“Google makes spreadsheets and presentations applications program work offline, rivaling Microsoft Office and SharePoint.”
A couple of weeks ago, Google announced that it would use its open-source Google Gears platform to support offline editing and viewing of Google Docs content. And now, Google’s online PowerPoint program, called Presentations, recently added some great new — and much needed — features.
Just weeks after the availability of Google Apps to users to view and edit word processing documents offline, now spreadsheets and presentations can also be edited offline. So, users will now be able to see an “offline” link at the upper right hand corner of “Google Docs”.
“You would not need to worry about an unreliable Internet connection as you walk up to the front of the room to give your next presentation,” Google Marketing Manager Andrew Chang wrote in a blog post. “Just click on your Google Docs desktop icon and know that your presentations and spreadsheets will be stored on your computer, at your fingertips.”
Here is how Google software engineer Philip Tucker described how offline access works for Google Docs users:
With Google Docs offline (powered by Google Gears), I can take my little piece of the cloud with me wherever I go. Once enabled, I have a local version of my document list and editors, along with my documents.
“The Google PowerPoint killer is so far not an actual killer yet, but is becoming a more robust alternative.”
Google notes down in the Official Google Docs Blog, “Seasoned presenters keep their slides simple and use slides to help illustrate their points, not to present all of their information. They jot down their talking points, examples, and supporting evidence in speaker notes. To help you do this in Docs, we have added speaker notes. You can print these speaker notes in advance, or pop them up in a separate window when you present.”
Also, till I have an Internet connection, any changes I make is saved to the cloud. When I get disconnected, I let go some features, although I can still access my documents (for this initial release, you can view and edit word processing documents; right now we do not support offline access to presentations or spreadsheets – see our help center for details).
Google also at this time allows creators embed YouTube directly into Presentations. This would not be useful if you are not in an environment that can connect to the Internet, but if you are sharing a presentation online through Google Docs with other Google users, it is a great way to help illustrate a point or add some multimedia effects to your Presentation.
Lastly, following a quick rollout period, Google announced last Friday that it is extending full offline support for word processing docs, spreadsheets, and presentations to all Google Docs users; if you want to try it out, you will need to download and install Google Gears first. Google Docs’ feature set is still a long way behind Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.org, but it certainly is headed in the right direction.