Does this ever happen to you? Your client emails you a Word document or Excel spreadsheet asking you take action or make changes, but as a dedicated Google Workspace user you’ve got no way of opening them let alone amending the documents.
If you’re like me before I discovered this tip, you probably followed this process with a total of 12 steps:
- Downloaded the attachment to your computer by hovering over the attachment and clicking on the left hand down facing arrow icon
- Opened or switched to your Google Drive browser tab
- Uploaded the file in a two step process:
- clicking on New / File upload
- selecting the file
- Opened the file as a Google Doc or Google Sheet
- Made the changes
- Downloaded the file as a Word document or Excel spreadsheet (yay, now you’ve got two of the same files, brilliant)
- Deleted the original Word document or Excel spreadsheet from Google Drive to save on storage and prevent version control issues in the future
- Deleted the original attachment from your computer and renamed the new file
- Returned to Gmail and found the original email
- Drafted a reply to your client and attached the amended file(s).
- Went for a cup of tea or coffee to recover.
Or maybe you took this slightly shorter (9 steps vs 12 steps) option:
- Added the attachment directly to Google Drive by hovering over the attachment and clicking on that middle Google Drive icon
- Opened or switched to your Google Drive browser tab
- Opened the file
- Made the changes
- Downloaded the file as a Word document or Excel spreadsheet
- Deleted the original Word document or Excel spreadsheet from Google Drive to save on storage and prevent version control issues in the future
- Returned to Gmail and found the original email
- Drafted a reply to your client and attached the amended file(s).
- Went for a cup of tea or coffee to recover.
Well guess what? There is an easier way!
Yes, hard as it is to believe there is a way that not only takes less than 9 steps but also minimises version control issues in Google Drive.
So, let’s start again. You’ve gotten an email from your client with a Word document or Excel spreadsheet attached. What are you going to do now? You will take the following 5 steps (yes, that’s right only 5 steps!):
- Choose to edit the attachment directly as a Google Doc or Sheet by hovering over the attachment and clicking on the right hand pencil icon
- Switch over to the Google Drive browser tab that would have opened the file and make the changes
- Download the file as a Word document or Excel spreadsheet
- Return to Gmail and found the original email
- Draft a reply to your client and attach the amended file(s).
And then you’ll move immediately onto the next task because there’s no need to recover with a cup of tea or coffee!
One more thing
You can do this with PowerPoint slides as well! Just hover over the attachment, click on the pencil icon and make your changes in Google Slides.
Then download the file as a PowerPoint file and bob’s your uncle!
Want more personalised help?
I hope this article was of assistance to you, but if you want more personalised help then why not get in touch?
I specialise in helping small business owners just like you work better with Google Workspace so you can save time and money by streamlining your business processes; increasing your productivity; and improving client and employee comunications.