The link above will take you to the start page of the Zoho services site. This is the most robust office suite that is all web-based. This means that you don’t have to install anything on your computer to use it. Just sign up for a free account and you are done.
Now you’ll have access to a full suite of applications that do a great job at editing most MS Office documents. It even saves(exports) to a PDF file if you want. Though it does not let you edit PDF files it does create them for you.
Since I have been really busy lately I won’t be able to go into full depth that this website deserves. I will follow up with some great ideas on how to use the Zoho services in the future, today I just want to go ahead and let you all know about this great tool.
Enjoy your exploration.
Also, I made a very important update to the article on the “USB drives” category. Be sure to check it out if you are relying on U3 encryption to safeguard your data. The update is highlighted in red.
There is much talk about Cloud Computing on the internet this days. There also seems to be confusion as to exactly what it means. Though, there are many different definitions what is important is that it be practical and intuitive. My unassuming definition is simply the example of Gmail. It basically stores all your material online and all you need to work with your email is any computer or electronic device connected to the internet. You can even forget about organizational paradigms. Whatever email you want to find, simply do a quick key word search and your email will pop up. You simply don’t worry about storage much or about owning a computer, you simply need internet access.
Today I am going to walk you through a very practical, but great method to collaborate in any business even if you already have company email.
Google Documents
Google Documents gives you a great cloud computing desktop. Though it won’t replace a full on desktop suite like MS Office. It does give great benefits.
You can open and edit MS Word docs on any computer, even if the software is not installed.
You can work on Excel sheets.
You can also work on basic Power Point Files
The biggest point is Collaboration.
You can Collaborate with anyone. The reason you want to do this is because of the quickness that originals get duplicated and modified. This creates numerous outdated and conflicting copies of the original. Collaboration with Google Documents is a quick way to view, edit, distribute, and maintain one or more documents. Once you make a change it gets saved and the changes will be viewed next time someone else opens the document.
A Simple Metaphor
A metaphor would be to imagine a hard drive in the internet where you can put documents and spreadsheets in, which you can then edit directly from the net without having to download them. Since the document is online you can share it with only people you know and even allow some to edit the document.
Here’s a video to give you an overview.
So how do you use it? On your Gmail page, once you are logged in. Simply click on Documents near the top of the page. That’s it now you are in the Google Docs desktop. From there you can upload a file or simply create a new one to get started.
Quick Tip: If you receive an email with a document attachment there is an option in Gmail to transfer that doc attachment to Google Docs. Simply click on the link, it will then import it to your Google Documents.
Though this is a toned down experience of what Cloud Computing means it is a great example and glimpse of what is to come. For now I find it a very practical and useful method to collaborate with anyone.
