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Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

workspaceupdates.googleblog.com

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Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

#101

Post by ahimthedream »

tomeraberbach wrote: post #39

Hey folks, I'm the engineer who implemented the new feature. Just clearing up some confusion. A lot of you are noticing the preexisting automatic detection feature from 2022 [1], which I also worked on. That's NOT what this newly announced feature is. The new feature supports full import/export, but it's still rolling out so you're likely not seeing it yet! Hope you like it once it reaches you :) [1] https://workspac…

Can I sync MD files to drive through the osx drive integration? Allowing me to work on a local file in MD, but others can view through web

Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

#102

Post by guytv »

EE84M3i wrote: post #26
guytv wrote: post #21

when did google become sooo sloooow implementing trivial features, and then not even shipping a complete set of markdown?!

> trivial features Four features were announced: 1. Convert Markdown to Docs content on paste 2. Copy Docs content as Markdown 3. Export a Doc as Markdown (from File > Download) 4. Import Markdown as a Doc (from File > Open or "Open with Google Docs" from Drive) Which of these do you see as trivial? These all seem quite complex to me with many edge cases , incompatibilities and ambiguities, especially if there's an e…

All of them. It should have been implemented years ago. Using GDocs after using notion for a few weeks feels like going back in time.

Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

#103

Post by [deleted] »

andybak wrote: post #89
tomeraberbach wrote: post #39

Hey folks, I'm the engineer who implemented the new feature. Just clearing up some confusion. A lot of you are noticing the preexisting automatic detection feature from 2022 [1], which I also worked on. That's NOT what this newly announced feature is. The new feature supports full import/export, but it's still rolling out so you're likely not seeing it yet! Hope you like it once it reaches you :) [1] https://workspac…

The main effect of slow rollouts on me is that I never use the feature. It goes like this. 1. There's a service I use sporadically or used to use 2. They announce a new feature that might potentially mean I'll start using it again/more 3. I read the post, log in and realise I don't have access yet 4. I completely forget this ever happened. Surely all the effort that goes into announcing these things is a bit wasted ?…

[deleted]

Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

#104

Post by zenbowman »

vitus wrote: post #33
orliesaurus wrote: post #29

I guess most users of Google Docs have no use for this, especially the download as markdown. I wonder why they decided to add this feature for the tech crowd so late in the lifecycle of the product, feels almost like an Summer '24 intern project?

Agreed; given the timing, an intern project seems plausible. (It feels a bit more ambitious than a typical intern project though, and I'm not sure how many of those end up quite so user-facing.) I can imagine one internal use case. At Google, we use Google Docs heavily for design docs. After the system has been built, it's not uncommon to link to the design doc as supplementary reading material. But the design doc is…

100%. I do this all the time, this will be very useful internally.

Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

#105

Post by munificent »

tomeraberbach wrote: post #39

Hey folks, I'm the engineer who implemented the new feature. Just clearing up some confusion. A lot of you are noticing the preexisting automatic detection feature from 2022 [1], which I also worked on. That's NOT what this newly announced feature is. The new feature supports full import/export, but it's still rolling out so you're likely not seeing it yet! Hope you like it once it reaches you :) [1] https://workspac…

You are my hero.

I work at Google in open source so I am constantly converting Google Docs to Markdown to put them on GitHub and vice versa. This will save me a lot of effort.

Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

#106

Post by tomeraberbach »

scrollaway wrote: post #69
tomeraberbach wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it will be supported by this API! I actually wasn't aware of this documentation page. I'll make sure it gets updated. Thanks for flagging

Oh that’s great. Does that mean Google drive will have good markdown previews now?

No, this feature doesn't affect the preview. We don't convert a Markdown file to a Doc unless a user initiates it

Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

#107

Post by ZeWaka »

dazzaji wrote: post #20

For Google Docs like real time collab on native markdown, I like and use daily: * https://hackmd.io and * https://stash.new

We've used HackMD in my OSS project since Google Docs was failing us as far as version control goes. What's great is that you can sync a HackMD document to GitHub or similar, so you can collaborate on a document and then push it to a repo.

Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

#108

Post by peterarmstrong »

tomeraberbach wrote: post #39

Hey folks, I'm the engineer who implemented the new feature. Just clearing up some confusion. A lot of you are noticing the preexisting automatic detection feature from 2022 [1], which I also worked on. That's NOT what this newly announced feature is. The new feature supports full import/export, but it's still rolling out so you're likely not seeing it yet! Hope you like it once it reaches you :) [1] https://workspac…

Thank you from Leanpub!

Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs

#109

Post by skybrian »

pradn wrote: post #91
andybak wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main effect of slow rollouts on me is that I never use the feature. It goes like this. 1. There's a service I use sporadically or used to use 2. They announce a new feature that might potentially mean I'll start using it again/more 3. I read the post, log in and realise I don't have access yet 4. I completely forget this ever happened. Surely all the effort that goes into announcing these things is a bit wasted ?…

It is a bit odd how they do it in Docs. In Cloud, announcements happen when the feature has already fully rolled out. Note, this is separate from region expansion, which might be delayed for some heavy-weight features (like new categories of VMs requiring special hardware.)

Not announcing a feature in a collaborative environment would likely cause a fair bit of confusion when only some people see it.
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