10 reasons you should consider using Google Docs

Google Docs is a HTML5 web browser based office suite and storage service. It is a worthy substitute to Microsoft Office and Open Office. Here are 10 reasons why you should consider using Google Docs.

1. Google Docs is free.  The cost for Microsoft Office ranges from KES 5,500 ( USD $61) for 2007 Home and Student to KES 34,500 (USD $383) for Professional 2010,  at PC World Nairobi. I will assume that you are not considering a bootleg version of Microsoft Office.

To use Google Docs you will need the following;

• A reliable Internet connection. I use the Safaricom 3G Internet service and it works very well.
• A web browser that supports HTML5. The latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari are recommended. I prefer Chrome. 
• A Google Account. 

2. Google Docs is easy to use and offers the following regular and innovative services; 

• Document - equivalent of Word
• Presentation - equivalent of PowerPoint
• Spreadsheet - equivalent to Excel
• Form - for creating email or website forms whose information can be reviewed on Spreadsheet
• Drawing - for making flowcharts and diagrams
• Collection - equivalent to folders as it was formerly called but with label features too.

Google are continually improving the service. It has been amazing to see the improvements in the last one year I have been using Google Docs. 

3. Google Docs is inter-operable with documents created on other office suites like Microsoft Office or Open Office. You can upload a document created in Microsoft Word and continue working on it in Document.  The Google Docs viewer, which is also available on Gmail,  offers support for over 15 file formats. 

4. Documents are saved as you work on them so there is little or no risk of losing your work. That still cannot get over the feeling that I am doing something wrong when I close the tab on the browser without clicking on the save button when I am done working on a document. 

5. Collaboratively work on documents like proposals with other people. You can control who can edit or view the documents. You can even publish the document as a web page

6. Working using multiple computers. Google Docs makes it easy and seamless to work on multiple computers. It is great to be able to save your work in Google Docs on the desktop computer in the office and then go home and turn on your laptop and have access to your documents. 

7. The web service is robust. Many people I have spoken with are fearful of creating and editing documents on a web based service which is dependent on an Internet connection. Rightly so, they would not be able to access their documents if they lost the Internet connection or if Google suffered a service outage. That said I am certain most of these people have been writing and reading emails using a web service like Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail for many years and find the risk of using a web based email service is manageable. 

8. Google Docs has a Template gallery so that you do not have to create documents from scratch. 

9. You can upload and store documents on Google Docs and read them later. For example when I do not want to travel with a laptop but may want to refer to a document I upload it to Google Docs and then access it using a common computer. 

10. Access your documents using a mobile phone. I will confess that I have not used this feature but the reviews sound good. I am looking forward to purchasing an Android phone so that I can use Google Docs to read and create documents when I am travelling. 

Visit the Google Docs tour page or the Google Docs blog to read about additional awesome features, tips and news about Google Docs.