If you haven't heard - Google Docs is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, slide show, form, and data storage service offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users.

Documents, spreadsheets, presentations can be created with Google Docs, imported through the web interface, or sent via email. Documents can be saved to a user's local computer in a variety of formats including: (.XLS, .XLSX, .PPTX, .PAGES, .AI, .PSD, .DXF, .SVG, .EPS, .PS, .TTF, .XPS, .ODF, HTML, PDF, RTF, Text, Microsoft Office).

Documents are automatically saved to Google's servers to prevent data loss, and a revision history is automatically kept.

In the past few months they have upgraded their service significantly to include some really great features. We thought we would share some with you.

Optical character recognition (OCR) in 34 languages
- You can now upload and convert PDF or image files to text in 34 languages.

Data filtering in spreadsheets
- You can now analyze and view your data more easily with the addition of filtering in spreadsheets.

Hide sheets
- You can now hide your sheets. Click on a sheet tab and select “hide sheet” to remove a sheet from view.

Discussions in Google Docs
- Improved comment system which includes time-stamps, profile pictures, ownership rights, comment resolution, integration with email and notification settings.

Video player
- View videos uploaded to the document list directly in your browser.

Mobile editing in Google Docs
- You can now edit text documents and create both text documents and spreadsheets on your mobile device.

They are always adding new features to their service and you can always read them here.

From all of our experiences here at Macfanatic and having helped migrate many users over to Google Apps we have not had a single minute of downtime. Also a big plus has been the significant improvements in productivity and stability using the full Google Apps services. We use their Mail & Document services and have not one complaint about either one. If you are interested in learning more about Google Apps for individuals or businesses you can click here.