Google Apps Hacks by Philipp Lenssen Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: April 16, 2008 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-596-51588-1 Pages: 374 Table of Contents | Index Overview Can Google applications really become an alternative to the venerable Microsoft Office suite? Conventional wisdom may say no, but practical wisdom says otherwise Right now, 100,000 small businesses are currently running trials of Google office applications So are large corporations such as General Electric and Proctor & Gamble Google Apps Hacks gets you in on the action with several ingenious ways to push Google's web, mobile, and desktop apps to the limit The scores of clever hacks and workarounds in this book help you get more than the obvious out of a whole host of Google's web-based applications for word processing, spreadsheets, PowerPoint-style presentations, email, calendar, and more by giving you ways to exploit the suite's unique network functionality You get plenty of ways to tinker with: Google Documents Share and edit documents with others in real time, view them on the run with Google Docs mobile service, and use Google Notebook for web research Google Spreadsheets Add real-time data to spreadsheets, and generate charts and tables you can embed in web pages Google Presentations View them on a mobile phone and save them as video Gmail Send email to and from a mobile phone, adjust Gmail's layout with a style sheet, and a lot more iGoogle Create your own gadgets, program a screenscraper, add Flash games, and more Google Calendar Add web content events, public calendars, and your Outlook Calendar to this application Google Reader, Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google SketchUp: the new 3D modeling software tool Picasa, YouTube, and Google Video discover new ways to customize and use these media management apps In addition, Google Apps Hacks outlines ways you can create a simple web site with nothing but Google tools, including Page Creator, Blogger, Google Analytics, and content from other Google apps This amazing collection just might convince you that Microsoft Office is not the last word in business applications The price is certainly right Google Apps Hacks by Philipp Lenssen Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: April 16, 2008 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-596-51588-1 Pages: 374 Table of Contents | Index dedication FOREWORD PREFACE MEET THE GOOGLE DOCS FAMILY Hack 1 How to Get Your Google Account Hack 2 Collaborate with Others Through Google Docs Hack 3 Make a Desktop Icon to Create a New Document Hack 4 Embed a Dynamic Chart into a Google Document or a Web Page Hack 5 Share Documents with a Group Hack 6 Automatically Open Local Files with Google Hack 7 Google Docs on the Run Hack 8 Back Up All Your Google Docs Files Hack 9 Beyond Google: Create Documents with Zoho, EditGrid and more THE GOOGLE DOCS FAMILY: GOOGLE DOCUMENTS Hack 10 Let Others Subscribe to Your Document Changes Hack 11 Blog with Google Docs Hack 12 Insert Special Characters Into Your Documents Hack 13 Search and Replace Text Using Regular Expressions Hack 14 "Google Docs Light" for Web Research: Google Notebook Hack 15 Convert a Word File Into a PDF with Google Docs Hack 16 Write a JavaScript Bookmarklet to Transmogrify Your Documents Hack 17 Remove Formatting Before Pasting Text Into a Document Hack 18 Prettify Your Document with Inline Styles THE GOOGLE DOCS FAMILY: GOOGLE SPREADSHEETS Hack 19 Add Live Data to Your Spreadsheet Hack 20 Pick a Winner at Random Hack 21 Embed Your Spreadsheet in a Web Page Hack 22 Use Google Spreadsheets as a Content Management System Hack 23 Show Elapsed Time as Days and Hours Hack 24 : Show the Weekday or Month of a Date Hack 25 Show the Difference Between Two Dates Hack 26 Automatically Complete Lists of Related Items Hack 27 Import Data from Web Sites Hack 28 Format Cells According to Their Values Hack 29 Convert Currencies Within Your Spreadsheet THE GOOGLE DOCS FAMILY: GOOGLE PRESENTATIONS Hack 30 Add a Custom Presentation Theme Hack 31 Find Images for Your Presentation Hack 32 Shrink Your Presentation for Easy Sharing Hack 33 Use PowerPoint Templates Hack 34 View Your Presentation on a Mobile Phone Hack 35 Make Your Presentations Easy to Read Hack 36 Embed a Presentation in Your Web Page Hack 37 Drag and Drop Images from Other Web Sites Hack 38 Save Your Presentations as Video BECOME A GMAIL POWER USER Hack 39 