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This guide walks you through your first five days with Google Product. Each day focuses on a key skill so you build confidence step by step rather than all at once.

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Day 1: Set up and create your first document

1

Sign in with your Google account

Go to accounts.google.com and sign in. Google Product is available from the app launcher (the nine-dot grid icon) in the top-right corner of any Google page, or directly from your workspace dashboard.
2

Complete your profile

Open Settings → Profile and fill in your name, profile photo, and time zone. A complete profile helps your teammates identify you in comments and shared documents.
3

Explore the home screen

Take a few minutes to familiarise yourself with the layout:
  • Recents — files you’ve opened lately
  • Starred — items you’ve pinned for quick access
  • My Drive — your personal file storage
  • Shared with me — documents others have given you access to
4

Create your first document

Click + New in the left sidebar and select Document. A blank document opens in a new tab.Give it a title by clicking “Untitled document” at the top of the page and typing a name. Your document saves automatically to Google Drive as you type.
5

Use basic formatting

Try out the toolbar:
  • Bold, italic, and underline for emphasis
  • Heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2) from the Normal text dropdown
  • Bulleted and numbered lists from the list icons
Use keyboard shortcuts to work faster: Ctrl+B (bold), Ctrl+I (italic), Ctrl+Shift+7 (numbered list), Ctrl+Shift+8 (bulleted list). On Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl.

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Day 2: Share with teammates and collaborate

1

Share your document

Open the document you created on Day 1. Click the Share button in the top-right corner.In the Add people and groups field, type a colleague’s email address and press Enter. Choose their permission level:
  • Viewer — can read but not edit
  • Commenter — can leave comments but not change content
  • Editor — can make changes directly
Click Send.
2

Add a comment

Highlight a sentence in your document, then click the comment icon that appears in the right margin (or press Ctrl+Alt+M). Type your message and click Comment.Comments appear in the right panel. Anyone with commenter or editor access can reply to them.
3

Use Suggesting mode

Switch from editing directly to suggesting changes. Open the Edit menu (the pencil icon in the top-right of the document) and select Suggesting.Now when you type, your changes appear as tracked suggestions — shown in green with your name attached. The document owner can accept or reject each suggestion.
Suggesting mode is the recommended way to propose changes to documents you don’t own. It keeps the original content visible and creates a clear record of what changed.
4

Work in real time

Ask a colleague to open the same document while you have it open. You’ll see their cursor appear in a different colour with their name label. Edits appear instantly for both of you — no need to refresh or save.
5

Check version history

Go to File → Version history → See version history. A panel shows all saved versions of your document, who made changes, and when. Click any version to preview it.
Name important versions (for example, “Draft sent to client”) so they’re easy to find later. Click the three-dot menu next to a version and select Name this version.

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Day 3: Organise with folders and labels

1

Create a folder

In Google Drive, click + New → Folder. Name the folder clearly — for example, use the project name and year: Acme Project 2026.Move files into the folder by dragging them, or right-clicking and choosing Move to.
2

Build a folder structure

Think through a structure that mirrors how you work. A common approach:
My Drive/
├── Work/
│   ├── Projects/
│   │   ├── Acme Project 2026/
│   │   └── Internal Q2 Planning/
│   └── Templates/
└── Personal/
Keep your top-level folders broad (three to five categories). Deeply nested structures become hard to navigate. Let labels and search handle the nuance.
3

Star important files

Right-click any file or folder and select Add to Starred. Starred items appear in the Starred section in the left sidebar for instant access regardless of where they’re stored.
4

Add labels to files

Labels let you apply tags across files from different folders — useful for marking status or project without moving files.Right-click a file, select Label, and choose an existing label or create a new one. You can then filter files by label in Drive search.
5

Use priority and suggested files

The Priority view in Google Drive shows files suggested based on your activity patterns and upcoming calendar events. Check it at the start of each day to surface the documents you’re most likely to need.

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Day 4: Explore integrations

1

Connect Google Calendar

When you create a Google Meet video call from Google Calendar, a link to the meeting is automatically included in the calendar event. Participants can join directly from the event.In a document, you can insert a smart chip for a Google Calendar event: type @ and start typing the event name. This embeds a preview card that shows event details inline.
2

Explore the Google Workspace Marketplace

From any document, go to Extensions → Add-ons → Get add-ons. The Workspace Marketplace opens in a dialog.Browse or search for tools that fit your workflow — project management, e-signature, translation, and many others are available. Click an add-on and select Install to add it to your account.
Some add-ons require additional permissions. Review what access each add-on requests before installing. Your organisation’s administrator may also restrict which add-ons are available.
3

Set up a Zapier automation

Zapier connects Google Product to thousands of external tools without any code. Go to zapier.com and create a free account.Choose a trigger (for example, “New file added to Google Drive folder”) and an action (for example, “Send a Slack message”). Follow the prompts to authenticate your Google account and configure the automation.
4

Try a Gmail integration

In Gmail, you can attach Google Drive files directly to an email by clicking the Drive icon in the compose toolbar. Recipients get a shared link rather than an attachment, so everyone always sees the latest version.You can also open email attachments directly in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides for editing without downloading them.

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Day 5: Export and publish your work

1

Download in a standard format

Go to File → Download and choose your target format:
  • Microsoft Word (.docx) — for sharing with Word users
  • PDF (.pdf) — for a read-only, print-ready copy
  • Plain text (.txt) — for stripped-down content
  • Web page (.html) — for publishing to a website
The file downloads to your computer immediately.
2

Publish to the web

Go to File → Share → Publish to web. This creates a publicly accessible URL for a read-only HTML version of your document. You can embed it in a webpage using the provided iframe code.
Publishing to the web makes the document accessible to anyone with the link, including search engines. Only publish content you intend to be fully public.
3

Send as email

Go to File → Email → Email this file. You can send the document as an attached PDF or Word file, or share a link, directly from within Google Product.
4

Print your document

Press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on Mac) or go to File → Print. Choose your printer settings — paper size, orientation, and whether to include comments — then click Print.
You’ve covered the essentials. From here, explore the Common tasks guide for day-to-day reference, or read Best practices to learn how to work efficiently as your files and teams grow.