Guest Post

We all know about Google as the search engine mogul and most know about Google Docs — an online version of word processing, spreadsheet, and presentations software.

But if you’re like me, you are far more comfortable using Microsoft Office products.

I know all the hot-keys, the short-cuts, and know my way around the software.

But with the new Google Cloud Connect, there are several compelling reasons to starting considering switching…by NOT switching.

You ready for this? Google Cloud Connect lets you work right out of Microsoft Office software and still get all the benefits of Google Docs and a cloud-based office productivity suite.

Here are my favorite reasons for making the switchless switch to Google Cloud Connect:

Keep Your Favorite Microsoft Office Tools

By far the best thing about Google Cloud Connect is that you can keep Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.

You get to retait all the tools and flashy tricks without losing any functionality.

If you’ve ever used Google Docs by itself, you’ll notice that it doesn’t have all the built-in bells and whistles.

Now, you get your favorite features and add the benefits of cloud-based technology.

Easy Installation

It took me less than a minute to install Google Cloud Connect and now I have a new toolbar in my Microsoft products.

You can hide the bar, which I recommend because it’s a bit oversized. Keep in mind you will need Administrator rights to your computer to complete the installation.

The Google Cloud Connect toolbar in Microsoft Word after installation.

You can read more, watch a video, and download Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office at Google’s Download site.

Simple Synchronization

It’s super-simple to sync the document you have open in front of you with the web-based version on Google Docs.

Just click Sync or let it do the synchronization automatically. You can keep working while it saves the file, too. It doesn’t get any easier than auto-magically.

Mindless Collaboration

I regularly work with multiple people on a document. Whether it’s a copywriter, editor, or legal, I regularly have multiple eyes and hands on my docs.

So collaboration is very important — and a serious pain. Google Cloud Sync lets me send someone a document with an email link.

When they open the file, it opens right in Microsoft Office. As they are editing — in real-time — you can see changes happening.

This makes collaboration so much easier and efficient. Google even keeps multiple versions so you can revert very easily.

You don’t even have to worry about editing the same page at the same time; Google prompts for which changes to keep.

Built-In Security

Lastly, you can control the security of your documents. Your documents are as secure as your Gmail password.

So as long as you keep your password safe, your documents stay private.

But when you start sending the document out for review or feedback, you can further control how much authority you want the other users to have.

You can let them have the ability to edit or limit them to read-only access.

Summing it up…

I love being able to work on my documents from multiple locations but hate having to email my files to myself, download, edit, and repeat.

Plus, with all the collaboration I do, it takes a lot of time keeping track of versions and who is working on what.

Google Cloud Connect takes all this pressure off. It’s easy to install and easy to use. Now I just have to convince my boss that I don’t have internet access at home. That’s believable, right?!

This guest post is by Tara Hornor. Tara has a degree in English and writes about marketing, advertising, branding, graphic design, and desktop publishing. She works for PrintPlace.com, an online printing company that offers postcards, posters, brochure printing, postcard printing, and more printed marketing media. In addition to her writing career, Tara also enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. All photos in this post is provided by her.