Has anyone tried Google Docs and Spreadsheets? I only recently discovered it.

Google now offers the ability for you to use online tools similar to Word and Excel to create documents that are stored on their server (free), so can be shared with others you designate or published for anyone to see.

This could have great possibilities for those of us on the Forum who want to share documents or for within our our parent groups.

All you need is Internet access. Doesn't matter what computer you are using or whether it has Word/Excel installed. You can access the documents from anywhere. There's only one copy - rather than emailing items back and forth and losing track of which version is which.

Important notes - I've only barely explored this so don't know what file size restrictions there are, and ANYTHING on the internet has security/privacy issues.

But I think it's worth checking out.

As a test, I grabbed something and had it formated, saved, and published in 5 minutes.

Sample PTO Job Descriptions (Short) - document

Also, here's a sample spreadsheet: Sign Up List

The links above should give any of you the ability to see it as a web page. But I also had the option of providing a list of emails to whom invitations could be sent 1) to view only or 2) to have edit privileges (my choice of which rights.)

Imagine working on a flyer or policy when you can't get everyone together. You could be on the phone making edits realtime while the other person viewed it. Or you could have a signup sheet where each person selected their own shifts and filled in contact info (if you invited the entire group to edit) or at least you could publish the signups for everyone to see where vacancies are. And the numbers of times I've been up at school, but what I wanted to work on was on my home computer... (Note - on signups, be careful with contact info if you set a document where "anyone" can see it.)

Here's a write-up in Wikipedia.

Look for Google Docs and Spreadsheets on the Goggle Resources page.

I'd be very interested in what some of you think.

[ 12-13-2006, 01:31 PM: Message edited by: JHB ]

I could see a lot of good applications for this. It is incredible what all is available on the web these days at no charge.

This is so cool. I can't wait to put this to use in our NEW PTO!!

UPDATE - Google has added a Forms feature that's pretty cool. In just a few minutes, with no special skills, you can set up an online form to collect information. It automatically popluates a spreadsheet with all the answers.

While those behind the scenes on your committee probably need to sign in to Google, you can set the forms up for direct access. Plus you can make the spreadsheet available as well (for viewing only or for edit).

Here's a sample I did in less than 10 minutes.

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial]Form (enter some dummy data and submit)[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial]Spreadsheet [/FONT][FONT=Arial]“published” for anyone to View)[/FONT][/FONT]

The tool provides a nice variety of questions (text, scale, drop down, check box, paragraph). The only one I don't like is the check box one.

That's where you list the options and they selection all that apply. For example I used this question:

===========


Best time for me to help:
** Weekday mornings** Weekday afternoons
** Weekends
** Evenings
===========
It stores all the values in the same spreadsheet cell, making it of limited use for sorting. (For example: I'd want to be able sort the spreadsheet by everyone available mornings.)

Instead, I'd probably set this up as 4 different questions so I'd have a column for each choice.

So do think through how the data is stored and how you plan to use the data as you design any form.