Google-Apps posts

Filed under: Business, Utilities, Office, Google, IBM

Google makes it easier to ditch Lotus Notes

by Jay Hathaway Jul 15th 2009

If your company uses Lotus Notes, and has been considering switching to Google Apps, you're in luck. Google has just launched an easy migration tool that allows you to bring all of your Notes data over to the equivalent Google Apps. In a blog post, Google explains that the migration tool is simple and complete enough for enterprise use, and that a 30,000-person company has already used it to switch over.

The tool is a Lotus Notes database, which means IT pros who are used to notes shouldn't have much trouble with it. It migrates everything from Notes to Google Apps: email, calendars, and contacts. This is welcome news to folks who are still stuck with the quirky interface and sometimes-frustrating incompatibility of Notes, but will it get companies to switch? The success of Google Apps in the enterprise market might not be about how easy it is to switch, but about how comfortable businesses are with moving their data to the cloud.

Tags: enterprise, google, google-apps, ibm, lotus-notes, migration, notes

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Google

Gmail (et al) finally exits beta! Well, at some point today...

by Lee Mathews Jul 7th 2009

In perhaps the most shocking news to ever rock the Internet, Google has announced this morning that the beta tag is finally off Gmail (!!!) along with Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk. The change applies to both consumer and enterprise versions.

As the Orly owl rightly noticed in my inbox, the tag hasn't disappeared quite yet. The change will likely occur as it has with many other Google app rollouts, taking place at exactly some time today, and may happen at various different some times depending on where you live.

The official blog post states Google has "come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase." Also, it's been FIVE YEARS. I'm pretty sure human children exit "beta" faster than that.

But hey, if you've grown kind of attached to the beta tag over the years Google has added a setting you can toggle to turn it back on. Awwe, isn't that sweet?

Tags: beta, gmail, google-apps

Filed under: Business, E-mail, Google, Microsoft

Google Apps now syncs with Microsoft Outlook

by Jay Hathaway Jun 10th 2009

If you're running Google Apps (Premier or Education editions), but you still use Outlook for email, you're in luck. Google Apps now syncs with Microsoft Outlook, so you can keep right on using it, and get your gmail messages, too. It's not just email that syncs: calendars and contacts do, too.

As you'd expect, syncing works both ways: you can bring your Google Apps data into Outlook, and send your Outlook or Exchange data to Google, and it's apparently only a 2-click process. Google Calendar in Google Apps also now supports the free/busy functionality of Outlook's calendar, so you can schedule meetings with all of your contacts, regardless of whether they're on Google or Outlook. Does this mean more business users are going to be switching to Google Apps?

Tags: enterprise, google, google-apps, microsoft, outlook

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Windows, Office, Freeware, Windows x64

GBridge gets better with Google Apps support in v2.0

by Lee Mathews May 13th 2009

If you haven't heard of GBridge before, here's what it does in a nutshell. Like Hamachi, it creates a zero-config virtual private network between computers. GBridge, as you might guess from the name, uses your Google credentials rather than requiring a separate login.

It's an excellent way to back up, sync, communicate with, and remote control machines you administer regardless of where they're located. One key feature missing in earlier versions was support for Google Apps for domains. The GBridge dev team has responded to numerous requests from forum users, and they're fully supported in version 2.

Sign in using your custom domain details, and GBridge will automatically display all other accounts in your domain. If you use Google Apps in your workplace, the change is a big plus and it makes GBridge a much more compelling app for business use.

To try it out, download the latest version. If you're an IT administrator and use Google Apps at work, GBridge is well worth the install.

Tags: gbridge, gmail, google-apps, hamachi, vpn

Filed under: Design, E-mail, Google, Web

Gmail themes finally come to Google Apps

by Jay Hathaway Apr 1st 2009

When Google introduced themes for Gmail, users who run Google Apps on their own domains figured it would just be a matter of time before they got themes too. After a few months of anticipation -- and frequent postings on message boards, Google Groups, and even Yahoo! Answers -- their wish is finally granted. Themes for Google Apps have now started rolling out.

Not all users have themes yet -- my own domain included -- but here's where to look to enable them. In Gmail for Google Apps, open settings and look for the themes tab on the far right. If you have themes, it should be there. If you don't yet, be patient. After all, we've waited quite a while, and a few more days aren't going to matter that much. Taking a tip from Lifehacker, here's a direct link to the themes page, to make it easier for you to check: https://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com/#settings/themes Just replace "yourdomain.com" with your actual domain name.

Thanks to all the readers who tipped us off about this.

