'Net Features : google docs

Forget Docs - Zoho has Arrived on Google Drive

Michael Garrity — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:27:00 GMT

When Google Drive was announced, it was clear that the company had every intention of keeping it closely aligned with its Google Docs office suite. Fortunately for those of you who aren’t too keen on Docs, Zoho is now offering an alternative.

Thanks to an integration using Google Chrome extensions, Zoho is able to tap into Google’s cloud storage service to offer users its Writer, Sheet, and Show products with Google Drive integration, making it available to all of Zoho’s over 6 million customers.

Many users take umbrage with the fact that Google forces them to use all of their products in order to access one, as everything in the suite is so closely integrated. One can click on an attachment in Gmail that will automatically open with Docs. Likewise, files saved in the cloud will be automatically saved to Drive. All of this is useful to a hardcore Google consumer, but for those who don’t necessarily want to use all of these services, it can be a major annoyance.

The downside to this integration is that Zoho users will have to access each package separately in the Chrome Store. Here’s Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet, and Zoho Show.

Google Makes Working with Spreadsheets Easier

Allison Howen — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:30:00 GMT

Google Docs has added a new feature that makes working with Google spreadsheets easier.

An auto-suggest box now pops up when typing a formula into a cell. It suggests what the appropriate functions or formulas may be. By scrolling over the suggestion a description pops up that gives further information about the suggested solution.

The auto-suggest will also make building complex formulas easier by recognizing when you want to use a function in the same cell as another function, otherwise known as a nested function.

Google also rebuilt their help documentation, which will make looking up information easier. It includes a new table for browsing functions, documentation for new functions and more detailed documentation for complex functions.

Google Docs Now Work Offline With Gears

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Google has formally launched Gears support for Google Docs. This will essentially allow users of Google's Web applications to work offline by providing the ability to manage documents just by downloading a browser plug-in for Internet Explorer or Firefox. Think of it as a helper application that connects your online and offline projects. Google docs currently only allows for editing a doc offline, but future releases are expected to allow for the creation of new documents, presentations and spreadsheets as well.