Send Mail to Several People at Once Hack 40 Import Contacts from Other Email Programs Hack 41 Adjust Your Gmail Layout Hack 42 Change the Appearance and Behavior of Gmail Hack 43 Read Gmail on Your Mobile Phone Hack 44 Organize Messages as They Arrive Hack 45 Gmail Drive, Your Online Hard Drive Hack 46 Know Your Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts Hack 47 Make Gmail Better Hack 48 Back Up Your Email Hack 49 Attach a Google Docs Document to Your Email Hack 50 View Unread Messages Hack 51 Insert Pseudographical Email Signatures Hack 52 Forward Messages to Your Cellphone Hack 53 Create Spare Gmail Addresses Hack 54 Search for a Specific Language Hack 55 Link to Conversations, Searches, Labels, and More Hack 56 Beyond Google: Yahoo! Mail, MS Hotmail, and More CUSTOMIZE YOUR GOOGLE HOME PAGE Hack 57 Add Google Tools to iGoogle Hack 58 Chat from iGoogle Hack 59 Create Your Own iGoogle Gadgets Quickly Hack 60 Program Your Own iGoogle Gadget Hack 61 Create an iGoogle Theme Hack 62 Add Google News to iGoogle Hack 63 Embed Content from Any Web Site in a Gadget Hack 64 Add Any Flash Game as a Gadget Hack 65 Beyond Google: Netvibes, Pageflakes, and More MANAGE YOUR EVENTS WITH GOOGLE CALENDAR Hack 66 Access Your Calendar from a Mobile Phone Hack 67 Subscribe to Public Calendars Hack 68 Create a To-Do List in Google Calendar Hack 69 Share Calendars Hack 70 Put a Calendar XML Widget in Your Blog Hack 71 Embed All Kinds of Content in Calendar Events Hack 72 Style Your Calendar Hack 73 Quickly Add Events from Anywhere Hack 74 Know the Weather Hack 75 Beyond Google: Yahoo! Calendar and Others KEEP UP ON NEWS WITH GOOGLE READER Hack 76 Use Google Reader Offline Hack 77 Subscribe to Google's Feeds Hack 78 Take Your Old Subscriptions with You Hack 79 Get Alerts for New Blog Posts Hack 80 Share a Post with a Single Shortcut Hack 81 Use Google Reader's Mobile Version Hack 82 Track What Wikipedia Says About You Hack 83 Track Your Package Hack 84 Compare Two Posts to See the Changes Hack 85 Beyond Google: Bloglines, Kinja, and Other Feed Readers MANAGE YOUR PHOTOS AND VIDEOS WITH PICASA AND YOUTUBE Hack 86 Turn a Picasa Photo Feed Into a Screensaver Hack 87 Link to a Specific Position Within a Google Video Hack 88 Watch Videos on Your Cellphone Hack 89 Optimize Streaming When Embedding Multiple YouTube Videos Hack 90 Add Subtitles to a Google Video Hack 91 Download a YouTube or Google Video Film for Offline Consumption Hack 92 Geotag Your Photos and Share Them on Google Maps Hack 93 Resize and Customize Embedded Videos Hack 94 Disguise Your Picasa Identity Hack 95 Display Music Video Lyrics Hack 96 Beyond Google: From Flickr to Vimeo and Blip.tv CREATE YOUR OWN HOME PAGE, BLOG, OR GROUP Hack 97 Add a Gadget to Your Google Page (or Blog) Hack 98 Battle Spam in Your Blog Hack 99 Add a Search Engine to Your Home Page Hack 100 Get a Taste of Blogger's Experimental Features Hack 101 Keep a Discussion Thread at the Top of the Group Hack 102 Blog Transparently Hack 103 Hide the Blogspot Navigation Bar Hack 104 Monitor a Thread for New Posts Hack 105 Hide the Ads in Your Google Group Hack 106 Track Who Links to Your Blog Posts Hack 107 Quickly Share YouTube Videos on Your Blog Hack 108 Generate Text Images Hack 109 Blog via Email Hack 110 Outsource Your Knowledge Base Hosting Hack 111 Test Your Web Site in Other Browsers Hack 112 Get a (Google) Site Hack 113 Turn Your Blog Into a Book Hack 114 Beyond Google: From WordPress and FriendFeed to Yahoo's GeoCities DIVE INTO GOOGLE MAPS, GOOGLE EARTH, AND SKETCHUP 3D Hack 115 Drop a Google Map Onto Your Site Hack 116 Add a Gadget to Google Maps Hack 117 Create Your Own Google Maps Layer Hack 118 Enable Advanced SketchUp Tools Hack 119 Load Plug-ins Into SketchUp Hack 120 View the Moon and More on Google Maps Hack 121 Create Google Maps Overlays On the Fly Hack 122 Add a Sky to Google Earth Hack 123 Add Your Business to Google Maps Hack 124 Make Your 3D Model More Sketch-Like Hack 125 Avoid the Clash of Context Menus Hack 126 Plot Google Calendar Events on a Google Map Hack 127 Turn Google Earth Into a Flight Simulator Hack 128 Beyond Google: The Yahoo! Maps Web Service, Live Maps, and More GOOGLE ANALYTICS AND BEYOND: MARKET YOUR SITE, TRACK VISITORS Hack 129 Customize Your Google Analytics Dashboard Hack 130 Optimize Your Site for Search Engines Hack 131 Track the Traffic of Your iGoogle Gadgets Hack 132 Create a Firefox Keyword to Skip the Analytics Login Box Hack 133 