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When you are using the Web for research, it is often easier and faster to use a desktop machine, with your Gsuite account and the Keep extension installed in your browser. Note that the process detailed below does NOT work on a device [tablet or phone].
When it comes to fast, informal online research, the Google Keep Chrome extension could be the ticket. Just save a link—along with a label and note—then export your Keep notes to Google Docs.
Three Google tools—Chrome, Google Keep and Google Docs—streamline the web research process. The Google Keep Chrome extension, specifically, lets you save, annotate and categorize web links, then export a selected set of saved Google Keep notes to a Google Doc.
The Keep extension eliminates the need to select a site’s URL, copy it, paste it into a document, add a note, then return to browse additional search results.
To streamline the whole process, make sure you have Chrome installed and are signed in with your Google account. The steps below cover how to install the Keep extension (a one-time process) as well as the routine research sequence.
Web research: Search, review, annotate, label and save
As you search and browse the web, anytime you want to save a web link, select the Keep extension. This automatically captures the URL for the page, creates a Keep note with the link, and places the cursor in the Keep Note field. Add any relevant text in the note (e.g., why this link is relevant, important items about the page or any commentary on the contents). Optionally, you may add a title to your note.
Select the Keep extension to create a note with the link to the web page. Optionally, you may add text, labels, and a note title.
You can use labels to categorize Keep notes. Select the label icon, then either type text to create a new label or select a previously added label from the list that displays. You may apply more than one label to a Keep note (e.g., for printer research, I might apply not only a “printers” label, but also an “all-in-one” label for devices with a scanner).
On every web page you want to save, repeat the process: Select the Keep icon and add text and labels.
Go to keep.google.com to review your saved links and notes. Select from the list of labels (displayed on the left) to filter your Keep notes and only display those with the selected label.
At keep.google.com on the web, select a label to show only notes with that label.
You can export a set of Keep notes into a single Google Doc.
There are several ways to filter and select notes. –> Select a label (along the left) to display all notes with that label. -> Press Ctrl+A to select all displayed notes. -> Or, move the cursor over a note, then click near the circle with a check mark in it (in the upper-left section of each note) to select or deselect it.
Once you have selected the set of Keep notes to export, select the More menu (the three-vertical dot menu in the upper right) and choose Copy To Google Docs .
Choose Open Doc (in the lower left) to display the Google Doc created from your selected Keep notes.
At this point, your Google Doc contains the links, notes and titles from your selected Google Keep notes. Now you can edit your Google Doc as needed.
After you have chosen notes to export, select the More menu (three vertical dots in the upper right), then Copy To Google Docs.Select Open Doc to access the Google Doc created from your selected Keep notes.The resulting Google Doc includes complete URL details and links from the saved Keep notes, along with any text and titles you added.
As of late July 2021, all of these features are available when you use Google Docs in Chrome on a computer. Where specifically mentioned below, you also may access these features in Google Docs mobile apps. Everything you need to know is covered below.
1. How to @ add smart chips in Google Docs
Type the @ key into a Google Doc while in Chrome on the web and a list of smart chips options displays (Figure A). The list might include people, files, dates or upcoming calendar events. Type one or more additional characters and the displayed items list changes as you home in on the item you intend to @ include.
Each smart chip displays relevant data when selected and offers a link to the included content. A contact smart chip displays additional information about the person (See How to connect to people within a Google Doc for more details). Files similarly shows a mini preview pane, with a few details about who owns the files and recent changes. Dates display and provide access to a calendar and a Book Meeting option. Event chips link directly to the event on Google Calendar.
Figure A
In a Google Doc on the web, type @ to add smart chips, which let you insert a link to people, files, dates or calendar events.
2. How to create checklists in Google Docs
Google Docs now supports checklists. Select the icon (Figure B) to add a new checklist in your document, then enter individual items, each on their own line. An empty box displays next to each item. Check the box to mark a task complete and strikethrough the line’s text. Uncheck the box to remove the strikethrough formatting and check. In the Google Docs mobile app on Android or iOS, while editing a Doc, the Checklist icon displays as an option to the right of the left- and center-text icons.
Figure B
Select the checklist icon, then add one or more items. Select the checkbox to mark off an item.
3. How to control paragraph placement between pages in Google Docs
Sometimes, you want to make sure that document text remains together–that you don’t have a heading without a paragraph, that you don’t split a paragraph, or that you don’t leave a single line from a paragraph by itself (Figure C). Select the text you want to keep together, then select Format | Line & Paragraph Spacing, then select from the options:
Keep with next, to keep a heading and paragraph together,
Keep lines together, to prevent a paragraph from being split between pages, or
Prevent single lines, to ensure that a lone line doesn’t dangle on a different page.
While your Google Doc may display a page break as you and your team edit, your text will be grouped as selected when you print.
Figure C
Three different line and paragraph spacing options let you control and keep text together when printing. While text and lines might look separated by a page break (upper left), since the Prevent Single Lines option is selected (upper right), the printed output (lower image) ensures that the content is kept together on the page.
4. How to layer images above or below text in Google Docs
You may adjust an inserted image in a Google Doc to be a background or an overlay for text (Figure D). An image behind text might make an excellent masthead for a newsletter. This also allows you to place captions, for example, directly on top of an image. Just make sure to use a contrasting color to ensure the visibility of your text! Conversely, an image in front of text might make words seem to grow out of an image or hang below it.
To modify the layer of an inserted image, click (or tap) on it to select it, then select either the Behind Text or In Front of Text icon. Alternatively, select an image then choose Format | Image | Image options | Text wrapping, then select the style (i.e., Behind Text or In Front of Text). In Google Docs on Android, while editing a Doc, tap on an image, select the three-vertical dots menu | Image options | Image | Text Wrap, then select either Behind Text or In Front of Text.
Figure D
You may choose to have images in a Google Doc display behind or in front of text.
5. How to present to a meeting with Google Docs
When using Chrome on a computer, the option to present a Google Doc to Google Meet displays in the upper right (Figure E), by the blue Share button. After you join a Google Meet session on your computer (e.g., in another tab in Chrome), select the Present to a Meeting icon. The system should auto-recognize that you’re in an active meeting and display a “Present Tab to Meeting” button. Select that button to present your Doc within Meet.
If you aren’t in an active Google Meet session, you may select the Present to a meeting icon and the system will show upcoming scheduled Google Meet calendar events for the day. All of these Present to Meet features work in Google Sheets and Google Slides within Chrome on the web on a computer, as well.
Figure E
In Google Docs in Chrome on the web, the ever-present Present to Meet icon lets you present your file to an active Google Meet session.