Week 4: Run efficient projects

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Stay on top of your projects, manage your time efficiently, and make the most of Google Sheets and Slides.

1. Manage to-do lists

2. Become a spreadsheet expert

3. Give impactful, interactive presentations

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1. Manage to-do lists

Overview: Manage your to-do lists with Tasks and Keep

Manage your tasks and project lists with Google Tasks and Google Keep.

Tasks is a simple way to create personal lists of daily tasks with due dates. It integrates seamlessly with Gmail and Calendar, and syncs on all your devices.

Working with a team on a project? Use Keep collaboratively with your team, from creating shared color-coded task lists to reminders that are integrated in Gmail and Calendar.

Access your to-do lists

Open Tasks:

On the web

Open Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides and on the right, click Tasks .

On Android devices

1. Tap Play Store  to open Google Play.
2. Install the Tasks app.

On Apple iOS devices

Install the Tasks app for Apple iPhone or iPad.

Open Keep:

On the web:

In your web browser, go to keep.google.com.

On mobile devices

1. In the Play Store (Android) or App Store (Apple iOS), download and install the Keep app.
2. Tap the Keep app on your device to open it.

Note: You can also open the sidebar in Gmail or Docs Editors to access Keep and Tasks.

Create a Keep note and see it on any device

On the web

1. Choose an option:

   • Click Take a note and enter a note.
   • Click New List  and add items to your list.

2. (Optional) To add a title, click Title and enter your title.
3. Click Close.

On a mobile device

1. Choose an option:

   • Tap Take a note and enter a note.
   • Tap New List  and add items to your list.

2. (Optional) Add a title.
3. Tap Back to save the note or list and go back to the Notes page.

Pin a note in Keep

You can pin important notes to the top of your Keep feed to access them quickly. 

1. Go to keep.google.com.
2. Hover over the note you want to pin.
3. Click Pin note .

Organize Keep notes with hashtags and labels

Tag your Keep notes with a hashtag and label by using the "#" symbol then typing a label name. You can then search all relevant notes under that hashtag.

1. Click or tap Menu Create new label.
2. Enter a label name and click or tap Done.

Tip: To create a label, type #newlabel. To apply a label, type # and then select the label you want.

Learn more

Share a note in Keep

On the web

1. Hover over the note or list and click Collaborator .
2. Enter a person's name or email address. As you enter text, you get suggestions you can select.
3. Next to each name, click Add collaborator  to add the person.
4. (Optional) To add more people, repeat steps 2–3.
5. Click Save.

On a mobile device

1. Tap the note or list you want to share and tap More Collaborator.
2. Enter a person's name or email address. As you enter text, you get suggestions to pick from.
3. Tap Save.

Add Slides and Docs files to your Keep lists

You can quickly create Keep notes out of existing images, texts, or data. The new note will include a link back to the source document.

1. Open a Slides or Docs file.
2. Select and right-click an image or text.
3. Click Save to Keep.
4. (Optional) Edit your note or add it to a list.
5. Click Done.

Tip: You can also add a Keep note to a document. From Docs, Sheets, or Slides, open the Keep sidebar and drag the note into your document.

Drag an email to your Task list

You can drag an email to Tasks, and it appears as a task in a list. You can then edit the task, add details, and schedule recurring or one-time reminders.

1. Open Gmail and drag an email into the Tasks window. The task is the email subject.
2. In the task, a link appears so you can easily reopen the message.

Learn more

Create and assign tasks in a space

As a member of a space in Google Chat, you can create and manage group tasks and assign tasks to other space members. You can view tasks in the space where they're created. If a task is assigned to you, it appears in your personal task list in Google Tasks. When someone creates or updates a task, a notification appears in the space.

Tip: If you use a work or school account and don't have the “Tasks” tab in a space, contact your Google Workspace administrator to turn on this feature

1. Open Gmail or Google Chat.
2. Select the space where you want to create a task.
3. On the top, click the Tasks tab Add space task.
   Tip: In Gmail, you might have to expand the space to view the Tasks tab.
4. Enter the task title.
5. Optional: To add a description or more details, click Add details and enter the information.
6. Optional: To add a date and time, click Add date/time Make selections click OK.
   Tip: If you add a date and time to your task, you get notifications at the scheduled dates and times.
7. Optional: To assign the task to a member of the space, click Assign click the name of the person. To assign the task to someone who isn't a member of the space, invite them to the space first.
   Tip: If the assignee leaves the space, the task remains in the space and in their personal task list in Google Tasks.
8. Click Add.

