You can check your email by going to your email provider’s website and logging into your email account. Google Chrome is a web browser that will open automatically when you log in to the Chromebook.

Chromebooks use Google’s Chrome operating system. Instead of Word, Excel or PowerPoint software programs, Google has equivalent applications called Docs (Word), Sheets (Excel), and Slides (PowerPoint).

You need to be logged into your Gmail email account to begin using Google services. You can sign up for a free Gmail address.

You can access your Google Apps from the Google homepage or within Gmail after signing in. Click the icon that looks like a 3 by 3 box grid, located in the upper right corner of the screen. Click the “Drive” app to start Google Drive, which is Google’s cloud storage site. It’s similar to a virtual flash drive that’s tied to your Gmail login. This is where your documents will be saved as you create them.

After clicking “Drive,” click “new” in the left-hand column and select the app you want to create the document in.

Click the words “Untitled Doc” and give the document a name.

Your document will be automatically saved to your personalized Google Drive account in whichever application you are working in.

In the document you are working on, go to the File menu and scroll to “Download.” From the pop-up menu, choose the Microsoft format that appears.

It downloaded to the downloads location on the Chromebook. To access this location, you will need to open the “Files” application on the Chromebook. There is a circle icon in the lower left corner of the screen—the same place the start menu is on a Windows machine. Click this to open the app browser. The window lists the four most recently run apps. If the “Files” application isn’t listed, click the up arrow above the search bar to open the full application suite. Click the “Files” application and the downloads folder should appear.

You can either email the file as an attachment to yourself or save the file to a flash drive. Insert a flash drive into one of the Chromebook’s USB ports, then cut or copy and paste the file from the downloads folder to the flash drive.

Open the “Files” application. In the left column you will see your flash drive. Click on it to open it and view the documents on the drive.

Google applications will open Microsoft format documents in the corresponding application: Word will open in Docs; Excel will open in Sheets; and PowerPoint will open in Slides.

If you are opening an email attachment, the full suite of editing tools will not be available until the document is converted to the corresponding Google application. After clicking on the file you will be in preview mode.

• To fully open the file using Gmail, click the “Open with” button at the top of the preview window and select the correct Google App.
• Some email providers do not offer this option. Instead, you can download the attached document and open it using “Files.”

Google will then convert the document into the corresponding Google App format and automatically save it in your Google Drive.

You can use one of our public or guest computers to print your document in the library. Save your document to a USB drive, attach it to an email, or log in to the cloud drive where your document is saved. Once you open the document on the library’s desktop computer you can send it to our public printer.  

Open the “Files” application. In the left column, to the right of the flash drive name, there will be an eject icon (triangle with a line under it). Click the icon and then remove your flash drive from the Chromebook.

When you power down the Chromebook, close the lid, or end the public session, the Chromebook is restored to the state it was in before you used it. All browsing history and any documents or applications saved directly to the Chromebook will be permanently erased.