I make scientific figures for a lot of grant proposals. If you are a PI writing a grant proposal, you might consider using google docs instead of word, but I would advise against it. You could use it for your early brainstorming, but once you are ready to insert figures and captions, please use word. Here is why:

Google docs for grant proposals: it's not worth it.

Getting images with captions and/or vector based images into google docs is so hard!

You can just stop reading now. But if you really want to know the details, read on.

[What is a vector image? And why should you care for your grant proposal.]

Getting Vector-Based Images into Word Processing Software and then to a PDF: Google Docs vs Microsoft Word

Google Docs	Microsoft Word
➡️Expand all strokes in Adobe Illustrator.   ❌ The crazy pipeline we are about to enter will mess up the stroke width.  ➡️"Export As" EMF from Adobe Illustrator.	➡️Export SVG from Adobe Illustrator like any other image. (see video)
➡️Upload the EMF Google Drive.  ➡️ Go to google scripts page, and find the previosuly installed EMF converter (follow instructions here to do that.)  ➡️ Click the "run" triangle, and wait a few seconds. All EMFs from the last week (up to 10), will have their details converted to a compatible form.  ➡️ Back in google drive, find the new EMF file (you might have to refresh. The ‘modified time’ should be this minute). Right click it and now you can "open in” “google drawings”.)  ➡️ Once in Google Drawings, Select all, and open "format options" side bar. Under "size and rotation" type in the real size, it should be from Illustrator to make the text and everything else the size you expected. Lock aspect ratio so that you only have to enter either width or height.  ❌ Line thickness is going to get wonky here, so that's why I said to expand all strokes in AI so that you don’t have any line thicknesses.  ➡️ Copy this image.  ➡️ Go to your google doc, click Insert, drawing.  ➡️ Then paste your image from your other google drawing.	➡️Import Image within word.   ✅ Automatically comes it at correct size.
➡️ Shockingly, here in “drawing” is also the only place to add a caption (assuming it's not a full-page-width image). ❌ It’s quite likely that the preview you see on the screen now won’t show a vector based image and that it will look pixelated and blurry. It seems to depend on the number of nodes. However, it is secretly still vector based, and once you follow the steps below it will come back to displaying clearly. ❌ This text will NOT be spelling and grammar checked when you select Tools, spelling and grammar, so watch out. ❌ Also, the font size is who knows what, and there is no single style applied to all of them. ❌ The "find" feature won't work on this text either, and you can't add hyperlinks, like to a citation or image source. ❌ Do not change the size of this image because it will also change then size of your caption text, which looks super bad. It’s not great when the text inside images different across a document, but different size caption text is next-level unprofessional.	➡️Assuming it's not a full-width image, change image wrap to around.  ➡️Right click on image and "insert caption, " and OK. This will insert an automatically numbered number. You can delete this dynamic number and type in a stagnant number if you want.  ➡️Type in what ever caption you want  ✅ Caption can be easily edited and will be automatically spell checked by word like regular body text.  ✅ The style of the caption text will be "caption" can this can be edited in once place and will update everywhere to keep them matching.
➡️ Download the google doc as a word doc and open the Word doc. ➡️ Then within word select, “Save as Adobe PDF”. ❌ If the drawings have too many nodes, you will bust word. (interestingly, it's fine if you insert complex SVGs images directly into word, but going through google docs makes it use WAY more CPU power)	ON A PC: ✅Anyway that you export a PDF from word, the vector image will stay a vector image.  ✅ “Save as Adobe PDF” works best for both vector and pixel based images.  ❌ “Save as” and then “PDF” seems to have a minimum stroke thickness feature that isn’t ideal.  I should expand outlines in my images if we are going to use this tool.  ON A MAC: I don't own a mac, so I haven't done as through of testing, but I have done some: ❌ “Save as” and then selecting PDF will default to terrible settings that will rasterize all of your vector images into potentially-blurring pixel-based images. 1) ✅ On the "Save as" dialog box, find the option for "best for printing." Ironically, this setting will have the most benefit for viewers using a Screen, and not printing it, but regardless of the terminology, this setting works! Vectors will stay vectors. 2) ✅Another viable option (based on my very quick tests borrowing other people's people's computers), is to "Print" and then select PDF as your printer. This could be different on different computers based on your print drivers, so always check your PDF over carefully.

Even if all your images are pixel based (a shame), if you need to have captions and word wrap, it's still not worth it!

Getting Pixel-Based Images into Word Processing Software and then to a PDF: Google Docs vs Microsoft Word

