With the development of network technology, a number of practical and interesting online programs have been frequently released, such as: online office systems, online image processing, online input methods, etc. They have the advantages of convenience, time-saving, and no installation required, so they are loved by more and more people. Google launched the Chinese version of its online office software - Google Docs, which is such an installation-free online office system. Let's experience it together.
1. Register for an account to obtain usage rights
Enter http://docs.google.com/ in the browser address bar to access the Google Docs homepage. However, to use the relevant services of Google Docs, you must first register for a Google account website optimization service. Click on the "Create a new Google account" link and fill in the registration information as prompted. After completion, click "I accept; create my account."
Login to your Google account
After returning to the Google Docs homepage, enter the email address used during registration in the email field, and enter the relevant password in the password field. Click the "Login" button to access your Google Docs space. Google Docs sets an upper limit on the size of each document and spreadsheet, with each document being up to 500KB and each spreadsheet having up to 10,000 rows or 20 pages.
Login to Google Docs using a Gmail account
2. Familiar Office operation mode
1. Supports multiple upload methods
After entering Google Docs, you can create documents and spreadsheets, and the operations and usage methods are similar to Microsoft Office. The document formats supported by Google Docs include: html, txt, doc, rtf, odt, and sxw; while the supported spreadsheet types include: csv, xls, and ods.
In addition to creating documents and spreadsheets yourself, Google Docs also supports file upload functions. Click on the "Upload" link to enter the upload page and upload files. The upload function of Google Docs supports three upload modes: local hard drive, online files, and email sending. During the process of uploading via local hard drive and URL, Google Docs allows users to rename uploaded files.
Small tip: When editing documents or spreadsheets using Google Docs, ensure that the network bandwidth and network connection are stable, otherwise the handling will fail.
Upload files from your local computer
a. Users can upload documents directly from their local computers to Google Docs. The specific operation is not much different from general website file uploads.
Click "Browse" to select the document to upload
b. Each document on Google Docs has a specific email address, and users can also create documents by sending emails to the specified address. There are two ways to create documents via email:
Email without attachments. In this case, the email subject becomes the document title, and the email content becomes the document content.
Email with attachments. In this case, each attachment filename becomes the document title, and the attachment content becomes the document content.
Users can directly copy linked text from other web pages or documents to Google Docs, but sometimes users still need to add and modify text links themselves.
As shown in the figure below, first, after selecting the text to add a link, click the "Link" icon on the toolbar to create a text link.
Then, fill in the corresponding information in the pop-up window, and click "OK".
Add and Modify Text Links
2. Special characters can also be entered
When using Office software to edit documents, it is often necessary to enter some special characters, but the keyboard does not provide keys for these characters, such as square meters (㎡), per thousand (‰), etc. We usually use the method of inserting symbols to find and input characters.
Google Docs also provides an "Insert Special Characters" feature. On the document editing page, switch to the "Insert" tab and click the "Special Characters" link. In the opened "Insert Special Characters" window, click the character you want to input.
3. Intuitive file content
The document editing page of Google Docs provides a "Revisions" tab, which is similar to the "Compare" feature added in Word 2007.
When revising a document, it is usually difficult to distinguish between the content before and after the revision. The "Revisions" feature of Google Docs can record all versions of documents manually changed and saved by users, effectively preventing accidental operations, and allowing you to compare multiple versions of the same document during modifications.
In the spreadsheet of Google Docs, there is a "Version" tab, similar to the "Revisions" feature in documents, which allows content comparison of spreadsheets. For shared documents and spreadsheets, Google Docs will also record the username of each change and save.
4. Files can be automatically saved at regular intervals
We often forget to save files when editing documents or spreadsheets. When encountering special situations (such as sudden power outages, system crashes, etc.), it is difficult to deal with, resulting in the loss of the content of the files we worked hard on.
In Google Docs, an automatic saving function has been added. Users do not need to set it up and can edit files worry-free. By default, Google Docs saves every three minutes and displays the date and time of the last save.
Three, Collaborative Publishing and Network Sharing
In addition to powerful file editing functions, Google Docs also has multi-person collaboration, public publishing, and network sharing features. The owner has ownership of the document and spreadsheet, can edit the document and spreadsheet, and can invite more collaborators and viewers to join. Collaborators can also participate in editing documents and spreadsheets and can also invite more collaborators and viewers (but the owner of the spreadsheet has the ability to cancel this permission). Viewers can view the latest version of the document and spreadsheet but cannot make changes.
Open any document or spreadsheet, click on the "Collaborate" link in the upper right corner to enter the collaborative editing invitation sending page. In the invitation box, you can fill in the email addresses of collaborators and viewers. Then, click the "Invite these people" button to send out the invitation letter.
"Would you like to notify these people about this document?" window
After receiving the invitation letter, collaborators can perform document or spreadsheet editing operations, but note that collaborators must have a Google account to edit documents and spreadsheets.
Google Docs has very easy-to-use document permission management, so Google Docs is very suitable for online collaborative document editing.
There are many ways to access the document permission management page on Google Docs. For example,
A. Users can click on the corresponding "Share immediately" link on the first page of the file list in Google Docs.
B. Or, users can click on the "Collaborate" tag in the upper right corner while editing a document to access the document permission management page.
