Documents
Docs, as the facility is called, is an online software to create, edit and share hosted documents. It is a collection of applications for creating, editing and collaborating on text documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Forms can also be created and sent via e-mail or embedded on a site to collect information.
The Key features of are highlighted below :-
Work together without the hassle of attachments - Co-workers can share the same online copy of each doc, spreadsheet or presentation. All revisions are saved and recoverable.
Present and publish through the web – Presentations can be delivered to remote audiences, and documents and spreadsheets can be published internally for employees to view.
Interoperate with traditional file formats – Import and collaboratively edit or publish from .doc, .xls, .csv, .ppt, .txt, .html, .pdf and other formats. You can export as well.
The interface is very user friendly and easy to understand. Upon access it displays a centralized view of the contents. These documents are indexed by folder, type and people with whom it is shared, and may be organized as per requirement. Depending on the kind of document, the application to create it can be launched from here.
The application that creates text documents has the required features of a word processor. Just recently a feature of creating and inserting a drawing was included. It is fun and sometimes necessary to include a doodle to explain things. There are only a few people who do use a feature packed word processor for their work, but most would be more than satisfied with Docs. Along with importing the popular kind of file formats, inserting pictures, tables, comments and other common forms of content into your document. It has a spell check, word count as well as the capability to revert back to older version of documents after numerous edits. The best part is sharing and simultaneously editing a document with others.
To create a spreadsheet, click New, and then Spreadsheet. With Google Spreadsheets, you can easily create, share, and edit spreadsheets online. Here are a few specific things you can do:
Import and export these file types: .xls, .csv, .txt and .ods. You can also export data to a PDF or an HTML file.
Format your cells and edit formulas so you can calculate results and make your data look the way you want it.
Chat in real time with others who are editing your spreadsheet.
Embed a spreadsheet, or a section of a spreadsheet, in your blog or website.
The interface of the spreadsheets makes it easy to do basic formatting through the toolbar at the top of the application. Users can change font styles, cell backgrounds and borders, merge cells, etc. with these shortcuts. Dynamic charts can be inserted into the spreadsheets, which on altering the data table, will update automatically. The charts can be edited to change the type, data and the labels. Along with charts, spreadsheets can include images, gadgets, comments and formulas.
The best part about the spreadsheets are the forms one can create to generate responses from people. The fields of the form can be populated with questions that would lead to the required information. The forms can be e-mailed to the respondents or embedded on the site. As you start getting the responses the spreadsheet from which the form was generated, starts getting populated automatically.
Presentations are a norm these days. Whatever the need for a presentation, it definitely imposed on the time of the presenter as well as the proposed audience. Today when time is essentially related to productivity, it seems better to plan online presentations. The presenter having produced the presentation can host it online and have the audience view it at their convenience and respond via the form explained above.
The application to create presentation is quite user friendly. Slides can be built from scratch or from provided templates. Pictures, video, graphics etc can be inserted to suit the production requirements. The invitation to the presentation can be e-mailed to the audience with the link to it's location on the web. It can also be embedded on the site and reside there till the target audience has viewed it and responded.
The fun part is that all these applications integrate and compliment each other so well that it becomes a pleasure to do business.