Gboard for iOS is today adding a few handy new features for iOS users. In its latest update, available now through the App Store, with Google Maps and YouTube, along with a fun new option for “artists.” Gboard’s new integrations with and are designed for convenience. We’re constantly copying and pasting information from messages and emails, and locations are a big part of that. Currently, if you want to bring an address from a message to your mapping application, you have to highlight the address, copy it, paste it into the app, and then start your navigation. With this Gboard update, iOS users can simply send a link to their location that opens directly in Google Maps on a recipient’s phone. Whether you’re coordinating a rendezvous point at the park or dinner plans at a nearby restaurant, meeting up with friends and family has never been easier.
Just tap the G button then “Maps” to share your current location or a local address. The same applies for YouTube. Directly from Gboard, users can search for anything on YouTube and toss that link into their message. Both of these new features show up in Gboard as tabs alongside standard Google Search. Along with those, Gboard for iOS is also adding a new drawing mode called “Ink.” Much like Apple’s own feature, Ink for Gboard gives users the option to create their own images and send them, all without leaving the currently-open application.
The Google Drive for Mac service is a lot like Dropbox. It creates a folder on your Mac that syncs with your Google storage space so you can access the It lets you read and edit Microsoft Office files, or change them into Google Drive documents. Edit documents, presentations, and drawings offline. Alternatives to Google Drive - Drawings for Windows, Web, Mac, Linux, iPad and more. Filter by license to discover only free or Open Source alternatives. This list contains a total of 25+ apps similar to Google Drive - Drawings.
For you artists (or doodlers!), you can now use our new Ink feature to draw and share your creations right from your keyboard. Just tap on the emoji button followed by the pen icon and get to to work! Three new languages have also been added to Gboard for iOS in this update: Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi. All of these features are exclusive to the.
Advertisement Did you ever click the bright red “New” button inside your Google Drive? Google Drawings isn’t at the forefront of tools. The limelight is reserved for Docs, Sheets, and Slides. But let’s do a reawakening of sorts and click on More to go to the “neglected” siblings. We have seen the It is amazing what you can learn about yourself when you take the time to pay attention to your daily habits and behaviors. Use the versatile Google Forms to track your progress with important goals. It’s time to appreciate the versatility of Google Drawings.
Google Drawings is the freshest among all Google Drive tools. It is not a full-blown. But the graphic editor is more powerful for one simple fact – it is a real-time collaborative application. At its most basic, it is an online whiteboard. At its most advanced it can be more if you allow to change your mind about its limits.
That’s just one. Find more inspiration in his.
Now, that we have got the limitations of Google Drawings out of the way, let’s look at a few more creative uses. Because not all of us are blessed with Joshua’s skills.
Use It for Collaborative Think of Google Drawings as an universal whiteboard for sticking Post-It notes. When you begin, it need not even be a collaborative project. Start your own – and then share your thoughts with others using a URL. The above virtual Post-It note was created in 5 minutes using Shapes, Google Fonts, and an image search for the “pin”. All within Google Drawings.
When you can’t be at the same place, a quick Google Drawings share coupled with a Hangouts chat is an easy solution. Anyone in the team can add comments and other Post-It notes to the virtual office wall. Create Your Own Graphic Organizers. Graphic organizers are diagrams that help organize information visually. Some of the varieties are called concept maps, entity relationship charts, and mind maps. With the help of one, you can have a bird’s eye view of your thoughts. For instance, a spider diagram can be used to group ideas, a flow chart can be useful for sequencing a process, and a fishbone diagram can be used to show cause and effect.
Use the library of templates to take a shortcut (e.g. A ) or create your own from scratch. Google Drawings has the shapes, colors, and fonts to help you create memorable spatial structures quickly.
The above diagram is a simple spider diagram illustrating the shortcuts you can use to create a graphic organizer. This shows you the options you can explore in Google Drawings for your custom needs. Design an Infographic You might not create the next The history of this visual science (or art) and tells us that infographics is by no means an invention of the digital culture. The only difference between then and now is the amount of information. With Google Drawings. But if you have an idea and the data to back it up, you are on your way to impress your boss. These two key ingredients can be supported with shapes, images, text, charts, graphs, tables, and colors to create the visual impact.
Hyperlink your data to external resources to create a more dynamic infographic. Here are the basic first steps.
Start by researching the data that will go into the infographic. Resize the Drawings canvas to a long rectangle as they are usually vertically oriented. Alternatively, go to File Page Setup and enter the dimensions. Use a background color or find Textures are crucial in everything from graphic design to web design, from poster art to architectural visualizations, from 3D animations to computer games. Here's where you can find some free textures to use! To use for the background. Go to Insert Image to upload the texture file.
Resize the texture to fit the background. You can also set a background color ( Right Click Background). Create your graphics by combining different shapes and grouping them together. You can create the shapes off-stage and then drag them into the canvas.
