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How to set up and use Google Docs offline

Google has now made its Drive service more than an online storage product and productivity suite. You can now edit documents you have stored on Google Drive (or Docs, if you haven't moved over to the new interface) during those moments -- while sitting on an airplane or in a cabin in the woods or in a Wi-Fi-free coffee shop -- when you are not connected to the Internet. And when you open that same document when you are back online, the changes you made while offline are there. (For some reason, Google is putting this offline access under … Read more

Scrub your Word docs with Doc Scrubber

When we saw the name Doc Scrubber, we pictured a surgeon with scrubbed hands raised. While BrightFort's freeware does indeed scrub docs, it sanitizes Microsoft Word DOC files, not the hands of sawbones. Doc Scrubber extracts, displays, and removes the metadata hidden in many DOC files used in earlier versions of Microsoft Word. This metadata sometimes contains personal, proprietary, or potentially embarrassing information, or even just stuff you'd rather not share or post online. Doc Scrubber lets you decide just what data it removes. It works with older versions of DOC files, not the new DOCX format, but … Read more

Google Docs facilitates finding facts and doing research

While making a travel itinerary, writing a term paper, or creating a budget in Google Docs, users no longer have to leave the confines of the word processing program to find specific facts or do research.

Google announced today the launch of a new feature called the "research pane" that lets users find information in Google search directly from within the documents program.

In a blog post, this is how Google software engineer Sarveshwar Duddu explained how to use the feature:

You can access the research pane from the Tools menu by right clicking on a selected word … Read more

Google Docs boasts 450 new fonts and 60 new templates

All those Bree Serif, Kaushan Script, and Lovers Quarrel font fans will now be able to bring into play these different scripts while working in Google Docs. The Web giant announced today that it is adding 450 new fonts and 60 new templates to its word processing program.

"Often the best way to get your point across is to present your idea in a creative, captivating way," Google software engineer Isabella Ip wrote in a company blog post. "Today, we added over 450 new fonts to Google documents to make it easier for you to add a … Read more

Quickoffice Pro HD is a mini office suite on the go

As its name suggests, Quickoffice Pro HD is a mobile office and productivity suite for use on the go. It lets you create and edit office files, and even sync them to your favorite cloud storage service.

If you're a fan of Google Docs like I am, then you've probably noticed that editing files from your mobile device can be a bit of a pain. The Google Drive (download) app (which recently slurped up Google Docs) doesn't offer a very robust menu of formatting tools, which makes workflow more complicated than it should be (especially when dealing … Read more

How I learned to say, 'Hi, Google Docs; bye, MS Word'

It's not often you'll hear this refrain, but this is one user who sleeps quite soundly about deciding to hitch his wagon to a decidedly inferior technology product.

With nary any regret, I've created my last document in Microsoft Word, a product I first began using 27 years ago. Now it's all Google Docs, all the time. And the thing is that I'm making the switch fully aware that Google remains leagues behind Microsoft when it comes to turning out "full-featured" word processors.

But it makes not a bit of difference. In a … Read more

Google Drive for Android is a beefier Docs app

If you haven't noticed, Google Docs for Android has just morphed into Google Drive. Or perhaps more accurately, it has been sucked up by the brand-new file-syncing and file-sharing app. This means that not only does it give you access to all of your old Docs, it also lets you access and store any kind of file in your cloud-enabled Google Drive account.

Similar to the experience on the Web, Google Drive for Android opens up to a main navigation panel, from which you can see a list of all your files (My Drive), files that have been shared … Read more

Google Drive for Android is a beefier Google Docs app

If you haven't noticed, Google Docs for Android has just morphed into Google Drive. Or perhaps more accurately, it has been sucked up by the brand-new file-syncing and file-sharing app. This means that not only does it give you access to all of your old Docs, it also lets you access and store any kind of file in your cloud-enabled Google Drive account.

Similar to the experience on the Web, Google Drive for Android opens up to a main navigation panel, from which you can see a list of all your files (My Drive), files that have been shared … Read more

How to use Google Drive with keyboard shortcuts

Google is one of the biggest proponents of using keyboard shortcuts with Web services. Gmail keyboard shortcuts are very popular, and you can even control Google Music with keyboard shortcuts too. It's no surprise then, that Google Drive also supports keyboard shortcuts.

As you learn how to get started with Google Drive, try some of these keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate Google Drive a little faster:

Selection j : navigate to and highlight next item k : navigate to and highlight previous item x : toggle selection of highlighted item Shift + a : select all Shift + n : select none

Jumping g then … Read more

How to use Google Drive on Android

You may have noticed shortly after the official announcement of Google Drive that Google Docs was no longer on your Android device. Instead, you can find the Google Drive app in its place. If for some reason your Google Docs app hasn't made the switch yet, you can download the Google Drive update to your device from Google Play. Let's take a look at how the Android app integrates and works with Google Drive.

The main screen of Google Drive provides a few options for navigating the new service. You will have quick access to files in your … Read more