations sent using this feature contain a special key on the document link. This feature can be disabled at any time to expire previously distributed invitations which contain that special key. To do this, simply disable this feature by unchecking it (in documents and presentations, it's called "invitations may be used by anyone" and in spreadsheets it's "editors can share this item").

We have begun adding more documentation in the Help Center here and here to describe in more detail the functions related to each concern. We are also exploring alternative design options that might further address the concerns.
We'd like to thank the researcher for sharing his concerns with us. We always welcome your feedback on our products, and thank you for your continued support.

[Update 3/28/09: I failed to mention the researcher's name in the original post. His name is Ade Barkah]

Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Product Manager, Google Docs

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/just-to-clarify/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/the-dos-and-donts-for-using-forms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-dos-and-donts-for-using-forms https://googledata.org/google-docs/the-dos-and-donts-for-using-forms/#comments Fri, 23 May 2008 21:13:00 +0000 Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Product Manager

We've heard plenty of great stories about how people are using the Forms feature of Google Docs and how it has really helped them collect information from friends, family, customers, employees and website or blog visitors. But (there's always a "but"), we've also heard some stories about how people have been confused when trying to re-arrange questions or otherwise change the spreadsheet underlying the form. Yes, we're actively fixing these issues, but in the mean time, here's a guide to getting along with the existing quirks of the current forms feature... Let us know if we've missed something by getting involved in the discussion on the Google Docs Help Group, where we've re-posted this information.

First - the basics: Yes, there is always a spreadsheet underlying a form... If you started with the spreadsheet, you knew that from the start, but if you started with the form (like clicking the "Create your own form" link on someone else's form confirmation), you discovered the spreadsheet part later (we hope!). Once your form is set up, form submissions get added to the spreadsheet at the bottom of your data - after the last row which has data already.

Second - the main source of confusion (and our fault): Generally, if you want to change the form, don't try to do it by changing the spreadsheet.... just edit the form. The form controls the spreadsheet more than vice versa.

Here are the detailed Do's and Don'ts to clarify how to edit forms:

	DO	DON'T
From the FORM	re-arrange questions using the up/down icons on the left of the question being edited delete questions you want removed from the form. Note: the spreadsheet column will NOT be deleted, so you won't lose any prior responses, but it will no longer be filled with any new data.
	DO	DON'T
From the SPREADSHEET	insert columns for your own data - calculations, notes, etc - which are not in the form insert rows under your column headers to create calculations of results (such as counts of each answer, etc. New form responses will always be added after the last row with any content.	DON'T try to re-arrange questions by cutting/pasting portions of columns OR whole columns DON'T delete columns that are in the form - they will not be deleted from the form and will eventually re-appear in the spreadsheet (next time you edit the form) as the first available column at the end of your current columns. DON'T change column header text, as the next edit of the form will overwrite those back to whatever they are on the form... make all changes to question titles on the form and those will be transferred to the spreadsheet column headers (overwriting what's there). DON'T expect re-ordering of questions in the form to change the order of columns in the spreadsheet

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/the-dos-and-donts-for-using-forms/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/collaboration-goes-one-level-deeper/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=collaboration-goes-one-level-deeper https://googledata.org/google-docs/collaboration-goes-one-level-deeper/#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:57:00 +0000 Posted by: Zach Lloyd and Mike Harm, Google spreadsheets engineers

Although we like to think we move fast, the list of great ideas, needed features and new ways to look at data continues to grow. So, today we're giving developers outside our little team the tools to help extend Google Docs using the Google Gadgets platform.

Developers now have an easy way to both add features to Google Docs (in spreadsheets to start) and to pull collaborative data from Google Docs into gadgets on iGoogle and other platforms. We joined forces with the Google Visualization team from our Tel Aviv office, who developed a common data delivery method, starting with data from our spreadsheets. This combines simple collaborative data management using spreadsheets with the simple customization and syndication platform of Google Gadgets.

Imagine taking that project plan spreadsheet (yes, a wedding plan works too), adding a custom timeline chart, and then letting your partner (or fiancé) clearly see the plan's progress on their iGoogle page. How better to let them know that you'll be late on your project (or late to your own wedding)?