Tags: gmail, google, google-apps, themes

Filed under: Internet, Office, Freeware, Browsers, Web

OpenItOnline for Firefox opens Office, image files with web apps

by Lee Mathews Dec 16th 2008

By now, many of you are probably using web-based office suites like Zoho, Google Docs, or Thinkfree as your primary office applications. If you do and you're a Firefox user as well, you'll probably love the OpenIT Online addon.

I mentioned it previously in my list of 14 extremely useful addons, but it's been updated quite a bit since then.

When you install the plugin, the configuration wizard will help you create file associations. You're not limited to one suite, either. If you'd rather open spreadsheets with Zoho and documents with Thinkfree, OpenIT can handle that. Zoho viewer is also supported and is a nice, fast way to view files you don't need to edit.

OpenIT adds two context menu entries (which you can see in the screenshot above): one to open a file with your default viewer/editor and a submenu that provides access to all available options.

This is a great extension to add to your portable Firefox install. It's an excellent way to make sure you can open a wide array of documents on any computer.

Tags: addons, extensions, firefox, google-apps, google-docs, office, thinkfree, zoho

Filed under: Windows, Freeware, Browsers

FoxGLove is Firefox for Google addicts

by Brad Linder Nov 24th 2008

You would think that Google Chrome would be the perfect web browser for people who spend most of their day using Google applications like Gmail, Google Calendar, and GTalk. But Chrome lacks some of the features that draw many people to browsers like Firefox. So one Firefox user who uses a ton of Google services decided to mash the two together and create an alternate browser he calls FoxGLove, which you can download from Lifehacker.

The browser is based on the portable version of Firefox, which means you can run it without messing up your normal Firefox settings. You can also run it from a USB flash drive. At first glance, the browser looks a lot like Google Chrome, thanks to the ChromiFox theme. The home pages have been set to Gmail, Google Reader, and Google Docs, and there are bookmarklets that will open GTalk, Google Calendar, or Google Notes in your sidebar. But that's just the start.

FoxGLove also comes preloaded with a ton of Firefox addons that provide enhancements for Google applications. It also replaces the Firefox search bar with the Google Toolbar. And the developer even figured out how to make Google Gears portable so you can have online/offline access to web pages and applications that support Gears.

Tags: firefox, foxglove, google, google-apps, lifehacker

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Google, Freeware, web 2.0

GMDesk: Desktop client for Gmail, Google Docs, Google Reader, etc

by Brad Linder Aug 29th 2008

Some of the applications I use most often aren't desktop apps, they're web apps that I access through a web browser. Gmail, Google Reader, and Google Docs, for example. GMDesk is an Adobe AIR-based client for these and other Google-based services. It's based on the idea that you shouldn't have to fire up a web browser just to check your email.

The concept is sound, but the execution leaves a bit to be desired. We've seen other attempts at taking web apps away from the browser. Bubbles and Mozilla Prism are two examples. But as with those programs, GMDesk just doesn't seem to offer much functionality that you couldn't get from a browser. What's more, while Prism and Bubbles offer stripped-down browser-style windows that tend to be a little lighter on your computer's RAM usage than Firefox or Internet Explorer, GMDesk eats 100+ MB of RAM as soon as you launch it.

There are two other factors that make GMDesk a bit limiting. First, the fonts in Gmail are kind of small and awkward to read. And second, you can only have one window open at a time. So if you like to keep both Gmail and Google Reader open throughout the day, you're going to want to fire up a web browser.

That isn't to say that GMDesk is useless. If the developer can reduce the RAM usage, and/or allow you to open multiple windows or multiple tabs, it would be nice for Gmail addicts to keep a window open all day while resisting the temptation to do some web surfing when they should be working.

[via CyberNet]

Tags: bubbles, gmail, gmdesk, google-apps, google-docs, google-reader, mozilla-prism, prism

Filed under: Business, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, E-mail, Office, Productivity, Web services, Google, Commercial, Freeware, How-Tos

How to get "new" Gmail in your Google Apps account

by Jason Clarke Mar 6th 2008

While many people using Google Apps are already happy users of the "new" version of Gmail (apparently Google doesn't want to call it Gmail 2.0), there are still many users of Google Apps that are stuck on the older version. If you're frustrated at seeing the cool new things you can do in the new Gmail and you're still stuck on the old version, there may be something that you can do.

If you are the administrator for your Google Apps account, or can talk to that person, there is an option under Domain Settings (General tab) in the Control Panel section called "Turn on new application features to my domain before they are rolled out to all Google Apps customers." A week after we checked that box on our Google Apps account, Gmail magically transformed to the new version. Good luck!

