Embedded Files
Google Docs is once again changing the game. If you're like me, you spend too much time fussing about the layout of written text, optimizing for the wrong format.
You are likely reading this on a screen. Maybe a laptop, maybe on a big external monitor - maybe on a phone. You care about what you see, not what you would hypothetically print out. You can safely assume that your audience feels just like you.
Google is introducing pageless documents to create documents for the 21st century. Here is how to get time back by creating documents that look better out of the box, and focus on what you're paid for.
Infinite space for you and your team, on the most advanced collaborative word processor.
Pageless documents speed you up - no pointless fiddling
Pageless documents speed you up - no pointless fiddling
These features are not available in pageless documents, replaced by something better.
Page numbers
Page numbers
It doesn't matter whether your document has 16 or 21 pages - it's long, period. People navigate using the scrollbar and links to headings anyway. Page numbers have lost their meaning on screens.
Headers and footers
Headers and footers
Interrupting your audience's reading flow with a "©Company, 2022" every few paragraphs is as annoying as an advertisement. Therefore, pageless documents don't display headers and footers. If you need disclaimers etc., insert something at the top and the bottom of your text. Once is enough!
Table of contents
Table of contents
Don't make your document even longer. Google Docs already shows a document outline (1 in the screenshot on the right). It's always up to date and links to content.
Zoom level
Zoom level
Pageless documents are as wide as they have to be (while still looking good). Yes, pageless documents still have a width (it's not MS Notepad) - but that width depends on your resolution.
Table width
Table width
If you have inserted data in table form, you have wrested column width. It rarely looks good and it requires too much time.
Pageless documents let you insert wide tables, wider than your text. No need to insert awkward landscape pages or to sacrifice image readability by cropping and resizing.
Page breaks
Page breaks
If you're like me, you have agonized over shaving off two characters to avoid adding a second page to your document. Or with avoiding the paragraph continuing on the next page. I had not realized how pointless that is for documents that will be read on a screen.
Things I'd like to come back
Things I'd like to come back
I hope these features come back - I find they add value:
Watermarks - I like "Draft" or "NDA" - Docs supports watermarks in paged documents only. I put those words in the document title instead.
Endnotes - Docs only supports footnotes, which do not make sense in scrolling text. But endnotes would be great. I like being able to hover over text and see the note.
Image flow - Docs supports fancy text flow over and around images (like in this post). I'd like that to be available in pageless documents, too.
How to write better documents
How to write better documents
Make your document pageless
Make your document pageless
You can make any existing document pageless:
In the document, open File > Page setup.
Click the Pageless tab (1 in the screenshot on the right).
Optional: Make the pageless format your default (2).Click ok. You're done!
Cool things to try
Cool things to try
Keep the outline (1 in the screenshot above) visible and see how it builds up as you write.
Insert tables and make them wider than the text.
Resize your document to see what happens.
Make your Chrome window wider and narrower. Still looks great!
View > Show ruler if you are curious. (2 in the first screenshot). You can set the maximum width per paragraph if you insist. You can also right-click the ruler to set your margins to narrow or wide. Note that this is a per-viewer setting, so this impacts only your viewing pleasure.
Now, you try! Your rolling meeting minutes and your daily log should be the first to go pageless. Next, impress your audience by making reference documents pageless - these will never get printed. Make the documents you collaborate on pageless and watch how collaboration speeds up as your team stops worrying about low-value skeumorphism. Here is to changing the way we work, for the better! Thanks for reading!
Skeumorphism
Skeumorphism
A nerdy word you should start throwing around: It means interfaces that (try to) look like real objects. Dials, rolodexes, page turning animations.
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