Using Google Drawings

by - Eric Curts

Table of Contents:

What is Google Drawings

How to access Google Drawings
How to create a new drawing
Toolbar overview
Page setup
Adding shapes
Adding images
Adding text
Adding connectors
Managing objects
Collaboration
Publishing
Other resources

What is Google Drawings

Google Drawings is an online tool for creating diagrams, flowcharts, headers, and other images. Drawings allows you to
create and edit pictures by using shapes, text boxes, lines, arrows, tables, other images, and more.

How to access Google Drawings

Google Drawings is part of Google Drive which you can access in several ways:
● From Google services - If you are already logged into your Google account, you will have an App
Launcher button in the top right corner of most of your Google-related websites. You can click the App
Launcher button to see a list of Google services, and can choose Drive.
● Web address - Or you can just type in the direct address: https://drive.google.com

How to create a new drawing

Once you are in Google Drive you can create a new drawing as follows:
● Click the Create button in the top left corner
● Then click More and Google Drawings from the drop-down menu
● Your blank drawing will now open. You can give it a name by clicking in the Untitled drawing box at the top left,
and then typing in your title. You can click there again to change the title at any time.
● Google Drawings automatically saves your drawing after any changes you make.

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Toolbar overview
Once you are in Google Drawings you will see a large blank area to create your drawing. Above that you will see the
menu bar and toolbar. Below are the main features of these areas:

Menu bar - some common options on the menu bar are:

● File - Share, Download, Publish, Page setup, Print, and more

● Edit - Undo, Copy, Paste, and more
● View - Zoom in and out, Snap-to options, and more
● Insert - add a Textbox, Image, Link, Word art, LIne, Shape, Table, and more
● Format - text formatting, change shapes and connectors, crop images, image options, and more
● Arrange - Order, Align, Distribute, Rotate, Group images and more
● Tools - Spelling, Research, and more
● Table - insert and edit tables

Toolbar - some common options on the toolbar are:

Select - use to select one or more items in the drawing

Line - insert a Line, Arrow, Elbow Connector, Curved Connector, Curve, Polyline, or Scribble

Shape - insert Shapes, Arrows, Callouts, and Equation symbols

Text - insert a text box

Image - insert an image from uploading, webcam, URL, albums, Drive, and search

Page setup
The Page setup allows you to set the width and height of the drawing canvas, so you can control the size and orientation
(portrait versus landscape). To edit the page setup do the following:

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 1. Click File in the top menu bar.
2. Click Page setup… from the drop down menu.
3. This will open the Page setup window where you can choose the
dimensions including:
○ Standard 4:3
○ Widescreen 16:9
○ Widescreen 16:10
○ Custom - where you can specify the width and height
4. Click OK when done.

By default your Drawing canvas will have a transparent background

(indicated by a light checkerboard pattern).

If you want you can set the background to a solid color by right-clicking
on a blank area of the canvas and choosing Background from the
pop-up menu.

Adding shapes
Google Drawings provides over 130 pre-made shapes that can be inserted into a drawing and then edited as needed. To
insert a shape:

1. Click Insert in the top menu bar, then click Shape

from the drop down menu, or click the Shape
button from the toolbar.
2. Next choose the category including Shapes, Arrows,
Callouts, and Equations.
3. Then click on the specific shape you want.
4. Now your cursor will change into a plus sign (+).
5. Go down to the drawing canvas, and then click and
drag to create your chosen shape.
6. Note: If you hold your Shift key while dragging, the
shape will keep its original proportions.

Once you have inserted your shape, you can modify it in many ways:

Click and drag the square boxes around the border of the shape to increase or decrease its size.

Click and drag the circle from the top of the shape to rotate it.

Click and drag the yellow diamonds (if available) to modify elements of the shape.

| Double-click inside the shape to type text within the shape.

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 Click the Fill color button to fill the inside of the shape with any color.

