14 DAY TRIAL // Google Docs is far from an Office killer, not that there’s anyone claiming that, but it is slowly adding new features and functionality and it's getting clearer that the day will come when Docs will go head to head with Microsoft's offering. We're not quite there yet but the latest additions, an equation editor and other student-oriented tweaks, are a definite step in that direction and should prove useful to students, which Google is actively courting, going back to school.
“We've now added a bunch of back to school features which should help our fellow students make the transition from summer to school that much easier — and we hope they'll be useful to you non-students as well!,” Rita Chen and Stephanie Vezich, Google Docs summer interns, wrote. “We created an equation editor so you can easily complete problem sets online or write papers that include equations. If you're taking math, you can now take notes in class or answer questions using Google Docs.”
The new Equation tool is available from the Insert menu in Google Docs, which brings up the equation editor. All of the basic math symbols are there, split into five main categories, and you can try your hand at writing it manually if you get a handle on the syntax Google uses. The editor is pretty bare-bones but its simplicity actually works in its favor making for a rather powerful tool.
The new feature can come in handy in several situations, especially to students, for example when taking notes in class, making for much clearer and easier to read calculus notes. But the best part and the feature that stands out is the collaboration possible with Google Docs. Several students can work together on the same document making sure that they don't miss anything while also double checking if they got everything right.
Apart from the new equation editor, Google also added some interesting smaller features like the possibility to write subscripts or superscripts, really useful when writing chemical compounds or algebraic expressions. Google also highlighted a feature introduced several weeks ago that allows users to translate documents from inside Docs.