Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is here!

Several hours ago, Google started sending emails to Google Apps users introducing Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office. The email provides an overview of the Cloud Connect concept and includes direct download link for the Cloud Connect plugin.

Below is a brief overview of the Cloud Connect.

The installation took approximately 1.5 minutes, and having launched Microsoft Word we have noticed Google Connect toolbar right under the standard office toolbar in Office 2007.

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office toolbar

Prior to using the plugin, you will have to authorize Google Cloud Connect by logging in to your Google Apps account and setting up synchronization options that can be changed later. Provided that you have selected automatic document synchronization that would take place every time your Word document is saved (always remember to enable auto-save option in Word so that you don’t loose important documents), Cloud Connect takes care of the rest and instantly provides you with a unique web link for sharing your documents with others. Don’t worry, while your document is saved to Google’s cloud instantly, it is not automatically shared with the world. A “Share” button on the far right, when clicked, will take you to what looks like standard Google Docs Sharing settings. In a matter of seconds you can start sharing a Word document, PowerPoint presentation or Excel spreadsheet with people you select. You can also specify if a person can edit a document, or just view it online.

Google Cloud Connect sharing settings

When synchronized, the file will be stored in Google’ cloud and can be viewed online as if it was a native Google Docs document.

Viewing Google Cloud Connect document online

In my view, this can be a huge win for Google specifically winning customers that hesitate  switching from Microsoft Office to Google Apps as many people prefer to use something with familiar interface. It would be interesting to see what happens to Cloud Connect popularity and to overall user loyalty to Google Apps after Microsoft’s launches Office 365 which is currently in Beta. Microsoft Office 365 incorporates online document collaboration features for standard Microsoft Office documents by design and includes feature limited online versions of popular Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Unfortunately, Google Cloud Connect is currently not available for Mac due to the “lack of support for open APIs on Microsoft Office for Mac”. At this time, Google did not disclose any plans to make it available for users of Microsoft Office for Mac in the near future.

Google Cloud Connect is available as a free download from Google’s website at http://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect

Google also made available enteprise deployment resiurces including an MSI file. It can be located on Google Apps Administrator Help center at http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1186214

For additional information, please visit the official Google Enteprise Blog at http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/02/teach-your-old-docs-new-tricks-with.html

As always, I look forward to receiving your comments.

Until next time,

Steve E. Driz

Improvements coming to Google Docs editors and sharing settings

According to Google Apps Team, the following improvements will be rolled out to all Google Apps users in the month of June:

• Starting on June 16th, 2010, Google will introduce new sharing settings in Google Docs, designed to make sharing easier and to give your users more control over their files.  Now your users will be able to assign a sharing setting to a file in just one step and see at-a-glance how each document is shared. To learn more, please visit the official help center at http://goo.gl/I8Jp

• Starting on June 21st, 2010, Google will begin activating the new Google documents editor for all users.  This new editor offers character-by-character real-time collaboration, better document import fidelity, and many new features like built-in chat with co-editors. To learn more, please visit the official help center at http://goo.gl/8Idy

• Starting on June 30th, 2010, Google will begin activating the new Google spreadsheets editor for all users.  This new editor offers many new features like an editable formula bar, cell auto-complete and faster performance.  To learn more, please visit the official help center at http://goo.gl/Qgze

As always, we look forward to receiving your comments.

Until next time,

The Driz Group Team

Google to Docs users – “Upload anything”

Friends,

This is a first post in 2010, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you happy New Year and myriad of successes in 2010 and beyond.

Several days ago, Google announced that soon all Google Apps users would be able to use Google Docs environment as online file storage by being able to upload any file in virtually any format. Last night, Google Apps Premium received the following message while login to Google Docs:

Google Docs - upload anything message screenshot

According to Google, users will be able to share uploaded files with others and open and edit supported file formats such as doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt etc. within Google Docs. By the way, we have uploaded several PDF and JPG image files that can be viewed and shared online with a click of a button.

What does it mean to your business? Utilizing online storage is not new. Many companies have been providing such services for years. It is new for Google and if your company presently uses Google Apps, the good news is that you should be able to forget about your USB thumb-drive and share important files with your employees, clients and partners through the same familiar environment you already use. Instead of emailing files to yourself, or uploading files to your local computer, your employees can always access important files online when they need it.

Why it’s important? For example, John is flying to from Atlanta to Toronto to meet with a client. Prior to leaving for his trip, he saves presentation files to his laptop hard-drive and a USB thumb-drive just in case. At the airport, his laptop case is lost or stolen and John recalls that the USB drive was in the same case. On the way to client’s office, John phones his assistant asking to email the presentation files to him, however, his assistant is not sure which file version is the most current since multiple edits where made by several people. As you can see, the amount of time required to find right version of the file for client presentation in enormous, and the process is tedious.

If John was using Google Apps as an online file storage, all he would have to do is ask his client for Internet connected PC, any PC, and access his files online without worrying about any local software since most files can be open from within Google Apps and the process does not require any specialized local software. One of the best features is the ability to view PDF files without Adobe Reader, meaning that you will no longer care about a platform or operating system, i.e. it will work on MAC OSX, Windows, Linux etc.

If you are interested in learning more about Google Apps, please contact us today for a free, customized demo!