Google Docs Gets Better Document Sorting, Introduces Collections And Document Previews

Google Docs, one of the best cloud based office suite just got better.

Google developers have added quite a number of features to Google Docs new interface. A few days earlier, Google added support for video uploads and now this newer interface will definitely help those, who always find it very difficult to manage a large number of documents, spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations stored in their Google Docs account.

Document Filtering In Google Docs

The first feature to note is the Document filtering option, accessible from Google Docs “All Documents” page. You can filter out specific document types e.g Spreadsheets, text files, ppt, PDF and so on.

This is useful when you have more than 6 dozen documents stored in your Google account and want a quick way to backup or download these documents to the local computer. Simply pull down the menu, sort the document type and you are shown only those documents that match with the current filter. Another neat thing is that the search results will show to which Google Docs folder that document belongs, so you always know the exact location where the document is saved.

Document Previews With Sharing Information

Another neat feature added to Google Docs is document previews, which shows a quick preview of the document without opening it. The preview is accompanied by other useful information such as the collection to which the document belongs, the last modification time, date and the sharing settings of the document

You may quickly change the sharing settings of a Google Docs document without opening it by clicking the “Settings” link in the preview pane.

More Visibility And Ownership  Options

A new “More options” menu has been added which lets you filter documents that have been cretaed by you or sort documents which you have shared with other users. This custom sorting also includes filtering documents within your Google Apps domain members e.g with the people in your organization or with team members who have an account within your Google Apps email. This is nice, when you want to filter out spreasheets and other shared documents without having to waste time with manual sorting.

Overall, Google Docs is getting better with time and if they continue to roll out newer features and revamps every other week, do you think users will ever switch to other online office suite programs like Docs.co, Windows live Skydrive or Zoho Office ?

Related: Version history in Google Docs