This chapter presents the Google Apps collaboration tools, starting with the Google Docs office suite. We will discuss how it differs from a traditional office suite and what advantages it offers for collaborative work. The integration with the communication tools presented in Chapter 3, Communication Tools will be addressed frequently, as will issues of privacy and rights related to the sharing of documents. The tool for creating websites, Google Sites, is presented next. The final section is devoted to a quick overview of Google Video, a video sharing solution.
Google Docs has all the benefits inherent in a SaaS solution (see Chapter 1, Google and the Basics of Cloud Computing), namely that no installation is required on the client, updates are periodic and automatic, and all data is stored in the cloud. We'll also mention the possibility of sharing and collaboration, which provides significant productivity improvements when compared to a more conventional office solution.
Google Docs benefits from its integration with other Google Apps, the most important of which is Gmail, which allows using Google Docs for viewing attachments. Google's solution for creating websites, named Google Sites, also benefits from its integration with Google Docs, allowing inserting documents and spreadsheets in web pages.
For the time being, the features and the level of user-friendliness proposed by Google Docs do not yet meet the standards of a conventional suite like Microsoft's Office or Apple's iWorks. Current HTML technology does not yet provide drag and drop within a web page. For this reason, Google Docs is best suited in situations where the benefit of collaboration outweighs the need for a sophisticated layout or the need for advanced UI capabilities.
However, a number of solutions in the Google Apps ecosystem try to compensate for some of these deficiencies, including products such as OffiSync, Memeo Connect, Syncplicity, and Docverse. The above mentioned are either applications developed by Google (Docverse) or Apps that are available on the Marketplace. Some of them are described in Chapter 11, Third-party Extensions which discusses various extensions proposed by partners.
Thus, Google Docs could be used, for instance, during the first phase of writing a document while collaborative work is particularly important. Once the text has been agreed upon by the collaborators, the document can be exported to one of the usual formats to be edited by a more conventional tool, to adjust its layout precisely and include sophisticated graphics.
The GUI attempts to mimic that of a standard word processor such as Microsoft's Word, or pages from Apple or Writer from the open-source OpenOffice suite, with its menus and tools for layout:
The interface of Google Docs largely reproduces the usual interface of a desktop word processor
Copy-paste is available between applications in Google Docs. In most situations, the classical CTRL + C (Copy) and Ctrl + V (Paste) are operational. In some situations, however, a better option is to use the contextual menus, which will then use the clipboard associated with the Google Apps account. In this way, the content is copied and stored on the server side and can be reused from one computer to another at any time.
F or the time being, the creation and storage of a document in a directory happens in two stages. It is not yet possible to directly create a document in a folder. By default, newly created documents are not contained in any folder. In fact, the folders work just like Gmail labels that we described in Chapter 3, Communication Tools hence each document can be stored simultaneously "in" multiple directories.
T he standard search options, using the usual criteria (as shown in the following screenshot), are available—search for documents whose name contains a given string or search a specific document for a string within its contents:
Left, the search form in Google Docs. Center, the various categories of documents. Right, sorting of document in chronological order.
Multiple categories of documents are predefined. This allows you to search for documents belonging to only one of these categories. It is also possible to search for a document according to ownership or depending on who is sharing it. For newly created documents, chronological search can be especially convenient. Finally, it is of course also po ssible to just open a folder to browse its content.
Th e history revision feature is particularly useful. It allows you to retrieve, at any time, a document in the exact state it was at the moment it was saved. A comparison tool is also available for highlighting changes from one version to another.
The history of the successive revisions of a document in the comparison tool
This is an advantage compared to most conventional word processors that usually do not offer such an easy access to the revision history of a document.
Once an older version of a document is restored, all collaborators will see this version. A "most recent" button allows you to restore the most recent version.
Whe n copying a document, only the most recent version is copied.
Eac
h Google Document can be sent as a Gmail attachment or can be directly included in the body of the message. The usual formats are available, namely HTML, PDF, RTF (Rich Text Format), TXT (plain text), and .doc (Microsoft Word 97-2003 format). Another possibility is to send a link pointing to the Google Document.
Conversely, when an Office document is attached to a mail, it can be converted on-the-fly into a Google Docs document.
As with any other tool in the Google Docs suite, Google Spreadsheets interface closely resembles that of a more traditional spreadsheet tool like Microsoft's Excel or Apple's Numbers.
The creation, sharing, and deleting operations for spreadsheets are all similar to those for a text document. Hence, we shall focus here only on the differences.
One important difference is related to how spreadsheets are saved. Currently, spreadsheets are saved automatically: no action is required from the user. Spreadsheets were designed for real-time collaboration between several users where each of them can modify different cells of a single document. Each user sees the updates in real time, while they are being typed by a collaborator. This real-time collaboration requires automatic saving. The next section is devoted to collaboration, so we shall come back to these questions in more detail later.
