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If you are composing a Google Docs document, you might want others to suggest improvements. Although you can leave a doc open to editing, only allowing suggestions prevents unnecessary vandalism or changes that you haven't approved, while still leaving the document open to further constructive edits. Follow the process below to make your doc open to suggestions.
Steps
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1Open Google Docs.
- From the Google Docs website, sign in to the website hosting the file.
- From the Google Docs mobile apps, sign in to the app. Both apps on iPhone and Android look like a blue dog-eared paper with several blank lines in their center and "Docs" as their title.
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2Open the file from the list of files. Tap or click the file that you'd like to track changes in.Advertisement
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3Turn on the suggestions feature. You can find the drop-down in two spots:
- On the website, on the right-hand side of the toolbar just below the menu bar, you can click on the pencil (most likely) or eyeball (view/read only and unlikely) and select "Suggesting". or
from the menu bar's View menu as a submenu of the Mode choice. Both options are the same as "Suggesting" and changing this in one will change the opposite one.
- You can also hover over the text, and click the "Suggest edits" button, which looks like a whiteboard (with a blue border) and a pencil. This feature is just below the "Add comment" and "Add emoji reaction" inside this same box on the page.
- On the mobile apps, click the horizontal hamburger menu in the top right corner and tap the "Suggest changes" slider.
- If you change the settings on one device, they won't likewise stay set on the other, even after a screen refresh.
- On the website, on the right-hand side of the toolbar just below the menu bar, you can click on the pencil (most likely) or eyeball (view/read only and unlikely) and select "Suggesting". or
from the menu bar's View menu as a submenu of the Mode choice. Both options are the same as "Suggesting" and changing this in one will change the opposite one.
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4Take it one step further and plan to give others editing access to those you share the Doc with. When sharing it via PC (through the File menu's Share button), you'll have to select the type of "General access" you'd like to give, where you must mention either "Commenter" or "Editor", but if you've added people to the "Add people, groups, and calendar events" box, you'll give these editors separate access to this level of access - including editing and suggesting changes.
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- Most of this substep section applies to both PC/Mac and mobile, and will mention differences only where differences are noticed, however distinct they might be. If you don't see any differences inside these steps, there are no differences, and the text applies to both types.
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1Recognize that the original owner has final say on the acceptance and rejection of your changes and suggestions.
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2Watch what you do when you delete characters or text. When you delete words, they appear as green strike-throughs.
- Avoid excessive deletions. They make tracking confusing. Instead, use commenting if it makes the edit controversial.
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3Watch what happens when you replace. When you replace text, select the word and start typing - and watch how the first word strikethroughs and places the next "replacement" text to the left with no strikethrough.
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4Add text where there wasn't text before. You'll spot how the Docs puts this inside a bordered (in green) box, without green bordered left and right side "walls".
- If this text has a blank line below it, the bottom border will extend further down into this blank line, but so much that it only indicates approximate position on the line above.
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5Watch for formatting changes. Any major formatting changes - including making text bigger, smaller, or bolder, italicized, struckthrough or underline (or similar) from the editors' toolbar will display a message inside the change box.
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6Continue commenting . Comments will still appear on the right-hand bar, and will be tied to the text as either light orange (inactive) or blue (active or comment selected).
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7Read the change box. The change box will list what happened.
- It'll list characters that have been deleted (if necessary), and it will say what characters have been added, with the changes box giving the original other options to make the changes permanent or delete the change altogether in one click!
- The change box on mobile is found under the View Suggestion feature. Yet, from iPhone, you'll need to open the text selection bar and tap >, then tap View Suggestion, which should be on the left of the two comment choices. From Android, it'll be in the same spot.
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8Notice some differences when you aren't the original owner. As the document is "edited", changes will appear with these same boxes, only these will mark who they are from, on the right side of the screen (PC/Mac website) or as a quick view text (during hover on mobile) and inside the View Comment change box (for each edit, on mobile) among them.
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9Use the reply feature under each change box. If you have more to say about this change, or it looks like you aren't driving the change forward, and to explain the change a little more, this can be a great thing.
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- Only the original document owner can approve and delete changes. However, all signed-in folks who've been given permission can read these changes after they are made.Thanks
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