Google Drawings is a free drawing tool that comes with Google Drive.
It’s similar to a stripped-down version of Microsoft Visio.
It allows you to make drawings such as organizational charts or simple diagrams that feature text, primitive shapes, icons, and photos.
If you require more complex capability, such as making specialized drawings, mechanical drawings, or architectural plans, you will need to invest in a more advanced drawing application.
What is Google Drawings?
Google Drawings is a powerful tool that allows you to create a wide range of graphic designs and publications.
Because Google Drawings is a web-based program, there is no need to buy and install software on your computer.
Because the application and the document are stored on Google Drive, you can use it on numerous computers. For example, if you start an organizational chart in Google Drawings at work, you can finish it later on your home computer because the application and the document are stored on Google Drive. There are no files to transfer.
Quick Google Drawings Facts:
- It’s free
- Your project begins with a blank canvas of any size.
- You can access Google Drawings through the web via an offline-capable Chrome app (works best on a computer).
- Multiple users can open and edit drawings in real time at the same time. They can also communicate via chat.
- You can create a Drawing with multiple components. You can add photos, shapes, arrows, scribbles, text, and other elements to your canvas.
- You may share your Google Drawing in a variety of ways.
It can be private, shared with a small group of people, or shared widely on the internet.
You have the option of allowing others to view or edit your Drawing.
- As you work on your Drawing, it is immediately stored.
- Google Drawings can be incorporated in webpages and blogs.
They can also be downloaded in JPEG, PNG, PDF, and other formats.
- A Google Drawing can be inserted into a Google Doc.
What can I Use it For?
Google Drawings, despite its apparent simplicity and ease of use, is versatile enough to be used in a range of applications.
Among the most prevalent include using the application for educational purposes to promote better learning and communication between teachers and students, as well as for blogging and advertising as a more engaging way to communicate with your target audience.
Drawings can also be used by teachers as an interactive teaching tool, with students able to refer to modules and click on particular aspects to learn more.
If you’re a blogger or advertiser, think of this tool as your personal digital poster board, where you can build and design posters and flyers with complete control over typefaces, photos, and other things.
Google Drawings functions and supports cross-platform use because it is a web-based application.
Working on projects becomes simple, and your progress is synced across all devices and platforms. One thing to keep in mind before utilizing this software is that there are no pre-made templates to use as a guide. As a result, everything must be manufactured from scratch.
A flexible and user-friendly drawing tool
Overall, Google Drawings is an underappreciated hidden gem among Google’s suite of productivity-focused web products that deserves to be recognized more. Its key merits are its simplicity and ease of usage, which make it adaptable to a variety of needs. If you’re looking for a free tool to make diagrams and custom visuals, give this one a try.
Pros
- Simple and versatile drawing program
- Cross-platform compatibility
- Deep connection with Google Workspace applications
Cons
- No templates are available.
How To Start A Google Drawing
To use Google Drawings, you must have a Google Account.
This is the same username and password you’ll use for Gmail and other Google products.
Teachers may have a school Google account as well.
If you don’t already have a Google account, you can create one here: https://accounts.google.com/signup
Google Drive is where your Google Drawings are saved.
It’s also one of the methods for starting a new Google Drawing.
You may access your Google Drive on the web by going to https://drive.google.com.
In the top left-hand corner, select New.
Then select More, followed by Google Drawings.
Alternatively, you can enter https://docs.google.com/drawings into your browser or use the Chrome app to view Drawings. When you utilize the app, you can access Drawings even when you’re not connected to the internet.
Start New or Open Existing Google Drawings
Log in to your Google Drive account in a new browser window on your computer and proceed as follows:
- In the upper left, click the red New button to begin a new document.
- Select More, then Google Drawings. A new browser window or tab with a blank Google drawing appears.
- To open an existing Google drawing, go to your Google Drive and double-click on the drawing you want to open.
The illustration opens in a new browser window or tab.
You are not need to manually save your drawing.
Google Drive will save it for you automatically.
