Google Apps - New Sharing Choices

A very recent update has been the option of how documents are shared with others.  In addition to a new look, there is another choice.

As for the look, some of the verbiage has changed, an icon is different, and users have the option of easily changing between the different options that are available for them.  There is an icon of a pencil in the upper left corner of the document (on the end of the toolbar) that can be selected now.  Clicking on this gives the options of Editing, Suggesting and Viewing the document -


Any that you as the user are unable to use will be grayed out.  Formally there was not the ability to change between views - you either had editing rights, or the top of the document said "View only."

What do each of these look like? Well... there isn't much actually difference in how the document looks in the editing and viewing options and they function the same as they did previously:


It is the new option of Suggesting that is the real eye-catcher of this update.  This allows you to mark suggestions in the document yet let the owner see what the suggestions are:

It does two things - it marks up the document using an assigned color, using strikeouts for any suggested deletions.  It also starts a comment chain to the right that allows the owner to easily select whether to accept the suggestion OR revert it back to the original text.

Additionally, if you are in the suggesting mode you have another visual cue with your cursor - 

I can see so many applications for this - especially in the ELA classroom!

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