Abstract

Google is always striving to improve its Workspace platform, the business-driven productivity suite for companies. One new tool that could change the way organizations operate is custom building blocks, which add a whole new layer of depth… for schools and businesses, anyway.

Sadly, Google is not making this feature available to personal users of Google accounts—at least, not at this time of writing—so users will have to be patient and wait to see if custom building blocks will be available in the future.

For businesses and education, however, custom building blocks could be huge. Building blocks basically allow you to plug in pre-built blocks of text, tables, assets, code, or otherwise, that would be useful and repeatedly used. These blocks can be inserted into documents wherever they are needed. They kind of work like templates, but you can think of them as the parts of the whole rather than the entire document.

There are built-in blocks that users can use, like meeting notes, email drafts, code blocks, product roadmaps, review trackers, project assets, and launch content trackers, but these are the simple defaults. The big new and exciting thing is the opportunity for custom blocks, allowing organizations to put together blocks that can support whatever workflows they need to.

It’s quite easy to use. Google writes that you will just have to select the portion of the document or asset you want to be replicated, right-click it, and use the Save as custom building block option. Your building blocks will be stored in a folder within Google Drive.

It’s also easy to insert building blocks. You just type the @ symbol into the document, alongside the name of the block.

What are your thoughts on the feature? If you want to get even more out of your technology, you can contact the experts at NetMGM. To learn more, call us today at 888-748-2525.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Will Your Business Use Google’s New Custom Building Blocks Feature?

Rafiq Masri

With over 25 years of experience in Information Technology, Rafiq is one of the most accomplished, versatile and certified engineer in the field. He has spent the past 2 ½ decades administering and supporting a wide range of clients and has helped position Network Management, Inc. as a leader in the IT Managed Services space.

Rafiq has built a reputation for designing, building and supporting top notch IT infrastructures to match the business objectives and goals of his clients.

Embracing the core values of integrity, innovation, and reliability, Rafiq has a very loyal client base with some customer relationships dating back 20+ years.

Rafiq holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and has completed graduate programs in Software Engineering and Business at Harvard and George Mason University. Rafiq is a former founder and CEO of Automation, Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan as well as a valued speaker on entrepreneurship and technology at industry events such as ExpoTech and others.