Google Docs allows users to create, share and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations online. Files are stored in the cloud and can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. Multiple users can work on files simultaneously. Documents can be organized into collections for easier management. Advanced features include commenting, revision history and notifications when files are edited. The service is free but requires a Google account. It's a useful tool for businesses to share documents, schedules and presentations online.

1. Google Docs for Business July 11 & 12, 2011 Shannon Scanlan Business Services Librarian sscanlan@ahml.info

2. What is Google Docs Introduced in 2006 Web based applications Documents, spreadsheets and presentations can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection Files can be shared with others for easier collaboration Files can be worked on at the same time Excellent resource for storing documents

3. Where are my Docs? Items are stored via the Internet, “Cloud Computing” You can restrict privacy to only yourself, friends or make public Your documents cannot be found by search engines unless shared publicly via a web address Google Docs will store up to 5,000 documents

4. How Can My Business Use Docs? Share documents Personnel manual Department updates Share spreadsheets Schedules Vacation planning Collaboration Presentations (slideshows) Documents Forms

5. Where Do I Begin? You need a free Google account Google accounts allow access to other Google applications such as Calendar, Gmailand Talk You can associate another email address with your Google accounts such as a work email address

6. Google Docs Homepage

7. Let’s Get Organized Documents are easy to organize in Collections To create click New then Collections, name your Collection You can assign colors to your Collections Green for finance Red for important Yellow for working

8. Collaboration You and shared users work on the most current edition Share to view (readers only)or to collaborate (read and edit) To view a private doc or edit, the user will need a Google account Share with up to 200 people or publish as webpage Up to 50 people can work on a spreadsheet at once, 10 can work on a document at once Users can leave comments You can receive email notifications of changes to file

9. Sharing a Document Sender will receive an email invitation

10. Viewing a File

11. Commenting on a File

12. Chatting with User

13. Not Happy with a Change? You can check the past versions using Revision History Open the document, select File, then Revision History

14. Email Notifications for Spreadsheets Open the file that you want email notifications on Select Share then Set Notification Rules

15. Create Forms You create the form and Google creates a spreadsheet to track the data

16. Share Your Doc with the World Publish the file as a webpage File will have a URL address Changes to the document will be republished

17. Using Templates A formatted document including Resume Cover letter Menu Budget Business cards You can use a Google Template or create your own Select Create New, then From Template

18. Uploading Docs Maximum sixe is 500 kb .doc (Microsoft Word) .odt (Openoffice.org Writer and OpenDocument) .sxw (StarOffice) .rtf (rich text format) .txt (plain text) .htm or .html (HTML, for website display) .pdf

19. Exporting Docs Files you create in Google Docs are HTML files (Hypertext Markup Language), files that can be read by Web browsers When exporting documents to another program they must be converted into other formats such as .doc .pdf .xls

20. Additional Information Google Docs Tour http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html Google Docs Video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA Getting Started Guide http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1107581 Google Apps for Business http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/collaboration.html