Getting Started with Quip

Skip to 6) Working with Quip for information on leaving comments, manipulating text, inserting images, and more.

Skip to 7) The '@Insert' Button & Live Apps for information on inserting all kinds of content into your Quip docs.

Quip is a feature-packed ‘living document’ tool available to Fairfield faculty and students. With Quip, users can create and share work across any computer or mobile device. You may share your Quip documents to any number of Fairfield users for editing, annotating, and/or discussion. Quip can also send mobile notifications for instant collaboration updates.

Note: Quip is available in web browsers, as a downloadable computer app, and as a mobile app for both iOS and Android.

1) Signing In

When logging in to Quip for the first time, open a web browser (Firefox, Chrome, or Safari - not a Microsoft browser) and go to https://fairfield.quip.com or via my.fairfield.edu.  Enter your full Fairfield Email address into the provided field. Then, authenticate with your Fairfield NetID and current password. Note: Your instructor may only share course Documents/Folders with you once your account is made active.

You can download the Quip application on your computer by clicking the Download App link in at the bottom of the left-hand column.  It is also highly recommend that you download the Quip mobile app to your iPhone/iPad or Android device from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.  The mobile version of Quip is designed to allow you to fully interact with your class material as well as send you notifications when others are writing/editing/reviewing Quip documents.

2) The Home Screen: Quip’s left-hand navigation menu is a great place to start.

3) Document and Folder Management

You can create new folders and documents by clicking the ‘Create New’ icon on the top-right of Quip’s interface. The new item will be added to the existing area or folder you are currently viewing. In addition to Documents and Folders, you can create a Spreadsheet, PowerPoint-like Slides, or a Chat Room; you can also begin a new Chat message or Upload/Import a Word document (which will become an editable Quip document, though it may lose some formatting) or a PDF (which will be imported as a single image).

Selecting the ‘Create New’ option will present you with several choices for document creation. The New Document option provides a blank word-processing slate. The New Spreadsheet option gives you cells to work with, but cannot facilitate complex Microsoft Excel files that make use of Add-Ins. The New Slides option will give you a blank presentation with the title slide already created. The Upload or Import allows you to pull existing word-processor documents into Quip from your computer or a cloud service.

Note: Quip converts and simplifies imported documents, so complex formatting may not appear or require fixing.

5) The Living Document

Visually, a Quip document is broken into two sections. The main section, seen here as the left side of the application, is where the document’s content belongs. Text, images, and annotations are found here. The second section, seen on the right-hand side, is called the Conversation Pane. It’s a pane that displays the document’s edit history and chat conversation, as well as featuring a Share button above it.

6) Working with Quip

Quip works a bit differently than traditional word processors. Font, paragraph, and style options are limited to ensure all work is responsive design-ready. This means that documents will auto-format to ensure a proper reading experience on any screen size, from phone to computer to television.

Paragraphs & More: Each new component of a Quip document can be designated as a paragraph, heading, list, or quote.

Commenting: Every component comes with its own Comments button ('speech bubble' icon) for discussing it in-context.

Text Customization: Highlight text you want to format and use the quick access toolbar to change the style, format text as bold, italicize, underline, strikethrough, create a hyperlink, and highlight/comment.

7) The '@Insert' Button & Live Apps

Choose Insert on the top-left of any Quip document to browse a panel of insertable content, or select popular options from the quick access menu.

Note: Typing “@” anywhere within your Quip document functions as an Insert shortcut- there is no need to always navigate to the button.