ABC Company makes extensive use of documents and spreadsheets for managing operations, finalizing requests from clients, and sharing information. The files currently reside on Bob Smith's computer, and are shared out to staff and clients using e-mail. This process requires Bob to keep his computer with him at all times, adds unnecessary complication to client conversations, and encourages the accidental use of multiple versions of the same file.
A more efficient and effective process would be for ABC to make use of the currently available free web-based document sharing environments. The environment chosen is Google Docs, although a product called Zoho was also evaluated. The two products are similar in features but in order to keep things as simple as possible, I am recommending Google Docs because it will be integrated with the Google E-Mail account that I'm recommending for achieving some of ABC's other goals.
Contents
Share Files with Staff and Clients
Send File to Non-Google-Docs User
Function Sheets - Working and Signed-Off
Once you have created a Google account, you automatically have a Google Docs account (also known as "Drive").
If you are already signed in to Google (ie. Gmail), to access your Google Docs, simply click the "Drive" link on the top bar (in between Gmail and Calendar).
If you're not already signed in to Google, navigate to docs.google.com. Log in with your Google/Gmail account.
I recommend using folders to organize your documents. Initial folders to consider setting up:
· Purchasing
· Catering Docs
· Function Sheets
· Menus
· Recipes
To create a folder, click the "Create" button in the top-left and select "Folder".
After you've created your folder, it will appear in your "My Drive" list.
When you first access Google Docs, you will be in your root folder.
Click a folder in your list to navigate into that folder.
To return to the root folder, click "My Drive" on the left nav.
To navigate to a different folder, click that folder name on the left nav.
To create a document:
1. Navigate to the folder in which you want to keep the document. I don't recommend keeping any (or many) documents in your root folder. Perhaps some high-level instructions (like this document).
2. Click the orange "Create" button on the top-left of the screen
3. Select the type of file you want to create (ie. Document, Spreadsheet, Etc)
4. Google Docs will create a new file which you can begin working in immediately
5. Give the file a name by clicking "Untitled filetype" at the top of the screen and entering a new name
6. Changes are saved automatically - you do not need to explicitly save
7. When you're finished working on the document, you can simply close the browser tab. The new document will appear in the list within the folder.
Many of the files you'll want to share already exist - you don't want to have to re-create them within Google Docs. To add an existing file:
1. Navigate to the folder in which you want to keep the document.
2. Click the orange "Upload" button on the top-left of the screen (beside the "Create" button... a picture of a drive with an up-arrow)
3. Click "Files"
4. Find and select the file on your computer and click "Open"
5. Wait for the file to be uploaded. It will then appear in the list of files within the folder. Note that you can NOT edit the uploaded file.
6. If you want to share the file as read-only (ie. Recipe files), you're done.
7. If you want to edit the file and/or allow others to edit the file, you will have to convert it to Google Docs format:
a. Click the checkbox beside the file and click the "More" drop-down list at the top
b. Select "Open With" and select "Google Docs"
c. You can then edit and manage the file
d. After you've converted the file to Google Docs format, you will see that there are two files with the same name in your folder. The original, uneditable, version will have a file extension (ie. .doc) and the new, editable, editable version will not.
e. I recommend deleting the original file because you can't edit it, and it is just confusing to have it sitting in there.
To edit a file in your Google Docs:
1. Navigate to the folder which contains the file
2. Click the Title of the file
3. Make your edits. You do not have to explicitly save - changes are saved automatically.
To edit a file you uploaded from your computer, remember that you have to go through the process of converting it to Google Docs format, per the "Add an Existing File" section above.
To rename a file:
1. Navigate to the folder which contains the file
2. Click the check-box beside the file
3. Click the "More" drop-down list at the top and select "Rename"
4. Give the file a new name
To delete a file:
1. Navigate to the folder which contains the file
2. Click the check-box beside the file
3. Click the "More" drop-down list from the top and select "Remove"
4. The file will be moved to the trash folder without asking you to confirm!
5. If that's not what you intended to do, click the "Undo" button at the top where it says "1 item was moved to the Trash"
If you realize that you deleted a file that you didn't intend to delete, you can recover it as follows:
1. On the left-nav, if you don't see the "Trash" folder, select the "More" link
2. When the Trash folder is exposed, click it
3. Click the checkbox beside the file you wish to recover
4. Click the "Restore" button at the top
Note that to share a file, every person that you want to share the file with will need a Google account. You can provide them with the following instructions:
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Please note that ABC Company is now using Google Docs to share files. In order to read or update our files, you'll need to have a Google Docs account.
