Upload Any File Type to Google Docs

Until last week, my recommendation for organizations using Google Apps for collaborative document sharing was to use Google Docs for online editing, augmented by DropBox for general file storage and offline editing. With the new capability introduced by Google last week to upload and store any file type in the Google Docs storage space, (learn more) that may change.

While the Google Docs user interface continues to improve, for those used to Microsoft Office and other desktop office apps, it still leaves something to be desired. Network latency and performance issues aggravate the problem. So while documents in the cloud have a certain appeal, the reality is that for day to day work, documents have remained in local storage. For that reason, services such as DropBox have been used to provide local document editing while sharing those documents between different users and systems.

As of last week, Google now allows the Docs workspace to be used for general purpose storage of files regardless of their types. And for files of the standard Google Docs types (eg. documents, presentations and spreadsheets), the user can choose whether to upload in the desktop native format, or convert to the Google Docs online format.

The remaining difference between this capability and a service such as DropBox is that Google Docs are not automatically synchronized with  a users desktop. If a person wants to edit a document, they first must download it, edit it, and then upload it back to the Google Docs system. Here is where other 3rd party services come in. One company in particular, Memeo Inc. has introduced Memeo Connect for Google Apps, which provides a desktop folder that is automatically synchronized with Google Docs. Priced at $9/user per year, this is an affordable solution for organizations that want to have the ability to store online and offline editable documents in the Google Docs service.