Google Drawings is now only accessible for usage in your web browser.
Google has yet to create a mobile app for it.
Google drawings, on the other hand, may be viewed on your smartphone or tablet via the Google Drive app.
Here’s how it’s done:
- On your smartphone, sign in to your Google Drive account.
- Locate and tap the drawing you want to examine.
The image appears on your screen.
You can’t accomplish much with the Google drawing app on your mobile device.
The PDF can be printed, shared, and downloaded to your device, but that’s about it.
To perform one of these things, open the drawing and press the Information icon (the white circle with the letter I in it); you’ll see options for printing, sharing, and downloading the drawing.
Create a Basic Drawing
When you launch Google Drawings, you’re given a blank canvas. To make your drawing, you can use the following tools:
- Line Tools: You can draw straight lines, curved lines, and freeform lines. Click the down arrow next to the Line symbol to select the sort of line you want, then click and drag your cursor over the canvas to draw.
- Shape Tools: You can use as many shapes, arrows, callouts, or math symbols as you want in your drawing.
Select the type of shape you want by clicking the down arrow next to the Shapes symbol, then click on the canvas and drag your pointer to draw.
By clicking on your form, you can also enter text into it.
- Text box: If you want only text with nothing surrounding it, click the Text box icon and drag your pointer to the desired location.
You can type your text in the text box’s outline.
- Image tool: To insert an image into your design, click the Image button and select an image from your hard drive, Google Drive, or an external URL.
Other options, such as integrating tables and comments, are also available.
You can finish your basic sketch in no time.
How To Make And Save A Google Drawing
When you use the methods outlined above to create a new Google Drawing, you will be provided with a blank canvas.
It is simple to make a drawing.
Here are the fundamentals of generating and preserving work.
1) Open Google Drawings
You can access drawings through your Google Drive or the Chrome App.
Alternatively, open your browser and type https://docs.google.com/drawings.
2) Change your image size (optional)
If you want your image to be a specific size (for example, the size of your blog header), go to File > Page Setup > Custom.
You can provide the dimensions in inches, millimeters, points, or pixels.
3) Consider your background color
The background of your Google Drawing will be transparent by default.
This implies that when you save your image as a PNG or JPEG, there will be no background.
Right-click on your canvas and pick background if you want your image to have a different color background (or even solid white).
Then you can experiment with solid or gradient backgrounds.
4) Create your design
Navigate the Insert choices to add text, photos, shapes, lines, charts, and other elements to your design.
5) Save your design as an image
When you’re finished, go to File > Download as > JPEG or PNG image. Download your photograph to your device.
If you want to print or distribute your image, you may also save it as a PDF.
After that, you’ll have an image file that you may print or use in your digital works, such as your blog.
To insert an image into a blog post (or page), click the “Add media” button at the top of the post editor.
How to Draw on Google Docs
It’s not immediately evident how to draw in Google Docs, but it’s a feature you can use to add shapes, word art, make diagrams, and more. If it isn’t enough strength for you, you may also utilize the Google Drawings app, which has more options. Both techniques are effective for displaying your Google Docs.
The Drawing feature is the simplest way to draw on Google Docs.
This feature’s possibilities are restricted, but it works well for rapid shapes, word art, and simple diagrams.
- Begin by creating or opening a Google Docs document.
Then, in the document, place your cursor where you want the drawing to appear.
- Go to Insert > Drawing.
This is the option you will use if you need to insert a signature into Google Docs.
- Choose + New.
- The Drawing window is displayed.
From the Actions menu, you can choose the type of drawing you want to produce. You may, for example, select Word art from this menu.
- In your drawing, a text box appears.
Fill in the blanks with the text you want to use for word art. When you’ve got the text you want, hit Enter to save it.
- The text is visible in the drawing. The contextual toolbar at the top of the page changes to provide font and color options as well. Make changes to these settings until the word art appears the way you want it to.
- You may also use the toolbar at the top of the window to add lines, shapes, text boxes, or images.
