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About this lesson

How to track changes for multiple collaborators.

Exercise files

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Suggesting Mode Solution
Link Suggesting Mode
Link

Quick reference

Suggesting Mode

When turned on, it tracks all changes made by to a document for review.

When to use

Especially useful when collaborating on a document with other people who need to see what changes are being made, and by whom.

Instructions

Modes

  • Editing  - The default mode; edit documents normally.
  • Suggesting - Track all changes made to the document.
  • Viewing - View the document without making changes.

Activate suggesting mode

  • Click on the drop down menu on the right side of the toolbar

  • Click on “Suggesting”

or

  • Click “View”
  • Click “Mode”
  • Click “Suggesting”

Comment boxes

  • Displays who made the change and when
  • Describes the change
  • Options:
    • Checkmark (Accept suggestion): turn the suggestion into normal text
    • Ex (Reject suggestion): undo the suggestion
    • Three dots:
      • Delete: undo the suggestion
      • Link to this comment: get a link to the comment
  • Reply: Reply to the comment
  • Note: Anyone who can edit the document can accept or reject changes.

 

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  • 00:05 When you are collaborating with other people, it can be most helpful to provide
  • 00:09 edits and suggestions to others on the same documents that you're working on.
  • 00:14 And sometimes you may want to have others approve or
  • 00:17 reject certain edits or certain suggestions.
  • 00:22 Now, by default, most of the time you will be in Editing mode.
  • 00:26 This allows you to freely add new content to your Google document.
  • 00:31 But perhaps we are just making suggestions or proofreading someone
  • 00:36 else's document and we don't want to make our changes permanent.
  • 00:40 In this case,
  • 00:40 we will want to select Suggesting mode where edits only become suggestions.
  • 00:47 Nothing is changed just yet but
  • 00:49 watch what happens when I start changing some of the text.
  • 00:53 Let's say, for example, I don't want this word to be us, I would rather it say me.
  • 00:59 I'm gonna first delete it and then add the word me.
  • 01:02 And you will see on the screen it has crossed out the existing word and
  • 01:07 it has added my new word in a different color.
  • 01:11 But on the right hand side of the screen, we can see further details.
  • 01:15 Google Documents will record who made the change, at what time
  • 01:19 did they make the change, and it will also be specific as to what change was made.
  • 01:24 In this case, I've replaced us with me.
  • 01:28 Now others who have access to this document can choose to either accept
  • 01:32 the suggestion or reject the suggestion.
  • 01:37 Now just before I make a decision here,
  • 01:39 let's make another change to this document.
  • 01:42 But in this case,
  • 01:43 I'm just going to add a comment, I'm not going to actually edit the text.
  • 01:49 So for example, let's say I'm not very happy with this last line in the sentence.
  • 01:54 I'm gonna highlight it, and then to the right, I'm gonna select Add a comment.
  • 02:00 And now I can share with others that I don't like this here.
  • 02:05 I'm gonna select Comment and now others who have access to this document
  • 02:10 can see my comment attached to the highlighted area here.
  • 02:15 Now again, there are a few other choices we can select from.
  • 02:20 I can choose to resolve this comment or this discussion and
  • 02:24 the highlight and the comment will go away.
  • 02:26 I can also choose to edit my comment.
  • 02:29 Maybe I wanna be more descriptive and add some more words here.
  • 02:33 I can also choose to delete the comment, or
  • 02:37 if it may be helpful, I can link directly to this comment.
  • 02:41 Let's say I want to reference this particular suggestion
  • 02:44 in a very lengthy document.
  • 02:47 I can copy and paste this link and put it in an email or some other format.
  • 02:53 So now that I've got a few suggestions, I've got a suggestion here and
  • 02:58 an edit here, I can choose as to what I want to do with them.
  • 03:02 So with the first one, let's say I like the change.
  • 03:05 I want it to say me.
  • 03:06 I'm gonna select the checkbox.
  • 03:09 And now you see there is no other markup text on the document itself.
  • 03:14 And let's say we've already had a discussion with my collaborator and
  • 03:18 we're happy with leaving the sentence the way it is.
  • 03:21 I'm gonna select Resolve and now you see no further comment,
  • 03:25 no further history on the right hand side of the screen.
  • 03:29 So especially if you are collaborating with others,
  • 03:32 get familiar with the Suggesting option, allowing you to safely make edits
  • 03:38 which are not permanent but which can be accepted or rejected at a later time.

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