Google Docs goes mobile

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 18 Oct 2007 at 11:39

Google has released a mobile version of its Google Docs service, and added a few new features to the standard web tool.

Google is currently offering mobile versions of its presentation, word processing and spreadsheet tools, though at the moment they remain read only. The company also admits that not all documents are easily viewable on mobile device screens.

"You might have to squint a little, and it's only for English-language users for now, but the information is all there, in your pocket, wherever you are," says Zach Lloyd, Google software engineer, in a blog post.

"It was a real challenge coming up with useful views, especially of spreadsheets, that would work on the inherently limited screen size and often finicky mobile browsers - but go ahead and give it a shot."

Google has also updated the standard browser version of the software with several small, but helpful features. Cells in spreadsheets can now be formatted based on rules, so negative values could have a red background, and positive values a white background, for example.

Users can also hide and unhide rows and columns temporarily, which allows for easier navigation of large spreadsheets, features which have been present in Microsoft Office and other business software rivals for some time but are increasingly finding their way into free alternatives.