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.

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.

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.

Themes for Google Forms adds Color and Style

Quick and simple, Google has added about 70 themes for Forms that add some color and character to your information gathering efforts.

Click here to learn more ...

Google Spreadsheet gets several new usability features

Over the past few weeks, Google Spreadsheets have seen a number of important new features, all of which improve its usability and, with some features, compatibility with Microsoft Excel.

Send Google Spreadsheets as an Attachment

• From within spreadsheets, you can now attach the spreadsheet to an email via the Share menu.

Improvements to the Solve Tool

• You can now use SUM() and SUMPRODUCT() functions in addition to linear equations with the Solve Tool

Exports to XLS now include images

• When you export spreadsheets to .XLS format, images are now included in the data.

Google Adds Scripts to Spreadsheets

Google Spreadsheets now include the ability to use Google Script, a means for running server-side Java script. Already available for Google Sites, the addition of Google Script in Spreadsheets gives you the ability to automate complex or repetitive actions.

Click here to learn more or to read the overview.

Updates to Google Forms Improves Information Gathering Tools

With the ability to embed Google Forms on web pages and within emails, they are a powerful tool for gathering information. Recent upgrades are addressing some of the limitations of the tool.

• Section headers can be added to give longer forms more structure.
• The editor supports fixed-width
• The ability to edit multiple forms at once
• A new HTML structure is more suited for skinning and Javascript applications
• Forms will display in the user's localized language

Solve Feature Enhances Google Spreadsheets

If you work with linear equations, check out the new Solve feature in Google Spreadsheets. While it does not yet support equations containing formulas, the feature enhances the complexity of information analysis available in Spreadsheets.

Click here to learn how to use Solve.

Domain-Level Templates in Google Apps

Last fall, Google released a public template gallery for Google Apps. Last week, Google released template galleries for domains using Google Apps Premier and Education Editions.

Now, any user in the domain can submit a template to be shared with all other domain users. Templates exist for Docs, Spreadsheets, Forms, and Presentations.

This feature should improve your ability to standardize the look and feel of corporate documents.

Click Here to learn more ...

Expanding APIs create simple database capabilities in Google Apps

For the developers among us, Google has added two new APIs to Google Docs. Table Feeds and Record Feeds allow placement and management of tables and data in spreadsheets.

With these feeds, Google demonstrates how spreadsheets can be used to manage structured data for other applications.

Click here for more.

Mixing Google Docs and MS Office 2007

Our position regarding Google Docs -- including docs, spreadsheets, presentation, and forms -- is as follows:

• Google Docs offer great collaboration capabilities but are not mature enough to replace MS Office or Open Open office for most users
• The formatting and controls in Google Docs are not yet mature enough compared to MS Office features used by intermediate and advanced users

That said, the integration between MS Office and Google Docs is elegant and effective. When uploading MS Office documents, Google docs generally read and maintain formatting and document features, even if you could not create those features directly within Google Docs. Once uploaded, the real-time collaboration -- particularly in docs and spreadsheets -- is effective and efficient.

Recently, Google added support for docx and xlsx formats. MS Office 2007 documents now import easily into docs and spreadsheets.

Click here to learn more.

Manage Permissions by Sheet in Google Spreadsheets

Google has enhanced Google Spreadsheets, allowing you to manage who may edit sheets within a workbook.

Learn More ...

Google: Mobile List View Comes to Your Browser

List View, a filtering and sorting feature for Google Spreadsheets previously released for mobile devices, is now available in your browser. The feature makes it easier to add, edit, sort, and filter rows.

Learn more ...

Google Docs Gets New Drawing Feature

All editions of Google Docs include a new feature that lets you create and insert drawings into documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. The Insert Drawing menu option provides the ability to add, color, rotate, and adjust lines, shapes, text labels, and free-hand scribbles.

Learn more ....

Recent Updates to Google Apps

The following features have been added to Google Apps (multiple editions) over the past week or so.

In Gmail:

• Mark as Unread Update:
  If you're reading a conversation that had unread messages when you opened it, when you mark it as unread, Gmail will only mark as unread the messages in that conversation that were unread when you first opened the message.
  
• Analytics for Gmail:
  Premier and Education administrators can now view statistics about how their organizations are using Gmail (like users' locations, languages, length of visit, etc.) in Google Analytics. This extends the Analytics statistics currently available for the control panel, Google Docs and Google Sites
  
• Name Format Options:
  Google Apps Administrators can now choose how users' names will be displayed in Gmail. Administrators can select whether to display names either as: First Last (example: John Smith) or Last, First (example: Smith, John).
  Administrators can also choose whether to allow users to customize this setting.

In Google Docs (Forms):

• Form Summary Page: Provides current information about completed responses to a Google Form (attached to a Google Spreadsheet)
  
• Collect username in Google Docs: You can now automatically collect a respondent's username when they submit a form in Google Docs.

Publish Results with Forms and Spreadsheets

When you create a form, associated with a spreadsheet, you can now elect to share results -- a summary of responses -- with your collaborators, or with everybody that fills in the form.

Learn more here.

"Spreadsheet Lite" Improves Access from Mobile Phones

Google has added "List View" to Google Spreadsheets. List view is a basic, fast-loading view of a spreadsheet, with simplified editing features. It makes it easy to access Google Spreadsheets:

• On a slow Internet connection
• From some mobile phones
• When there are more than 50 users trying to access a spreadsheet at the same time

Learn more here.

Google Spreadsheets Get Data Validation

Google has added data validation (lenient or strict) to Google Spreadsheets. You can now:

• Validate numbers, dates, and text.
• Prevent users from entering text that doesn't match your criteria, or show them a comment on the cell when the data doesn't match the validation rule.
• Add text to the cells you add validation to, to help your collaborators enter the right type of data.

Learn more here.

Spreadsheets and Forms Get A Boost

The following new features are available in Google Spreadsheets:

• A mobile-friendly view with filtering, sorting and row-by-row editing
  
• The ability to define attributes of a cell and require that input meets those data validation rules, improving how spreadsheets can be used to gather and manage data
  
• A form summary page with information about completed responses, making it easier to review response information saved in the underlying spreadsheet

With these features, Google has improved the capabilities of Forms as a tool for data gathering and entry.