Google Docs	Microsoft Word
➡️Export PNG from Adobe Illustrator at whatever DPI you want, but at least 300 or more.  ❌I I know this is terrible ‘worst’ practice, but the only way I can see to add captions in good docs while keeping high resolution is to bake-in the caption in Adobe Illustrator. This is a terrible idea because figure numbers and the details of captions change all the time. Or what if a linked citation should go in there? Too bad, there is just no way to do it in Google Docs.	➡️Export PNG from Adobe Illustrator at 330dpi. (If you go higher, it’s going to wind up at 300dpi. Counter-intuitively, you do better at 330 than at 600dpi)
❌If you import a WORD doc into Google Docs, all the images will get downsized to 96DPI, which looks AWFUL. So don’t do that.  ➡️Within Google Docs, select insert, image, upload from computer and select the PNG.   ➡️Type in the exact size in inches that it should be according to your Adobe I file.	➡️Within Word, select Insert, Picture, and select the PNG. Never copy-paste a screen shot. It should insert it at the correct size automatically.
➡️Assuming it’s not full-width, change the word wrap to around.  ❌If you add a caption using the insert “drawing” method, then your image is going to be downsampled to 96dpi, and it will look like unprofessional crap.  ❌If you add a caption using a table, well too bad because tables can’t can’t have word wrap either.  The only choice is to have the image take up an entire row (full width in-line) of text and have the caption in-line, or have the caption baked into the image file.	➡️Assuming it’s not full-width, change the word wrap to around. ➡️Right click on image and "insert caption, " and OK. This will insert an automatically numbered number. You can delete this dynamic number and type in a stagnant number if you want. ➡️Type in what ever caption you want
➡️File, download, PDF document.  ✅ The default PDF export settings for Google Docs is not to change the image resolution at all.  So, if you imported an image with 600 dpi, the PDF will have an image with 600dpi.  (unless you used the google drawings feature, because then it will be 96dpi.)  ❌ None of the vector images will be vector image. Even if you managed to painstakingly get them into Google Docs using “google drawings” and that EMF conversion script. You have to download as Word doc and then make the PDF from word.	➡️If you want the images to be higher resolution than 220dpi, then you have to change your change your PDF export options by going File, Options, Advanced, Image Size and Quality (just below “Pen). ➡️Select 330 ppi. ➡️You can change this for “all new documents”, but if you are opening documents sent to you by other people, it will default back to 220 EVERYTIME, so you have to come back into this menu. While you are in here, if there is ever a chance you are going to enlarge pixel images within word later, then it’s not a bad idea to check the box for "Do not compress images in the file.” This has NO effect on your PDFs, but it does effect your Word file. When you save and close your word file, without this box checked, it will downsameple your images to 330 DPI. So when you open your file again, if you go to enlarge your images, they will now be less than 330dpi, even if the original PNG was huge. But this check box will make your word files larger, so if you are never going to use it than you could leave it off. ❌Realistically, everyone is going to forget to change these settings so it’s probably going to be 220dpi (the default) from Word most of the time. 220dpi is just fine for looking at the image at the size it’s shown. But if users are going to zoom way in on their screen devices, or if there is tiny text, then it’s nice to have higher resolution than this. On my computer, there are 2 options for exporting a PDF from Word: 1) ➡️ ”Save As Adobe PDF” ✅ This follows the Resolution that you have entered in the options settings (see cell above), but only up to 300/330. So, if you have 330 selected, it allow 330dpi images to stay that way, but anything brought in over 330 will appear as 300dpi. Lower-than-300 resolution images will be exported at whatever they came in at. If you have your settings set to 220, then all images will be at 220 (or less if they came in as less). If you have High Fidelity selected, it will be the same as 330. ✅ Vector images come out beautifully too. 2) ➡️or “Save As” ❌On the save as window, once you select PDF from the drop-down, you have the choice of "optimize for," and next to save there is a tools button, and there is also an optimize button.  In my tests, no matter what you select from any of these, the images won't come out above 220dpi.  They are all just joke options. It’s always 220.  ❌Vector images come out OK, but it looks like there is a minimum line thickness filter of some sort applied such that 0.87pt is the smallest line thickness. I regularly use 0.5pt, and sometimes even 0.25pt, so this isn’t great.

Overall Benefits of Word vs Google Docs for Grant Proposals

Google Docs	Microsoft WORD
✅ Excellent simultaneous multiple-people editing.	❓Online sharing, but I’m less familiar with simultaneous editing.
✅ PDFs can be exported with 400 or 600+ dpi pixel images.	❌I can’t find anyway to get PDFs with pixel images at higher than 330ppi.  300 is fine, as long as people aren’t zooming way in or having tiny font.
❌So so hard to vector based images into google docs, and then even harder to get them into the PDF.	✅Easy breezy to insert SVGs and have them stay vector in the PDF.
❌All inserted images have to be re-sized if you want them to match their true size as prepared in Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop.	✅Generally inserts images at their real size as long as it’s less than the page size. I think there are exceptions to this, but it generally seems to work.
❌❌❌No caption options for images unless they are full-width inline!  That means all images have to be large and wide! That’s a crazy limitation for word processor software!  ❌No grouping, although I suppose if both the caption and the image are inline, they should stay near each other naturally.	✅Add the perfect sized caption to wrap-around images with a right click. (make sure to change the word wrap first so that you get the right kind of text box). These captions will be styled consistently, and automatically numbered if you are a cross-reference user.  ✅I like to ‘group’ the caption text box with the picture so that they don’t get separated if the document changes a lot.
❌❌❌Tables have to be full-width!  No word wrap around tables!	✅You can insert a table into a text box and then it will act like it’s grouped with it’s caption, and the body text will wrap around it.
❌No advanced features. Even viewing hidden characters requires an add-on.	✅So many advanced options in word: Linked table of contents, cross-references, ‘view hidden characters,’ section breaks, and so much more.