You may, for example, add a colorful form to your artwork to complement your word art.
To do so, go to the top of the page and select the Shape tool, then highlight Shapes, Arrows, or Callouts and then select the necessary shape.
This menu also has the ability to add Equations.
This is the option you’ll use to insert a mathematical equation into your document if you’re constructing one.
- After inserting the shape into the drawing, you can change its appearance by utilizing the context toolbar at the top of the Drawing window.
- You may also need to move the shape to the background in order to see the word art you made. To do so, right-click the shape, pick Order, and then Send to back.
- When you’ve finished making the changes you want to your drawing, click Save and Close.
- The drawing will be added into your document at the cursor’s location.
Drawings may only be added directly in Google Docs when using Google Docs in a browser. This function does not have an app for iOS or Android devices.
Cool Things You Can Do With Google Drawings
Google Drawings is the most recent addition to the Google Drive toolkit.
It’s not a full-fledged picture editor like MS Paint, but rather a real-time collaboration software.
It’s essentially an online whiteboard.
At its most evolved, it is capable of much more.
Let’s look at some of its creative uses.
- Use It for Collaborative Post-It Notes
Google Drawings can be used as a collaborative whiteboard to which Post-It notes can be added.
Create your own, and then use a URL to share your opinions with others.
Shapes, Google Fonts, and an image search for the “pin” were used to make the above virtual Post-It note in 5 minutes.
When everyone can’t be in the same area at the same time, a short Google Drawings board share combined with a Hangouts chat is a simple solution.
Any member of the team can post comments and Post-It notes to the virtual office wall.
- Create Your Own Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers are diagrams that aid in the visual organization of information.
Concept maps, entity relationship charts, and mind maps are some examples.
You can gain a bird’s-eye view of your thoughts by using a visual organizer.
A spider diagram, for example, can be used to aggregate concepts, a flow chart can be used to sequence a process, and a fishbone diagram can be used to demonstrate cause and effect.
Use the template library to save time (for example, a flowchart template) or start from scratch. Google Drawings includes shapes, colors, and fonts to let you quickly build memorable spatial structures. The figure above is a simple spider diagram that shows the shortcuts you may take to make a graphic organizer.
- Design an Infographic
One of our favorite Google Drawings hacks is to use it to create infographics. You’re already halfway there if you have an idea and the facts to back it up.
To add visual impact, these two fundamental parts of a superb infographic can be supplemented by shapes, photos, text, charts, graphs, tables, and colors. To create a more dynamic experience, link your data to external sites.
To get started:
- Gather the information for the infographic.
- Change the size of the Drawings canvas to a long rectangle.
Alternatively, navigate to File > Page Setup and enter the desired page dimensions.
- Use a background color or search for free textures to use as a background.
If you select a texture image, go to Insert > Image to upload it.
Adjust the texture size to fit the background.
Right-click > Background to change the background color.
- Design images by mixing and arranging different forms; you can create the shapes off-stage and then drag them into the canvas.
Colorize grouped visuals with a single click.
Google Drawings contains Snap to Grid and Snap to Guides, which allow you to more precisely align things to the Google Drawing grid and draw them to the same size.
Navigate to View > Snap To > Grids/Guides.
Anyone interested in producing their own infographics using Google Drawings can start with the video below.
- Create Your Own Graphics for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
This is probably the most obvious application of Google Drawings; it is the easiest tool for putting unique graphics into your Google Drive documents via the Web Clipboard.
Here are some suggestions:
- Build your own clipart library of reusable images.
- Create your own customized vector image bullets.
- Create a personalized digital signature for your email.
It is important to note that transferring a drawing to a separate file makes a duplicate of the original drawing. Changes made to either the original or the copy do not apply automatically to the other.
- Screen Design With Wireframes
Wireframes are the blueprints for any screen design—imagine plain shapes devoid of color and embellishments.
They assist designers in concentrating on how content will be organized or how a prototype design will work. Google Drawings excels in terms of simplicity, cooperation, and accessibility.
