Comments on: 5 things you probably didn't know you could do in Google Docs & Spreadsheets

Josh Lowensohn spends the afternoon at Google's headquarters and discovers some new tips and tricks for users of the Web-based office suite.

[zetra001]

Google Docs & Spreadsheets

see http://hotshadow.com/Google Docs_Spreadsheets.aspx

[rachelsb]

Awesome info!

This info is really helpful. Google seems to have so many secret functions, I love learning about new ones. I thought this was so great I shared it with everyone at ListAfterList.com. If you have any other Google tips or anything else to share, this seems to be the place to do it. Check it out: http://www.listafterlist.com/ListAfterListcomListsAbout/tabid/57/ListID/7514/Default.aspx

[brucemmccarthy]

Needs Gears

Google Docs and Spreadsheets are a great idea and certainly coming along in terms of features. The well-known "off-line problem has been their Achilles heel. (Even their capability for import and export is wonky.)

More on this here: http://www.userdriven.org/blog/2006/11/12/google-docs-almost-there.html

But once they're enabled with Google Gears you'll be able to use them online and off move easily between the two without import and export.

More on this here: http://www.userdriven.org/blog/2007/6/14/google-reader-shifts-into-high-gear.html

[brucemmccarthy]

Needs Gears

Google Docs and Spreadsheets are a great idea and certainly coming along in terms of features. The well-known "off-line problem has been their Achilles heel. (Even their capability for import and export is wonky.)

More on this here: http://www.userdriven.org/blog/2006/11/12/google-docs-almost-there.html

But once they're enabled with Google Gears you'll be able to use them online and off move easily between the two without import and export.

More on this here: http://www.userdriven.org/blog/2007/6/14/google-reader-shifts-into-high-gear.html

I can't wait!

[hadaso]

My problem is with the things I know I cannot do

Example: I loaded a csv file (created with MS Excel) and wanted to sort by date. I didn't work out (and now cannot be undone except by exporting it back and doing it in an app that recognizes the (very common except in the US) date format.

Another thing missing is editting functinality for math formulas (I had problems importing MS word with math. Open document format with formulas was imported OK with formulas as images but no capability of entering formulas).

But what I see looks very useful, and I did get some things done using docs.google.com.

One thing I think that can be based on this platform is a system for students to turn in assignments so teachers can comment on them (and then students correct, etc.). It's quite like adding comments to a reviewed documents, only the needs are a bit different, such as a turned in paper needs to be "locked", and then the corrected work with teachers comments need to be "locked", and some tools around this can help. It seems like the functionality is already there, only some packaging needs to be applied so that schools and colleges can actually use it this way.