If you’re new to Google Docs, Sheets, Drive, or other apps that comeswith “G Suite” (previously: Google apps for work), you can access detailed training material offered by Google. They have created video repository, documentations, tips and tricks to help you get the most out of these apps. Google also offers certification for G Suite Administrators.
Training
There are multiple options for G Suite training – Chrome extension, video library and online documentation. Let’s now go through them.
Chrome Extension
This is an interactive way of learning G Suite with a pace that suits you. Install the Chrome extension by accessing the Chrome Web Store. Once installed, it will add a Training menu to G Suite apps, including the Calendar, Docs, Drive, Forms, Gmail, Google+, Groups, Hangouts, Sheets, Sites, and Slides. This training menu is shown as a question mark with the Google’s four-color circle around it. Just click on the menu to learn shortcuts and explore the apps by going through easy-to-follow lessons.
This extension is available in English with basic support for Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Video Library
There is an extensive collection of videos on the Synergyse portal, a startup (acquired by Google) that is completely focused on G Suite training. Just sign in with your Google account and access the videos simply by clicking on the app icon – from Gmail, Calendar, Google+ to Sheets and more.
Learning Central
Google has created a G Suite Learning Center where you can simply click on the app that you’d like learn. Each section of the app has documentation in the form of cheat sheets, tips and FAQs. There is also option to learn G Suite as per the following segmentation:
- industry vertical (finance, healthcare, manufacturing, etc.)
- job role (human resource, web development, project management, etc.)
- task type (onboarding, analyzing, team building, etc.)
From the G Suite
Here you can access videos created by Googlers and learn about tips & tricks. These videos covers all of the apps under G Suite. Apart from learning the apps, you’d also get to know the insider view of Google and general tips on productivity. For example, here is a video that talks about building community with Google+.
Certification
Google offer certification program for G Suite administrators via online examination. They recommend at least six months experience in managing a G Suite domain with a minimum of 50 users. The work should involve some of the common tasks that an admin does—user support, fixing common issues, adding and removing users, setting up and managing groups, managing calendars and resources, managing email routes, and managing G Suite services by organizational unit. Also you should go through the administrator course before the exam. The certification costs $100 and controlled by an app called Examinator.
Given below are the 8 topics covered in the administrator exam:
- User creation, deletion, and administration
- Organizational units
- G Suite services and organizational access
- Mail delivery, routing, and filtering
- Calendar settings and resources
- Mobile policies and device management
- Security
- Groups
