Customer Reviews

Google Docs 4 Everyone

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Google Docs started in 2006. This book was written in late 2008. So, it is almost two years out of date. Given that the related programs seemed to be updated every few weeks, I thought this would be a big hurdle for this guide. But, it was not because the programs have not changed that much.

This is an excellent guide that beat the Dummies series to the punch. Indeed, the Dummies series released all sorts of guides on Google, Google Apps, etc... but, none focused on Google Docs.

There have been a few changes. For instance, within the doc program. The guide mentioned you could save a document as a copy (pg 35); Now, instead you make a copy. Additionally, the document styles are in a completely different area. They were under Edit (pg. 45). It is now located under Format, and it is called Document Settings. After clicking on those menu items, you finally get a Document Styles box that looks the same as in the book. Also, print settings (pg. 41) are a lot more limited than all the choices shown in the guide.

Besides those inevitable discrepancies due to the passage of time, the book is excellent. It does a very good job at explaining the detailed workings of each three programs (doc, spreadsheet, presentation) and how to share those documents with others.

Google docs is quite revolutionary and is becoming an increasingly relevant competitor to the PC based MicroSoft Office suite. Apparently, numerous corporations have adopted Google docs. I write all my book reviews using docs as I prefer it to Word where I am tired of fighting distracting automated features. Anyone using the internet should give Google docs a try. And, this guide facilitates such efforts.

I bought this in April or May of 2011 and it is, unfortunately, a little outdated, but it is still helpful when you are dealing with procedures Google has not already revised. And it is much better than plowing through thousands of discussions in the Google help section to find the solution to a problem you are having.