This is really an exciting feature for us, as it gives spreadsheet collaborators more than a dozen new ways to look at their data -- including animated charts from the Google Finance and Trendalyzer teams as well as Pivot tables, Funnel charts and Gantt charts from a few of our beta developer collaborators (Panorama, Infosoft Global and Viewpath, respectively). And that's really just the beginning... so don't stop asking for more.

And, there is more in this release. As with many things in life, once we have a taste of something good, we want more. From the time we began providing collaborative editing on the same spreadsheet at the same time, we started hearing that people wanted to know who changed what -- after all, you can't be expected to always be online to watch as edits are happening.

So some of you began to ask (justifiably), "Can I be notified when people update this spreadsheet? And can I see what they've changed?" We've said "not yet" to that question long enough -- and today we've released "Notification Rules" in spreadsheets so you can get emailed when your spreadsheets have changed. You can even do this on spreadsheets to which you have been invited to view. And the link in the email notification will take you to a version which highlights those recent changes. And... well, there's more. (Try it!)

You can also thank Marin Silic for column-based auto-complete, which takes cues for what you might be thinking from the data above and below your current cell. And thank him again for our updated color palette and function editing using the arrow keys. Function auto-complete comes in this release too, thanks to Kasem Marifet's part-time help.

Our friend from the DocList team, Janani Ravi, also chipped in to bring us historical stock market data in the GoogleFinance function. And last but not least, John Danaher, one of our original engineers on the spreadsheets team, gives us a very interesting innovation this month in the Sort(), Filter() and Unique() functions. If you already use spreadsheets, you can imagine what those do. If you don't yet use spreadsheets, we think these and the other changes described are reason enough to start.

- "She want more. More more more more more." - Billy Idol / Rebel Yell

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/collaboration-goes-one-level-deeper/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/stop-sharing-spreadsheets-start-collecting-information/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=stop-sharing-spreadsheets-start-collecting-information https://googledata.org/google-docs/stop-sharing-spreadsheets-start-collecting-information/#comments Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:46:00 +0000 Posted by: Andrew Bonventre, Spreadsheets engineer and Michelle Lee, Spreadsheets designer

Today we're asking you to do something new: stop sharing spreadsheets.

Well... only sometimes, and only in certain situations. See, we've noticed that, in some cases, you want to collect just a tiny bit of information from dozens, scores, or even hundreds of users or more. Some of them are Google Docs users. Some of them are not. Either way, you don't always want them all mucking around with the whole spreadsheet and you're tired of telling those new to Google Docs that they don't need to switch to Gmail just to use Docs (huh? you didn't know that either?).

We're really excited to bring you forms! Create a form in a Google Docs spreadsheet and send it out to anyone with an email address. They won't need to sign in, and they can respond directly from the email message or from an automatically generated web page. Creating the form is easy: start with a spreadsheet to get the form, or start by creating the form and you'll get the spreadsheet automatically.

Responses are automatically added to your spreadsheet. You can even keep a closer eye on them by adding the Google Docs forms gadget to your iGoogle homepage, created by software engineers Valerie Blechar and Sarah Beth Eisinger (in her first month at Google!). It lists your recent active forms, with new responses highlighted. Add this gadget to your iGoogle page:

At Google, we've already been using it for signups, surveys, and miscellaneous mischief. And we can't wait to see what you do with forms in Google Docs.

P.S. Navigate all the extra data you're collecting with the new freeze columns feature. It's been our most requested feature for twelve months, but we hope you'll cut software engineer Eric Bogs a break since he's only been here for a few!

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/stop-sharing-spreadsheets-start-collecting-information/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/spreadsheet-chart-publishing-gets-political/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=spreadsheet-chart-publishing-gets-political https://googledata.org/google-docs/spreadsheet-chart-publishing-gets-political/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:58:00 +0000 Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Product Manager

We've seen plenty of examples of how Google spreadsheets are published on other sites - either with simple links or with embedded sheets and charts. In fact, I even created another blog just to keep a list of some interesting ones, since people are always pinging me to either say "Hey JR, give me some examples of how people are using spreadsheets to share information", or, "Hey JR, check this one out!".

