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.