if we wish add a video in google docs, we have 3 very simple methods that will allow us to add any video and play it within the document. This function is extremely useful, Word also has a similar one. It is an excellent way to embed a video that can help us improve the presentation of a document and achieve a better understanding of what we want to communicate.
Ways to add a video in Google Docs
Using the video preview
By pasting a YouTube video link into Google Docs, we can take an additional action to view this link in a different way. We can opt for the option of a preview of the video in the document. It is one of the simplest and most used ways to be able to add videos, only with its URL.
Basically, we will have to paste the link or URL of the video in the document. We are going to see a brief message that will ask us if we want to show the title of the video instead of the link. So we will select the option proposed by Google Docs.
The title of the video will appear, just by hovering over it. Let’s see a small preview of the video. We can even click Open Preview.
When we do, the video will start playing at the bottom right of the screen. We can control the video as we would from YouTube itself by hovering over it. In case we want to close it, we simply click on the X in the upper right corner.
Combining Google Slides and the drawing tool
Alternatively, we can use the combination of Google Slides with the drawing tool. It is a method that works very well for video links from any portal or even from Google Drive.
Let’s go to Google Slides and add the video to a slide using Insert > Video from the menu. Here we will use the Search tab, By URL or Google Drive to be able to find the video that we want to add. Then we go to Select to insert it.
Once the video appears on the slide. We’re going to have to copy it by right-clicking and choosing Copy or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C on Windows or Command + C on Mac.
We return to Google Drive and now we are going to have to create a drawing from the Insert > Drawing > New menu.
Here we are simply going to paste the video that we copied earlier. For this we will use Ctrl + V on Windows or Command + V on Mac.
Now the video will appear in the drawing window, we will have to choose Save and close so that it is added to the document.
with a plugin
In case the previous two methods were not enough, we can choose one more option. We talked about installing a plugin in Google Docs called DocuTube Viewer. With a very descriptive name, it allows us to play all the videos we want from the sidebar of the document.
How do we install it? Very simply, we visit the Google Workspace Marketplace and install the plugin the same way we would any other plugin. We go back to Docs and paste a video link into our document. It is feasible to paste several at the same time.
Now we go to Extensions in the top menu and choose DocuTube Viewer, then choose View.
The plugin will open in the sidebar and we will have to click on Load videos.
In this simple way, we will see how all the links to videos in our document are loaded in the sidebar. Here we will be able to use the playback controls as we normally would.