Well, today we saw another example worth blogging about. It's topical, it's professional, it's useful, it's fast - it's political... In covering Super Tuesday Poll results, Reuters used Google spreadsheets to generate and publish result charts for their web site. The image included here is a screen shot from their main 2008 Elections Page, which actually had 8 embedded charts last time I looked. We didn't do anything special to help Reuters do this, in fact, we came across this by chance just watching the results on their site.

If you've got interesting data you want to share, check out the publishing options in Google Docs, and even learn how to publish charts.

[update 6 Feb 2008 - Now that the voting is over, the charts as originally published have been swapped out of Reuter's Politics pages for more relevant, timely stories...sorry if you missed it.]

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/spreadsheet-chart-publishing-gets-political/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/docs-on-the-go/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=docs-on-the-go https://googledata.org/google-docs/docs-on-the-go/#comments Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:28:00 +0000 Posted by: Zach Lloyd, Software Engineer - Google spreadsheets

I track a lot of work related tasks on spreadsheets that are shared with other engineers, and I often like to know if anyone has updated them while I'm away from my computer. Until now, this was pretty much impossible.

Enter Google Docs for your mobile phone. If you have an iPhone, Blackberry, or Windows Mobile device, you can now point your phone's browser to http://docs.google.com/m to view (no editing yet - sorry), mobile-optimized versions of your docs, spreadsheets, and even presentations (for iPhone only for now). You might have to squint a little, and it's only for English-language users for now, but the information is all there, in your pocket, wherever you are. Now you'll have no excuse not to pick up the milk that was added to that shared grocery list while you were out (huh? You don't have a shared grocery list yet?)

It was a real challenge coming up with useful views, especially of spreadsheets, that would work on the inherently limited screen size and the (um, how to say it nicely) often finicky mobile browsers - but go ahead and give it a shot, and please tell us what you think on the help group.

We've also introduced a few other features... Now you can format spreadsheet cells based on rules. For example, the cell could turn red if it contains a date prior to today. It's a really nice way of quickly seeing the state of a complex or quickly changing sheet - works great for all my overdue tasks! We've also (finally) introduced a way of hiding (and un-hiding) rows and columns. It's always nice to eliminate clutter. Check out all the recent changes on the description on the help group or our new features page.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/docs-on-the-go/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/lazy-wednesday/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lazy-wednesday https://googledata.org/google-docs/lazy-wednesday/#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:31:00 +0000 Posted by: Andy Bonventre, Engineer - spreadsheets team

I'm a pretty lazy guy, as I'm sure anyone who knows me can attest to. Any method or process that reduces the amount of work I have to do in order to accomplish a task is always a welcome addition to my tool set. This is why it made me very excited to hear that I would be in charge of providing the ultimate laziness feature to Google Spreadsheets users: AutoFill. With AutoFill you can reduce the amount of repetitive entry into your sheets by dragging the new little square at the bottom right of whatever range is selected. You can now fill in commonly seen series, like the days of the week or a series of numbers, or simply use it as a copy-and-paste tool. But of course, that's not all...

For some real interesting fills, we've hooked AutoFill up to our old-timer Labs brother, Google Sets (a combination that JR refers to as 'MagicFill'). Make use of the integration by holding down the CTRL (Linux and Windows) or ALT (Mac) keys before dragging the handle, and you can use it to create grocery lists, luggage manifests, or a list of similar prospective colleges (for all you rising high school seniors out there). We're still working out some kinks, though, so consider this an early-release feature ;). Thanks to Matt for helping make sure there were less kinks than my earlier version.

Of course, AutoFill isn't the only new addition...
We've also just introduced some cool new data query functions that allow you to import RSS/Atom, HTML, CSV/TSV and XML data directly into your sheet. These are handy for basic data import tasks and provide virtually endless opportunities for integrating information from web sources. The spreadsheet fanatics out there (we have some here) might even try this as an alternative to the fantastic Google Reader interface for aggregating your favorite feeds ;). Special thanks goes out to Tom Swedlund, a summer intern, who was in charge of implementing those.