After you create a task, a notification displays in the space to let everyone know.

Learn more

Set recurring reminders in Tasks

You can set deadlines for Tasks and add recurring reminders. Adding a due date also adds the task to Calendar.

1. Click Add a task, and enter a task.
2. Click Edit Add date/time.
3. Select a date and time.
4. Click Repeat  and select the recurrence for the task.
5. Click OK.

Note: You can also set reminders in Keep.

Learn more

2. Become a spreadsheet expert

Add checkboxes to your spreadsheets

1. In Sheets, open a spreadsheet and select the cells where you want checkboxes.
2. Click InsertCheckbox.
3. (Optional) To delete checkboxes, select the checkboxes you want to remove and press Delete.

Note: In formulas, unselected checkboxes have a value of FALSE (exclude) and selected checkboxes have a value of TRUE (include). You can see the value in the Formula bar. You can also change this value.

Learn more

Create graphs and charts from your data

1. Open Sheets and in a spreadsheet, highlight the range of data you want to create a chart for.
2. Click InsertChart.
3. (Optional) In the editor, change the chart type and other aspects.
4. (Optional) In the editor, to tailor axes, styles, titles, and more, click Customize.

To learn more, see Chart and graph types.

Duplicate tabs to make quicker copies

1. Open the sheet.
2. At the bottom of your spreadsheet, on the sheet’s tab, click the Down arrow .
3. Select Delete or Duplicate.

Create custom tab colors

Change the color of tabs on a spreadsheet to quickly tell them apart.

1. On a sheet tab, click the Down arrow .
2. Click Change color and select a color.
3. (Optional) To choose a custom color, click Custom and select a color using the sliders or by entering a color number.

Remove duplicate data

You can easily remove duplicate values from your sheet, without having to write an app script or manually removing the data.

1. In Sheets, open a spreadsheet.
2. Select the data range that you want to remove duplicate data in.
3. Click DataRemove duplicates.
4. Select which columns to include and whether the data has headers.
5. Click Remove duplicates.
6. In the status window, click OK.

Record macros

1. In Sheets, open a spreadsheet and click ToolsMacrosRecord macro.
2. Select the type of cell reference to use.
3. Complete the task you want to record and click Save.
4. Name the macro and click Save.
5. Click ToolsMacrosyour macro to run the macro.

Learn more

Limit what people can see or edit with protected ranges and sheets

Prevent others from making changes to sheets and ranges

1. Open the sheet and click Data > Protected sheets and ranges.
2. Click +Add a sheet or range.
3. Click Range to protect a range of content or Sheet to protect a whole sheet.
4. Click Set permissions and choose whether to show a warning or restrict who can edit the content.
5. Click Done.

Hide a sheet

1. On the tab for the sheet you want to hide, click the Down arrow .
2. Click Hide sheet.

Note: People with Edit access can unhide a sheet. People with View access won't see the sheet, but they can make a copy of the spreadsheet and can unhide the sheet.

Learn more

Sort and filter your data

To filter data in a spreadsheet for all viewers, create a filter. To create filters that don't affect anyone else's view, create filter views.

Create a filter

1. Select a range of cells.
2. Click DataCreate a filter.
3. Go to the top of the range and click Filter  to see the filter options.

Create a filter view

1. In Google Sheets, open the spreadsheet where you want to create a filter view.
2. Click a cell that has data.
3. Select DataFilter viewsCreate new filter view.
4. Click a drop-down list in a column header and select the data you want to filter. Your filter view is saved as you make changes.
5. (Optional) To search for data, enter text in the search box.
6. After you select the data to filter, click OK.
7. Repeat steps 4–6 for each column you need to filter.
8. In the Name box, enter a name for your filter view. If you don’t enter a name, the filter view is saved as Filter number, where number corresponds to the number of filters you’ve created.

Your saved filter view now appears in DataFilter views. Filter views have dark gray highlights in the column and row headers.