Click the Line color button to change the color of the border around the shape.

Click the Line weight button to change the thickness of the shape’s border.

Click the Line dash button to change the style of the shape’s border.

Click the Insert link button to hyperlink the shape to a website or email address.

Below is a before and after example to show each of these changes to a shape:

Note: You can also make your image semi-transparent if desired. This can be useful for creating Venn diagrams where
you want to have overlapping circles and still be able to see each circle. The option for this is burried a bit deeper in the
settings, but can be applied as follows:

1. Click on the shape you wish to edit to make sure it is selected.

2. Fill the shape with the desired color using the Fill color button on the
toolbar.
3. Now click the Fill color button again, but this time choose the Custom
option at the bottom.
4. This will open a pop-up window.
5. Use the slider on the far right to adjust the transparency of the color.
6. When done click OK.

Adding images
In addition to the pre-made shapes that come with Google Drawings, you can insert images from many different sources.
We will look at three main options including the Research tool, the Insert Image option, and drag and drop.

Research Tool:

The Research tool is a built-in tool that make it easy for users to search for content while working on a drawing,
document, slideshow, or such. With the Research tool you can look for websites, images, quotations, articles, and more.
This tool is a very convenient way to find and add images to your Google Drawings.

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 1. Begin by clicking Tools in the top menu bar, and then click Research
from the drop-down menu.
2. This will open the Research panel on the right side of the screen.
3. In the search box at the top, type in the word(s) you are searching
for.
4. Note: If you are looking for clipart, you can include that in the search
box, such as “laptop clipart”.
5. Note: If you are looking for pictures with transparency around the
image, you will have the most luck with PNG images, and can add
that to the search box, such as “laptop clipart png”.
6. To limit the results to just images, click the filter button to the left of
the search box and choose Images.
7. Now you will get thumbnails of matching images in the Research
panel.
8. To add an image from the results to your Drawing, simply click and
drag the image over to your Drawing canvas.

After you have inserted the image you can move it around the Drawing, change its size with the square handles on its
border, and rotate it with the circle handle coming from its top.

Note: By default when you insert an image through the Research

tool, the picture will have a hyperlink applied that points to it
original location on the Internet.

You may not want this link in your drawing. You can remove the
hyperlink as follows:

1. Click on the image to select it.

2. Click on Remove in the pop-up menu below the image.

Insert Image option:

You can also add images to your Drawing from several other sources. This can be done through the Insert menu option as
follows:

1. Click Insert in the top menu bar, and then choose Image from the drop-down menu.
2. This will open the Insert Image window where you will have the choices below:
○ Upload - You can browse your hard drive or network drive to locate and upload an image.
○ Take a snapshot - If you have a webcam, you can take a picture and insert that.
○ By Url - You can paste the web address of an image that is already online.
○ Your albums - If you save pictures in Picasa Web Albums or Google+ Photos, you can browse through
your albums and insert any image.

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 ○ Google Drive - If you have saved images to your Google Drive, you can browse through those and insert
any image.
○ Search - You can search for image from several online sources:
■ Google - A search of Google Images for public-domain pictures
■ Life - Pictures from Life Magazine
■ Stock Images - These are high quality clipart images

Drag and Drop option:

One final option for adding images to your drawing is the drag and drop method where you can drag images directly
from a web page and drop it right into your Drawing. The method works as follows:

1. Open up a new tab in your browser and locate an online image you would like to add to your Drawing.
2. Click and hold down on the image.
3. With you mouse button held down, drag the image over to your Google Drawing. This is easiest to do if you have
two monitors. However, if you only have one screen, simply drag the image up to the browser tab for your
Drawing, wait for the focus to shift to that tab, and then drag down to your Drawing.
4. Once the image is over the Drawing, release the mouse button to drop the image into the Drawing.

