Google Docs - Most Loved Office Suite

Google Docs was voted as PC World's readers' favorite office suite beating a competitive product Zoho Office which offers similar services. It also ranked #27 in the editors' list. Other Google products on the list of the 100 Best Products of 2008 include #25 Google Maps Street View, #41 Gmail, #81 YouTube.

Google Docs Updates

Google Docs has been one of the most frequently updated Google product. Here are some of the latest updates:

1. Gadgets in Spreadsheet
   With the help of open source gadgets API, you can create more interactive charts and graphs in your spreadsheets. There are already some pretty useful ones such as motion chart, scatter chart, time series, heat maps, etc.
   
2. New Menu Bars
   The menu bar is renovated and looks more Office 2003-ish. Some tools have been rearranged to different tabs.
   
3. Set Up Notifications
   Receive alerts whenever edits are made in your spreadsheets. Learn more
   
   
4. Colored Folders
   Just like in the 'Newer Gmail' you can now give a folder a particular color.
   
5. Change Ownership
   You can now change the 'owner' of a document or presentation (not spreadsheets) to someone else in the dashboard. Go to "More Actions > Change Onwer".
   

Help Center Restructures

Google has been restructuring its Help Centers for Gmail, Google Calender and Google Docs according to usability and user feedbacks. All of them have (updated) Known Issues pages which lists out common but unsolved problems. Users can view the detailed description of the issue and report it if they are experiencing it. This is Gmail's Known Issues page:
The similar voting system is used for feature suggestions where Google determines which feature to develop next:
Another improvement is that Google attempts to show relevant problems that users might also have when searching for a particular topic: Given the huge amount of users, to answer all emails received from users might take up to years. Therefore, for common "How-tos" and "Know-hows", Google is (more strictly) directing its users to official user groups or Help Center by hiding the Contact Us link or by using directories to divert users to appropriate sections. Google only provides (limited) email support to users who have gone through the entire Troubleshooter and find no answers.
I suppose more updates would be expected as Google continues to collect feedback from its users with this box appearing in most Help Centers:

Got Ideas to Improve Google Docs? Suggest It!

The Google Docs Team is open to your suggestions. Fill out this new suggestion form and vote for those that you are desperately wanting. They have categorized suggestions for documents, spreadsheets, presentations or the whole app. Here are some of my most wanted features:

• Print Layout in documents
• Footnotes and page # in documents
• Vertical merge in spreadsheets
• Export to PowerPoint!
• Slide Master

It is good that they are listening ... it is going to take some time to implement all though.

Google Spreadsheets Gets Charts!

This is a great advancement for Google Docs & Spreadsheets as they finally rolled out one of the most lacked feature -- charts. Besides, here are some new features from Google Docs & Spreadsheets Blog:

• Named ranges: you can define a name for a range of cells, and use this name in formulas to refer to cells, for example write =sum(expenses) instead of =sum(c12:e17). This helps make calculation logic clearer to write and understand. Check it out under the "Formulas" tab.
• Cell comments: Attach comments to individual cells, great for additional information or for collaboration on a single cell.
• Bi-directional text: The ability to properly view and edit text in right-to-left languages like Hebrew. This is very important for our local community here in Israel.
• A quick way to duplicate a sheet.
• A new right-click option to search the web for the text in a cell.

Google Docs wish list

Google announced that Google Docs is now in 12 more languages and Google Toolbar 3 for Firefox (which allows users to open documents in their desktop using Google Docs) is out of beta. I see Google's efforts to localize its service, but to gain more market share, Google has to work hard on improving the overall user experience. Here are some suggestions for Google Docs:

1. Offline editor. This is essential for users who does not connect to the Internet all the time and if they have problems with their connections, users will still be able to retrieve their documents. Once the user connects to the Internet again the offline editor will synchronize with the online copy and allow other collaborating users see changes.
2. More advanced features. Google Docs provides basic word processing and spreadsheet tools, advance features such as graphing and charting is not supported which limits the possible uses of it. Rather than Google developing all the features for its users, it would be a great idea to make Google Docs an open source project that allow users to develop and customize their own tool panel.
3. Google Talk integration. Though spreadsheet in Google Docs allows users to chat within a document, I personally think that the Gmail chat interface is the best solution to combine chat and work. Users should also be able to pin point (or link to) certain parts of the document in the Docs chat so that they know exactly what the others are referring to. The chat history is then saved for future reference.
   