Export Your Analytics Traffic to Google Spreadsheets Hack 134 Promote Your Site Using Google Gadgets Hack 135 Roll Your Own Analytics API for a "Most Popular Posts" Widget Hack 136 Conduct a User Survey Hack 137 Visualize Traffic with DIY Vector Graphics Hack 138 Talk to Your Visitors Hack 139 A Different Display for Google Analytics Hack 140 Follow the Online Discussion Hack 141 Beyond Google: Clicky, Mint, and Others CREDITS Index GOOGLE APPS HACKS by Philipp Lenssen Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved Printed in U.S.A Published by Make:Books, an imprint of Maker Media, a division of O'Reilly Media, Inc 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472 O'Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: 800-998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com Print History April 2008 First Edition Publisher: Dale Dougherty Associate Publisher: Dan Woods Editor: Brian Jepson Creative Director: Daniel Carter Designer: Anne Mellinger Production Manager: Terry Bronson Copy Editor: Nancy Kotary Indexer: Patti Schiendelman Cover Photograph: Daniel Carter The O'Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc The Hacks series designations, Google Apps Hacks, and related trade dress are trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc The trademarks of third parties used in this work are the property of their respective owners Important Message to Our Readers: While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein The technologies discussed in this publication, the limitations on these technologies that technology and content owners seek to impose, and the laws actually limiting the use of these technologies are constantly changing Thus, some of the hacks described in this publication may not work, may cause unintended harm to systems on which they are used, or may not be consistent with applicable user agreements Your use of these hacks is at your own risk, and O'Reilly Media, Inc disclaims responsibility for any damage or expense resulting from their use In any event, you should take care that your use of these hacks does not violate any applicable laws, including copyright laws ISBN-10:0-596-51588-X ISBN-13:978-0-596-51588-1 Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] RAND random sorting Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) Recommended News refreshing view regex regular expressions popular post widget search and replace text Remember the Milk to-do list removing collaborators removing formatting, text requests, limits, Google Chart API resampling resizing embedded videos files, presentations Revver RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) Ruby scripts, Google SketchUp Ruscoe, Tony Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Safari feed bookmarks Gmail layout Save for Web plugin saving local files screensavers, Picasa feeds screenscaping converting currencies EditGrid Web Data iGoogle importing data from web sites screenshots Google Earth, skydome slides search feeds gadgets Gmail Gmail, languages Gmail, linking to Google Blog Search 2nd Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) Google Experimental Google Web Search public calendars related web sites replacing text unread email search engine optimization (SEO) security allowing Flash blog comment spam CAPTCHAs document sharing email blogging Gmail Google Groups images in email nofollow SendMeRSS SEO (search engine optimization) Share settings sharing clips, Google Reader custom invitation groups document collaboration 2nd files through email Google Calendar maps notes Share settings to-do lists SharpReader shortcuts compose new mail creating new documents embedded videos files, presentations Gmail 2nd Gmail, keyboard Google Reader KeepVid presentations, embedded Site Meter text, blogs skins Google Calendar iGoogle skydome, Google Earth smileys SMS forwarding Gmail to mobile phone Google Calendar alerts Smustard song lyrics spam blog comments Gmail signatures Google documents searching Spike Spolsky, Joel spreadsheets chat box EditGrid ThinkFree Stafford, James StatCounter sticky threads stock data storage space Gmail Picasa strikethrough, blogging Strom, Motti styles, Google SketchUp Stylish subscribing See also RSS feed alternative readers discussion threads Google feeds moving subscriptions public calendars RSS feed, document changes Subtitle Horse subtitles Google Video YouTube surveys, user symbols, Gmail signatures syntax, regular