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Google Documents is a free Web-based application that allows users to store and modify documents and collaborate with other users on those documents. Users can upload documents, create them online, or email them into the application. The site, like its sister site Gmail is password protected and there is strong language in their privacy policy regarding security and rights. Specific information about the security of the site is very difficult to come by, so you should be hesitant to upload sensitive or mission critical documents.

To begin, you need an account on Google. The easiest way to get started with that is to open an email account. The Google email system is called Gmail, so go to Google.com and click on Gmail. If you have an account just sign in and go to your email account. If not, you will need to create an account by clicking on the link, Sign up for Gmail. You will need to supply your real first and last name, as well as a username and password. The username will become your email address, i.e. username@gmail.com. A couple of other questions and accept the user agreement and you're on your way.

Once you are in your email account, at mail.google.com, click on the Documents link at the top of the page. This takes you to docs.google.com. If you aren't going to use google for your email, you can go directly there. You will then be presented with an explorer type interface with a toolbar across the top, a hierarchical interface down the left and a main window.

There are three ways to get a document into Google docs. The first is to create it on the site. Click on New on the toolbar and you get a drop down of options: Document, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Form, or Folder. Opening a Document for instance, created a new window with quasi-MSWord menu and tool bar at the top. You can quickly create, modify, and save a document and it will be immediately available to open and use on another computer.

Spreadsheet and Presentation options operated very similarly, with Excel and Powerpoint interfaces, respectively. The unique option on this menu is Form. This option allows you to design and create an online form for surveys, tests, or most any other purpose. You can then email a link to the form to anyone you wish to fill it out. Once the user submits the form, the answers are stored in a spreadsheet in your Google docs.

The second way to add a document to your account is to simply upload it. On the menu bar there is an upload button which brings up a simple and intuitive form with instructions and restrictions. Also on this page is a link to the third way to add documents: email. This is not the same email address as your Gmail account, but a fairly long and cryptic address that will add documents to your Google Docs account.

You can send a supported document type as an attachment to an email, or simply type the text into the body of the email. The text you type will become a new document and the subject line will become the name of the document.

If you need a quick, simple, and free way to store, share, and collaborate on documents across the Internet, Google Documents is a great solution.

Learn more about this author, Darryl Brooks.
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