4. Gmail integration. Though users can open document and spreadsheet attachments in Gmail using Google Docs in a new window, it would be even better if users can click a button and the document opens below the email and users can edit it there. The changes are then visible by other recipients.
5. Google Desktop integration. You can open documents in your desktop in Google Docs, how about search them? Google Desktop currently indexes Gmail messages and allows users to search them offline, how about those important documents saved online in Google Docs?
6. Better viewing options. There should be more viewing options such as full screen, Book Search pdf view.
7. Better tagging. Like most of the Google products, you cannot edit tags in bulk and to categorize documents into comprehensible groups.
8. Faster respond. Google Docs has been accelerating in sever responds since it received complaints from its users that loading a document is too time consuming yet there is still room for improvement.

Currently, Google is developing the enterprise version of Google Docs which I hope will have some of the aforementioned features already included.

Google to launch its own PowerPoint

Ionut from Google Operating System accidentally discovered that Google is about to launch its PowerPoint named Google Presently. Presently (just like Writely) should be included in Google Docs which now provides basic spreadsheet and word processing. This would be another advancement for Google's ambitious to put everything online. Google emphasis on collaborating and allows multiple users edit the same document at the same time seeing instant changes. It wouldn't be a surprise if they have it in Presently as well. Now that Google put most of the Office applications online, the next step would be to develop an offline editor which will automatically synchronize with the online version. Once this is done, Window and probably Mac users will have an alternative (a much better one) to Office. Go, Google, Go!

Google ready to take on Microsoft

Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager of Google has hinted that the company is working very hard on an enterprise product which will be sold to businesses, will include e-mail, calendar, word processing, spreadsheet, instant messaging, and voice-over-Internet programs and is expected soon. Google currently offers a free version of its integrated, ad-free word processor (formerly called as Writely) and spreadsheet program called as Google Docs.
Google's narrow income source often worries investors. Now it is trying to broaden its revenue beyond advertising and takes on Microsoft. The move comes as Microsoft prepares to roll out Office 2007, the new version of its best-selling productivity software suite, as well as Windows Vista, the latest upgrade of its ubiquitous operating system. Will Google be able to attract enterprises to switch from something that they are used to and so far relatively reliable? Let's see.

Open Gmail Document Attachemnts in Google Docs

A few months ago, Gmail allows users to open spreadsheet attachments in Google Docs. Now, they allowed users to open document attachments in Google Docs as well. In the Gmail Help Center, there is no mention that users can open document attachments in Google Docs yet. This feature is extremely useful for those who would not only like to view the attachment but to also to edit it.

Now that you can view documents and spreadsheets in Gmail in a separate window, would it be possible if we could edit them within the message. The idea is simple, when attaching a document, you first upload it to Google Docs. When the recipient receives the email, they can edit it within the email message and can collaborate. This saves a lot of time to enter and exit the Google Docs interface.



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Blogger seeks your feedback

Last month, I have reported that Google Docs & Spreadsheet is seeking for user feedback by providing a link to a product survey. Now, this survey extended to Blogger. After you publish a blog post, you the original link to Google D&S will change to a link to the product survey. Mainly they would like users to compare different blog hosting services and rate the experience as well as suggestion for improvements. I interpret these surveys as a sign that Google is focusing more on user experience than product innovations. This might be due to the criticisms that all the fancy Google products other than search never gain large market share. Google might also be considering further combining Google products like Blogger with Google D&S.

Help Improve Google D&S

Google Docs & Spreadsheet is asking for user feedback and has put a 'Product Survey' link at the top right corner. On click, you will be brought to a survey form which has some standard questions like how often you use Google D&S, how much and what aspect you like about it, would you recommend Google D&S to others, etc. Most likely, the survey will be used to promote Google D&S and that might explain why the focus of the survey is on the things we like about Google D&S as well as the ways we first heard about the product. I have copied the HTML of the survey form and hosted in my Google Pages for any who can't see the link. Here are some screenshots:

'Product Survey' link

'Docs & Spreadsheet user happiness survey'