That simplicity doesn’t mean that it’s limited in functionality, though. Let’s take a closer look to find out what else we can do with this seemingly lightweight tool.

Take Advantage of Templates for Quick Document Creation

Like any other office suite, Google Docs allows you to use document templates. This is especially handy if you’re in a hurry to make a document such as a schedule, business card, resume or invoice. Looking for something a little more esoteric? Google Docs has a wide variety of templates available, because most of them are user-submitted. They include a life checklist for your long-term plans, an online contact form, and even legal documents such as living wills.

Create File Redundancy and Backups

Google Docs can batch download documents into a ZIP file (via More actions > Export) if you want to make local copies in your hard drive. Personally I don’t find this method practical, especially if you want to retain the folder structure of your files.

Over on TheAppGap I wrote a tutorial on how to backup your files and retain the folder structure with a Greasemonkey script and DownloadThemAll. Just make sure that you assign the files to the right folders when you download them, so that they mirror the folder structure you use in Docs.

Apart from native Docs files, you can also upload and store other file types into Google Docs. This new feature can come in handy if you want to backup some files online. For those who use multiple computers, you might no longer have to carry around a USB flashdrive. Free users are limited to 1GB of storage, but you can buy more if you need it.

Use Google Docs to View Documents from Search Results
When PDF files come up in Google search results, you have the option to “Quick View” them, which automatically opens them in Google Docs. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Microsoft Office files. If you come across them a lot when you’re searching for reports and other documents, you might want to install the Import to Google Docs add-on by Srikant (there are versions available for both Firefox and Chrome). If you use this add-on, whenever an Office file appears in search results, an “Import as Google Document” link can be seen next to it, like the one below:

You won’t have to download those files or open another program just to view the contents — they’ll automatically be uploaded in Docs.

Web Publishing

You can use Google Docs to create online polls and surveys, as well as analyze the data via Google Spreadsheets (see this handy tutorial by Chris Pirillo). As I mentioned earlier, some templates are meant for online publishing, such as the contact form, client questionnaires and event registration forms.

For those who love metrics, you can track the visitors to these pages (as well as other publicly viewable files) via your Analytics account, too. Just go to Settings > Editing, then input your Analytics tracking code.

Do you use Google Docs? How do you customize the way you use it?

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At first launch, word processing documents can be read and edited in offline mode, while spreadsheets will only be able to be read (but not edited). Support for Google Presentations is in the pipeline and will not be initially available. Naturally, collaboration on documents that have been created offline will not be available until the new document has been synced when the user comes back online. On a related note, it is currently unclear how smooth reconciliation of offline documents will be.

Google Documents has been in dire need of offline access in order to realistically compete other office suites including Microsoft Office and Zoho. Users of office productivity suites don’t always has connectivity to the Internet.

Currently, the only Google product to use Google Gears is Google Reader allowing for offline access to RSS news items. Google is not first in offering offline access of productivity apps through Google Gears, having been beaten to market by Zoho and Remember The Milk.

Google Gears for Google Docs will require Internet Explorer 6 and above or FireFox 1.6 and above (not including Firefox Beta 3) on Windows, Mac, and Linux. There is currently no support for other browsers including Safari, Flock, Opera, or the various mobile browsers.

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Enter SlideRocket, a new entrant into the online presentation arena. This rich internet application is said to resemble Apple’s Keynote in its use of transitions, reflections, and fonts.

SlideRocket uses Flex technology from Adobe and includes a client that allows for offline access to presentations. Whether you’re on a plane or otherwise away from an internet connection, you can edit your SlideRocket presentations. This is something Google Presentations doesn’t offer at the moment.

This application is at home in the online environment, easily showing live-updating information from Google Docs/Spreadsheets, pictures off Flickr, and photos from a media folder that is shared by your presentation collaborators. SlideRocket also offers asset management, delivery and analytics tools, all in their hosted environment. There is even a mobile client that allows viewing of a presentation on a WAP-enabled mobile phone.

Like Google Documents, it’s easy to invite people to collaborate with you on your SlideRocket presentation. Version control is built in to the SlideRocket client. Assets and presentations can be tagged for easy lookup in the future. When viewing a presentation, SlideRockets allows you to gather feedback from users through comments and poll results.

It’s great to see a presentation app that blends the features from Microsoft PowerPoint but with some of the flashy features of other online applications. The offline client makes this a viable alternative to Google Presentations and perhaps even Microsoft PowerPoint.

SlideRocket is currently in private beta. Look for service plans to be $12/month for an individual or $50/month for business who want to have SlideRocket available for an entire team.

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In order to have some of the Word Processor features in my blog editor, I often compose my blog posts in Google Docs, then paste them into my blogging software.  Well as bavatuesdays has pointed out, Google Documents now features the ability to post directly to your blog software.

To use this quietly rolled out feature, type in your Google Doc as you normally would and hit the “Publish” button.  One of the options is to post to your blog.  You’re presented with the following screen:

As you can see, the window asks for your blog type, username, password, and blog name.  The support a large number of blog engines including WordPress, Blogger, Moveable Type, and more.

Once you’ve set up your blog information, you can easily post the Google Doc to your blog.  In my testing, the result was plain looking posts that appear just as they do inside Google Documents.

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