Tip: Are you looking for a way to make your calendar invite stand out on someone's calendar? Want to bring a little ✨fun✨ to your day? Do you love emojis 🎉😁🎸🐬🏖 🙋🏻‍♀️? Do you already know how to use them in Gmail labels? And react to parts of a Doc with them? And even search for Google photos using just an emoji? 🐶 (and no matter where you're putting them, you know you can insert them quickly! - one of my top tips ever) 

You can also use them in Calendar invites!

How to use: When creating a calendar event, insert an emoticon. That's it! If you add guests the emoji will show on their calendar as well. 

Tip: You already know how to insert Drawings into Docs or use the Explore feature in files to easily pull up images and put them into your documents. But you want to make sure that anyone using a screen reader gets the best experience with your images as well! Add alt text for your images in Docs! (otherwise a screen reader just says "image")

How to use: In a Doc, right click on an image and click Alt text. From there you can title the image and provide a detailed description. More best practices below! 

More best practices for Alt text:

• Always provide alt text for any visual data if there are no other text annotations. Some images automatically include alt text. It's a good idea to verify that the automatic alt text is correct. To write good alt text:

• Describe the content and function of the image in context

• Be succinct

• Don't include extra words like "Image of" or "Photo of"

• Include punctuation, if needed

• For repeated images, use consistent alt text

• Avoid all caps

• Introduce diagrams in the text, not in the alt text

Tip: Did you have a great chat thread during your team Meet meeting where lots of links were sent? Some good discussion and questions during an All Hands? Disappointed because your meeting ended and you forgot to copy/paste something you needed out of the chat? 

Use the Save Meet Chat Chrome extension to automatically save Meet chats!  

How to use: Install this Chrome Extension. Then, view your automatically saved meet chats one of three ways:

1) Immediately upon ending the call, on the "left meeting" screen.

2) By opening the extension (via the icon in the Chrome toolbar, if you don't see it there remember you can pick which extensions to show)

3) Or in Calendar, attached to the bottom of the event details popover.

You can even search chats to find something you remember and are looking for! 

Tip: Are you presenting your screen but still want to see people's faces to see if they laugh at the joke you practiced for your presentation?? Need to see if someone has their hand raised but still want to have slides in present mode? 

Over a year ago my hack to present and see participants at the same time was one of my most popular tips - but the hack is needed no more, it's built right into the product! 

How to use: In a Meet call where you're presenting, first, share your screen to the call. Then, back in the call,  click on the three dots > Open Picture-in-Picture. From there you can navigate to other tabs, enter present mode, and even drag and drop the picture tile around the screen to position to your liking. Quickly click on the tile to return back to the tab if you want to see all participants and/or stop screen sharing!

Don't forget - you can use Chrome's Picture-in-Picture for things other than Meet - like watching your favorite sports game while you answer email 😉 🏈

Tip: Are you drafting a review or summary for a tool at Google that has a word limit? A character limit? Are you writing a novel in Google Docs? Are you wondering how many words your document is? Do you wish you knew how many pages were in your Doc? How many characters??

Check easily or have it displayed all the time! 

How to use: In Docs go to Tools > Word Count. From there you can see Word count, Page count, Character count and more. Toggle the box to show it all the time in the bottom left corner. 

Tip: Leaving a team to go to another? Heading out on an extended leave? Decide you can't make it to a meeting and want to give someone else a chance to move it, but not everyone? Giving ownership of a calendar invite over to someone else to manage changes for a group? No need to copy or remake the event, reattach documents & history...

Just transfer the entire event to someone else in one step! 

How to use: In Calendar, open an event that you own and that you'd like to transfer (can be recurring or one-time). Click on More Actions > Change owner. Type the name of the new owner and put in an optional note! They will get an email with a link to confirm taking ownership of the event. That's it! 

Tip: You already know how to work on a draft email in Docs with a group, but what if you want it clear that the email is still in draft form? Want to add your team logo to a document about your team procedures? Want a PRD to show clearly that it's still being finalized? Need to mark a presentation privileged & confidential? 

Add a watermark to your Google Doc! 

How to use: In Docs, type @ and drop down to Watermark. From there you can choose to upload an image or type text. Customize settings like transparency and font size. 

Tip: Do you and your team assign action items or your own to-dos from design docs, launch plans, or meeting notes in Docs? Using checkboxes in Docs as a to-do list and want to see them in your Tasks side panel as well? Would you like to capture all of your action items across all documents in a single place? 

Create tasks from Docs that appear automatically in your Tasks list!

How to use: In a Doc, type the @ sign and drop down to "Checklist. Then, hover your mouse to the left of the checkbox and click the "Add to Tasks"  (or use the shortcut by typing “@task” directly into the Doc.) 

From there, you can assign the task to yourself or another Googler and (optionally) add a date. The task will link directly back to the document and the assignee will be notified via email. Assign a task to yourself and it will show up on your own task list. The task can be checked as "complete" from either Tasks or the Doc and its status will be updated everywhere!

Tip: Tired of clicking on six different tabs that all look the same before finding the Google Doc you wanted? Wish you could have a different little icon so you knew what was what? You already know how to create a custom favicon for your own Google Site but now you can customize the Chrome icon for any site at all!  

How to use: Download this internal Chrome extension.  Then when you're on a tab you'd like to customize the icon for, click the extension button 🐶 and enable permissions*. From there choose the icon you prefer or paste one from a site like Emojipedia. Never lose that tab in a sea of blue squares again!

If you don't see the extension, customize which Chrome extensions show on your bar. Also, instead of granting access domain by domain, you can go into the extensions settings (link will only work after you install it) and check the very bottom button to allow it to run on any site. Some sites cannot be changed for security reasons. Read more FAQ and documentation about the extension here.

Tip: Do you have a tab problem? Even when you pin tabs do you have too many things open? Need a way to group your tabs together to make them easily accessible and visible? Have some tabs open about one project and another set of tabs on a completely different topic? 

Easily organize and group tabs in Chrome!

How to use: In Chrome, right click on a tab you want to organize. From there, create a new tab group (or add to an existing tab group). Once you've grouped tabs you can change group colors, click tab group names to expand and collapse those tabs, and even move a tab group to its own window. 

Tip: Do you have a tab problem? Have you tried grouping tabs, switching tabs, and pinning tabs but still having a hard time finding something that's open? Try searching all of your open Chrome tabs instead! 

How to use: In Chrome, click the little downward arrow in the top right of the browser window. Search for a tab you have open and your focus will be taken to that tab! You can even close tabs from this view. 

Tip: Do you have a bit of a tab problem and have a million things open at once? Do you find yourself opening the same Doc over and over? Wish there was a way to see if you already have something open in Chrome, and then switch over to it?

There is! Switch Tabs in Chrome!

How to use: Open a new Chrome tab, and start typing the name of a Doc or site you suspect you may already have open. If the tab is open, you'll see the item listed with the "Switch Tab" button next to it. Even if it's in another window it will bring you right to that tab and close the new tab you just opened. Less tabs, more efficiency!

Tip: Are you creating a project tracker in Sheets? Maybe a timeline? Do you want people to see how much time is left until the big launch day, without having to constantly update it? 

Add an automatic countdown timer! 

How to use: In Sheets enter your "launch" or final deadline date in a cell. In your countdown cell enter =INT(A2-NOW()) where A2 is your final date.* Then go to File > Settings > Calculation > and drop down to On change and every minute. Now your date will stay updated all the time for anyone who opens the Sheet!