{"id":469,"date":"2011-06-01T19:03:29","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T00:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/?p=469"},"modified":"2011-06-01T13:05:37","modified_gmt":"2011-06-01T18:05:37","slug":"google-docs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/2011\/06\/google-docs\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Docs"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might remember my first introduction to cloud computing was a client who used Google Calendar.\u00a0 My first business e-mail was a Gmail account and as I was looking around, I saw Google offering Docs.\u00a0 So, as I was building this business, I used Google Docs<\/a> as a way to share ideas and collaborate with others.\u00a0 Google also offers spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, and forms<\/a>, though I\u2019ve not used any of these yet.\u00a0 All you need to use Google Docs is a Gmail account, which you can get free.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be honest; I don\u2019t use Google Docs much these days.\u00a0 When I was collaborating more, it was a great way to share ideas.\u00a0 I still use it when I need to grab some text for various things \u2013 like when I post ads to Craigslist or someone wants a bio.\u00a0 Part of this is that I\u2019ve not bothered to get many of the files onto my computer and it\u2019s simple and easy to get it from Google Docs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Google<\/a>

Google Docs Screenshot<\/p><\/div>\n

I appreciate the simplicity of the layout \u2013 you can see that along the left side are the options for creating new documents and uploading files.\u00a0 Below this are more categories and then folders that I created so my overall file list was easier to navigate.\u00a0 The center shows the complete list (based on the selection \u2013 in this case, \u201call items\u201d) of my files.\u00a0 This includes files I\u2019ve viewed from other\u2019s shared collections \u2013 I was surprised to see \u201cHeartbreaker Valentines.pdf\u201d there.\u00a0 This was something I looked at and never realized it was part of Google Docs! The right side is something relatively new \u2013 where it provides some additional information on the file that\u2019s highlighted from the middle.<\/p>\n

I like how they\u2019ve set up the collaborating options \u2013 since you can create files that are public, anyone with a link to the file, or private.\u00a0 Even when you decide to keep the settings as private, you can still share the file with others and controlling whether you want them to be able to edit the file or to just view it.\u00a0 When you share a file, the person you\u2019re sharing it with does not need a Gmail account \u2013 which I think is wonderful.<\/p>\n

With how I\u2019ve tended to use Google Docs, I\u2019ve never needed or wanted many editing or formatting features \u2013for my purposes, they have what I need.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard there\u2019s some struggles with creating and editing tables with Google Docs.\u00a0 I find the editing tools easy to find and use \u2013 and without many the additional options I rarely use even with MS Word.\u00a0 I also like that they frequently save your work as you go \u2013 mostly seamlessly \u2013 but include a \u201csave now\u201d button so you can also save it when you need.<\/p>\n

As with all cloud computing, it\u2019s accessible whenever you have an Internet connection.\u00a0 I\u2019ve found the accessibility to questionable with other devices \u2013 Google Docs has only recently been improving their functionality (in my opinion) for smart phones and other devices, like the iPad.\u00a0 Just the other day I was using my iPad to access Google Docs and I kept getting an error message \u2013 while other applications that need the Internet were running perfectly.\u00a0 I\u2019m pleased they\u2019ve been improving their mobile accessibility, and am hopeful it will become useful.\u00a0 At this point, I avoid doing it if possible.<\/p>\n

Google Docs is free and easy to use.\u00a0 I love the idea that anywhere I am with some time on my hands and an Internet connection I could sign in and be productive.\u00a0 Is this something that would benefit you and your life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google Docs is a good way to work with word processing on the cloud \u2013 simplifying the editing and formatting options to those most used. They\u2019re then accessible with any Internet connection when you log into your account.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[10,5,20,25,22],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cloud-computing","tag-behavior","tag-household","tag-paperwork","tag-postaweek2011","tag-productivity"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-7z","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":477,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions\/477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}