There are many excellent websites available to help you find images online. As always, be aware of copyright restrictions
and fair use of images. Some good sites include:

● Google Images (advanced mode) - http://images.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en

● Open Clip Art Library - http://www.openclipart.org/
● Public Domain Clipart - http://www.pdclipart.org/
● WP Clipart - http://www.wpclipart.com/
● Pixabay - http://pixabay.com/
● MorgueFiles - http://morguefile.com/archive
● SoftIcons - http://www.softicons.com/
● Veezzle - http://www.veezzle.com/
● Pics 4 Learning - http://pics4learning.com/index.php?view=browse

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Adding text
With Google Drawings you can insert text on its own, or you can put it inside of a Shape.

To insert text on its own, do the following:

1. Click Insert in the top menu bar, then choose Text from the drop-down menu, or simply click the Text box button
on the toolbar.
2. Now your cursor will change into a plus sign (+).
3. Go down to the drawing canvas, and then click and drag to create your text box (you can change it size and
position later as needed).
4. Now type your text into the text box.

Once you have inserted text in your text box, you can modify it in many ways:

Click and drag the square boxes around the border of the text box to increase or decrease its size.

Click and drag the circle from the top of the text box to rotate it.

| Double-click inside the text box to edit the text.

Click the Fill color button to fill the inside of the text box with any color.

Click the Line color button to change the color of the border around the text box.

Click the Line weight button to change the thickness of the text box’s border.

Click the Line dash button to change the style of the text box’s border.

Click the Insert link button to hyperlink the text to a website or email address.

You can also use the normal text formatting options such as Font,
Font size, Bold, Italic, Underline, Text color, and more.

Below is a before and after example to show each of these changes to a text box:

Another option for adding text, is to insert text into the pre-made Shapes provided with
Google Drawings:

1. Insert a Shape as normal (from Insert, then Shape)

2. Now simply double-click inside the Shape.
3. A blinking cursor will appear in the Shape and you can type in your text.

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Adding connectors
Google Drawings has two special tools for connecting items: the Elbow Connector and the Curved Connector. These are
different from normal lines in Google Drawings in a few ways:
● They automatically snap on to the sides of your shapes, images, and text boxes.
● They automatically curve or bend to find the best path from one shape to another.
● When you move your shapes, images, and text boxes, the connectors stay attached to them.

To add a connector between two objects, so the following:

1. Click Insert from the top menu bar, then Line from
the drop-down menu.
2. From the pop-up menu choose either Curved
Connector or Elbow Connector.
3. Your cursor will now turn into a plus sign (+).

4. Now hover your mouse over one of you objects and you will see that multiple purple circles will show around its
edges. These are connector points for your line.
5. Click on the purple circle you want and hold down the mouse button.
6. With the mouse button held down, move you mouse over to the other object.
7. That object will now display purple circles for its connection points.
8. Hover you mouse over one of the purple circles and release the mouse button.
9. The connection will now be made between the two objects.

After you have attached the connector line, you can modify it in many ways. Simply click on the connector line to select it
and then do the following:

Click the Line color button to change the color of the connector line.

Click the Line weight button to change the thickness of the connector line.

Click the Line dash button to change the style of the connector line.

Click the Arrowhead start button to change the beginning end of the connector line.

Click the Arrowhead end button to change the terminating end of the connector line.

Other modifications include:

● Switch between Curved and Elbow Connectors - click Format, then Change connector.
● Use shortest path for connector - click Format, then Reroute connector.

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 ● Move connector points - simply click and drag the connector end to a different purple circle connection point.

Managing objects
Now that you are able to add shapes, images, and text boxes to you Drawing, you may find your canvas getting pretty
crowded. Google Drawings provides several tools in the Arrange menu to help clean up and organize your objects.