Tags: Gmail, Gmail-2.0, Google, Google-Apps, new-Gmail

Filed under: Internet, Office, Productivity, Web services, Google, web 2.0

Google Apps Team Edition makes collaboration easier

by Brad Linder Feb 7th 2008

While Google's online office suite might not have all the features of Microsoft Office, one area where Google's word processor, spreadsheet, calendar, and IM client excel is in letting you easily collaborate with other users. Want to share a Word document or spreadsheet with other users, just click the share button.

But that only works if the people you want to share with have already registered for Google Apps accounts. Now Google has launched a new version of Google Apps that makes it a whole lot easier to get a group of people registered quickly.

Google Apps Team Edition packs all the basic features like Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Talk. But when you sign up for Team Edition, Google Apps will automatically recognize your company or school email address and locate other users affiliated with the same organization and add them to your contact list. Now when you want to share a document or send a message, you should have a list of all the other people who have registered for Google Apps with email addresses from the same domain.

For example, if your email address is address@domain.com, you can share documents with any other uses who has a @domain.com address. Alternately, you can choose to share your documents with everyone that has a @domain.com address. While Google Apps Team Edition doesn't offer any features that you can't get with a basic account, the move should help Google grow its user base by making signup much easier.

~~That said, we've tried to sign up several times today, and we keep getting a server error message from Google. Hopefully that problem will be fixed soon.~~

Tags: collaboration, docs, google-apps, google-apps-team-edition, google-talk, spreadsheet

Filed under: Internet, Google

iGoogleBar Firefox add-on supercharges Google apps bar

by Brad Linder Feb 6th 2008

When you're using a Google service like Gmail or Google Docs & Spreadsheets, you'll notice a little menu bar at the top of your screen with links to other Google services. This is kind of handy if you can't remember the URLs for each service, but otherwise it's not particularly useful.

iGoogleBar is a Firefox add-on that adds a little oomph to that menu bar by showing previews for each Google app. For example, if you're using Google Docs & Spreadsheets, you can tell at a glance how many unread items you have in Google Reader or Gmail. Or you can click on the icons for a preview of your latest messages.

The toolbar only shows up when you're visiting a Google page, and it doesn't work with all Google services. For example, while you can preview your Google Notebook contents, when you're actually on the Google Notebook page the toolbar doesn't show up. It also takes a moment for the toolbar to load, so you might not notice it at first.

[via Googlified

Tags: firefox, firefox-add-on, google-apps, igooglebar, toolbar

Filed under: Business, Internet, Productivity, Google

Google has big plans for JotSpot in 2008

by Brad Linder Dec 3rd 2007

It's been about a year since Google acquired Wiki/page creation/collaboration/calendar/etc site JotSpot. And for most of that year, there's been a message at JotSpot.com saying that you can't sign up for a new account because Google is still integrating the service.

Blogger Andrew Miller reports that Google may be preparing to launch some new JotSpot-based services starting next year. Miller attended a presentation with Google's Scott Johnston, where Johnston outlined a bit of Google's strategy for integrating JotSpot tools with Google Apps.

First up, Google will launch Google Sites, an expanded version of Google Page Creator. The service will let businesses set up intranets, manage packages, and build custom sites.

Google is also beefing up its online office suite and has plans to let users edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations while offline using Google Gears. There will also be offline support for Google Calendar and Gmail. Google also plans to integrate GrandCentral, another recent purchase, with Google Apps.

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: Google-Apps, Google-Gears, GrandCentral, JotSpot

Filed under: Business, Design, News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Office, Productivity, Web services, Google, Microsoft, Freeware, Social Software, Beta

Google Presentation - Google's PowerPoint app goes live

by Jason Clarke Sep 18th 2007

Google's long-rumored and eagerly anticipated PowerPoint clone has finally shipped. Although we've only had a chance to have a first look, here are some impressions:

What it does have or do

Importing PowerPoint files
Exporting HTML file
15 built-in themes
Text formatting
Basic image manipulation functionality (adding, resizing)
Versioning
Collaboration
Online presentation sharing

What it doesn't have or do

Animations of any kind
Advanced image manipulation
Advanced text formatting
Sound
Video
Exporting PowerPoint files

Google has done a very good job of making this new Presentation application (based on code from Zenter) fit in with Docs and Spreadsheets. It looks right at home, and the functionality is about what you would expect from another Google App. File versioning and collaboration functions work exactly like they do for Docs and Spreadsheets, which is to say just fine.

Tags: Docs-and-Spreadsheets, Google-Apps, Google-Docs, Google-PowerPoint, Google-Presentation, PowerPoint, Presentation

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