The advantages & disadvantages of Google Docs

Google Docs is an online Word Processor offered by Google. The name expanded its meaning when Google added a spreadsheet package and a Presentation creation program to the Word Processor, forming a “productivity suite” under the group name of Google Docs. Since April 2012, That suite is now called Google Drive, and “Google Docs” once more refers to just the Word Processor in the package, which was previously called Writely.

Computer-based programs occupy space on the computer. Any documents produced in a word Processor also get stored on the computer. These two elements of writing documents take up space on the computer. Removing the need for storage of the program and created documents mean that Google Docs users have more space available for other applications. Essentially, the Google’s server adds storage capacity to the user. Google Docs is part of Google Drive, which makes 10 Gigabytes of storage available to users. This amount of storage increases if documents are stored in the format native to Google Docs. These types of documents do not count towards the user’s storage allocation.

One of the enhancements Google added to Google Docs was a collaborative function that allows documents to be shared among several contributors. This removes the need to email copies of documents between a team and also ensures that all collaborators have access to the latest version of the document. Remote storage means a user of Google Docs can access his documents from anywhere in the world, where there is a computer connected to the Internet available.

Google Docs, together with Google Sheets, a spreadsheet program, was one of the first productivity applications produced by Google. These two applications are able to interact, enabling spreadsheets to be integrated into documents created by Google docs. Documents produced in Google Docs can also contribute to presentations created in Google Slides. Google keeps adding more facilities to its online services which means that Google Docs users also have the ability to integrate their documents with tables, forms, web pages and scripts.

Security-conscious organizations may worry about the risks of storing documents outside the organization. Although Google has access procedures to protect the security of documents, some people may feel nervous about their sensitive documents being held elsewhere. Not everyone has a permanent Internet connection and these people are unable to access their documents when they are not able to get online. People who do have sufficient access to the Internet at their home base may sometimes be required to travel to locations where the Internet is not immediately available. Offline scenarios require the user to download copies of documents, both for viewing and alteration. This duplication opens up the risk of documents altering into uncoordinated different versions which can cause confusion.