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New ways to keep data flowing between your apps and ours
May 18, 2016
Cross-posted from the
Google Apps Developers Blog
There was a time when office work used to be all about pushing physical paper. Computing and productivity tools have made things better, but workers still find themselves doing the same tasks over and over across the different apps they use: copying and pasting from a CRM app to a slide presentation, or manually exporting data from a project management app just to turn around and import it back into a spreadsheet. It’s the digital equivalent of pushing paper.
To make it easier to get the job done across multiple apps, without all the copy and paste, we’re announcing three new APIs and a new feature to help workers get to the data they need, when and where they need it.
Build seamless integrations with the new Sheets and Slides APIs
Our new APIs let developers connect their apps—and the data within them—more deeply with Google Sheets and Google Slides.
The new Sheets API gives developers programmatic access to powerful features in the Sheets web and mobile interfaces, including charts and pivot tables. For example, developers can use Sheets as part of a rich workflow that pushes data from their app into Sheets and allows users to collaborate on that data before the updated data is pulled back into the original app, removing altogether the need to copy and paste.
Teams at
Anaplan
,
Asana
,
Sage
,
Salesforce
, and
SAP Anywhere
are already building interesting integrations with the new Sheets API. Check out the video below to see an overview of what’s possible as well as several example integrations.
Partner integrations with the new Google Sheets API
The new Sheets API is available today. Find the developer documentation as well as a codelab to help you get started at
developers.google.com/sheets
.
Similar to the Sheets API, the new Slides API gives developers programmatic access to create and update presentations. For example, developers can use this API to push data and charts into Slides to create a polished report from source data in other application, ready to present.
Conga
,
ProsperWorks
,
SalesforceIQ
and
Trello
are all building integrations with Slides using the new API. Several examples of what’s possible are in the video below.
Partner integrations with the new Google Slides API
The Slides API will be launching in the coming months, and these partner integrations will be available soon after. You can sign up for early access to the Slides API at
developers.google.com/slides
.
Keep your data in sync with the new Classroom API
For developers building tools and workflows for schools, the Classroom API has launched new coursework endpoints to help you build stronger integrations that keep your data in sync. Read the full announcement on the Google for Education blog,
here
.
Sync assignments & grades programmatically with the Google Classroom API
Say goodbye to stale data with linked charts
Finally, to make sure we can help keep all this data flowing seamlessly from app to app, users can now also embed linked charts from Sheets into Docs or Slides. The result? Once the underlying data in a spreadsheet changes, whether that change comes from an action taken in another app via the API or a collaborator, an updated chart in the corresponding presentation or document is just one click away.
Linked charts allow for easy updates in Docs & Slides
For more information, see how to add a chart
to a document
or
to a presentation
.
We can't wait to see what you build.
Posted by Tom Holman, Product Manager, Google Sheets
Talk with your audience—not at them—with Slides Q&A
May 4, 2016
Public speaking can be intimidating—even for veteran speakers with phenomenal ideas and experiences to share. Take Shree Bose, for example.
At just 17 years old, Shree took home the top prize at the first ever
Google Science Fair
for
her research
on drug resistance in ovarian cancer. Now, a senior at Harvard, she’s met with President Obama twice, crowdfunded a Minecraft computer program to support STEM education, and has given talks across the globe. But she still gets nervous every time she’s asked to speak at events.
When Shree recently visited our New York office to present to 200 middle school students, we invited her to try a new feature in
Google Slides
: Slides Q&A. This update—rolling out globally today—helps speakers connect with their audience and collect real-time feedback. With a simple link displayed on a Slides presentation, audience members can submit questions from their phones, laptops, and tablets—and vote on those they want answered the most.
Hear what your audience has to say
Slides Q&A is great for audience members, too. During Shree’s talk, students submitted more than 170 questions and voted 800 times. They enjoyed being able to submit questions online the moment they thought of them instead of having to remember them until the end of the presentation. Some students also chose to submit questions anonymously.
At the end of her talk, Shree left time for Q&A, but she couldn’t possibly answer all 170 questions. So, she sorted the questions based on audience votes—and responded to the top ones. The question with the most overall votes was submitted by a seventh grader named Leila. She says, “I was so surprised when I saw my question was the most liked. I probably wouldn’t want to stand up and ask the question because I’m kind of shy.”
Focus on your ideas, not set up
Slides Q&A makes it easy to interact with your audience—without having to worry about mics or moderators. Slides also helps you get your
big ideas and stories on screen
—without having to worry about wires or set up stress. Starting today, we're improving this "Show up, don't setup" experience in two ways:
You can now present your slides to a Hangout from your iPhone or iPad. So with just your phone or tablet and the Slides app, you can present to any screen using Chromecast, AirPlay or Hangouts.
And for those of you who like presenting from a computer, we're introducing a new
laser pointer
on the web. Just in time for May the 4th (be with you).
Today’s Slides updates are rolling out globally on
Android
,
iOS
, and the
web
. So go on, share your stories and present with confidence.
And for a little inspiration, check out Shree’s full talk, #HowCanWe Make the World Better with Science? on the
Talks@Google channel
.
Posted by Michael Frederick, Google Slides Engineer
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