10 great Google Apps tips

Google grabbed a lot of headlines this year, from its advancements in Google Glass to Android news to the company's mysterious barge in the San Francisco Bay. But the search giant also pushed out updates to its cloud tools, Google Apps.

More than 5 million businesses and 50 million people now use Google Apps, which launched in 2006 and includes Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. This year, Google announced a major redesign of Gmail that included customizable tabs to make it easier to organize emails; it revamped the Google Drive menu; and it launched a new interface for Google Groups. Google released a number of other new productivity features and tools, from Google Wallet integrations to tweaks that make composing emails, managing your calendar, and sending files easier.

Google has made so many improvements you might not be aware of some of them. Whether you've been using Google Apps for a while and want to learn about the changes, or you're a new user still finding your way around, check out our 10 tips for making the best of Google's cloud applications.

Use Google Keep reminders

Transfer money from Google Wallet using Gmail

Mute email conversations

Add events to your calendar from Gmail

Use Google Drive to send large files

Respond to emails without opening them

Enable SMS appointment reminders

Export Gmail and Calendar data

Share docs with non-Google users

Enable full-screen composition

Fulll story

Five alternatives to Microsoft Office 365

Microsoft has released Office 365 and for those that like the idea of having an on-line office suite, but don’t want to have to pay the cost of the Microsoft solution, where do you turn? Are they comparable alternatives? I am happy to answer with an emphatic ‘yes’. Some of the available alternatives offer a feature-for-feature alternative, whereas some go a few extra miles and offer additional features that make them superior to the Microsoft offering.

But what are these alternatives? Outside of Google Docs, most of the alternatives live on the fringes. That doesn’t mean they aren’t worth giving a try. In fact these alternatives should very easily fill all of your on-line office suite needs.

Let’s dig into the list of applications so you can see if one (or more) of them can serve as an alternative for you and/or your company.

1. Zoho
2. OX
3. Google Apps
4. Think Free Office
5. Live Documents


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