Use Google Docs To Edit and Share Documents in the Cloud

Google Docs, another free service from Google, lets you work on documents collaboratively.

In some ways it's similar to Dropbox and other services that offer free disk space on the Internet. However, whereas those services simply offer a folder of documents, Google Docs includes software for editing those documents directly. For example, it has a word processor similar to Microsoft Word, a spreadsheet package similar to Microsoft Excel, and even presentation software similar to Microsoft PowerPoint.

You don't have to create new documents from scratch. Instead, you can upload existing Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents to Google Docs, which converts them to its own format.

The editing software is Web-based, so it's not as powerful as Word, Excel or PowerPoint. However, it provides enough of the most common features of these tools that many organizations and individuals have adopted it for their use.

More importantly, it means anybody editing these documents can do so using just a Web browser. This has a number of benefits:

It saves money, because organisations don't have to buy software licences.

There are no software compatibility problems, because everybody is editing the document using the same software.

Everybody works on the same version of the document, which reduces the chance of two people accidentally overwriting each other's work.

Because it's on-line, it includes extra features to help collaboration. For example, Google Docs provides a handy chat window to the side of the document you're editing, so if two people are working on a document at the same time, they can chat with each other as they are making changes.

When you create or upload a document, you can choose whether you want to make it private, shared or public:

Private documents are for your own use only (for example, you might be putting them in Google Docs so you can access them from your computer, phone and tablet)

Shared documents are for selected people only (for example, if you have a small team collaborating on a document)

Public documents are accessible by anybody

Google's philosophy has always been to give you the option to retrieve all your data, rather than having it locked in Google's ecosystem forever. This applies to Google Docs as well: you can export your documents in other formats - such as Word, Excel PowerPoint and PDF. So if you do decide you need the extra power of those tools, you have access to it at any time.

Google has now rolled up Google Docs into its Google Drive service, which gives you a hard disk on the Internet - just like Dropbox and similar services. However, all the additional features of Google Docs mentioned above are still available. This gives you the best of both worlds - you can use this either for storage space, for editing, or for both.

Gihan Perera is an Internet coach for speakers, trainers, consultants and other business professionals. He's the author of "Fast, Flat and Free: How the Internet Has Changed Your Business". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get free e-books, webinars and more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gihan_Perera