Google Docs documents have only two permissions:
Collaborator. Collaborators have read-write permissions for this document. Collaborators can also modify the permissions of this document. But collaborators cannot delete this document.
Reader. Readers have read-only permissions for this document.
When more than one user is editing a document online simultaneously, users can see the list of simultaneous online editing collaborators provided by Google Docs.
Revision history
Google Docs records all revisions made by various users. While editing a document, users can click on the "Revisions" tag in the upper left corner to enter the revision history page.
On the revision history page, users can see the revisions made by each collaborator. Google Docs highlights revised places with different colors. Also, Google Docs lists all collaborators who have made revisions to the document. On this page, users can also choose to revert the document to a specific historical state, compare various revision histories, and list all revision histories.
Save Document
While editing a document, users can save the document by clicking the "Save" or "Save and Close" button in the upper right corner of the page. If users want to discard the changes made, they can click the "Discard Changes" button.
Publish Document
Users can publish the completed document online. Both publishing and collaborating allow others to see the document. Collaboration can set permissions, i.e., limit what people can do. However, publishing a document does not have these settings. Once published, anyone who knows the published URL can see the document, but they can only view it and cannot modify it.
Publishing a document on Google Docs is simple. Users can click on the "Publish" tag in the upper right corner of the editing document page to enter the publishing page.
On the publishing page, clicking the "Publish Document" button directly publishes the document; clicking the "Post to Blog" button publishes the document to your own blog.
The "Publish to Blog" feature of Google Docs supports many blog systems available on the market, such as WordPress, Typo, PLog, etc. Currently, the online editor provides seven providers for blog sites, but domestic blogs are not yet available. However, this can be resolved through a "custom" method by entering your blog address.
After publishing the document, Google Docs will provide a document link. After publication, others can view the document through this link. If the user modifies the document after publishing, the document must be republished for others to see the changes. Additionally, users can cancel the publication at any time.
Publish Spreadsheet
Back to the main window for creating documents, click "New Spreadsheet" to start creating a table. Just like EXCEL and WPS, if you can use them skillfully, then using this editor will be no problem. From initially creating tables, setting backgrounds, fonts, alignment, sorting, formulas, etc., and applying them to the table.
Summary: Practical functions, sufficient to meet daily needs
With search engines at its core, Google continues to expand its services. The launch of Google Docs gives users more choices in the office field. Compared to expensive Office software, Google Docs does not fall short in terms of functionality, providing commonly used features related to Word and Excel. Although the provided functional options are not as rich as Microsoft Office, they are sufficient to meet our daily office needs.
Through trial use, Google Docs' document and spreadsheet functions did not encounter any encoding errors or compatibility issues, and support for Chinese is quite good, further expanding its user base. In addition, the greatest advantage of Google Docs lies in its integrated platform, combining multiple services into one, and the scale effect cannot be underestimated. If for various reasons the computer being used does not have office software installed, Google Docs' services are indeed a good choice.
Comparison Between Google Docs and Microsoft OFFICE
A. Shifting to the Trendier Google
A sense of freedom. Service available year-round, accessible anytime, anywhere, and anyone with permission can work... This is the most attractive point of online services. No matter where you are on Earth, as long as you have an internet connection, you can open the document you need in a browser. Such a document storage method is not only more convenient than traditional methods but also very conducive to collaborative work and communication among multiple people.
Document Storage Method and Security. This is very easy to understand. In terms of security, do you trust your antivirus software and firewall more, or do you trust the secure storage provided by Google?
Reducing Dependence on Microsoft. More and more countries are starting to consider shifting to Linux and other open-source software. What Microsoft is doing for us seems a bit excessive. Every person who switches to Google's office software feels a little less restrained. Compared to switching to the expensive Mac OS X and complex Linux, Google's services are simple and easy to use, and they are free.
Price. For individual users in China, this reason obviously has little reference value. The official price of Office is $500, while Google's services range from free to $50 per year. This factor may affect many small businesses that do not want to spend too much of their IT budget.
B. Continue Using Traditional Software
Privacy. This is a big issue, especially for work-related files. Google became famous for the technology of recording the content of countless web pages and searching from them, and now and in the future, this company will not stop such behavior. Although every user has received a promise that their emails will be indexed but the content will not be disclosed, it still feels uncomfortable to know that someone is watching behind the scenes.
Google's Programs Are Not Yet Complete. The most obvious example is PowerPoint, one of the "three musketeers" of office software, which has not yet encountered a challenger. Switching to Google at this time cannot complete all the work-related needs. Moreover, Google likes to give software a BETA name, making people feel unsafe. Not everyone likes working on the network.
Most people still feel that only software installed on their own computers can bring a sense of work. These people often feel confused when facing many Web2.0 programs. Although a better user interface and new technologies are reducing the number of such users, they are still a considerable group.
Unable to Work Offline. The advantage of online services is being available anytime, anywhere, year-round... But the biggest prerequisite for using it is a computer that can connect to the network. This becomes the biggest weakness of online services. Forget about communication and collaboration; even opening files is impossible without a network.