First, you will need to select the object (or objects) that you wish to manage. You can do this by clicking and dragging
your mouse to select them all at once, or by holding down your Shift key and clicking on them one at a time. Once you
have the objects selected, click Arrange in the top menu bar. Below are your options:

● Order - move 1 or more objects in front of or behind other objects

● Align horizontally - move 2 or more objects to the left, center, or right edge of the group
● Align vertically- move 2 or more objects to the top, middle, or bottom edge of the group
● Center on page - center 1 object of selection of objects vertically or horizontally on the page
● Distribute - equally space 3 or more objects horizontally or vertically across the group
● Group - merge 2 or more objects together
● Ungroup - un-merge the objects in a group

Also, if you want more precision when moving an object than just dragging and dropping, you can select the object, then
hold down your Shift key while pressing the arrows keys on your keyboard to move the object one pixel at a time.

Collaboration
One of the most powerful features of Google Apps is the ability to work with other people on shared documents,
slideshows, drawings, and more. If students need to work together on a project, Google Drawings makes it easy for them
to collaborate live on the same Drawing.

To share edit rights with another person, do the following:

1. Click the blue Share button in the top right corner.

2. This will open the Share with others window.

3. In the People box enter the email addresses for the people you want to share with.

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 4. From the drop-down box to the right choose the level of permissions you want to give them, such as Can edit if
you want them to work on the Drawing with you.
5. Click Send when done to share the Drawing.
6. The people will now receive an email with a link to the Drawing, and the Drawing will show up in the Google
Drive in their Incoming folder.

Publishing
When you are all done creating your drawing, the last step is to show the final product to others. There are many ways to
take your Google Drawing and make it visible for others. Below are three of the more common options.

Option 1: Download as an image file

One of the simplest option is to download your Google Drawing as a standard image file.

1. Click File in the top menu bar.

2. Choose Download as from the drop-down menu
3. You can choose any of these image formats:
○ PDF Document (.pdf)
○ Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg)
○ PNG image (.png) - my recommendation
○ JPEG image (.jpg)

The image will now download to your computer. You can use the image however you want such as posting on your
website, sharing on social media, emailing to others, and more.

Option 2: Share as view only

Just like you can share your Drawing with collaborators for editing, you can also share your Drawing in view only mode.
This will allow others to see your drawing, but not make any changes to it.

1. With your Google Drawing open, click the blue Share button in the top right corner
2. This will open the Share with others window.

3.
4. Click Get sharable link in the top right corner.
5. This will now give anyone permission to view the drawing (but not make any changes) as long as they have the
link.
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 6. Note: If you are using Google Apps for Education the default sharing will be with anyone in your domain rather
than the entire public.
7. Finally copy the sharable link and click Done.

Now all you have to do is provide the link to anyone you want to see the Drawing. You can send it in an email, post it on
your website, share it through social media, and more.

Option 3: Embed in a Google Site

If you use Google Sites to create your web page, you can easily embed your Google Drawing into your Site.

1. First begin by going into edit mode for a page on your

Google Site.
2. Now click Insert in the top menu bar, followed by Drive,
and then Drawing.
3. This will open a window where you can browse your Drive
to find the Drawing you wish to embed.
4. Click on the Drawing you want and then click Select.
5. You will now get a window where you can adjust the
settings for the Drawing including having a border,
displaying a title, and the Drawing’s Height and Width.
6. When done, click Save, and then Save again to exit edit
mode.

The Drawing will now be embedding in your web page. A benefit to embedding your Drawing this way, rather than
adding it as a standard image file, is that any hyperlink you added to the Drawing will still function. Visitors to your
website will be able to click on objects in your Drawing to go out to their hyperlinked websites.

Other resources
● Bring me to your organization: My training and consulting services - on-site or online - link
● All of my free training materials, help guides, presentations, videos, and more - link

© 2014-2015 - Eric Curts - [email protected] - www.ericcurts.com - plus.google.com/+EricCurts1 - @ericcurts

This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 United States license. For more information about this
license see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (In short, you can copy, distribute, and adapt this work as long as you give proper
attribution and do not charge for it.)

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