You may also notice the new strike-through font formatting button that was implemented courtesy of Animesh Kejriwal in his 20% time. Thanks Animesh!

Have fun, and don't forget to post some of your own discovered 'MagicFills' in our Help Group...

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/lazy-wednesday/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/peek-a-boo-i-see-you-on-this-spreadsheet/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=peek-a-boo-i-see-you-on-this-spreadsheet https://googledata.org/google-docs/peek-a-boo-i-see-you-on-this-spreadsheet/#comments Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:26:00 +0000 Posted by: Micah Lemonik - Google spreadsheets engineer

As we mentioned in the Docs & Spreadsheets help group last week, we added a few cool (in my opinion ;) features to the collaborative spreadsheets editor. What we didn't mention was the hard work of a few interns which led to these features.

Matt Ziegelbaum gave us the new Sortbar, which is a huge improvement to our old Sort tab. It's that new gray bar you'll see towards the top of your spreadsheets. You can drag and drop the handle at the left to quickly and easily freeze your header rows, but it also gives you one-click access to sorting. Just click it once above the column you want to sort; click again to reverse the sort.

James Walker gave us the collaborator location indicators. This one adds even more "wow" to the Real-time collaboration capabilities of the product. When you are working in the same spreadsheet with other people, you can now see where they are - as their selected cell will be highlighted with a colored box. If you don't see them, just click their name in the discuss tab and you'll be taken to the part of the spreadsheet where they are working and watch, in real-time, as they move around the sheet. You'll also be given a visual indicator when a cell is being edited (it turns gray) to help avoid those "oops - I think i just edited the same cell as you" moments. If you've never actually edited a spreadsheet at the same time as other people, go create a spreadsheet of your favorite videos or musicians and invite a few people to give their ratings... or whatever. Real-time collaboration might change your perspective on productivity... and fun!

If anyone ever tells you that interns do un-important tasks and get coffee for their managers - don't believe it. In fact, I'm going now to get coffee for James and Matt and the rest of the team who helped get these features done!

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/peek-a-boo-i-see-you-on-this-spreadsheet/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/array-formulas-without-ctrl-shift-enter/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=array-formulas-without-ctrl-shift-enter https://googledata.org/google-docs/array-formulas-without-ctrl-shift-enter/#comments Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:52:00 +0000 Posted by: John Danaher, Engineer - Google spreadsheets

If you're an expert spreadsheet user, you might be familiar with the powerful and obscure feature known as array formulas. They're powerful because they let you replace an entire column of formulas with a single array formula that does all the calculations in one place. And they're obscure because you've always had to hit Ctrl-Shift-Enter to create one, and, well, who's ever going to discover that on their own?

It's now a lot simpler to create an array formula in Google Spreadsheets. If you want to create a multiple-output formula (like TRANSPOSE or MMULT), just enter the formula normally and hit enter. As if by magic, the entire output of the formula will appear. And if you want a multiple-input formula, wrap the whole formula in the ARRAYFORMULA function, like so: =ARRAYFORMULA(SUM(IF(A1:A10>B1:B10, A1:A10, B1:B10))).

And if you've never heard of array formulas but we've piqued your interest, take a look at our array formulas help page that explains them in a little more detail.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/array-formulas-without-ctrl-shift-enter/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/want-spreadsheet-filtering-try-this/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=want-spreadsheet-filtering-try-this https://googledata.org/google-docs/want-spreadsheet-filtering-try-this/#comments Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:08:00 +0000 Posted by: Alex Komoroske, Intern - Google Docs & Spreadsheets team

When I joined the Google spreadsheets team in New York City as a Product Manager intern this summer, I let on to the fact that I loved to do programming on the side. My manager's eyes lit up and before I knew it he introduced me to the Google Spreadsheets API. He showed me a quick and (very) dirty javascript program he had written that would allow spreadsheet users to filter their view of a spreadsheet--that is, to view only rows that met some simple criteria. His code wasn't quite bloggable, so he invited me to make a 'real' spreadsheet filter application.

