Just last week, Google announced that video is now a fully supported format in Google Docs. This means that you can now upload, share, and watch video uploaded to the cloud service right from your favorite web browser. We'll show you how to use this feature to share your videos with family, friends, and co-workers without any hassle.

Supported Video Formats

Supported video formats include the following:

-  WebM files (Vp8 video codec and Vorbis Audio codec)
- .MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files - (h264 and mpeg4 video codecs and AAC audio codec)
- .AVI (many cameras use this format - typically the video codec is MJPEG and audio is PCM)
- .MPEGPS (MPEG2 video codec and MP2 audio)
- .WMV
- .FLV (Adobe - FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)

The video files can be up to 1GB in size, and must be encoded as one of the above formats to have it play in the browser. And, unfortunately, you will need to have Flash installed for the video player to work.

Uploading a Video

You upload a video just as you would any other file. After logging into Google Docs, click on the “Upload...” button and select your files by clicking the “Select Files” button. After you have finished adding the video files you wish to upload, select the “Start Upload” button.

The time it takes to upload your videos will vary depending on the file size and your bandwidth. After your video has finished uploading, click the "Back to Google Docs" link underneath the Google Docs logo to return to the file manager.

Video Playback with Google Docs

From the file manager in Google Docs, click on the video that you just uploaded. You will be taken to a new page that has a video window (similar to what you might find on YouTube), and a video detail box to the right of the page that displays details about the video that you have open, including the owner, upload date, and any people who you may have shared the video with.

Depending on the size of the video you uploaded, you may need to wait a few minutes (or longer) while Google Docs processes your video for playback in Google Docs. If you open the video too soon, you will see a message at the top of the screen that says, “This video is not yet processed.”

After the video has finished processing, you will be able to play the video in the video viewer. You have the same video controls as you would on YouTube, including play/pause, volume, quality, and full screen.

Share Videos with Google Docs

Besides uploading and viewing your videos from within Google Docs, you can also share your videos with family, friends and co-workers. To do this, click the Share menu (located underneath the video title), then click “Sharing Settings...”.

Once there, type in the email address of the people you’d like to share the video with and set their permission (either “Can edit” or “Can view”).

When you click the Share button, an email will be sent to the people you shared the video with, who will then be able to click the link in the email to go directly to the shared video and view it. If you enabled them to edit the video document, they will be able to share the video with other people; otherwise, they only have permission to view the video.

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