Fri 7 Nov, 2008
Tools of the Trade – Google Documents
Come Join the Discussion! (5) Filed under: NaBloPoMo, Tools, WritingTags: GDocs, Google Documents, NaBloPoMo, Tools, Writing
In an unprecedented move for me, I’ve taken to writing in the ether. A while back, I shifted production of my fiction, blog posts, even personal letters to Google Documents. After six months of this, I think it’s time to write a review.
So here we go—the good part about Google Documents! Here are the…
Pros:
* Easily accessible anywhere
o Whether I’m using my notebook in a coffee shop, or the family PC at home, I can resume my work right where I left off. I can even go from computer to computer as the muse hits me–no more swapping flash drives back and forth.
* Share and share alike
o Do I want to send a copy of my latest chapter to someone for a critique? Share a preview of the Prologue with an advance audience? Maybe I have an article I’d like to make public.GDocs has several options for sharing, collaboration, and online publishing. Sweet.
* Unlimited space
o I don’t have to scrimp to save space on a flash drive. Documents chock full of picture references? Bring ‘em on.
* Idiot-proof
o Hear this now: I love that GDocs automatically saves every 60 seconds, and furthermore keeps a copy of every single revision. With one click I can go back and see each version of my document, and revert to whichever one I want. Way more intuitive than Word’s revision history; and it doesn’t rely on me to remember to turn it on. This is a good thing.
* Hot-keys FTW
o All Word’s hot-keys—like Ctrl-s for “save”—work in GDocs. I recently decided to try keeping my journal in Evernote instead of GDocs; but quickly discovered that the hot-keys aren’t the same. That was a major ding, IMO. (Yes, I can change. But it’s more efficient for me to be able to work with my muscle memory as it is.)
* Download as…
o …HTML, Open Office, PDF, RTF, Text, or Word files. Easy for on-the-fly backup to my computer as I write.
* Off-site backup
o I like to think positively. But just in case an alien invasion fries all my computers and CD backups at the house, GDocs has me covered.
* Organization
o With Google Docs’ at-a-glance setup, I can see my chapter folders and my documents all at once. I can drag and drop; I can color-code folders; I can arrange by name or date.
* Google search
o Didn’t I already write a scene with the garden gnome? Search garden gnome. ‘Nuff said.
Those are the good things. But as we know, not everything in life comes up roses. Here are the…
Cons:
* Accessible anywhere…with an internet connection
o My internet is notorious for dropping out at the house—sometimes for hours at a time. My favorite local coffee shop seems to have the same issue with their free wi-fi. And Starbucks, for whatever reason, does not always recognize my status as a card owner with wi-fi rights. At times like those, GDocs is rendered completely useless to me. What if I didn’t back up yesterday’s work yet? Scary. [Update: I've just been reminded that GDocs has an offline feature that allows you to work without an internet connection. So there goes that argument. 
]
* Even Google is not alien-proof
o Sure, it’s great for off-site backup. But what if something happens to Google? What if they decide to quit offering GDocs? What if there’s a glitch in my account and it disappears?
* It can be a drag
o The organizational abilities are great; but I’ve noticed a lag in stimulus-response timing. Dropping docs in folders can get hung up; sometimes I type too fast for the words to appear. It’s not immediate, and depends greatly on internet connection speeds and PC optimization. And trying to work while a virus scan is running? Forget it.
* Word count: all-or-nothing
o While GDocs has amazing word count capabilities—it tells me how many pages I have, how many words per page, even the Flesch Reading Ease level of the document—one thing it doesn’t do is tell me how many words I have in a highlighted section. Maybe it’s just me, but I use this constantly in Word.
* Formatting shenanigans
o The formatting while in GDocs looks great. But when I try to export or copy/paste a doc to a Word file, it gets all smashed up. Paragraphs are separated by huge voids, with invisible barriers that I can’t simply backspace through. I need to paste unformatted, and go alllll the way back and re-italicize everything. Time consuming.
* Times-less (gasp!)
o Speaking of time—there’s no font for Times New Roman in GDocs! If I want to print directly from here, I’m going to have to use Garamond or something.
~~~
Okay, so the number of good things heavily outweighs the number of bad things. Unfortunately, some of the baddies are big ones—especially dependence on internet connection and the eggs-in-one-basket format. Those give me the shivers.
But when all is said and done, I must say that I adore Google Documents. I might try a different tool for my next novel—like a PC-based writing program such as PageFour for Windows. (I’ve heard good things about Scrivener for Mac users.) But you can bet I’ll be backing it up inGDocs.
How about you? What tools do you use for writing? Anything you’d like to recommend?
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Rob Gokee says:
As a composer, most of my word processing time is spent taking notes from either 1) a spotting session with a director or, 2) taking notes from the book I’m reading (I highlight and take copious notes when I read so I can reference back quickly when I need to verify information or techniques).
I’ve switched back and forth between Open Office and Word for awhile now. Although I use Outlook 2007, for the rest of the Office suite I’m at XP (2002).
Word can be cumbersome for me, and I’ve had issues with MS Office running in the background when I’m trying to do other things and want it closed. I like the versatility of OpenOffice, the ability to open Word 07 docs and save as pdf (which I use often) are pluses that made me want to switch.
But OpenOffice is often slow to startup, which is a big peeve of mine. When I’m ready to work on a doc or write, I want it open NOW, and Word is actaully faster at starting up cold.
Right now I’m using OpenOffice as my primary program, I appreciate your review of Google Docs features and shortcomings. My biggest problem with Google Docs has always been the online requirement; my connection is very stable (knock on wood…I’m looking at you, Verizon), but if something happens one day I want to be able to access my docs on my offline laptop.
theatermonkey says:
I gotta say, I love the wotw2 references.
mousewords says:
@Rob, You *totally* just reminded me—Google Docs does have an offline feature, using Gears. (There’s my Swiss-cheese memory in action!) When there’s no internet connection, GDocs keeps working normally and saves to your computer. When internet is available, it automatically syncs with the online version.
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/03/bringing-cloud-with-you.html
I forgot all about it because I use Flock as my browser, and it’s not supported. Someone referred me to a Flock extension for Gears: http://capcloud.com/node/196 But I forgot it till just now. Haven’t tried it yet.
I did start to use the offline feature in Firefox, and it worked well. The only thing is, you can’t create new documents, only edit and save existing ones. A workaround for this is to always keep a few blank documents saved in your account, and just rename them when working offline.
mousewords says:
@theatermonkey It’s funny how easily the wotw2 references fit into everything now!
mousewords » The Cup of Kindness – Part Two says:
[...] Google Documents: I use GDocs for most of my writing, so I started keeping track of feedback there, too. Pluses: Web-based, [...]