Google Docs
Senior 4 · ICT
Google Docs
Lesson 4 of 5
25 min
The water-use group from lesson 1 now has twelve pages of text, lists and tables. Before they hand it in, their teacher asks for four things: a photo that shows what they studied, a diagram of how rainwater reaches a tank, links to the sources they used, and on every page the report's title and a page number, except on the cover. Each request is one item on Google Docs' Insert menu.
Definition
Header: an area in the top margin whose content repeats on every page (or every page of a section). Footer: the same area in the bottom margin.
Page number field: a number placed in a header or footer that the word processor updates by itself as pages are added or removed.
Hyperlink (link): text or an image that, when clicked, opens a web address, an email address or another place in the same document. Bookmark: a named position in a document that a link can jump to.
Alt text (alternative text): a short written description of an image, read aloud by screen readers for people who cannot see it.
Insert → Image offers several sources: Upload from computer, Stock & web (search), Drive & Photos, Camera and By URL (paste the address of an image). Click an inserted image to see its options:
For a report, In line or Break text is usually best: the picture stays with the paragraph it belongs to. Behind text and In front of text suit posters, not reports. In pageless format (File → Page setup → Pageless) only the in-line layout is available, so switch to Pages to use the others.
Important
Only use images you are allowed to use, and credit them. A picture found by a web search usually belongs to someone. Use your own photos, or images under a free licence such as those on Wikimedia Commons, and write a credit under each one: who made it, the licence and where it came from, as in the caption above. The Stock & web search in Docs shows images, but you must still check the licence of the image you choose.
Insert → Drawing → New opens a drawing canvas inside the document. Its toolbar has lines and arrows (including elbow connectors that stay joined when shapes move), shapes, text boxes and word art. Draw, then click Save and close; the drawing appears in the document, and double-clicking it opens it again for editing. Insert → Drawing → From Drive inserts a drawing made separately in Google Drawings; it stays linked to the original and can be updated.
A drawing is the right tool for a simple flow diagram, such as roof → gutter → pipe → tank → tap, made of boxes joined by arrows.
To jump inside a long document, place the cursor where the reader should land and choose Insert → Bookmark; then link to it from anywhere through the Bookmarks list in the link box. Click a link to see its address, change it, or Remove it.
In the current Google Docs these sit under Insert → Page elements: Header, Footer, Page number and Footnote. You can also double-click in the top or bottom margin of a page to open its header or footer.
Headers, footers and page numbers only exist in Pages format: a pageless document has no pages to number.
In 30 Minutes: Google Docs Basics, add headers, footers or page numbers. Watch how the header is opened, how Different first page removes it from the cover, and where page numbers are placed. In the newest Google Docs these commands sit under Insert → Page elements.
Worked example 1: "Page 2 of 12", but not on the cover
Result: page 2 shows "Page 2 of 12". The cover still counts as page 1, so the numbering continues correctly; to make the first content page show 1 instead, use More options and start numbering at a chosen page or section.
Worked example 2: place the photo for a printed report
The group inserts the rainwater-tank photo in the middle of a paragraph. When they add a line above it, the photo jumps to the next page and leaves a gap; the text runs beside it in a thin strip.
Analysis. The photo is set to Wrap text with Fix position on page, so it stays at a fixed place while the text moves past it.
Fix. Set the layout to Break text and Move with text (or simply In line), put the photo in its own paragraph after the text that refers to it, add a caption below in italics with the credit line, and set its alt text: "Black plastic rainwater tank beside a brick classroom block."
Warning
Do not type page numbers yourself. A number typed at the bottom of each page is wrong as soon as a paragraph is added above it. A page number field updates itself.
Check every link before you share. Click each one: a link to a page that has moved, or to a file only you can open, is a dead end for the reader.
Tip
Header for "what", footer for "where". Put the report's title in the header (what the reader is holding) and the page number in the footer (where they are). That is the layout of most printed reports and textbooks.
Check: the cover has no header or footer, the page numbers change by themselves when you add a page, and every link opens.
Practice
Key points
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
A report's cover must have no header, but every other page must show the title at the top. What do you use?
