Opening and editing Word and PDF documents on the Chromebook

In a somewhat ironic follow up to my last post, I want to share a resource I put together for our 1:1 Chromebook program at Marysville High School which outlines some steps for making the opening and editing of Word and PDF documents on the Chromebooks a little less painful. As I mentioned to my staff, the process that I'm sharing is not the only solution, merely one that I hope will reduce some of the steps normally involved. And as I also shared with my staff, this process may be changing soon if Google releases the Quick Office viewer and editing features to Google Drive later this Fall. 

Even though I don't advocate asking students to complete digital worksheets, there are sure to be times when viewing and marking up Word or PDF documents found on the web is necessary and helpful. 

Opening and editing Word and PDF documents on the Chromebook

Click here to watch the video tutorial

1. Install the Docs/PDF PowerPoint Viewer extension
2. Immediately after installing a Docs PDF/Powerpoint Viewer Options tab will open, displaying the file types that will be opened in the Google Drive viewer.
3. Check the PDF option (Option 1) at the top and then click Save at the bottom of the screen

4. Click on a word document on any website
5. The document will now open in the Google Drive Viewer
6. To open and edit Word or PowerPoint click on the “Edit Online” icon
7. This will make a new editable copy for the student to work on
8. For more info on how to collect Google Docs from students go here.
9. For PDF documents click “Add to Drive” icon
10. Install PDF Zen Editor and Viewer Chrome App
11. Locate the PDF file in the Google Drive inbox, right click on the file and select PDF Zen
12. In PDF zen use editing tools to mark up, click on “Actions” icon to save changes back to Google Drive or to get URL link for sharing or submitting in Moodle/Edmodo.