The API gave me access to practically all my spreadsheet data, so I had the flexibility to do whatever I had in mind. Within a few hours, I had a pretty powerful little application that could filter using easy dropdowns on each column. But I wasn't done -- I wanted more control over filtering. I added an expression parser that understands "fuzzy" filters -- things like "contains North or New" -- just as well as it understands more precise (but intimidating) traditional expressions.

I clearly went a little overboard with my spreadsheet application, but the point is that the API puts a lot of power into my hands--and yours. If you've got any kind of programming experience, why don't you give it a try ?

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/want-spreadsheet-filtering-try-this/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/see-shared-docs-spreadsheets-before-logging-in/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=see-shared-docs-spreadsheets-before-logging-in https://googledata.org/google-docs/see-shared-docs-spreadsheets-before-logging-in/#comments Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:25:00 +0000 Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Product Manager

When someone invites you to a view or edit a shared document or spreadsheet, you expect to be able to see it without having to jump over any walls (like a sign-in page or registration). We know this because you told us.

So now, if you invite someone who doesn't have a Google Account (or who does, but isn't logged in) to share a document or spreadsheet, he or she will be able to immediately view it. To edit, however, it's still necessary to first sign in or to create a Google account. Syd & Regina explained this in our Group.

To enable this feature, check the option on the "Share" tab called "Invitations may be used by anyone" - which will also allow people to forward your invitation email to others, so those people may gain access. You can always uncheck the box to limit access to those people you specifically invite. (They'll still need to be logged in to their Google account to create and edit documents and spreadsheets.)

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/see-shared-docs-spreadsheets-before-logging-in/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/integrating-visual-tools-with-spreadsheet-data/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=integrating-visual-tools-with-spreadsheet-data https://googledata.org/google-docs/integrating-visual-tools-with-spreadsheet-data/#comments Thu, 17 May 2007 21:40:00 +0000 Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Product Manager

If you are looking for new ways to visualize data from your spreadsheets, or if you're looking for methods to integrate your own products or programming ideas with collaborative spreadsheet data - please check out this blog post on our Google Data APIs blog. It describes how two particular companies integrated Google Docs & Spreadsheets as data sources into their data visualization tools.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/integrating-visual-tools-with-spreadsheet-data/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/the-more-the-merrier/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-more-the-merrier https://googledata.org/google-docs/the-more-the-merrier/#comments Fri, 04 May 2007 21:39:00 +0000 Posted by: Michelle Lee, Docs & Spreadsheets User Experience Designer

Last week, I volunteered at the public library with my buddy Clark. We were cataloging donated books, so I shared a spreadsheet with him at clark.kent@notsuper.com. Little did I know, he was already into Docs & Spreadsheets, but typically used his other email address, superman@collaborativehero.com, to log in. Luckily, with the new invitation system, it worked seamlessly. He could see the book sale spreadsheet right next to the documents he'd already been working with.

Many of you shared your concerns about the old invitation system: needing to invite people on a mailing list, or having problems inviting users who had multiple addresses and multiple Google Accounts. So we've simplified our invitations to work better in those cases. Now, if you set the "Invitations may be used by anyone" option, the people you invite can get into the doc from whichever Google account they prefer - even if they aren't trying to hide a secret identity ;)

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/the-more-the-merrier/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/meet-the-help-group/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=meet-the-help-group https://googledata.org/google-docs/meet-the-help-group/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2007 02:36:00 +0000 Posted by: Syd and Regina, Google Docs & Spreadsheets Guides

If you're here, you probably know a little something about Google Docs & Spreadsheets, or at the very least you're eager to learn. Either way, we cordially invite you to a great place to get the lowdown: our Google Docs & Spreadsheets Help Group. It's a mouthful, we know, but once you get past the lengthy name, the concept is simple. It's a forum where the knowledgeable and the curious meet to discuss Docs & Spreadsheets. From complex questions to new features to bug fixes, people post questions and respond with answers on an innumerable array of topics.

In addition to learning from and sharing with other users, you'll meet us, Syd and Regina, your friendly D&S Guides (look for the cool Guide logo signifying our posts). We're Google employees with a passion for GD&S, and we monitor the group, answer questions, announce new features, and follow up on problems and bug reports.

