Supercharge Google Docs

Google Drive Add-Ons are handy little programs that will add fantastic features to your Docs and Sheets. Google Documents and Google Sheets are already very powerful, full-featured programs allowing you to create and collaborate on documents online. However even with all their options, there may still be some features missing from the programs that you would like.

This session highlights some of the most innovative and helpful add-ons available.

How To Install

When you are using Google Documents or Google Sheets, you will see that there is an Add-ons menu item in the top menu bar. You can click this menu item to access your installed Add-ons and to find new Add-ons. To install a new Add-on do the following:

  1. Click the Add-on menu item in the top menu bar.
  2. Click Get Add-ons from the drop-down menu.
  3. This will open the Add-ons window.
  4. You can scroll through the available Add-ons, or narrow down the choices with the filter menu, or type in a search term.
  5. If you find an Add-on that looks interesting, you can click on it to get more details.
  6. In the pop-up window you can read more about the Add-on, see images and/or videos, and see reviews and ratings.
  7. If you decide to install an Add-on, click the blue +FREE button.
  8. You will then get a pop-up window explaining what privileges the Add-on needs, and asking for your permission to install it.
  9. Click the blue Accept button to allow the Add-on to install.

Google Docs Add-Ons

There are many excellent Add-ons for Google Documents, with more being added all the time. Below is a small sample of recommended Add-ons for Docs.

If you don’t have a Google Doc to use, make a copy of the sample above.

The Speech Recognition add-on will allow you to use speech recognition to write your Google Docs documents. Express yourself as you've never done. Be free from the keyboard and faster than ever.


Automatically cite books, journal articles, and websites just by entering in the titles or URLs. Format citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago style. When you're finished creating your bibliography, click Generate Bibliography to alphabetize your citations and add them to the end of your paper as a works cited page.


Kaizena Mini

Kaizena makes it easy for teachers to give high quality feedback on student work - simply highlight and speak to give verbal feedback, or attach reusable resources for common problems. This Doc Add-on allows you to quickly open the Google Doc you're currently viewing in Kaizena.


This add-on makes it easy to find and insert over 50,000 public-domain clipart images. Simply choose ClipArt from the add-on menu and use the search box in the ClipArt sidebar to type in what you're looking for. Use the page buttons at the bottom of the add-on to view more clipart.

Rhyme Finder allows you to select words in your document and supplies you with rhyming words in a sidebar. Rhymes can also be approximated with an additional option to find other words that end in the same letters.

Translate

Use Google Translate to translate text in your document!

This add-on allows you to quickly translate selected document text between several languages and reinsert it into the document.

Lucidchart Diagrams

Quickly create and insert flowcharts, mind maps, and more diagrams directly into a Google document. With the Lucidchart add-on for Google Docs, you can quickly:

- Create and edit Lucidchart documents from Docs

- Insert diagrams directly into a Google document

- Update inserted diagrams with latest changes made in Lucidchart

g(Math)

Create complex math that is not possible using the built-in Equation Editor. Some examples include Geometric signs, custom characters, and formulas. With the graph creator, you can type in functions and it will create the graph associated with that functions. You can also plot points in the same graph, find the line of best fit of those points, and specify a viewing window.

Charts

Now you can build a chart from data in your Google Spreadsheet and insert that right into your document. The Charts Builder allows you to select the type of chart and a spreadsheet. Everything is integrated and your chart will be added to the line you select


Texthelp Study Skills

Use Texthelp’s Highlighting Tools to highlight key areas of your document to collect, group, and learn from later. Simply select and highlight the desired text and click “Collect Highlights” to extract it and place it in a new document (by color or location) for students or educators to review.

Thesaurus

Thesaurus for Google Documents revolutionizes your experience by helping you explore synonyms, antonyms and more.

Sorted Paragraphs

Sort your paragraphs, lists, bibliography and individual table rows or columns in either alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order.

Avery Label Merge

Easily merge Google spreadsheet data into Avery address labels and name badges. Creates a mail merge using a Google spreadsheet for merge data. You can print the Google document it creates, which is properly formatted for a selected Avery product.

Change Case

Make changes to the case of text in block selections: uppercase, lowercase, first letter capitals, invert, sentence and title case.

Easy Accents

This Add-on allows users to easily insert accents for different languages directly from a sidebar in their Google Doc.

Pupil Pref

Pupil Pref is designed to allow simple access to the page color option that is in the Page Settings menu of Google Docs. The application provides 16 choices based around the work carried out by Prof Arnold Wilkins and his team at Essex University. Prof. Wilkins and his team are responsible for the "Intuitive Overlays" used by optometrists.

Google Sheets Add-Ons

There are many excellent Add-ons for Google Sheets, with more being added all the time. Below is a small sample of recommended Add-ons for Sheets.

Autocrat


Flexible, easy to use document merge tool that creates PDF or Shared Documents from spreadsheet data. Automates the creation and sharing of personalized (e.g. merged) Google Docs or PDF email attachments from columns of data in a Google Sheet.




Doctopus


Doctopus gives teachers the ability to mass-copy (from a starter template), share, and manage grading and feedback for student projects in

Google Drive.



Flubaroo


Flubaroo helps you quickly grade and analyze online assignments and assessments, as well as email scores to students.


Yet Another Mail Merge

This mail merge script will let you select a draft written in Gmail, replace template keys with names and other information from the spreadsheet and automatically send the email.

Split Names

Click once to split full names to several columns with first, middle, last names, titles and/or post-nominal letters.

Remove Duplicates

This add-on comes with two useful wizards. One will help you compare two different tables and remove duplicates; the other will search for unique and duplicate rows within one sheet.


Merge Values

Use this add-on to join values in the selected rows, columns, or range and keep all original data intact.

Save As Doc

Convert any Google Sheets spreadsheet into a Google Document for improved legibility of lengthy cell text entered manually or through a Google Form submission. Basically, this will make Google Forms submissions readable

More Fonts

After selecting some cells to format, simply click More Fonts in the add-on menu and choose a font. If you want to choose from even more fonts and see what they look like, all you need to do is choose Show More Fonts in the menu. This will open the spreadsheet sidebar where you can see the full list of fonts formatted in their own style.

Additional Resources

TCEA Resources

All Things Google Group - Social Community

This group of over 800 folks form a great network for anyone interested in using any of the Google products. Find helpful resources and well as good discussions here.

Site: http://goo.gl/Gp5aDh

TCEA Google Resources - Website

TCEA offers a variety of resources for districts and educators using Google Apps for Eudcation (GAFE). Numerous webinars, workshops, and events are offered throughout the year to help master GAFE tools that make the classroom workflow easier and more efficient. TCEA is an official Google Certified Training Center.

Site: http://www.tcea.org/pd/google/