How to Open Google Drive PDFs with Able2Extract Professional (Quick Tip)

How to Open Google Drive PDFs with Able2Extract Professional

It comes as no surprise that all digital workers use Google Drive for working online at one point or another. You can access your work from anywhere, collaborate on content easily, and integrate your work with a full suite of tools from Google. 

Despite all the advantages, issues can and do occur between your desktop and online files. In some cases, the online apps offered by Google aren’t always the most robust to use.

You would normally use your own full-featured tools that are installed on your desktop that does what you need. This can be especially true for PDF files where you need powerful features.

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7 Google Drive Tips To Make Online Research Easier

When you need to learn about something, the Internet is the number one resource to scout out.  And given the amount of information you can find online, no matter what area, industry, or topic you’re researching,  a huge chunk of your time will be spent recording the research you find.

As you can imagine, combined with the web pages you have to go through, this can slow you dow big time. That’s why some users like to keep their workflow online with tools like Google Drive.  But if you’re using Google Drive to quickly record data, then your biggest challenge lies in working between your research and how you use Google Drive itself.

If you’re writing for an online publication, are drafting a research paper, or are reporting on industry trends, accessing the information you record is perhaps one of your main priorities. To make things easier, try a few of the Google Drive tips below to keep your research going smoothly.

1.  Perform A Google Drive Search from Chrome

Because you can need a document at any given time, it’s important to be able to pull up the right file in an instant. Google Drive Quick Search makes it easy to start a search through your Drive directly from the Chrome URL address bar. Type “drive” in the address bar, your keywords and query, then hit enter. You’ll be directed to your drive with the related results ready and waiting for you to sift through.

2. Save Your Text to Google Drive

Save Text to Google Drive does exactly what its name implies. This Chrome extension makes it super easy to export heavily dense text webpage research from the web directly to your Google Drive.

Save text to Google Drive

Once installed, simply highlight the text you’re interested in, activate the extension by clicking on it in your toolbar or extension menu, and click on the Save button. The extension will create a document with the text in the Drive you’re logged into.

3. Quickly Access Folders and Create Google Docs From Your Toolbar

To access folders and separate files instantly, simply bookmark the URL of the file or document on your toolbar.  Open the file or folder in Google Drive and bookmark the URL you see in the address bar. Admittedly, this is a simple tip, but extremely handy if you like keeping things at your fingertips.

Creating Google Docs Instantly

 4. Search Your Google Drive Directly From Gmail

Don’t waste time going back and forth between your Google Drive and Gmail.  You can do both at the same time by adding the Apps Search for Gmail extension. This is handy for when you’re either exchanging emails regarding your research project or are working with colleagues.

It will let you extend your search to Google Docs to fish out the files you’re looking for.  You can add the extension by going into Settings>Labs from your Gmail.  Then select to enable it for your account. Don’t forget to hit the “Save Changes” button at the bottom.

5. Edit PDF Text Uploaded To Google Drive

Because a lot of research comes in the PDF format, you may want to pay attention to the “Convert Text from Uploaded PDF and image files” setting. Have you been ignoring it? Well, it’s time to start paying attention to it. This setting allows you to convert PDF to text which you can then  edit within a Google Doc.

Convert text from PDF

Go to the gear icon Google Drive and access the drop down menu. Then go to Upload Settings. From there, put a check mark in the “Convert Text from Uploaded PDF and image files”  option by clicking on it.  Select the Document language. You can have this permanently turned on, but if you want to use it selectively, keep the “Confirm settings before each upload” option checked.

6.  Save Images Directly to Google Drive

Who doesn’t clip web pages when researching online? Good news is you can do it with Google Drive. Save to Google Drive can serve as a simple web clipping tool, allowing you to instantly save content from the web to a Google Drive folder. Once you have it installed,  go to the page you’re interested in and activate it by clicking on its button to the right of the address bar.  It will then save your content in .PNG format.

7. Access Google Drive And Other Google Services From Chrome

Here’s a great Chrome extension for pushing your research productivity to the limits. Black Menu for Google allows you to access files on your Drive and to your other Google services in a side bar right within Chrome.

Perfect for Google addicts with research spread across different services. You can get the Black Menu extension from the Chrome Web Store.

Got any Google Drive tips of your own? We’d love to hear them! Add them in the comments below and let us know how they helped you deal with your web research.

How To Export Open Office Files To Google Docs

Working via the cloud is unavoidable these days. Thanks to mobile devices, we’re finding more efficient ways of working while away from the office.  In fact, a common productivity habit these days is to send the document you’re working on to Google Docs so you can edit them from anywhere.

Well, if you’re using Open Office to create those documents, we’ve got a great productivity tip for you. In addition to helping you convert PDF to Open Office, we came across an Open Office extension that will let you instantly export your Open Office files to Google Docs: OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs (OOo2GD).

OpenOffice.org2Google Docs is an extremely handy plug in that allows you to export, import and update your Writer, Calc, and Impress files to and from Google Docs.

The best part about this extension is that it simplifies the entire process and lets you do it right from within the Open Office suite itself. Take a look.

Installing OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs

To start exporting your files, you’ll obviously need to install the plug in first.  To do so, follow these steps:

1. Download the OOo2GD extension by clicking on the Get it Now button. Save the extension to a location you will remember.

2. In Open Office Writer, go to Tools>Extension Manager…

Accessing OpenOffice Extension Manager

3. In the Extension dialog, click on Add. Then browse, locate and select the OOo2GD extension you saved in step 1.

Adding OpenOffice Extensions

Once installed you should see it enabled in the extension list:

OOo2GD Toolbar AddOn

4. Restart Open Office. You’ll find the OOo2GD Add-On ready for you to add to your regular toolbar for quick one-click access to the functionality. Place it on your toolbar by clicking and dragging it to an empty spot on your toolbar.

OOo2GD Toolbar AddOn

Note: This is toolbar is optional. You can also access the functionality via File > Google Docs & Zoho.

How To Export Your Open Office Files to Google Docs

Now that you have the extension installed, you’re ready to start exporting your files to Google Docs. We put a quick step-by-step tutorial to help guide you through the process. To export your Open Office document,

1. Open the file you wish to export and click on the Export to Google Docs button:

Exporting OpenOffice to GoogleDocs

2. In the pop up dialog, enter your Google Docs Account credentials

Entering GoogleDocs Credentials

3. Select Convert to Google Docs format and Autoupdate. This will allow you to automatically set your file up for syncing and editing within Google Docs.

4. Click on OK.  OOo2GD will then start uploading your file to your Google Drive.

5. Sign into your Google Drive account and locate the file

OpenOffice file in GoogleDrive

6. Click to open the file and you can then edit the document as needed within Google Docs

Editing OpenOffice in GoogleDocs

You can also quickly import Google Docs into Open Office in a similar manner. After clicking on Import to Google Docs, just input your credentials, click on Get list and you can select which file you want imported. Click on Open. 

Importing GoogleDocs to OpenOffice

This extension is perfect and convenient for worker bees who need to take their work home with them. It eliminates the hassle of a USB key and toggling back and forth between saved copies.  Do you have a favourite OpenOffice extension yourself? Which one helps you out the most?