What Is Google Docs?

It seems that more and more things are being done online. We keep our files online, we talk to people online, we place games online, and now you can make your business files online as well. If you're used to Microsoft's Office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) or to Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) you won't be too confused when first you meet the Google Docs suite.

Google Docs does the basics of what you're used to doing in your normal office programs, but cuts out most of the bells and whistles. You can create a word processing document, a presentation, a spreadsheet, a form, or a drawing. You needn't remember to save as it auto-saves up to Google's cloud regularly, and you also have the option of downloading it to your computer so you can work on the document offline assuming you have a similar program on your computer. (You can also upload a file from your computer to Google Docs if you wish to work on it from any computer with internet access.)

You can also share your documents with others with a click of a button, allowing others to either download your document, view it online, or work on it online with you. These are handy options for people who need to collaborate with others who may use different types of computers or programs. It also has a very nice price point- free. That's right, you pay nothing for Google Docs; It's included in your free Google account. Now, keep in mind what I said in the beginning that it is missing some whistles and bells, but if you only do basic document creation and editing, I recommend checking out Google Docs.

Practical Tip of the Day:
In Google Docs, you have many options on which way you'd like to download your document. If you'd like to be able to edit it on your computer without having an internet connection, downloading it in the common Microsoft Office format is recommended (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), but if you do not need to be able to edit it and would like to make it the easiest to view on a wide range of computers and mobile devices, PDF format is best. PDFs (portable document format) are not easily editable, but are able to be viewed using software that is usually included on modern computers, and easily downloaded in case it isn't there. Picking the format of your file is important as it dictates what you can do with your files, and how you can do it. Choose carefully!