If you already have a Google account (ie. GMail), then you already have a Google Docs account. When you log in to Gmail, simply select the "Drive" link at the top of the screen (in between "Gmail" and "Calendar").
If you do not already have a Google account, please use your internet browser to go to docs.google.com and create an account. You will then be able to access the document links that I will send you. |
The best way to share a file as read-only is to create the file on your computer and then upload it to Google Docs. Uploaded files are uneditable by definition. To share a read-only file:
1. Follow the instructions to "Add an Existing File" above, WITHOUT converting it to Google Docs format
2. Check the checkbox beside the file
3. Click the "More" drop-down, go to the "Share" sub-menu and click "Share"
4. In the "Add people" box, enter the e-mail addresses of the people you want to share the file with. Note that you CAN use an e-mail distribution list here instead of typing all the addresses individually
5. Click "Done"
6. Everyone you entered will get an e-mail with a link to the document in Google Docs.
To collaborate with multiple people editing a file is very simple with Google Docs. You will need a file that is in Google Docs format. Then, you simply send out a link to share the document. Everyone's changes are saved (and tracked, so you know who made what change). Follow these steps:
1. Make sure you have an editable file, either by creating it brand new within Google Docs, or by uploading and then converting it (per the "Add an Existing File" instructions).
2. Check the checkbox beside the file
3. Click the "More" drop-down, go to the "Share" sub-menu and click "Share"
4. In the "Add people" box, enter the e-mail addresses of the people you want to share the file with. Note that you CAN use an e-mail distribution list here instead of typing all the addresses individually
5. Click "Done"
6. Everyone you entered will get an e-mail with a link to the document in Google Docs.
7. When people make changes to the document, the changes will be saved automatically.
8. See the "File Versions" section below for information about how to see the different file versions, including information about who made each update.
If you want to send a file to a non-Google-Docs user as an attachment (which does not include any file sharing features - it is a work-around only), you can do that as follows:
1. Navigate to the folder containing the file
2. Check the checkbox beside the file
3. Click the "More" drop-down, go to the "Share" sub-menu and select "Email as attachment".
4. Enter the e-mail addresses of the people you wish to send to and click "Send"
5. The recipients will get a copy of the file as an attachment (same as if you'd sent it from regular e-mail).
I recommend the following process for managing your Function Sheets so that there is a "Working" copy which can be modified and a "Signed-Off" copy which cannot be modified, only viewed:
1. Add the Function Sheet:
a. If it is a brand new document, create it within Google Docs. Give it a name with the word WORKING at the end.
b. If it is a document that is on your computer, follow the steps above to add an existing file. Rename the file to have the word WORKING at the end of the title.
2. Share the file with the applicable staff and client(s)
3. When you're ready to create a "Signed-Off", read-only version of the file, download the file to your computer:
a. Check the checkbox by the file
b. From the "More" drop-down, select "Download"
c. On the "Convert and Download" page, confirm the offered document type is correct
d. Click the "Download" button
e. The file will be downloaded to your computer - this will put the file in a place determined by you, or by your browser, depending on how your browser works. You'll have to find the file - if you're not given a choice of where to put it, it's probably gone into your "My Documents" or "My Downloaded Files". It will have the same filename as it has in Google Docs.
4. Immediately Re-Upload the file you just downloaded (see "Add an Existing File" above).
5. The file will be added to your file list. Rename it and change the word WORKING to the word FINAL (or a word of your choice to indicate that it is signed-off and not editable).
6. The FINAL file will be uneditable because files uploaded but not converted cannot be edited.
Anytime changes are made to a file in Google Docs, Google automatically creates a new version of the file, and tracks who created that version. There is no need to keep multiple versions of your files on your computer.
To see the versions of a file:
1. Navigate to the folder which contains the file
2. Click on the title of the file as if you're going to edit it
3. From the "File" menu, select "See revision history".
4. When you've selected "See revision history", the version history will appear on the right-hand side of the screen. Click any version in the list to see that version of the document, and who created that version.
To restore the file to a previous version (ie. if the newest version is wrong):
1. Follow the instructions above to view the versions of the file
2. Select and view the version that you want to restore. Look through the version and make sure it's the right one.
3. When you're satisfied that you've found the right version of the file, click "Restore this revision" (on the right-hand menu/list of Revisions).
4. If you've made a mistake and restored the wrong version, you can always go back to the revision list and find the one you really wanted.