expressions Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] table of contents, linked Taylor, Frank Technorati.com templates blogger layouts PowerPoint text 2D 3D converting Google Notebook to Google documents floating text/images Font Image Generator fonts images, blogs justifying letter spacing line height pasting, removing formatting search and replace special characters style sheets uppercase word spacing themes custom, presentations Google Talk iGoogle planet images ThinkFree Thompson and Thompson threads, forums monitoring new posts sticky Thunderbird address book backing up email overview time, days and hours tipping point, traffic to-do lists toolbars buttons, moving Tordoff, Stephen Torres, Elias Trace Research and Development Center trackbacks TrackEngine tracking backlinks packages traffic, tracking Clicky gadgets identifier Mint 2nd popular post widget Site Meter StatCounter statistics applications tipping point tracking, application discrepancies VisitorVille 2nd visualization, Canvas Wikipedia Trapani, Gina trash, searching Trazo, Hildo Tumblr Twitter TypePad typographical conventions Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Undo, search and replace text Unicode characters Gmail signatures Google documents unlisted maps unread email uppercase text URLs calendar feeds document sharing embedding dynamic charts Gmail links Google Map overlays Usenet email alerts User Interface Design for Programmers user surveys Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] validating HTML vBulletin Veoh versions comparing files reverting, search and replace text "via" line, blogging Viddler videos Blip.tv blogs embedding, blogs Eyespot iFilm Jumpcut presentations Revver Spike Veoh Viddler Vimeo Yahoo! Vimeo VisitorVille 2nd vlogs VMware Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] watchlist, Wikipedia weather forecasts web albums feeds, screensaver Flickr Picasa identity Picasa, creating Picasa, geotagging images Picasa, storage space Web Data, EditGrid web sites alternative software browsers, testing Canvas, traffic visualization change detection service chatback content events, iCal content management system drag and drop images embedding calendars embedding dynamic charts embedding maps embedding presentations embedding spreadsheets gadgets, adding GeoCities Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) Google Page Creator, overview Google Sites Google Talk gadget Google Web Search importing data popular post widget promoting with gadgets publishing documents as 2nd search engine optimization (SEO) tipping point tracking gadget traffic user surveys WEEKDAY white list, CSS widgets See also gadgets Blogger chatback embedding calendars in blogs embedding maps Google Analytics page loading time Remember the Milk to-do list Wikipedia Google Reader related web sites watchlist wikis Google Groups Google Sites Windows Movie Maker Picasa feed screensaver shortcuts, creating new documents Wingdings wizard, iGoogle gadget WMV files Word files attaching to mail converting to PDFs word spacing WordPress Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] XML embedding calendars in blogs importing data from web sites popular post widget programming gadgets tracking gadget traffic traffic visualization Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Yahoo! Calendar GeoCities Local Maps Mail photo feeds Pipes 2nd 3rd Video YouTube allowing Flash alternatives chromeless player color, embedded videos embedding multiple videos embedding videos, blogs feeds iGoogle gadget iPhone mobile phones music video lyrics offline use presentations resizing embedded videos signing up uploading videos vs Google Video Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] ZIP files, presentations Zoho ... applications—and the Google engineers realized this too, a while ago Hack Google' s Apps a Google Office, or a Google OS? Today, Google is growing its apps suite to what people have started to call a Google Office, or even a Google Operating... Google Apps Hacks by Philipp Lenssen Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: April 16, 2008 Print ISBN- 13: 978-0-596-51588-1 Pages: 374 Table of Contents | Index dedication FOREWORD PREFACE MEET THE GOOGLE DOCS FAMILY... Automatically Open Local Files with Google Hack 7 Google Docs on the Run Hack 8 Back Up All Your Google Docs Files Hack 9 Beyond Google: Create Documents with Zoho, EditGrid and more THE GOOGLE DOCS FAMILY: GOOGLE DOCUMENTS