Google Docs is a web application giving you the functionality of an office suite without having to install the software. It offers the following features:

• Word Processor
• Art Pad
• Presentations
• Spreadsheets
• Form Generator

Each of these does a fine job provided you have a solid internet connection, and is pretty easy to use. If your hands have memorized shortcuts for the Microsoft Office applications, the most important ones (opening and saving a file, inserting a hyperlink, printing, undo and redo, and formatting text) are still the same. Others (like indent, font sizing, search and replace, style selection) are mouse only commands.

Even though there are 5 major categories of Google docs, there are dozens of templates giving you the ability to make flip books, greeting cards, labels, certificates, calendars, flow charts and more. It even offers optical character recognition, allowing you to convert scans of text to a format you can edit

The best thing about Google Docs, is that it lives on the cloud and securely stores your docs there, too. You can upload a Word doc, Powerpoint deck, or Excel workbook and Google Docs will convert it.

You can also share each document with individual people, with everyone, or keep everything private. Two people can edit the same document, which is one of its greatest strengths. And it can translate text into any of the languages supported by Google Translate.

There are a few drawbacks, limited font support being one. From what we can tell, if you use a custom font in a Word doc, and then upload that doc to Google Docs, the font must be on the PC that is viewing the doc for it to show correctly. The styles cannot be edited either, which is an issue if you want to add some pizzazz to the visual appeal of your doc.

Fortunately Google Docs offers an API allowing outside programs, like report generators, document search, or revision history, to tap into data stored with Google Documents.

The strengths and flexibility of Google Docs far outweigh the weaknesses, especially if your daily routine includes the using the typical office suite features. The standard edition is free and allows you to share with 50 users. It also integrates with Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Sites.

You must have a Gmail account or other Google account to use Google Docs.