Word + Cloud = Google Docs
Contents
- Document Processing
- Sharing
- Collaboration
- New Features
- Wrap up
A while back I discussed cloud based storage. I've received a bunch of traffic to it and comments about it expressing people's interest in this new technology. And honestly, what's not to like? You can have your music, pictures and movies with you no matter where you go as long as you can access the internet. So I thought we'd explore a little bit more about the world of "the cloud". If you've ever used Word, Works or Open Office, you'll know the convenience of having a full featured word processing application. But what happens when you work countless hours on a document, only to forget to email it to yourself so you can use it elsewhere. Or what about having to collaborate on a document with a group of people. You can have everyone make there contributions, and then send them to some poor soul to merge everything together. Or you can have one person add to it, then send it to the next and so on.
As you might have surmised, the answer to these problems is cloud based document applications. In particular, we'll be talking about the best free cloud based document programs; Google Docs. Google docs is available to anyone with a Google account and has all of the functionality you'll ever need.
Document Processing
Just because something is cloud based isn't enough to make you go out and start using it. It has to be a solid program as well. The features are nice, but nobody buys a car for cup holders or heated seats; you look at the basics. Does the engine produce enough power with sufficient efficiency, things like that. So it wouldn't make since to evaluate a document processing program based on it's cloud capabilities.
Having said that, Google Docs has everything you'd want from a document package. Google Docs allows you to easily create text documents, Powerpoint style presentations, spreadsheets, forms, tables and drawings. All of these different documents have all of the functionality you've come to know and love in a desktop based document processor.
The interface is simple and intuitive; it's not nearly as daunting as the display for Word. The entry screen is a simple list of your documents. There aren't many other options on the page; but when you select the box next to a document, you're given a few more options. You merely need to click on a document name to launch a document. If you're just getting started, click the red "create" button on the left side of the screen to select the type of document you wish to make. After that, the display is still easy to use and rather intuitive, but you're given more options than the entry screen. I'm not going to spend a lot of time discussing the basics; if you haven't used Word before, take some time to familiarize yourself with the basics of these document types.
Sharing
While you probably wouldn't buy a car based on it having heated seats, you'd be more inclined to buy a car with bells and whistles. Google docs packs more than just a few added features too. Chief amongst thom being it's cloud nature. This is why you choose to use Google Docs. Google docs gives you the ability to begin working on a document on your desktop at home, then pick it up on any laptop or even on your mobile device. Not only is this nice because you can access it from any internet device, but it also doesn't take up room on your hard drive. Since it is stored on Google's servers, you aren't crowding your personal computer with documents. Also, it allows you to not have to wade through documents from other family members to find yours. You can each have your own Google account with your own storage.
Speaking of multiple accounts, Google docs allows you to share your documents with others. Let's go back to the collaboration dilemma from earlier. If you'd been using Google Docs, here's how it would have worked. You would have started your document on your Google account. Then you'd have looked in the top right corner and clicked share. You'd have then added the Google accounts of all of your collaborators and set their level of access. You can choose to allow them access to view, edit or just comment on a document. There may be people, like managers or directors, that need to see the project every now and then, but have no need to edit it. You can give them view or comment only access. For the others that are adding to the presentation, you can allow them access to edit the document. This way, you can enforce different roles for each of the people involved.
Collaboration
Now, whenever any of the people you've shared your document with log into their Google account and see it in their document list. They can then work with the document as if it were their own. You may be asking yourself; how can you avoid changing a document at the same time someone else is doing the same thing? With Google Docs, you can see, in real time, what people are doing. They call it a "presence" and it will denote, using different colors, where everyone is working at at any given time. So if you're editing a presentation, you can see which slide any given person is working on. If you're in a text document, you can see where your collaborator's cursors are at and see the text as they type. Google Docs saves your progress as you go automatically. You can also view the revision history, so you can go over what each person adds to the document and when they added it.
You can also have a chat session with the people working on the documents within the browser window. In the top right corner, you'll be given a count of how many people are viewing the same document as you. If you click the drop down for that you will be put into a chat with these people. You can then chat with the rest of the group as you would on any other chat program. My family is currently using this to communicate with family members that don't have access to Facebook and email.
Since all of this happens in the cloud, you no longer have to send tons of emails about status updates and attachments; the people needing an update can just look at the progress themselves. If your team has to present your progress in person for some reason, you don't need to stress yourself with trying to remember to email it to yourself or someone else, it'll be ready for any of you in the cloud.
New Features
If this isn't enough of a reason to give them a chance, Google has added some new features to sweeten the pot. We'll discuss a few here, but for a full list; check out Google Docs What's New page. Some of the cooler, technical term, features are cloud printing, fusion tables and inserting images directly from an Android device. With the cloud printing enabled, you can actually print documents directly from your mobile device. This way you don't have to lug a bulky laptop around with you; you can take your tablet or phone with you and print from there. In the Google Docs app for Android, you can actually take a picture and directly insert it into a Google document via the web clipboard. But the coolest, more technical jargon, feature is fusion tables. Fusion tables are a topic deserving of an article all to themself. If you're interested in learning more, check out the Docs Support Page. Fusion tables let you work with tables in a whole new way. They allow you to visualize data tables like never before. If you check out the link, you can get an idea of some of the things people are doing with fusion tables lately.
