You might recall our blog last week on smart chips, a term used to describe some fun and useful Google Docs inserts. Today, we want to take a closer look at these smart chips and what you can do with them in Google Docs and Sheets.

Smart Chips Are for Collaboration

Smart chips are helpful additions to your documents for when you are supposed to collaborate with colleagues on a document but your schedules just don’t allow for synchronous work. You can leave specific information behind to make asynchronous collaboration more manageable and more efficient.

This is what a smart chip is. It’s a dynamic little piece of information that you can insert into your documents or spreadsheets. All you have to do is type the “@” symbol, and you should see some options pop up.

Let’s go over them in greater detail.

Calendar Events

If you have an event saved on your Google Calendar, you can link to it in a document or spreadsheet. This might be important if the document or spreadsheet you are working on is necessary for the upcoming meeting. It’s a direct link to the meeting, so you don’t have to fumble around in your open tabs to find it.

Date

You can also use smart chips to link to a specific date, like for a project deadline. The big difference between events and dates is that no calendar event is associated with a date. If you want one, you can use the Book Meeting link in the smart chip to schedule one.

Dropdown

You can add a dropdown list of options to your document, either from a pre-built list of options or a custom set. You can use this option in Docs or Sheets; the latter has some unique options you might see in a future blog.

File

If you have specific files that are important for the document you are currently working on, then you can embed a link to it into the document or spreadsheet using a smart chip. It’s a great way to provide a direct link to important files located in Drive.

Finance

Google Sheets can also help you manage investments using finance smart chips. You can insert a company’s stock symbol into a cell, and when you hover over it, you’ll see a display card with the current stock price.

People

If you want to make other people more accessible in your document, you can use the people smart chip. This will allow you to assign tasks to people or contact them right from the options.

Place

The Place smart chip lets you enter an address or location. This will generate a Google Map in your sidebar.

Stopwatch/Timer

This smart chip is only available with a Google Workspace account for business or education, but if you have access to it, you can insert a clock that counts time, either up or down, depending on your needs.

Voting

Another exclusive smart chip for business and education accounts is the smart chip for emoji-based polls. You can collect feedback from collaborators to help aid in decision-making.

Smart Chips Offer a Lot of Utility

If you want to make the most out of your Google Workspace, please contact us at Data Net. We’ll work with you to ensure you have all the tools and resources needed to optimize for success. Call us to learn more at (760) 466-1200.