Grouped graphics can be custom colored with a single click. Note: Google Drawings includes Snap to grid and Snap to guides. Align objects and draw them to the same size with better precision. Go to View Snap To Grids / Guides. Step-by-step instructions on creating infographics is outside the scope of this article, but here’s a starter video for guidance.
Make Custom Graphics for Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides This is perhaps the most obvious use of Google Drawings. As a sibling, it is the most accessible tool for inserting custom graphics into your Google Drive documents via the Web Clipboard. Here are a few creative ways you can use Drawings: Create your own Clipart Library. Make your own reusable batch of clipart.
Source images with Google Search and modify them in Google Drawings. Create your own picture bullets. Create unique vector bullets with Shapes. The “Lightbulb” bullet below was made by combining shapes and a callout. You can also tweak a minimalist raster image and use it as a bullet.
Create a custom signature. Customize your digital signature in Google Drawings. Group all the elements into a single graphic and use it in Drive documents or Gmail. Do Note: Copying a drawing to a different file creates a copy of the original drawing. Edits made to either the original or the copy do not automatically apply to the other. Screen Design with Wireframes On a technical level, a modern website isn’t just one thing.
It’s a complex soup of interacting technologies, such as HTML (the markup you see on the page), JavaScript (the language running in your browser. Are blueprints for any screen designs.
Think simple shapes without any color or frills. They help the designers focus on how content will be laid out or how a prototype design will function. There are a dime and a dozen Make the best use of instant-creation technologies, with your own mock-up designs.
Mock-ups help evaluate, fix flaws, and tweak designs before creating them. Design just about anything with these tools., so you will be spoilt for choice.
But for simplicity, collaboration, and accessibility Google Drawings can step up to the plate. Google Drive gives you a few readymade. You can just as easily create your own wireframing kit with Google Drawings. The wireframing kit can be made up of the basic starting blocks you need for any design.
Leave the elements in the gutter (the space next to the canvas) for quick reuse on any new project. This 15-minute video gives you an idea of the process: Understand Relationships with Database Schemas Using Google Drawings to plot database schemas is not my original idea.
The Web Development Group this simple hack. Are logical grouping of objects such as tables, views, stored procedures etc. It describes how a database is structured and the relationships between the objects it holds. Think of a database schema like a roadmap: it lays out the overall process, visually demonstrating where information is coming from and where it is going. Google Drawings can be used to show entity relationships. Couple it with real-time collaboration and you get a useful tool for creating schemas.
Annotating Screenshots Annotating images help to describe what an image is all about. In a time when everything is so graphic, annotation also works as a tool for visual “storytelling.” Again, you can choose from a wealth of web annotation tools. Google Drawings is one that’s close by for any image commentary. Annotating an image in Google Drawings is simple with the variety of tools on offer. Use Print Screen to take a screenshot (or upload an image directly to Google Drawings). Use the Crop tool (Format Crop Image) on the toolbar to isolate the section you would like to show. Use the Shape and Line tools to highlight the points on the image.
Google Drawings has a variety of shapes and arrowheads to help you stylize the annotations. Insert text annotations (with the Text Box) and format with font style and size. Also, try Shapes Callouts. Go to Format Image Options for any color corrections. Go to File Download as for the finished PNG or JPEG file.
You can also share the annotated image via Google Drive. Create Hotspots on Images Think of a world map. Clicking each country takes you to the Wikipedia page with all the details. Think of an idea. Explain it better by breaking down the idea and linking its part to more external data. With the help of an image map or hotspots, you can convey a lot of information with just a single photo or drawing. Google Drawings helps you easily craft neat image maps without any knowledge of HTML.
And quickly, too. Insert or draw an image on a blank Google Drawings canvas. Go to Insert Line Polyline. Use the Polyline tool to draw around the clickable area. Go to Insert Link (or Ctrl + K) and add the external webpage or another Google Drive document to the hyperlink box. Make the bounding polygonal area vanish by setting Shape and Line color to transparent.
Share the Drawing, embed it in your blog, or download it as a PDF file. Watch Chris Betcher use a Google Drawing for an image map of his team: A Canvas For Your Ideas Like any other drawings tool, only your ideas can explore the limits of Google Drawings. From explaining multi-step processes to brainstorming collaboratively, Google Drive’s much neglected family member could be your favorite foot soldier for everyday tasks. Tools like Microsoft Visio might be more convenient for more complex charting jobs, but few tools can beat Google Drawings at its most unique selling points – real-time collaboration and the fantastic price of free. As a chess lover, I can’t help but think – is it possible to create a real-time chess game with Google Drawings?
Or an with graphics, text, and hotspots? See where my wild thought took me! So, tell me yours. Do you use Google Drawings? What are the creative uses you can think of putting Google’s fledgling tool to? Explore more about:,.