Learn more

3. Give impactful, interactive presentations

Create a presentation with Docs editors templates

Choose an option:

• In Slides, click Create .
• In Drive, click New and then next to Google Slides, point to the Right arrowand click Blank presentation or From a template.

Learn more

Skip slides you don't want to show

You can skip slides you don't want to show to others when you're presenting. People you've shared the slide with will still be able to see the slide.

1. At the left, right-click the slide.
2. Click Skip Slide.
3. (Optional) To show a skipped slide, click Skip Slide again.

Learn more

Copy formats you like to other text

Copy text or cell formatting

You can quickly copy the formatting of text you like to other areas.

1. In a Sheet, Doc or Slide, format your text or cell the way you want it. 
2. Highlight the text or cell and click the paint roller icon in the top left corner. 
3. Click a cell or highlight text. The cell or highlighted text will pick up the same formatting. 

Copy a theme to a new presentation

You can also copy a Slides theme you like to an existing or new presentation.

1. In Slides, create a new presentation. Or, if you’re modifying an existing presentation, click SlideChange theme.
2. Click Import theme.
3. Choose a presentation from Google Drive or choose a presentation to upload from your computer.
4. Click Select.
5. Choose a theme and click Import theme to apply it to your current presentation.

Learn more

Link content between Docs editors files

Add a Sheets chart to your presentation

1. In Sheets, select the chart you want to copy.
2. At the top right, click More Copy chart.
3. In Slides, right-clickPaste. 
4. Click Paste.

For more details, see Insert and edit charts.

Add suggested content, including documents in Drive

1. In Slides, open a presentation and click Explore .
2. In the Explore window, next to Search , enter your query and press Enter.
3. Choose an option:

   • To open a web result, under Web, click a link.
   • To add an image, click Images. Hover over an image and click Add .
   • To open a Drive file, click Drive and then click a file.

Learn more

Create flow charts with drawings

Create a flowchart, diagram, or other type of drawing

1. Open Google Drive.

2. Click  NewMoreGoogle Drawings.

3. Use the menu options and buttons to design diagrams, paint an image, and create flowcharts and other types of drawings.

Add your drawing to a document or presentation

1. Open Drive.
2. Open a saved Google drawing.
3. Select the entire drawing.
4. Click EditCopy.
5. Open the document or slide where you want to insert the drawing.
6. Click EditPaste.

Insert other types of diagrams

1. Click InsertDiagram and choose an option:
   • Grid
   • Hierarchy
   • Timeline
   • Process
   • Relationship
   • Cycle
2. After you select a diagram, customize it further by choosing an option at the top of the diagram window.

Learn more

Add speaker notes

You can add speaker notes to presentations that only you will see when you present. People you share the presentation with will be able to see the notes. When you present your slides, your speaker notes show in a separate window.

Below the slide, click Click to add speaker notes, and add your text. If you don't see the Click to add speaker notes section, at the top, click ViewShow speaker notes.

Learn more

Turn on closed captions

You can use automatic captions during your presentation to display your words in real time at the bottom of the screen.

Your computer microphone needs to be on and working and you need to be using Chrome. This feature is only available in U.S. English.

Learn more

Hold a live Q&A

Get questions from the audience

1. In Slides, at the top right corner next to Present, click the Down arrow Presenter view. 
2. In the pop-up, click Audience Tools.
3. Click Start New.
   A new short URL for the presentation shows up at the top of the slides as you're presenting. Audience members can enter the URL in their browser and ask a question. You'll see questions in the Presenter view window.

Present questions from the audience

1. In Slides, go to Audience Tools.
2. Under the question you want to display, click Present.
3. (Optional) To change the question, find a different question and click Present.
4. (Optional) To stop showing the question that you want to display, click Hide.

Ask or vote on questions

1. In Slides, at the top of the presentation, click the link (for example, goo.gl/slides/a1b) to ask a question. Or, enter the link in a browser window.
2. Click Ask a question and enter your question.
3. (Optional) To submit a question anonymously, check the Ask anonymously box.
4. Under a question, click Thumbs up or Thumbs down to vote on it.
5. Click Submit.

Learn more

Next steps

Want to get a jump start on becoming productive on Google Workspace? See the Week 5 checklist.

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