With Google Drawings, you can easily construct your own wireframing kit.
The wireframing kit can be assembled from the fundamental building pieces required for every design. Keep the pieces in the gutter (the area next to the canvas) for easy access on future projects.
- Understand Relationships With Database Schemas
It was not our idea to use Google Drawings to draw database schemas. This basic Google Drawings hack is demonstrated by the Web Development Group.
Database schemas are logical groupsings of objects like tables, views, stored procedures, and so on. They explain the structure of a database as well as the relationships between the things included within it.
Consider a database schema to be a roadmap: it sets out the overall process, visually displaying where information comes from and where it goes.
Entity relationships can be depicted using Google Drawings. When combined with real-time collaboration, you have a helpful tool for designing schemas.
- Annotating Screenshots
Annotating photographs can assist you convey what they’re about. Again, you have a plethora of web annotation tools to select from. One fantastic option is Google Drawings.
It’s easy to annotate an image with Google Drawings:
- Take a screenshot with Print Screen (or upload an image directly to Google Drawings).
- On the toolbar, select the Crop tool (Format > Crop Image) to isolate the part you want to show.
- Highlight points on the image with the Shape and Line tools. Google Drawings has a number of shapes and arrowheads to assist you in stylizing these annotations.
- Use the Text Box to insert text annotations and format them with font, style, and size. Try Shapes > Callouts as well.
- Make any necessary color adjustments in Format > Image Options.
- Select File > Download to save the finished PNG or JPEG file. You may also use Google Drive to share the annotated image.
- Create Hotspots on Images
Consider a globe map.
Each country’s Wikipedia page can be accessed by clicking on its name.
Consider a concept. Explain it better by breaking it down and connecting each portion to external data that clarifies each facet of it.
You may convey a lot of information with a single photo or drawing by using an image map or image hotspots.
Google Drawings can assist you in quickly creating amazing image maps
To begin, place a picture on a blank Google Drawings canvas.
- Select Insert > Line > Polyline from the menu.
Draw a circle around the clickable area with the Polyline tool.
- Select Insert > Link (or Ctrl + K) and type the URL of an external website or another Google Drive document into the hyperlink field.
- Set the Shape and Line colors to translucent to make the bordering polygonal region disappear.
- Embed the Drawing in your blog or save it as a PDF file.
Each painting teaches the AI something new, enhancing its ability to guess correctly in the future.
FAQs
How do I draw on Google Maps Mobile?
In a browser, view My Maps: Plot the points > Draw a line > Enter the Driving Route Draw the route with the mouse. Note your current location: Make a map by entering your address in the search bar. The Android My Maps app is no longer accessible; however, you can use My Maps via your device’s mobile browser.
How do I get Google draw?
Sign up for a free Google Workspace trial.
Google Drawings allows you to create, insert, and edit drawings.Does Google draw still exist?
Google Drawings is accessible on Google’s Chrome OS as a web application as well as a desktop program.
Is Google drawing app available?
Google Drawing Game
Quick, Draw! is a Google-created online game that asks participants to draw a representation of an object or idea and then utilizes artificial intelligence to identify what the drawings represent.
Google provides at least five drawing apps: Chrome Canvas, Google Drawings, Google Keep, Jamboard, and AutoDraw.
Can I draw with Google?
You can use the built-in Drawing tool in Google Docs to draw. To add an artistic touch to your documents, use the Drawing tool to create and modify lines, shapes, colors, text, and more. More stories can be found on Business Insider’s homepage.
Can I draw on Google Chrome?
Fortunately, simple Google Chrome extensions allow you to effortlessly add drawings to any web page. Drawing on a page with Chrome extensions and teacher-focused apps can streamline your teaching and make learning easier.
Conclusion
Google Drawings is occasionally treated with less regard than other Drive apps. Although the drawing tools are adequate, they are not particularly robust. But, rather than focusing on what the app cannot accomplish, I prefer to concentrate on what it does.
Google Drawings integrates well with other Google resources, such as making a chart for Google Docs.
