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TechFortune 500

Google Just Made a Big Update to Google Docs

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
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By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 16, 2017, 3:22 PM ET

People using Google Docs will have an easier time collaborating.

The search giant said Wednesday that it has upgraded its popular online word processing service to make it easier to use for big projects that require a lot of input from others, often at the same time.

The changes are intended to improve how people are updated about multiple, recent edits. For example, one update lets users see all of their team’s edits in one place, “version history,” while another one lets people see “clean” versions of documents without other people’s edits or comments.

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People can also choose to either accept or reject a person’s edits all at once to avoid having to manually approve each individual change on a document.

The updates make Google Docs more akin to Microsoft’s (MSFT) competing Word, which includes similar editing capabilities.

Google also said that customers of its G Suite work collaboration service, which includes Docs and the Slides spreadsheet program, would now be able to better search for files containing specific words that they are looking for. Now, Docs and Slides users can use the built-in “explore” tab to scan for other files without leaving the two programs.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
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Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

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