One thing I love about Google Docs is the fact your document is always updated. If I post a link, such as a newsletter, I do not have to change the newsletter link on my website each time I update my newsletter. It is one and done.
With that said, sharing a Google Doc as my newsletter, to me, does not look professional. I do not like seeing the menu bar (file, edit, insert format, etc). I want a clean looking webpage. I know if I publish the document to the web my formatting goes all wonky. That's where /preview is a great feature to use.
Let's compare the looks of the three different options.
1) Sharing a document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uHjGadXm4LFIhJ6ggX2tDosCToEJCkgHEKO_nCHM_a0/edit?usp=sharing
2) Publishing to the web:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uHjGadXm4LFIhJ6ggX2tDosCToEJCkgHEKO_nCHM_a0/pub
3) Using the /Preview feature
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uHjGadXm4LFIhJ6ggX2tDosCToEJCkgHEKO_nCHM_a0/preview
Do you see the differences? The third option, /preview is my favorite. Simply look for the last backslash in the website address (www) and replace everything after that backslash with the word - preview If you compare example 1 and 3 above, you can see how the this works. Try it out. Preview is a great feature for any permanent link you use with Google Docs.
If you want to force people to make a copy of your Google Doc, you can also use /copy instead of /preview, but that's for another day.
With that said, sharing a Google Doc as my newsletter, to me, does not look professional. I do not like seeing the menu bar (file, edit, insert format, etc). I want a clean looking webpage. I know if I publish the document to the web my formatting goes all wonky. That's where /preview is a great feature to use.
Let's compare the looks of the three different options.
1) Sharing a document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uHjGadXm4LFIhJ6ggX2tDosCToEJCkgHEKO_nCHM_a0/edit?usp=sharing
2) Publishing to the web:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uHjGadXm4LFIhJ6ggX2tDosCToEJCkgHEKO_nCHM_a0/pub
3) Using the /Preview feature
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uHjGadXm4LFIhJ6ggX2tDosCToEJCkgHEKO_nCHM_a0/preview
Do you see the differences? The third option, /preview is my favorite. Simply look for the last backslash in the website address (www) and replace everything after that backslash with the word - preview If you compare example 1 and 3 above, you can see how the this works. Try it out. Preview is a great feature for any permanent link you use with Google Docs.
If you want to force people to make a copy of your Google Doc, you can also use /copy instead of /preview, but that's for another day.