14 DAY TRIAL // Google Docs is becoming increasingly powerful but it's not ready to replace full-blown desktop office suites just yet. Still, for most people it's good enough to get the job done without too much hassle and, more importantly, for free. But, while it can't compete with the likes of Microsoft Office, it can offer a whole lot more in other areas, thanks to the advantages of having your files live online. Collaboration and sharing is becoming increasingly popular and Docs is already a serious contender in this space. Now Google is launching a couple of features to make sharing a bunch of files easier.
“Today, we are happy to launch one of the most requested Google Docs features — the ability to share folders. Shared folders make it easy for a team of people to collaborate on projects that require multiple documents, spreadsheets or presentations,” Vijay Bangaru, Google Docs product manager, said.
Sharing folders was the most requested feature for Google Docs by a fair margin so it's actually strange it took the search giant this long to enable it. While most people are still warming up to the idea of having a document available for many to see and potentially edit, others have embraced this way of doing things and were really feeling the need to be able to collaborate on multiple documents within a folder. The feature works pretty much as expected – users have access to all of the files in the folder and any file added becomes instantly available to all.
“We've also made it easy to upload multiple items to Google Docs. Instead of picking one file at a time, our new upload page lets you choose multiple files and upload them simultaneously, in just a couple of steps,” Bangaru added. This second feature is equally important. As Google Docs becomes increasingly used as a serious alternative, users needed to be able to upload more than just one file at a time. The new flash uploader, which adds a new-fangled “progress bar,” allows users to select multiple files and then upload them in bulk.
The "Items not in folders" feature was brought back by popular request with a few modifications to ensure it plays well with the new shared folders. Finally the interface got a little spruced up with some small changes to the design but also with some improvements in the functionality especially when managing folders.