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Google Docs

267 'Google Docs' stories May 2011 - June 2011
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Google Docs originated from web-based word processor Writely. The app would lay the groundwork for such common features as collaborative text editing. Eventually acquired by Google, it was made available to all Google Apps users in February of 2007.

The marquee feature of Docs is the ability to collaborate with a wide number of people online. Controls help determine who can see, comment, and edit documents. In its current form, Docs is an HTML5 app that runs on most modern browsers and even has support for rudimentary viewing on mobile. Its Android and iOS apps are quite powerful and gives users access to the same web functionality.

On Chrome, Docs works offline and allows users to work without an internet connection and have changes synced backed up to the cloud. An Add-ons feature allows third-party developers to add extra functionality like a thesaurus and a bibliography creator.

Up next for Google Docs: Cloud Print, Cloud Connect improvements, .TXT previews, native Android editing

Avatar for 9to5 Staff Jun 14 2011 - 9:36 am PT
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Native editing is coming to the Google Docs app for Android, in addition to “lots and lots of improvements”

Members of the Google Docs team have revealed some interesting new features slated for an upcoming revision of Google’s online office suite which is due soon. Product managers Scott Johnston, Jeff Harris and Ronald Ho plus engineer DJ Lee and community manager Teresa Wu described some of the new features in a Q&A session with Reddit readers (via Business Insider). For starters, .txt previews are coming back to Google Docs. Next, cloud printing via Cloud Print will be supported across platforms and through browsers other than Google’s own Chrome. Go past the break for more new stuff, including Cloud Connect, offline editing and Android app improvements.

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Survey: Students love their Gmail and Chat, Sites not so much

Avatar for 9to5 Staff Jun 9 2011 - 2:09 pm PT
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Gmail was the most widely used Google Apps service for Brown University (above), but Chat tops the customer satisfaction charts (below)

Brown University conducted a telling survey in May, asking some 1,100 students and faculty/staff members to evaluate Brown’s migration to Google Apps for Education eighteen months ago. Like everywhere, Gmail was the service of choice for a whopping 98 percent of the respondents, but satisfaction index for Chat – used by two-thirds of the respondents – topped the charts: 99 percent for Chat versus Gmail’s 90 percent. Nearly five out of five undergraduate, graduate and professional student respondents were “Very Satisfied” or “Satisfied” with Google’s web-based email.

Google Sites was less popular, having been used by one in three respondents. Docs and Calendar were used by the respectable 85 percent and 79 percent of the respondents, respectively. Most frequently used apps on a daily basis? Gmail (97 percent), Calendar (60 percent), Chat (33 percent), Documents (29 percent) and Sites (eight percent). And when issues rose, nearly half the respondents sought answers on Google’s official help pages and Google search.

More food for thought and four additional pretty charts bellow.


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It is now OK to throw out Excel, Google Spreadsheets has pivot tables

Avatar for Seth Weintraub May 17 2011 - 4:17 pm PT
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One thing that keeps people on Excel is the ability to use Pivot tables.  Google today eliminated one more barrier to migrating to apps by implementing pivot tables today in Google Spreadsheets.

In essence, a pivot table does just that — it allows you to “pivot” or rotate data, thus looking at it from different angles and seeing a variety of patterns which may not be immediately obvious. Let’s take a very simple example of a list of students. This list includes a number of students and some information about them, including gender, class level, and major.

Updates to Spreadsheets are rolling out now.
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