Tech Tip: Google Docs

CDs, DVDs, Flash Drives...Are these technologies headed for the dust bin of history where they can sit in obsolescence with the VCR? With technologies like Google Docs, cloud computing is becoming a convenient way to create, edit, and share documents without relying on external storage.    

Google Docs, one of several components to Google Drive, is an online word processor that lets you create and format text documents and collaborate with other people in real time.  Here's what you can do with Google Docs:

• Upload a Word document and convert it to a Google document
• Add flair and formatting to your documents by adjusting margins, spacing, fonts, and colors — all that fun stuff
• Invite other people to collaborate on a document with you, giving them edit, comment or view access
• Collaborate online in real time and chat with other collaborators — right from inside the document
• View your document's revision history and roll back to any previous version
• Download a Google document to your desktop as a Word, OpenOffice, RTF, PDF, HTML or zip file
• Translate a document to a different language
• Email your documents to other people as attachments

Click here for an Overview of Google Docs from Google and view the video below for a brief tutorial.

Tech Tip: Google Drive

You know you've made it as a company when your name is synonymous with the service you provide. Need to know something on the Web?  Just "Google" it!  But Google provides more than just a search engine.  Google Drive is an outstanding tool for collaborating and communicating "in the cloud" (i.e. on the Web).  All you need to get started is a free Google account.  From there, you can create and share Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Forms (Surveys), and Drawings.  Sharing options include View or Edit.  You can also store your original documents like PDFs, Word Documents, PowerPoints, and even video files on Google Drive and access them from any Internet enabled device.  View the video tutorial below to learn more. Click here for more support from Google. In the coming weeks, I will be blogging about each of Google Drive's services, including Docs, Spreadsheets, Presentations, and Forms.