Google introduced Smart Canvas a few months ago, a broad initiative aimed at making you more productive, especially when you’re remote. Here are the main new features.
Google introduced and rolled out a number of productivity features at its Google I/O conference in May 2021 with Android 12 operating system and various updates. Mountain View brings all of these features together to make hybrid work easier under the name Smart Canvas.
These updates, features, and tools aim to further improve the popular Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps, according to a Google blog post. It should also make it easier to stay connected and focused and, more generally, work more efficiently with Google Workspace, especially now that more and more teams are working remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here’s a little overview of what Google has integrated into its Workspace tools with Smart Canvas and how to use these new features.
Smart chips to identify people, files, events and appointments
The Google Smart Canvases update includes smart markers, an extension of the existing Google Docs mentions functionality. Now, if you type “@”, you can not only identify other users, but also add specific links to files, events, and appointments. This feature is also available in Google Sheets.
Smartchips also allow you to create lists online and on mobile devices, as well as assign tasks to others. These assigned tasks will appear in the person’s to-do list in Google Tasks.
In addition, Smart Bullets includes templates in Docs to better track reviews, projects, and more. There is also a template for taking meeting notes and importing information from calendar invitations.
Make Pages Disappear in Docs
If you only write in Notes, you are most likely familiar with page breaks in programs like Google Docs. With Smart Canvas, you can make them disappear. This way, the last words of a sentence, diagrams, or images won’t go to the next page. According to Google, if you want to print or convert to PDF, you can enable page breaks.
Timeline representation in Sheets
Sheets offer a new kind of timeline to make it easier to follow the progress of tasks. In this view, you can organize information by owner, category, and more.
Integrate documents, spreadsheets and slides into Google Meet
You can share content with others during a Google Meet call from Docs, Sheets, or Slides with minimal interruption. That being said, you must use Google Chrome to enjoy it.
Google Meet also offers live subtitles in five languages, and live translation is still in beta. The first translations will be from English into Spanish, Portuguese, French and German. Others will arrive soon.
Google Chat
Google is also adding collaboration tools to Google Chat to make it easier to create and edit during meetings. It is available for Documents, Spreadsheets and Slides. Google is even adding emoji reactions to Docs.
Writing help functions
Smart Canva also has writing assistance features in Docs on the web. A bit like Grammarly. In addition to style recommendations, this feature can give you word choice advice. A similar helper feature is coming to Slides to help you better organize your data.