Guy Hart-Davis - Teach Yourself VISUALLY Google Workspace

257 254

258 255

259 256

260 257

261 258

262 259

263 260

264 261

265 262

266 263

267 264

268 265

269 266

270 267

271 268

272 269

273 270

274 271

275 272

276 273

277 274

278 275

279 276

280 277

281 278

282 279

283 280

284 281

285 282

286 283

287 284

288 285

289 286

290 287

291 288

292 289

293 290

294 291

295 292

296 293

297 294

298 295

299 296

300 297

301 298

302 299

303 300

304 301

305 302

306 303

307 304

308 305

309 306

310 307

311 308

312 309

313 310

314 311

315 312

316 313

317 314

318 315

319 316

320 317

321 318

322 319

323 320

324 321

325 322

326 323

327 324

328 325

329 326

330 327

331 328

332 329

333 330

334 331

335 332

336 333

337 334

338 335

339 336

340 337

341 338

342 339

343 340

344 341

345 342

346 343

347 344

348 345

349 346

350 347

351 348

352 349

353 350

354 351

355 352

356 353

357 354

358 355

359 356

360 357

361 358

362 359

363 360

364 361

365 362

366 363

367 364

368 365

369 366

370 367

371 368

372 369

373 370

374 371

375 372

CHAPTER 1

Getting Started with Google Workspace

In this chapter, you learn what Google Workspace is, meet the suite’s apps, and get an executive overview of the various account types available and how to sign up for Google Workspace. You then discover how to sign in, how to run apps, and how to configure your profile information and photo. You also learn about using Google Workspace on mobile devices.

Understanding What Google Workspace Is

Meet the Google Workspace Apps

Evaluate Google Workspace and Choose an Edition

Sign Up for Google Workspace

Sign In to Google Workspace

Run an App

Set Your Profile Information and Photo

Using Google Workspace on Mobile Devices

Understanding What Google Workspace Is

Google Workspace is a suite of web applications and services built on Google’s client computing infrastructure. Google Workspace’s apps include the Gmail email service; the Google Drive online storage service; the Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides productivity apps; the Google Keep notes app; the Google Forms app for designing forms, distributing them, and collecting their responses; and various communications apps, such as Google Meet and Google Chat.

Google launched the service as Google Apps for Your Domain in 2006, renamed it to G Suite in 2016, and rebranded it as Google Workspace in fall 2020.

Google Workspace Is a Business-Focused Service

Google is universally known for the free services it provides to consumers in exchange for some of their personal information. For example, consumers can use the Google search engine, the Gmail email service, and the Google Hangouts chat and videoconferencing service for free.

By contrast, Google Workspace is a business-focused service with a monthly fee per user. Many of the apps and services included in Google Workspace are the same as those available to and widely used by individual consumers, but Google Workspace brings them together into a comprehensive suite that delivers extra features and enhanced capabilities. For example, Google Workspace enables an organization to use its own domain for email addresses, provides administrative tools for creating and managing user accounts, and offers larger amounts of storage on Google Drive.

Users Access Google Workspace via Google Accounts

A Google Account is a single credential — a username and password pair — that gives you access to Google apps and services.

The Google Account acts as a key to both consumer accounts and Google Workspace accounts. The principal difference is that a consumer sets up their own Google Account and an administrator sets up a Google Account for each user in a Google Workspace organization.

The administrator retains centralized control of the Google Accounts in a Google Workspace organization and can configure many settings to control what the users can do. As a trivial example, the administrator can control whether or not users can change their profile photos and personal information.

Web-Based Apps Provide Easy Version Control and Updating

Like most Google apps, the Google Workspace apps are web based rather than being installed on users’ computers. Web-based apps require an Internet connection but deliver substantial benefits for management, standardization, and updating: Each time the user accesses a web-based app, they get the current version of the app without having to worry about updating it; and because each user receives the same version of the app, app features and capabilities will be consistent for all users — as will any bugs.

Google provides mobile versions of many apps for Android phones and tablets and for iOS devices — the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod touch. These mobile apps do require installation, but both Android and iOS can either automatically install updates or prompt users to install them, so keeping the mobile apps up to date is not usually a problem.

Users Can Easily Work on Different Devices

Because the Google Workspace apps are web based, and because the apps store their files in Google Drive, users can easily work on different devices without having to worry about synchronization. For example, a user might create a spreadsheet in the Google Sheets app when working at the office on a desktop computer, make some changes to the spreadsheet at home that evening using the Google Sheets app on an iPad, and then enter data in the spreadsheet on a laptop the next day while visiting clients.

Meet the Google Workspace Apps

Google Workspace contains a bewildering list of apps, many of which are available to all Google Account holders but some of which are available only to Google Workspace users.

This section introduces you to the most important apps, including the email app, Gmail; the storage app, Google Drive; the productivity apps, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides; the communications apps, Google Chat and Google Meet; the note-taking app, Google Keep; and the form-design app, Google Forms.

Gmail

With an estimated 1.8 billion active users as of this writing, Google’s Gmail service needs little introduction. Apart from enabling you to send and receive email messages on your Google Account, Gmail provides powerful search and filtering tools to help you access and manage your messages.