Expert tips for ditching MS Office and working from the cloud -- for free!

By now you’re probably familiar with Docs’ basics. But just in case: Google Docs is a web-based word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application that stores any files you create in it, as well as files you upload. While Google Docs doesn’t offer all the functionality you’d find in Microsoft Office, its web-based collaboration features present a whole new world of utility, and these tips will help you mine Docs for everything it’s worth.

Conduct Surveys with Forms

Google’s form templates are awesome for not only collecting data from coworkers, loved ones, and website visitors, but also for tallying responses. In Google Docs, click the Create New button, and chose Form from the drop-down. Now, enter your questions, as well as the types of answers each question should get. You can format answers for multiple choice, checkboxes, and other common survey criteria, as well as add section headers and choose custom visual themes. Clicking the “Email for” button will send your contacts a link to the form (you also can copy and paste the link to publish it yourself).

Get the really important data—quickly.

When your recipients answer the form’s questions, a Google spreadsheet living in the cloud collects and charts the responses for you to see. For example, you can gather all your friends’ vital personal specs—phone numbers, home addresses, even favorite foods—with one simple questionnaire.

Get Offline (with Gears and Firefox)

Gears helps keep your cloud business in sync.

One of the biggest concerns about keeping data in the cloud -- instead of on your hard drive -- centers on the question of offline access. So if you’re wondering how you’ll work on your Google Docs files when you’re on a non–Wi-Fi-equipped flight, Google Gears has you covered. This free Firefox add-on gives you access to your files offline, and it syncs changes when you connect to the internet again. You can download Google Gears at gears.google.com.

Save Time with Killer Templates

This personal financial budget shows you exactly where all your money’s going. Oh well, at least the spreadsheet is free!

Whether you need an invoice, résumé, or calendar, you don’t have to design it from scratch -- just grab a template -- thousands can be found in the drop-down menu of the Create New button. Various spreadsheets, text documents, presentations, and forms are broken down by categories like “Résumés and Cover Letters,” “Personal Finance,” and “Legal.” (Hint: Choose your language from the “Narrow by language” drop-down to hide foreign-language templates.) Google Docs will keep track of which templates you’ve used in the past for easy re-use. The many terrific spreadsheet templates -- pre-formatted with built-in formulas and charts -- are reason enough to check out Docs.

Fix Snafus with Revision History

Figure out who Cut when they meant to Copy using Revision History.

When multiple people are working on a document, things can change fast. To see who changed what and to compare revisions, open a document and from the File menu choose “See revision history.” You’ll get a list of all the changes a document has undergone. You can also select two revisions and compare them to see exactly what changed between them. Just be aware that revision history is available to anyone you share a document with -- even your boss. So if you don’t want collaborators or viewers to see the history, make a copy of the document, which wipes away the bread-crumb trail of its changes.

Ditch the Thumb Drive

Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files can all be converted and stored for free, but you might lose some features and formatting. You can even drag and drop.

Google Docs isn’t just for office files anymore -- you can now upload, store, and share any kind of file, including music, video, photos, and zip files. A simple click of the Upload button will save files to your home in the cloud. File sizes can be as high as 250MB, and you get up to 1GB of space for storing non–Google Docs files. Once your treasures are uploaded, select a file and click the Share link to give others access to it. You can also share entire folders, creating a Dropbox-like meeting space for your friends and colleagues to work on files together.

Google Docs to Go

When you need your Google Docs in a more portable form, turn to one of these three options before you hit the road.

docs.google.com

Free

This is the best way to access your Google Documents on your iPad.

Google revamped its web interface for mobile users, and it’s one of the best ways to access your Google Docs on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. You can edit your documents with a single tap -- or even print straight from your device with Google’s cloud print services. You can also switch from desktop to web app mode to access more options, like the ability to change fonts and alignment, or download to your document as a PDF and open it in iBooks.

Documents To Go Premium

$14.99

Worth the price…

Documents To Go supports Google Docs, Box.net, Dropbox, MobileMe, and SugarSync accounts so that you can access all your cloud-based documents from one application. It even supports Microsoft Office file formats, including the newer .docx format. A desktop application also provides two-way sync over Wi-Fi, and you can edit your Google Docs natively from within the app itself. Pure power.

Quickoffice

$14.99

Create PowerPoint presentations and save them right to your Google Docs.

If you need a powerful iPad app that takes control of your Google Docs and wrangles your Microsoft Office documents, too, Quickoffice offers a fine alternative. It pairs extensive text formatting with an incredibly easy-to-navigate interface that offers drag-and-drop capabilities. It even lets you create simple PowerPoint presentations.