When you’re running a small business, you need to keep a sharp eye on costs. Google Docs lets you instantly share documents, spreadsheets and calendar events for no cost, and the only requirement is a Gmail account. You can connect with your staff online by using Google Docs to share company documents, or keep all your marketing collateral in one easy to access place for your clients.
When you first create a document, you need to choose what type of file you need. You can create anything from a Word file, to a spreadsheet, or even upload images or PDFs. Input the data as if you were using standard Microsoft applications. You can spell check, adjust line spacing, and add headers like you normally would. When you’re finished, title your file and save it.
Sharing documents with your staff is simple. You can either share each document as you create it, share it from the main page, or drop it into a shared folder. You can either make the document available for anyone to edit it, or you can set it as read only.
You can easily make files available for your clients. When you’re sharing a file with a client, you can choose from three different privacy settings. If the document is set to Private, then the client must sign in with their Google account and be invited to view the document. You can make the document Public on the Web, which makes the document available to anyone, anywhere. The third option is to make the document available to Anyone with the Link, which doesn’t require a Google account but you can only access the file through a provided link.
Managing calendar events is just like working in Entourage. You can add events, edit events, and send email invites to your staff and clients. You can stay organized by creating separate calendars for specific items, and then sharing those calendars as you see fit.