This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label “Google Apps highlights" and subscribe to the series. - Ed.
In the spirit of helping people work better together, over the last few
weeks we made big improvements to Google presentations, introduced a
version of Google Docs optimized for Android tablets, and enabled more
dynamic content in Google Sites. We also celebrated the fact that
Silicon Valley has gone Google!
Google presentations reloaded
On Tuesday we launched a completely rebuilt version of our web-based presentations application, so you can
build more beautiful presentations
together with colleagues and classmates. Google presentations now lets
you make great-looking slides with animated builds, advanced slide
transitions and better support for drawings, tables and themes. Plus, we
made it easier to create presentations with others, without the hassles
of attachments. Your whole team can work together in the same version
of a presentation at the same time, and you can see who’s doing what,
chat with others, and see a full revision history at any moment in time.
Google Docs on Android tablets
We’ve made it faster and easier to work with
Google Docs on Android tablets
with a new version of the Android application that takes full advantage
of larger screen real estate. The three-panel view lets you browse
filters and collections, see your document list and view file thumbnails
and details simultaneously. You can get the Google Docs Android app
for free from the
Android Market.
Charts in Google Sites
Charts are often created in spreadsheets, but sometimes you want charts to appear in other places, like your
team or project sites.
In Google Sites, now you can select “Chart” from the “Insert” menu,
and navigate to the Google Spreadsheet where your chart or data is
located. You can also choose to have your site’s chart update in
real-time when someone updates the underlying spreadsheet.
New look for Google Docs and Sites
We started rolling out a new look in Google Docs a couple months ago, and now this new design is available
throughout all our collaboration tools.
In addition to a cleaner, simpler design, we’ve made it more clear
when your files are being auto-saved and added new icons to help you see
at-a-glance who your docs are shared with. You can also customize the
overall “density” of screen information, a great feature if you want to
fit more onto a smaller display.
Who’s gone Google?
Successful small businesses tend to stay laser-focused on improving
their core businesses, without getting distracted by peripheral
activities that don’t make them more competitive. For example, most
small businesses don’t want to spend time or money developing in-house
expertise to run email and other IT systems. Case in point:
97 percent of Business Insider’s “Silicon Valley Startups to Watch” use Google Apps.
More than 5,000 businesses and thousands of other organizations start
using Google Apps every single day, and more of our customers have
shared their stories recently so you can hear why. A warm welcome goes
out to
Philz Coffee,
Mid-Atlantic Door Group,
Bradford & Barthel, LLP and the
City of Mesquite, Nevada.
I hope these product updates and customer stories help you and your
organization get even more from Google Apps. For more details and the
latest news, check out the
Google Apps Blog.