So come join the fun! No RSVP needed...

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/meet-the-help-group/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/word-search-2-0-for-kindergartners/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=word-search-2-0-for-kindergartners https://googledata.org/google-docs/word-search-2-0-for-kindergartners/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:52:00 +0000 Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Product Manager - Google Docs & Spreadsheets

My six-year-old came home from school the other day asking me all kinds of questions about this word search puzzle he got from his teacher. It had a theme based on one of our favorite authors (Dr. Seuss) and had that tell-tale grainy look of something that has been photo-copied over and over (for several years no doubt) -- and he loved it!

Like most kindergartners on a mission, he is relentless in his pursuit of information: "How did she make this?", "How did she get the words and letters in there?", "I can tell it was done on a computer, Daddy - do we have the program that makes these?" -- and it didn't stop there.

"Google Spreadsheets!" I said with honest enthusiasm. "Are you kidding?" he said, with a hopeful grin. So we quickly pulled up his Google Docs & Spreadsheets account (yes, he has one - on his own domain under Google Apps!) and we created a spreadsheet... It was a simple grid of squares. We filled in each box with a single letter until all the words he wanted were there - actually, just check it out yourself, below!


(yes! you can embed a published spreadsheet in a blog entry!)

We printed a bunch of copies for him and his friends and even created and printed a teacher's version (with all the hidden words highlighted in yellow). It was perfect!

Now I just have to teach him the API so he can auto-generate the word search puzzle! Nah... I'll wait until he's in the first grade - he needs a break ;)

]]> https://googledata.org/google-docs/word-search-2-0-for-kindergartners/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-docs/young-puppy-new-tricks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=young-puppy-new-tricks https://googledata.org/google-docs/young-puppy-new-tricks/#comments Wed, 29 Nov 2006 17:52:00 +0000 Posted by: John Danaher, Software Engineer in Google's NYC office

As a web application, Google Docs & Spreadsheets can do all sorts of neat things. Of course, easy sharing and collaborative editing are the most obvious benefits, but this young puppy is learning some new tricks (of course, I'll mention the two closest to my heart first ;-) ).

One is GoogleLookup, which attempts to answer your questions by using information from the web. You can use it for all kinds of party tricks, like looking up the population of New York City [=GoogleLookup("New York City", "population")] or when Google was founded [=googlelookup("google", "founded")]. Try it to see what other things you can look up. I'll warn you in advance, it's a bit addicting. If you mouse over the cell, you'll see links to the source pages where we found the data, so you can always check out the primary sources. And don't forget you can copy/paste (ctrl-c / ctrl-v) the formula to other cells to easily have a bunch of GoogleLookups in a sheet. Don't expect to change the world with this function, but have fun with it.

While GoogleLookup covers a little bit of everything, its sibling GoogleFinance focuses just on financial data from Google Finance. Using a similar syntax, you can look up the price of Google stock [=GoogleFinance("GOOG")] or the 52-week high of Apple [=GoogleFinance("AAPL", "HIGH52")]. And since stock prices tend to change more often than, say, the capital of California does, we update them in your spreadsheet automatically. So if you leave your portfolio spreadsheet open, you should see numbers get updated as you would on Google Finance itself. Of course, we also have the same 20-minute delay on financial data.

So as GoogleLookup and Google Finance let you pull data from the web into your spreadsheet, we've also make it easier to put your data back out onto the web by publishing it. If you go to the "Publish" tab at the upper-right of your spreadsheet, you can publish your entire spreadsheet (or just one sheet of it) so that other people can view it as HTML, PDF, or even as an Atom or RSS feed. You can finally share your spreadsheets with others without them having to sign in to their Google Account. And if you go to the "more publishing options" link, you'll find some other cool options (duh!).

Besides a few other handy small features, there's one more worth mentioning: revisions. If you (or one of your 'trusted collaborators') makes a mistake in a spreadsheet which our usually-friendly autosave feature picks up, you can go back to prior versions of your spreadsheet using the "Revisions" tab. That'll come in handy, I promise.

So have fun, and please let us know what you think by
making suggestions, or discussing these features with others.

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