So I just got done sending an invoice to a client for some work I did.  In the past I would have had to walk downstairs to my office, log onto my computer find the document, make a pdf out of it and email it. But right now I happen to be on my wife’s computer upstairs, and as I started getting ready for bed, I remembered that I need to send this invoice.  Instead of walking downstairs, I simply logged onto Google Documents, found my invoice, saved it as a pdf and emailed it, right from this computer where none of my documents are stored. 

I’ll go into more depth about each of the Google Documents products later, but some of you could benefit right now from checking it out.  Here’s a brief overview.

Imagine that every time you used Microsoft Word and you saved your file, it was saved somewhere on the internet.  You would never have to worry about losing it, it’s never stored on your computer, but you can always get to it on the internet, just like any website.  Now imagine that every computer you’d ever use had Microsoft Word installed.  This means that you could not only get to your documents, but edit them on any computer.

That’s basically what Google Documents does for you, without one very important, and expensive part.  Microsoft Word.  And Excel. And now PowerPoint too.

Google Documents allows you to create and edit 3 types of documents right inside of your web browser.  Word processing documents (like you make with Microsoft Word), Spreadsheets (like you make with Microsoft Excel ), and most recently Slideshows (like you make with PowerPoint ).  Here’s a couple of screenshots of what each type of document looks like while you’re working on it right inside your browser.

Word Processor

Spreadsheets

Slideshows

There’s only one thing to be aware of.  Google Docs does not do nearly everything that MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint does.  But the question is this.  For the price of FREE, can you give up things that you probably don’t need?  For me the answer is yes.  I barely scratch the surface of what MS Word is capable of, so spending the money on it would be a waste.  For 90% of what I do, Google Docs does everything I need.

Just like all of Google’s services, this is completely free.  If you already have an account with Google, either for Gmail, or iGoogle, or Picasa, you can sign up for Google Documents with the same username and password.  It’s as simple as going to http://docs.google.com, entering your username and password and you’re done.

I can’t wait to talk about this more…. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 5:34 am and is filed under Google Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.