In one of my gigs, I do a lot of proofreading and document copy-editing. Lately, I have been getting documents in Google Docs. It’s a fine substitution for Microsoft Word for writing, and as a cloud-based solution it is easy to share documents in a free and open manner.
I leave a lot of comments. In Word, it’s easy because you switch over to Reviewing mode and view all markup. With Google Docs, I usually work in “Suggestion” mode, because you can outright change a document if you accidentally go into “Editing” mode.
In Word, you can click “Add Comment” when you highlight text to leave a comment. But in Docs, you click a little plus sign that hangs out to the right, like this [+]. The problem is, sometimes it’s not there. That’s when you have to get creative.
How to Leave a Comment in Google Docs
To leave a comment in Google Docs when you are viewing it, select some text and click Ctrl + Alt + m on your keyboard.
The Trouble with Comments in Google Docs
One of the things that I don’t like about editing in Google Docs is that people can come in an accept (or reject–it happens–) suggestions and edits as you are working, so that it is very difficult to get a sense of your work. As others accept or reject edits, they get cleared off, so that the colored and crossed-out text, which show edited work, disappears. There are comments that show what changes were requested, but as You, as the editor, can’t necessarily tell if you have reviewed a given section, which is compounded when you work on very long documents.