Google's New G Suite Features: Boost Collaboration Within Your Team

Managing dozens of edits and tones of suggestions! This is just a brief and highly rudimentary definition of project/team management. 

Therefore, it goes without saying that collaboration within the team makes the perfect “shield” against pure chaos, time-consuming version control problems and challenging information tracking issues.

And this is precisely why Google's new G Suite features are “collaboration features” first and foremost and some truly handy, real-time editing features secondly. 

Here's just a quick “teaser” on this update of Google Docs, Sheets and Slides:

• built-in add-ons tailored to your organization's specific workflow
   
• improved version control management tools
   
• advanced information tracking, improved search results
   

And now, without further ado, let's put the spotlight on Google's new G Suite features:

1. Improved Version Control 

And this is gold when it comes to effective time and teamwork management!

Just try to turn back the hands of time and to go back to that “prehistoric age” when teams used to share docs by email and to pile up a whole load of doc versions, each one having its own name. Each one sent out to all the other members of the team.

Now, come back to the present time when Google's new G Suite features include some well-improved version control management tools! 

Let us detail: now you get to edit a “draft 1” document as many times as you need, Google automatically saves it each time you apply a new change; once you're through with the editing you can go ahead and name it “draft 2”.

Google will promptly store all these multiple versions, that your team can assign custom names to, and so each team member gains access to the whole “version history”.

Just navigate to Select File > Version history > Name current version and keep a close track of and easily manage all your team's edits in that specific document (slide or sheet)! You and your team members can see the entire “work in progress” and access any specific older versions of the same doc.

2. One of The Handiest of Google's New G Suite Features: Preview a “Clean” Doc

Here's a new reading experience-enhancing feature that Google introduces in its latest G Suite update: you get to preview a “clean” version of your current document!

Basically, anyone from your team can navigate to Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Preview accept all/Preview reject all and see that specific doc either:

1. “clean”, lacking  any of the suggested edits/comments
    
2. with all the subsequent editing marks added to
    

3.  Accept/Reject All Edit Suggestions With Just One Click

OK, so “collaboration” sure is the keyword to describe Google's new G Suite features, yet there's another one we can add: convenience!

For instance: you get to either accept or reject all the suggested edits at once. With just one click! Simply go to: Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Accept all or Reject all.

This way you're sparing your team members' time. The time they would otherwise invest in reviewing every formatting or punctuation mark edit.

4. Suggest Changes On-The-Go, on Android and iOS

Long gone are the days when you could turn on suggestion mode and do your editing exclusively on your PC.

By far one of the much awaited of the Google's new G Suite features is precisely this one: you now get to edit your doc on-the-go, right from your mobile device!

Just hit the “...” placed in the top corner of your document, sheet or slide and turn on the “suggest changes” mode. Talking about convenience, right?

5. Promptly Compare Doc Versions and Track Changes 

Along with “team collaboration” and “convenience”, “promptly” is another suitable word to define Google's new G suite features. 

You get to promptly review headlines thanks to the now built-in Workshare and Litera Change-Pro add-ons!

6. New Templates With Built-In Add-Ons Tailored to Your Workflow

Why should you have two separate “can't live without” features, when you can... have a powerful two-in-one tool instead? Meaning: why should you have time-saving templates, on one hand, and add-ons loaded with needed functionality on the other?

G Suite now brings you: templates with pre-built add-ons! With customizable add-ons to fit your own company's specific workflow.

For instance, you might depend on a tool like LegalZoom or LucidChart or rather DocuSign. Now you can have your template paired with precisely that add-on!

And there's more! If none of the available templates incorporating “luring” add-ons suits your needs, feel free to... create your own! Pick a template, pair it with the add-on of your choice and voila: custom-fit template integrated with your much-needed add-on!

7. G Suite Integrates With Google Cloud Search

Can you anticipate how this Google update will impact information tracking within your team?

Let us give you some hints:

• your team members will no longer need to leave the currently opened document whenever they have to scan through all their internal docs searching for a particular piece of information: G Suite incorporates Google Cloud Search now 
   
• you get a richer set of search results, since the app will list every occurrence of that needed information across all your Google apps
   

In other words: you no longer need to specifically access Google Cloud Search to retrieve needed data! You just open up the Explore tab in your current document/slide and enter your search word(s). A whole list of Google apps (from your G suite) including that specific piece of information will then unfold.

And these are Google's new G Suite features that our team of Toronto developers here (who're “dependent” on G suite) are most excited about!

How about you? Have you had the chance to test any of them?