Daniel Eldridge's List: Collaboration Tools

OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs
by Przemyslaw Rumik

(16 votes)
ooo2gd.png

Export and Import your documents to and from Google Docs and Zoho.
It can export:
* Documents: OpenDocument Text (.odt), StarOffice (.sxw), Microsoft Word (.doc, but not MS XML), Rich Text (.rtf)
* Spreadsheets: OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods), Microsoft Excel (.xls), Comma Separated Value (.csv)
* Presentations: Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pps)
It may import all Documents and Presentations
Needs Java 6 to work.

A few years back, I remember hearing someone talk about "online word processors," I thought it was a silly idea, since I couldn't imagine having to be connected to the web to use an application. Well times change, and in the days of broadband and web-based applications, it seems like the online word processor's day has come.

Before reading any more of this column, please note that this is not a review of Google Docs . These are just some observations based on my own use here and there. So please take it all with a grain of salt.

Today, Microsoft announced that the Office Live Workspace beta is publicly available for everyone to access. The site, a free web-based extension of Microsoft Office, lets you access your documents online and share your work with others. Some say that the service's launch is a direct response to Google's entry into the web office space with their Google Docs online service. If that's so, then the question now is: did Microsoft just trump Google Docs? Or does Google Docs still rule online office suites?

Hi all,

We're happy to announce a nifty new feature for the documents side of
Google Docs & Spreadsheets...

It's now possible to create a Google Calendar event from within a
document! Once created, this event automatically populates the invite
field with the addresses of anyone collaborating on and/or viewing a
document. The icing on the cake? A link to the document is also
provided from the "Description" section of the event.

As you can imagine, this feature is great for those of us who enjoy
Google Docs & Spreadsheets as a collaborative resource for
collaborative events -- think of all the times a document becomes a
meeting -- scheduling a get-together to review a proposal, sending an
agenda in advance, or just keeping score for your Wednesday night
backgammon club.

For these purposes and beyond, this feature is one more way Google
Docs & Spreadsheets is making collaboration nicer and easier :)

Cool, huh?

For instructions, and a little more info, check out our help article,
here: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=72621&topic=8628

Enjoy!
Syd