Google Docs

Google Docs is a Web-based document management application for creating and editing private and public, word processing and spreadsheet documents. These documents can be stored both online on the Google cloud and/or on the user’s computer. Access to these files is available from any computer with an Internet connection and a fully-featured Web browser. The documents may be viewed by other google groups and members with the document owner’s permission.

Google Docs is designed for both individual and real-time collaborative projects. Document security is maintained through storage online and storage on users’ computers, although some authors have security concerns that documents stored online may be viewed, copied or stolen by others. Furthermore, all documents created are compatible with most presentation and word processing applications and can be printed or published as a Web page. Spreadsheets can be created and edited in various fonts and file formats.

Google regularly releases new features for Google Docs, and maintains an online help group to answer user questions and fix problems.

Reference: http://www.techopedia.com/definition/13626/google-docs

Google Docs enables user to perform the following:

• Create and share documents on the web and access them from any computer or smart phone. The familiar desktop feel makes collaborative editing easy.
• Share and collaborate instantly
• Invite anyone to edit and collaborate on your spreadsheet.
• Store files online
• Publish to the world, just a few people or no one –– it’s up to you. You can also un–publish at any time.

Word Processing Documents

Online, free word processing with Google documents

Create and share documents on the web and access them from any computer or smart phone. The familiar desktop feel makes collaborative editing easy.

• Faster, real–time collaboration
• Edit documents with others and see changes as they type.
• Import from the desktop
• Easily move documents between desktop applications and Google Docs.
• Online word processing
• Margins, indentations, tables, footnotes, comments and much more.

Spreadsheets

Online, free spreadsheets from Google

Create and share spreadsheets online. Google spreadsheets makes it easy to track budgets, run financial calculations, track data and more.

• Share and collaborate instantly
• Invite anyone to edit and collaborate on your spreadsheet.
• Use advanced features
• Complex formulas, conditional formatting, automatic translation and much more.
• Store files online
• Publish to the world, just a few people or no one –– it’s up to you. You can also un–publish at any time.

Presentations

Free, embeddable presentations from Google

Create and share presentations on the web. Add text, images, video and more directly to your presentation slides.

• Familiar desktop feel makes editing easy
• Just click the toolbar buttons to bold, underline, indent, change font, etc.
• Share and collaborate with your team
• Invite anyone to either edit or view your presentation.
• Easily upload your existing presentations
• Google Docs accepts most popular file formats, including PPT.

Forms

Easy to create, HTML forms from Google

Collect information by creating a form in Google Docs. All the great features you expect from a form creation tool with none of the upgrade costs. It’s free.

• Create professional looking forms
• Choose from over 60 themes and 7 question types.
• See entries in spreadsheet form
• Automatically add responses to a spreadsheet that are connected to your survey.
• Easily view the collected information
• Automatically generate sophisticated charts and graphs.

Reference: http://edutraining.googleapps.com/Training–Home/module–4–docs

Google Sites

Google Sites is the easiest way to make information accessible to people who need quick, up-to-date access. People can work together on a Site to add file attachments, information from other Google applications (like Google Docs, Google Calendar, YouTube and Picasa), and new free-form content. Creating a site together is as easy as editing a document, and you always control who has access, whether it’s just yourself, your team, or your whole organization. You can even publish Sites to the world. The Google Sites web application is accessible from any internet connected computer.

Some of the features of Google Sites are as follows:

• Single-click page creation

Creating a new page for your Google Site just takes the click of a button.

• No HTML required

Creating a Google Site is as easy as editing a document, which means there’s no markup language for you to learn — just get started.

• Make it your own

Our customization options let you give your Google Site your own look and feel

• Get started with templates

We offer a growing list of page types — web page, announcements, file cabinet, dashboard and list — to help you get started with your Google Sites pages.

• Upload files and attachments

Use the file cabinet to upload files up to 10MB in size. Each Google Apps account receives at least 10GB of storage in Google Sites. Google Apps Premier and Education editions get an additional 500MB for each user account.

• Embed rich content

Google Sites is integrated with other Google products, so you can insert videos, docs, spreadsheets, presentations, photo slide shows, and calendars directly onto your Google Sites pages.

• Work together and share

Our permission settings let you designate owners, viewers and collaborators (meaning they can edit pages) for your site. And you can make your Google Sites available to just a few people, your entire organization, or the world.

• Search with Google

You can search across Google Sites pages and content using powerful Google search technology. You’ll find specific pages and documents instantly, the same way you would on Google.com.

Reference: http://www.google.com/sites/overview.html

Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud hosting product from Google that allows users to store up to 15 GB of files and information for free with additional storage available for a fee. This technology was released in 2012, and includes older offerings like Google Docs, which was originally offered in 2007.

To use Google drive, users must have Google client software running on a device. Google Drive was originally launched to be compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, as well as some versions of the Mac operating system. The iPad and Android smartphones are also supported. There are also other Google Drive applications or tools that can help users get more out of this cutting-edge software service.

By offering Google Drive cloud hosting, Google is presenting some of the biggest benefits of today’s cutting-edge technology to its users. Across the business world and in consumer industries, cloud hosting is quickly becoming a standard for data security and ease-of-use. Good cloud systems with adequate security allow for much more effective data handling for both individuals and businesses.

Reference: http://www.techopedia.com/definition/29470/google-drive