Get Shift Done: Tips and Tricks
Often, we need to use the same photo or block of text for multiple Google Docs. No matter what kind of writing we do, we regularly repeat graphic elements, such as a company logo or or oft-cited trend chart. Here’s a time-saving tip: You can make copying and pasting multiple items an easy task with Google Docs’ own Web Clipboard.
In the example below, we are writing a research piece in Google Docs about the monkeys of Nepal. We want to to copy and paste two photos and a snippet of text that talks about the Money Temple in Kathmandu, and we know we will need them for another article about the Monkeys of Asia.
First, select each item, starting with the photo of the first monkey. Then click the “edit” tab, select “Web Clipboard,” and then click “Copy selection to Web Clipboard.”
Next, select the text we want to reuse, and add that to the Web Clipboard in just the same way. Repeat the process with the last picture, adding that to the Web Clipboard, too.
When finished, you can see all of the items you added to your document.
While Google’s Web Clipboard does not sync up with your Mac’s clipboard, you can always access the Google clipboard by signing into the same Google account on any computer (whether Mac or PC). Anything you copy to the Web Clipboard is stored on Google’s servers and stays there for 30 days from when you last took action on it. The more you access your content, the longer it is available. This makes it a great feature for content you regularly access and use, less so for infrequent assets. Even if you delete a file, anything you previously had copied from that file and pasted into the clipboard stays on Google’s servers for that 30-day period or as long as you continue to access it.
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