How to Create and Manage Google Docs Documents from Microsoft Outlook

Google Docs in my favorite online office application as it lets me create word documents, manage forms, make Powerpoint presentations for projects and publish blog posts.

So is Microsoft Outlook – one of the best email clients which can be used to manage multiple email accounts from desktop. Now here is a useful Outlook plugin which lets you edit, create and manage Google docs documents from desktop.

Download Harmony Google docs plugin and install the add-in. This adds a new sidebar in Microsoft outlook which can be used to sign in to your Google docs account and edit the documents right from desktop.

You can see a complete list of all your Google docs documents and double clicking an item lets you edit the content of the document from desktop. Any file attached to the document will be automatically uploaded to the cloud and will be accessible from the Google docs account.

Alternatives: There is Nocs – a free tool which let’s you create, edit and manage Google docs documents from desktop. There are also tools like GmDesk and Google.me which let’s you access all Google services from Windows system tray. But looking at the Harmony sidebar, I think I will stick with it for a couple of reasons listed below.

Upload Email attachments to Google Docs Automatically

The add-in also makes it easy to send email attachments from Microsoft Outlook. Whenever you compose an Email message from Outlook and want to attach something, Harmony sidebar comes into action and will upload the attachment straight to your Google docs account. The recipient will get a link of the attachment in the resulting email message.

Upload and Download Google Docs Documents from Microsoft Outlook

Uploading a new document from Outlook is easy. Just drag and place the document in the harmony sidebar and it will be uploaded to your Google docs account.

To download a document stored in your Google docs account, just drag and drop the document icon from the Harmony sidebar in an empty area of the desktop

The downloaded documents are in Office 2007 format so there won’t be any compatibility problem in case you want to edit it using Microsoft Office.

Harmony sidebar is an immensely useful add-in for Microsoft outlook and it is a simple workaround to access Google docs documents, if Google docs is blocked at your Workplace.

Tip: How to secure Google Docs documents.