When most people think "word processor," Microsoft Word comes to mind, and usually not because people are particularly fond of that piece of software. Most accept it as the defacto word processor of choice because of its ubiquity in offices all over the world, but would prefer something a little less bloated or perhaps more specialized.
Luckily, there's lots of folks out there looking for a better word processor and the App Store has a ton of them.
Here are seven different takes on the word processor, each of which is equally viable and offers something unique.
9to5Mac reports that Google has recently released separate iOS apps for both Google Docs and Google Sheets. I say "separate" because you could basically do the same thing with Google Drive.
So, as you might expect you can use Google Docs so view, edit, and share documents online through Google (and save for offline editing if need be). The same goes for Google Sheets, except it involves spreadsheets (it also lets you save files for offline use). And if that's not enough, Google also announced that it's planning on bringing Google Slides, an app meant for presentations, to the App Store in the near future.
You can download both Google Docs and Google Sheets from the App Store right now for free. Google Slides isn't out just yet, but it should be available "soon."
Last month Google introduced the ability to edit Google Docs directly from your iOS device. While the feature was welcomed by many users, they also quickly found it to be rather limited, and not really a true Google Docs experience. That issue has now been rectified, at least on the iPad, as Google has updated their service to allow for full desktop editing control on the tablet. This includes the ability to change fonts and formatting as well as insert formulas and tables, just like you can with your home computer.
In order to access the service users must first mosey over to the Google Docs homepage via the iPad's Safari browser and then sign in as usual. You should then see all your docs pop up just like they always do and you can begin editing, formatting and doing all the other things you're accustomed to doing on your home computer. One word of warning though, Google is reminding everyone that the browser editor still isn't as powerful as the PC version so some bugs, glitches and other hiccups are to be expected. Folks experiencing troubles are also invited to head back into the standard mobile version, as it is specifically built for iOS devices.
When the mobile version of Google Docs launched, we were already excited - this news only sweetens the deal. While it's nice to be able to edit documents and spreadsheets from our devices the service isn't exactly all we dreamed it would be. Now, with this new browser version we get all the tools we're familiar with easily accessible on the iPad. Once the bugs all get worked out we may never need to access Google Docs from our computers again, what a glorious day that will be.
With the advent of Google Docs, traditional office software packages are beginning to grow obsolete. Unfortunately, up until now, if you were working on an iOS device (or any mobile device for that matter), there was no way for you to edit a Google Doc. That changes now, as Google has announced that mobile editing will soon appear thanks to a soon-to-be-released update.
Using the new feature couldn't be simpler, as all you have to do is open up a Google Doc, tap on Edit and then the mobile editor instantly engages. There is an almost non-existent lag as you type in changes to a doc, and you can even see the edits made by others as well in near real-time. This isn't some gimped word processor either, as you have access to the full suite of Google Docs features including creating bulleted lists and creating and filling out tables. Basically whatever you can do on a computer, you can now do on your mobile device.
This is no doubt very exciting news for those who use their iPhone or iPad as a productivity device, as now you truly have basically all the word processing and spreadsheet software you need available right there on your device totally free. With this important update Google Docs could very quickly become the go-to service on mobile devices for practically all your productivity-related needs. While this won't render all other productivity apps obsolete, it sure makes it easy to turn to Google first when something needs to be done.
The new update is slowly rolling out to all English-language users over the next few days. If you don't see the new features yet then keep checking back, as we're expecting the service to be available to everyone by Monday. Google is also working on getting the update out in other languages as well, so this could very easily be a worldwide update in the very near future.
