Using Google Takeout to create an archive of your Google Account

It's close to that time of year for High School Seniors: Graduation. If your school is like mine, every student has a school-issued Google Account. And the best way to make sure you have all of your data for the years ahead is to use Google Takeout.

The 16 Google Products currently supported

To begin, navigate to the Google Takeout page, log into your Google Account, and click the "Create an archive" button.

The Configuration screen

You will then be moved to the configuration screen to choose what of your data you would like to keep.

Now we wait

After you properly configure your archive, the process begins. This may take several minutes or several hours depending on how much data is being compressed.

So big, you need to download it twice

Once your data is ready, you will receive a notification via email. Click the download button, and your data is now truly yours.

It's important to note a few safety tips regarding your data. Google has them listed as followed:

Keep these in mind so that your data remains protected.

Google Releases Standalone Apps for Docs and Sheets

Since it was first released in 2010, Google Docs has been one of the most popular Document editing applications, alongside Sheets for spreadsheets and Slides for presentations. In 2012, Google furthered the functionality of these applications by introducing Google Drive. While it had been possible to use Docs as a file storage system, Drive made it official with increased storage space and a desktop client. Now, Google is taking another step forward by releasing standalone applications for Docs and Sheets on iOS and Android (with a Slides app coming soon).

Google's current Drive app offerings on Chrome

With the release of these apps, Google has removed the editing functionality from the main Drive app on iOS and Android. Instead, with the new update, Drive now opens documents and spreadsheets in their own standalone apps, and prompts you to download them if you haven't already.

Docs and Sheets on an iPhone

The Good:

• Simplified apps are easy to use
• Accessing specific document type (document, spreadsheet, etc.) is faster
• Capable replacement for Microsoft's and Apple's office suites
• Separate applications allow Google to quickly fix bugs on any individual app
• Easy to collaborate with others on files

The Bad:

• No image insertion support
• Can be more annoying to manage multiple apps
• Lack certain features that make editing smoother
• No Slides app as of 5-5-2014

Overall, I like the direction that Google is taking with their new standalones. Touting separate apps for each of the main document types, Google is now capable of going toe-to-toe with Apple's offerings on the iPad - Docs for Pages, Sheets for Numbers, and Slides for Keynote. Though some functionality is left to be desired, I am sure that Google will continuously update in the future and listen to user concerns.

The Best Add-ons for Google Drive

Recently, the Big G released a new feature for Google Drive: Add-ons. Anyone familiar with Google's Chrome Browser already knows a thing or two about add-ons. The simple "what's what" of add-ons is that they let you add apps or extensions to your program so that they can do even more. Google even has a web store for the little buggers, allowing you to install them with a single click. Now, they've come to Drive's Docs and Sheets apps (Google's cloud-based answer to Microsoft's Word and Excel). But what does this mean for you? What add-ons might actually be useful to you?

Calculator

Quick! What's 2+2? You probably got that one pretty fast. But what's 26533+5847? 5594x2495992? 69689/543? You might not have gotten those ones as fast. Anything more than simple math probably requires you to break out the old calculator. The Calculator add-on for Docs lets you do just that. It does everything it needs to do.

Template Gallery

A well-typed resume looks nice. A well-typed resume on a template looks much nicer. Offering templates for such things as Course Schedules, Exercise Logs, and Budget Planners, the Template Gallery add-on for Docs has a pre-made template available for just about any thing you need to type. Struggling with making a table to make a calendar? There's a template for that. Sign-up sheet? Template. Meal Planner? You know what I'm about to say.

Thesaurus

Mayhap you wish to augment your repertoire of words, whether elegant or colloquial  Or maybe you just want to stop using the word "neat" over and over again so you don't sound so repetitive (dandy is a neat word for "neat"). The Thesaurus add-on does everything it needs to do: Synonyms and Antonyms. Nothing superfluous or verbose.