Get started with Docs

Docs is where you write in Eigen. You can create a document, format it, insert images and tables, and share it with other people who can edit alongside you in real time. This page is a quick tour of what you can do.

Create a document

Click New doc in the sidebar. A dialog opens where you can give the document a name and choose a location in Drive. Click Create and the document opens straight away.

You can also create a document from Drive by clicking New and choosing New doc from the menu.

The editor and its toolbar

The document opens on an A4 page with 2 cm margins. At the top you will find the toolbar, which is the main way to format text and manage the file.

The toolbar has three areas:

• File menu, on the left. Opens a dropdown with options to create another doc, open an existing one, import a Word file, download, rename, share, email collaborators, view version history, see the page setup, print, and move the document to the trash.
• Formatting controls, in the center. Change the paragraph style (Normal text, Title, Subtitle, Heading 1 through Heading 6) and the font, make text Bold, Italic, or Underline, set text color and highlight color, insert a link or an image, and set alignment and list style (bulleted, numbered, or checklist).
• Share and Comments buttons, on the right.

On every screen, writers see the Format and Insert menus next to File and Edit. They hold every formatting option, including strikethrough, capitals, and quotes, and everything you can insert, such as a horizontal rule, a page break, or a table. On a narrower window the center shows fewer controls, dropping them from the right, and on a small screen none. Use the menus for the rest. The Tools menu comes after Insert and holds Word count, which viewers can use too. On a phone, Word count sits in the ⋮ menu instead.

Your changes save automatically

There is no Save button. Every change you make is saved to the server as you type. You can close the tab at any time without losing work.

Edit with others

Docs supports real-time editing. Share the document with other people (see Share a document and set access), and anyone with Editor access can work on it at the same time as you. Their cursor appears in the document labeled with their name.

If you have Viewer access to a document, the toolbar shows an eye icon in place of the Share button and the text is not editable.

Comments

You can attach comments to any piece of text. Select the text, right-click, and choose Add comment. A panel opens on the right where you can reply and track discussions. Click the Comments button in the toolbar to open or close the panel. See Comment and discuss for details.

Export and import

To download a copy of the document, open the File menu and go to Download. You can export to:

• Microsoft Word (.docx)
• PDF (.pdf)
• Web Page (.html)

To bring content from a Word file into the current document, open the File menu and choose Import docx file…. See Export to Word, PDF, or HTML and Import a Word document for more.

Keep things tidy

• Rename a document from the File menu or from its context menu in Drive.
• Move to trash to delete it. Deleted documents are not removed immediately and can be restored from the Drive Trash.
• Use Version history in the File menu to restore an earlier state of the document.