Google Documents



I have several laptop and desktop computers. Depending on where I am and how well prepared I am I could be working on any of the three laptops I own, or on my father's desktop, my brother's laptop, etc. Having these varied machines to work with has necessitated a review of how I author documents.

One of the jobs I have is a contract position paying for work hourly. When using so many different computers it has been very difficult for me to keep track of the hours I work. To overcome this I have begun using Google Documents. I have created a spreadsheet in Google Documents that keeps track of all the hours I work for the contract position. Regardless of where I am or what laptop I am using I will have access to my Google Documents.

Google Documents was first introduced in 2006. The Document editor was acquired from a start-up company, while the Google Spreadsheet editor was created by Google. In addition to spreadsheets and documents, Google Documents also supports the creation of presentations. I have not had the opportunity to play with Google Presentations as of yet.

There are limits to the features in the Google Application suite. With the free account users are limited to the number and size of documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Google Spreadsheets has limited formula capabilities when compared to Microsoft Excel. Users of any office application suite will feel very familiar with the user interface of each of the document editors. Pressing CTRL+S will save a document. Pressing CTRL+P will print the document. Right-clicking will provide the normal cut, copy, and paste functions.

Google Documents also has the ability to export in many different formats including OpenOffice, Word, RTF, and PDF. These built export features ensure compatibility with other office suites. In addition, the ability to collaborate on documents in built in to Google Documents. The collaboration features are similar to Microsoft's Sharepoint without the headache of having to administer the software and the ability to reach out to a much a wider audience.

The only major hassle I have experienced with Google Documents is the right-click capabilities in Firefox. Right-clicking brings up both the Firefox context menu as well as the Google Documents context menu.

To check out Google Documents click here.

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