Writers need a word processor, but do you really need all the bells and whistles that become more complicated every time you upgrade MS Word? There have always been alternatives that were cheaper, even free. But, now your word processing options are becoming more varied and feature-packed. In fact, one techie says there are no fewer than ten possible options. (Link to his article below).
Do you have a Gmail or Blogger account? Then you already have a word processor available to you through Google. If you don’t have a Google account, it’s easy to get one. Go to this link and create a free account. You can arrive at Google Docs by typing in the URL http://docs.google.com before or after you log in. Click “Create” and play with it. Your work is autosaved, but you will need to give your document a name before you create another.
I have created documents in Word and Excel to store on Google Docs so that others can have access. But, I had never created a document until a friend suggested I try it. Click here to go to my “Google Docs Experiment” document. It does work a lot like Word, but not everything was easy to find on the menus and/or toolbar. If you are a regular Word user, you might experience a bit of a learning curve. There are tutorials. Try the Help section, or do a Google search for “Google Docs tutorials 2012.”
Google Doc Advantages: It’s free, of course. Plus, it’s available on any computer you have access to, whereas regular word processing software must be purchased for every computer you use. Your documents are safe online if you have a computer melt-down or buy a new computer. You can share documents with others, even co-write a single document with someone else.
Disadvantages: The big one is—if you can’t get online, you can’t get to your documents. That is, unless you remember to download them to your hard drive. Then, if you don’t have word processing software on your computer, you can’t edit the documents except online.
It doesn’t hurt to try it, and, again—it’s free. Readers, if you have experience with Google Docs, please comment on this post or e-mail me akinemily@gmail.com about the possibility of your writing a guest post about it.
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