Google Docs Viewer for PDF, PPT, and TIFF Files

You can now view and embed online documents in your browser without downloading and using an application.

Google Docs Viewer allows you to view certain files online. Enter the URL of a PDF, Powerpoint or TIFF document in the Viewer and we'll display it directly in the browser with no download required.

Get the details here.

Getting Docs Out of Google Docs ... and More

When considering cloud computing, one of the questions we often here is "How can I get my data out if I decide to change services?".

Over the past few months, Google has confirmed its commitment to ensuring data portability. This week, they delivered on this promise with export capabilities that let you export multiple files into a zip file.

As part of the release, the documents screen will identify new documents and indicate those that have been updated by collaborators since your last view/edit session.

Learn more here.

Google Sites API Opens Up New Capabilities

There's now a new Google Sites Data API in Labs that allows client applications to access, publish and modify content within a Google Site. With this new API, Google Apps administrators can:

• Retrieve, create, modify, move, and delete pages, comments, attachments and other content.
• Review the revision history across the Site.
• Monitor all, add, modify and delete activity for a Site.
• Upload/download attachments and files.
• Create customized gadgets for your users.

The API also enables the development of new integration tools, like OffiSync.

More Consistency Across Google Docs

One of the legitimate criticisms of Google Docs has been that the menu options and user interfaces differ between Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations.

Just released, Google has updated Google Docs to minimize the differences between the apps.

Learn more and see the updated menu bars here.

Setting up Push Mail for iPhone and Windows Mobile Devices

Push mail is now supported on iPhone and Windows Mobile devices using Google Sync.

Learn how to access the new features here.

If You Love Your Site, Set it Free

When managing permissions in Google Sites, you can make others owners, collaborators, or viewers. You now have the ability to remove yourself completely from site permissions. As such, you can fully hand over ownership to others.

Get the scoop here.

Directory Sync and Suspended Users

Directory Sync allows mid-size and larger organizations to manage Google Apps user accounts through Active Directory or other LDAP servers on the internal network.

The latest Google Apps Directory Sync version (1.6.7) now supports suspend user functionality and other new use cases to make deployment easier such as:

• The ability to sync users as suspended from LDAP
• The ability to suspend a user in Apps, when the user is deleted from LDAP

More info is available here.

Flowchart Shapes and Text Formatting in Google Charts

If you work with drawings in Google Docs, you will be pleased to learn that you now have more flowchart shapes and the ability to format multi-line text boxes. While not revolutionary, these incremental changes improve usability.

Learn more here.

Major Enhancements to Google Forms

Google Forms have always been a convenient easy way to gather simple information, but have lacked some of the features found in commercial survey tools. We are happy to share that this is changing. With several recent rounds of updates, Google Forms have are maturing.

The first round of enhancements include:

• A new Grid question type
• Support for bi-directional languages
• Improved formatting of statistics and better formatting of charts for each question type
• The ability to pre-populate responses in form fields using URL parameters
• The ability to create forms which require sign-in to access

To learn more about how to use these features, click here.

Blackberry Add-On Adds Value for Gmail Users

Blackberry offers an enhanced Gmail plug-in that gives you the following capabilities:

• Archive a message
• Add a star to a message
• Add a label to a message
• Report spam email message
• Perform local and remote searches
• View related messages conversation view

These features work within the plug-in but do not effect email in Messages application. The plug-in works if you are connecting to your mail account over Blackberry Internet Services.

To learn more, click here.

Google Apps Improves Cloud Integration to Internal Services

Google recently released an update to Directory Sync with the following features to support new use cases that make deployment easier, including:

• The ability to sync users as suspended from LDAP
• The ability to suspend a user in Apps, when the user is deleted from LDAP

Contact us for more information, or if you want to setup Directory Sync.

Collaboration with Google Sites Just Got Easier

Several recent updates to Google Sites greatly improve their use and value for collaboration.

• The ability to copy an entire site
  
  
• More control over the search box to do things like search across multiple sites
  
  
• The "recent announcement" gadget now allows you to control how much text is shown in the post summary. You can also configure the gadget to show a thumbnail of the first photo in the post
  
  
• The Start Page is now available in all editions of Google

Of these features, the site copy and search improvements offer significant new value.

With the ability to copy sites, it is now possible to create a template site, for customer portals as an example, and copy the site for easy replication. Search gives you the ability to have users search over several related sites, providing easier access to information.

Want the details? Click Here.

Translate Google Docs -- 42 languages

Collaboration across languages and cultures is easier when you speak the language. Google Docs now supports translation across 42 languages.

Learn more here

More Task Features

If you use Tasks in Google Apps, you can now email task lists. With the ability to have multiple lists, emailing task lists makes delegation easier.

Share with Groups!

In a recent enhancement to sharing in Google Apps, you can now share documents for viewing or editing by Group. This feature makes sharing with project teams, customer teams, or large numbers of individuals faster and easier.

Group sharing is works with:

• Docs (documents, spreadsheets, and presentations)
• Sites
• Video

To learn how, Click Here.

To learn more about how to improvide sharing and collaboration, Click Here.

Google Calendars: Group Invites

Google Calendars now let you invite groups.

To invite a group to your event:

• Simply enter the group name under 'Guests' in your Google Calendar invitation.

Google Calendars: Help Your Social Networking Efforts

One of the basic tenants of social networking is to be mindful of your contacts' birthdays and special events. Google Calendar can help. You can now add a special calendar that shows your contacts' birthdays and events.

To add the birthday and event calendar in Google Calendar:

• From the Settings page, select 'Browse interesting calendars' (at the bottom)
• Click on "More"
• You can then preview or subscribe to the 'Contacts' birthdays and events' calendar.

Set your Sites on better Gadget and LInk Integration

To expand the potential of Google Sites for internal and secure customer portal, Google has improved how gadgets and links are managed.

You can now

• Paste embeddings that use object, embed, or iframe tags; they will be auto-wrapped in a gadget
  
• Add custom links in your sidebar navigation, using manual mode
  
• More easily paste HTML from external sources

Click here to learn more ...

Can I find the document you shared with me?

As organizations improve collaboration, document sharing replaces endless chains of email attachments. One adaptation for users, however, is the ability to find documents that others have shared.

By adding "Shared With ..." to search options in Google Docs, users have an easier way of finding documents that have been shared.

Document Sharing Just Got Easier

One of our concerns about Google Docs was the user interface for sharing. The options were not in one place and were not clear to newer users.

Google has addressed our concerns. All of the sharing options are no located in one dialog box with multiple tabs. The Sharing menu item lets you pick which tab appears when you open the dialog box.