Features for a spreadsheet are the classical ones, which we'll look at next.
Jus t as in a conventional spreadsheet, a document is organized in tabs. A user can add as many tabs as desired:
Creation of tabs with Google Spreadsheet
Tabs can also be moved.
Form ulas are especially useful for organizing documents and performing elementary statistical operations. Here again, you'll find the usual features that can be expected from a conventional spreadsheet. In particular, there is a long list of predefined functions sorted by category: mathematics, finance, logic, date-time functions, statistics, string manipulation, and so on. An auto-complete mechanism is available, which facilitates typing complicated formulas (as shown in the following screenshot):
Auto-completion for formulas
Each function has thorough online documentation. A formula can be applied either to a single cell or simultaneously to many cells.
Computing the total for a column. The formula which computes the total of column A may be applied to columns B and C with a simple drag and drop.
The result of a formula can comprise several cells: the TRANSPOSE() function is such an example, for which the result is a matrix.
Many d ifferent formats are available for dates, currencies, decimal numbers, and percentage. It is possible, moreover, to define conditional formatting rules for how things should be displayed depending on the value of a cell. This can prove particularly useful to highlight statistically exceptional values.
Defining display rules based on the cell content
It is a lso possible to merge cells, to add borders to them, and to freeze rows or columns.
Validat ion helps improve the quality of data entered in a spreadsheet. Constraints can be defined and linked to a set of cells. These constraints may relate to numbers, character strings, or dates.
Defining a data-validation constraint for a set of cells
An option may be selected that makes it possible to enter data that violates the validation rule.
Charts and gadgets are dynamic objects that represent data on a spreadsheet. They are automati cally updated as soon as the underlying data changes. These gadgets are often interactive objects like the map in the following figure:
Top left, a chart (histogram) that displays the values 1, 2, and 5. Top right, a map gadget, which shows the position of three cities. Bottom left, a static drawing.
Here are a few differences between charts and gadgets:
- Charts:
- They are intended for vizualizing statistical data (histograms, curves, sets of points and so on).
- Gadgets:
- There exists a large variety of them (charts, tables, maps, financial charts, and so on) adapted to usages that go far beyond a simple representation of statistical data.
- Users can create their own gadgets. They help make spreadsheets more interactive.
- Common gadget features include:
- The possibility to be publised as a web page.
- The possiblity to be saved as a
.pngimage. - The ability to update themselves automatically each time the underlying data changes.
Drawings and static images can also be integrated in spreadsheets.
When seve ral people must simultaneously fill in a spreadsheet, the simplest solution is to create a form and to send it to them with Gmail. A "form" is actually a specific type of document in Google Docs (as shown in the following screenshot):
Creating a form to have several people fill in a spreadsheet
A form contains a list of questions, each pertaining to the value of one field (or column) that will be entered in a spreadsheet (as shown in the folowing screenshot):
The form as it appears in the mail of the recipient and the spreadsheet as it appears to the sender. In this example, two users have submitted the form.
When creating a form, it is possible to require the name of each user who enters data. This information will then be displayed in the spreadsheet. The inverse operation, that is, the creation of form starting from a spreadsheet, is possible as well.
Google Pres entation is very similar to PowerPoint from the Microsoft Office Suite, Keynote from Apple's iWorks Suite, and Impress from the open-source Open Office package.
Unless you use a template, creating a presentation is a two-step process. First, you choose a theme for the presentation and then, for each slide, a layout:
Choosing a theme for the presentation, then choosing a layout for each slide. On the right, the slide sorter.
Slides can be sorted and rearranged the usual way, using drag and drop.
Images can b e inserted either by uploading a local file or by pointing to an image on the web identified by its URL. Videos from YouTube can be also be used in Google Presentation, however it is not possible, unlike for images, to upload a local video file.
Google Presentation has a full-screen mode for showing slides in public. A presentation can be followed simultaneously by several, distant participants. Each of them can choose to follow the presentation as shown by the speaker or they can take control of the slideshow at their own pace.
A speaker can choose to display his or her own notes. The editors (see the following figure) can choose to take full control of the presentation if they like. A chat module is available to all participants so that they can exchange messages during a presentation.
Google Drawi ng is a collaborative drawing tool with features very similar to those proposed by PowerPoint, for instance.
The collaborative drawing tool in Google Docs
Just as for any other kind of document, drawings can be shared. They can be exported in the most common formats like PNG, JPEG, SVG, PDF. Real-time collaboration and parallel editing by several collaborators is available. Instant messaging is also integrated into the tool. Drag-and-drop of pictures works with any other Google Docs document.
The primary use of Google Docs is sharing documents and simultaneous collaboration on a document for several users. The way access control lists (ACL) are defined is particularly simple; there are just three roles:
- Viewers can read the most recent version of a document. They can also export a document.
