Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Embed Video into Docs

Three ways to Embed Video into a Google Doc.  
First let me give credit where credit is due.  I picked up these tips from our friend Eric Curts on his Blog at Control Alt Achieve (this site can keep you busy with ideas for the whole school year!).  But I did think it would be helpful to break these down in a quick “Check This Out!” format, so here we go!  By default you can’t insert a video into a Google doc like you can in other apps (i.e. Sheets), so you have to cheat to get them into a document.  This can be a helpful thing for you students - be able to have a video they need to watch and then respond to directly in the document in which you want them to respond.
CHEAT NUMBER 1 - Add Hyperlinks
This really doesn’t put the video in the doc, but will let them click on the link to open the video.
  1. Type the text that will be a link
  2. Select the text
  3. Click “Insert” in the top menu
  4. Add the link address in the pop-up box
  5. Click “Apply”
If the video is in your Drive, be sure to change the permissions to “Anyone with the link can view”.
My Example - Watch this video
CHEAT NUMBER 2 - Use DocuTube Add-on
If you are unfamiliar with how to use Add-ons, please refer to the October Check This Out. The DocuTube add-on will scan through a document looking for links to videos to play.
  1. Add a video link to your document (see Cheat #1)
  2. You and your students add the DocuTube Add-on
  3. Run the DocuTube Add-on
  4. Choose the video source (document if you added the link in the document)
  5. Choose where the video will play (sidebar or pop-up window)
This is a nice feature because the student doesn’t leave the document.  Videos must be a YouTube video for this to work (no Vimeo, or links to video in your drive).  Also the student needs edit rights for the document to run the DocuTube add-on.
CHEAT NUMBER 3 - Embed a Google Drawing with a Video
This cheat involves copying a video that has been added to a Google Slide and pasting it into a Google Drawing and then using that Google Drawing in your Doc.  WHAT?! Here are the steps.
  1. Create a Google Slides document
  2. Insert a the video you want to use in one of the slides
  3. Click on it then copy it
  4. Open a Google Doc
  5. Choose Insert...Drawing
  6. In the blank Canvas that opens, paste the copied video
  7. To play the video - double click on the video (try it below in my example) then double click the video when it opens in Drawing.

Hopefully one of these methods will give you the results you need.  Eric offers a fourth method that is rather complicated and results in no sound, but does actually embed a playing video into the document.  I am thinking if you want a video in a document you probably want sound, so I am leaving this cheat off my list. If you want to see Eric’s full explanation of each cheat, it can be viewed here.
For more helpful information and the archive of previous Check This Out! Digests, go to

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Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team
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