Online Spreadsheets...and more
As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of Excel. HUGE. However, there are certain things I would love to do with Excel, but can not. In particular, I would love the ability to have two or more people work on an Excel document at the same time. Also, I would love an easy way for people in different locations to collaborate on an Excel document. Unfortunately, Excel just was not built to accommodate this work style. Fortunately, Google has come to the rescue and solved (yet another) problem in my life. Full text for more.
1. Expanded file types. Now, beyond handling online spreadsheets, Google Docs also handles Word documents and Powerpoint documents.
2. Google formulas. You know that Excel has lots and lots of worksheet functions, like Sum() and If(). Well, Google has most of those plus some of their own. The interesting part of the Google functions it that they utilize the resources that Google has access to...the entire internet. So, for example, you could use the GoogleFinance() function to go find and return the current stock price of any ticker symbol. You could also use the GoogleLookup() function to go lookup and return the current Governor of California. Pretty powerful stuff.
3. Embedded. Besides simply logging in to your Google account and editing your documents, you can embed them into other sites. Say you have a powerpoint presentation that you'd like to embed into your website. Google Docs makes it easy.
4. Shared powerpoint presentations. Remote presentations and meetings are all the rage these days. Typically, you need special screen-sharing software to host the meeting and to display your computer screen to the remote participants. If your need is to simply share a powerpoint file, you can use the free Google Docs service. Simply upload your presentation, and then click the Share button. You'll get a link that you can email to your friends. They will be watching your presentation in real time, and when you advance the slide they will see it immediately in their browser. In their normal web browser, without using any special software.
5. Useful templates. There is a fairly impressive library of "templates" that you can use in your docs. There are spreadsheet templates, like loan amortization schedules, and presentation templates with pretty themes and colors.
6. Forms. If you've ever had a need to capture web-form data into a spreadsheet, now it is easy. Simply set up a spreadsheet, and then click the Form tab. Google will set up a webform for you that captures the results right inside your Google spreadsheet.
7. Real-time spreadsheet sharing. If you need multiple people to work on a spreadsheet all at the same time...no problem. Simply click the Share tab and then invite your people. All of you will be able to make changes to the document at the same time, and as people enter new data that new data is displayed in real-time to all users.
8. Gadgets. There are a host of gadgets that can be inserted into your Google Doc. Things like graphs, tables, org charts, maps and more.
At the moment, I don't see myself giving up Excel to use Google Docs exclusively; however there are key situations when I use Google Docs instead of Excel for sure. Each application has its strengths. Fortunately, pretty much any Excel document can be uploaded to Google Docs no problem. And, a Google spreadsheet can be downloaded as an Excel file and used with Excel. So sweet.
Here are some screenshots in case you haven't seen Google Docs yet.
Get started today at http://docs.google.com and enjoy!