- Editors can modify a document. Provided they were granted the rights by the owner of the document, they can invite and remove other editors.
- Owners have the same rights as editors but in addition they can delete a document and change access rights. To permanently delete a document and prevent any further access to it, an owner should put it into the trash and then empty it.
The owner of a document can grant other users the right to edit and invite other editors
When an owner deletes a document he or she is given the chance to reassign it to a new owner.
There are actually two different ways to share a document, depending on whether authentication is required or not.
To share a doc ument with authenticated users, you can either do it directly or select it from the list of documents. Sharing is not limited to users who belong to a Google Apps domain and can include any address attached to a Google account.
Two different ways to activate the sharing of a document
You can also share a document with all users from a Google Apps domain.
This type of an onymous sharing is only possible if it has been explicitly enabled by the domain administrator (see the Google Docs section of Chapter 7, Managing a Google Apps Domain). You just need to send a link to the person with whom you want to share the document:
You can also specify whether you want to allow people who have the link to edit the document.
Publishing a doc ument as a web page is another possibility for sharing a document in read-only mode. The body of the text will be published as a simple web page, with no menu and no toolbar. For security, the administrator of the domain can restrict the visibility of such public web pages to the users belonging to the Google Apps domain (see the corresponding section in Chapter 7, Managing a Google Apps Domain for details).
An option automates the publication of updates to the web page for each change in the original document.
The document will not be indexed by Google's search engine even though it is publicly available.
The way the list of the collaborators who are currently editing a document is displayed differs slightly from one app to another.
The list of the collaborators who are currently editing the document
A document whose last version has not yet been opened appears in boldface in the list of documents. The number of collaborators and the last person who modified the document are also shown:
The documents whose latest version has not yet been opened appear in boldface
Google Spreadsheet s allows you to define very precise notifications when a document is modified, even down to the level of individual cells:
Detailed specifications of notifications are available for spreadsheets
Changes made by col laborators appear instantly in the browser.
Similar features are available for Google Doc's word processor. Simultaneous updates from several collaborators are possible here, too. Changes show instantly in the browser and a label indicates who is making which change:
The names of the collaborators appear on the top right of the window. Changes are shown instantly and are labeled with the name of the collaborator making the change.
Us ing templates can be a good way to quickly create documents that adhere to some predefined visual identity or layout. There are many public templates that are sorted by category for any kind of Google Documents. This way, any organization can easily define visual identity guidelines implemented by various templates. Finally, users can define a set of templates for their own use.
Any Google Document can be made into a template.
Using templates allows quick creation of documents that adhere to some predefined visual identity or layout
Fil es with the usual formats for office documents can be imported into Google Docs. When importing an Office document, Google Docs by default converts it into a Google Docs document. It is possible though, to skip this step and save a document in its original format. A limit of 250 MB per file applies in this case. There is also a 1GB global limit per user.
You can choose to convert an imported document into the Google Docs format or to leave it as it is
During the conversion process, some details of the layout may not be preserved. Therefore, it is a good idea first to perform some tests to ensure that the level of resemblance to the original is appropriate. Sometimes, simplifying the original layout may prove useful.
The following formats are accepted as input documents: HTML, plain text (.txt), Word (.doc et .docx), RTF (Rich Text Format), OpenOffice (.odt), and StarOffice Writer (.swx).
The following formats can be used for exporting: HTML, RTF, Word, Open Office, PDF, or plain text.
To be converted into Google Docs format, documents should not exceed 500 KB (for the converted document) plus 2MB per image included in the document.
Furthermore, a limit of 5000 documents applies.
- The following formats are accepted as input documents: Microsoft Excel (
.xls,.xlsx), OpenDocument (.ods),.csv, .tsv, plain text (.txt) - The following formats can be used to export:
.csv, HTML,.ods, PDF,.xls, raw text (.txt) - Each imported spreadsheet can contain at most 256 columns, 200,000 cells, and 100 tabs
- Each spreadsheet can at most contain 20,000 cells with formulas
- No more than 1000 spreadsheets can be stored per account
- No more than 11 spreadsheets can be opened simultaneously
- Imported document should not exceed 1MB
- The two PowerPoint formats
.pptand.ppsare available for import and export. PDF is available for export only - An imported presentation should not be larger than 10 MB and should not contain more than 200 slides
- Presentations sent by mail should not be larger than 500 KB
- No more than 5000 presentation per account and no more than 5000 images
Viewing a document offline is possible, provided the Google Gears plugin has been installed. Google Chrome natively includes this feature. Text documents can even be modified offline. For the time being it is not yet possible to create documents in the offline mode. The icons that indicate the synchronization status are the same as those we already described in Chapter 3, Communication Tools.