Smart Canvas is here

List type: Checklist

Everyone can do ugly square bullets, but now Docs has got its very own checklist list type.

Checklists not only look great, they are also very functional. They allow you to tick off individual items and will literally cross that item off your list - it's immensely satisfying.

Lightweight project managers, meeting minute writers, list makers, bullet journalers - your day has come.

Intelligent link suggestions

The @ sign is your new best friend. In Gmail, Chat and Currents, it can @mention someone to draw attention. In the editors, it can transform a comment into an action item.

However! that is nothing against what you can now do in Docs (and, I am sure, very soon in the other editors as well). Typing @ will bring up suggested people, files and Calendar events to link to, depending on context. As you start to type, the suggestions change and home in on what you want.

File chips 🍟

I am a big proponent of chips - people chips have been a roaring success and Google has heard us.

You can insert a file chip either by your new friend, the @ command, or by pasting a Drive URL to any file. Legacy files are also welcome, folders and binary files are welcome.

There are several advantages of using file chips instead of links:

• They look very cool. They also show you off your editor knowledge.

• On a more serious note: They make your document look tidy.

• You gain speed and avoid typos by adopting the linked file's title.

• They reveal to the viewer the sort of document you are linking to.

• They can be easily dragged and dropped around.

• As an editor, clicking them gives prompts you if their title is out of date.

Calendar chips

Calendar chips insert links to a calendar event - other people can open that event or copy its link. And, being a chip, it can be moved around easily. As with other chips, they bring order into documents (especially if there are many events, such as in a table). Before, there was no easy way to get links to events.

It does respect event visibility, of course - so you cannot accidentally expose something by inserting a Calendar chip. People with insufficient access will see at most a "busy" event. Calendar chips do not update if the event changes.