Google Draw: A Full Guide For Beginners

Quick-and-dirty way to make charts on the web

Google revolutionized the office landscape with the cloud-based Google Docs, challenging the supremacy of Office apps like Word and Excel with reasonable success. One little-known tool in the Google Docs arsenal, however, is a Google draw tool called Google Drawings.

What isGoogle Drawings? It isn’t a full-featured Photoshop replacement, but if you’re looking for a quick and easy-to-use drawing tool to create new diagrams or charts on the web, Google Drawings could be the tool you need. To draw with Google using Google Drawings, all you need is a Google account–it’s totally free to use.

What Is Google Drawings?

Google Drawings isn’t new—it’s been around since 2010. It allows you to create diagrams, shapes, and other drawings that you can then use in other Google Docs apps like Google Slides. You’re also free to share, publish, and export your images on the web or to other software on your PC or Mac.

Don’t expect a full set of image-editing tools in Google Drawings, because it isn’t a full image-editor like GIMP or Photoshop. Google Drawings just doesn’t have that kind of functionality—everything is pretty basic, with similar image-editing features to those found in Google Sheets, for instance, but with its own design canvas.

It’s more of a like-for-like replacement forMicrosoft Visio, the diagram software included with Office, than anything else. The difference between Visio and Google Drawings, however, is the cost—you can use this Google draw app for free.

How To Draw With Google Using Google Drawings

Thankfully, there isn’t a steep learning curve with Google Drawings. If you’ve ever used a tool in the Google Docs suite, the interface will seem very familiar as it uses the same menu bar style that you’ll see in Google Sheets, Slides and other Google apps.

To start using Google Drawings, head to theGoogle Drawings websiteand sign in using your Google account.

Creating Advanced Diagrams & Drawings In Google Drawings

While it also has basic shapes and image editing capabilities, Google Drawings can be used to create more advanced drawings that use diagrams, tables, and charts.

Sharing & Exporting Drawings On Google Drawings

Like other Google apps, Google Drawings allows you to extensively share and export your diagram with others. You can share the file to be viewed or edited by other users, publish your drawing to the web, or export it to your computer as an SVG, PNG, JPEG, or PDF file.

Exploring Your Creativity With Google Docs

All of the apps in the Google Docs arsenal allow you to edit photos and images, but only Google Drawings allows you to draw with Google on a drawing canvas like you would with a true photo editing tool like Photoshop. It’s more of a replacement for Microsoft Visio than Photoshop, but it’s still worth taking a look at.

There are other ways you can use Google Docs, of course. You can use it to build a new resume using Google Docs templates, and even use the built-in sharing tools to create a simple web page for free.

What are your favorite apps in the Google Docs suite? Let us know in the comments below.

Ben Stockton is a freelance technology writer based in the United Kingdom. In a past life, Ben was a college lecturer in the UK, training teens and adults. Since leaving the classroom, Ben has taken his teaching experience and applied it to writing tech how-to guides and tutorials, specialising in Linux, Windows, and Android. He has a degree in History and a postgraduate qualification in Computing.Read Ben’s Full Bio

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