Last week I explained how you could edit Google Docs on a mobile device, and now I want to share another find related to Google’s cloud-based alternative to Microsoft Office. It’s a Microsoft Word plugin called OffiSync, which lets PC users (sorry, Mac folks!) seamlessly sync documents between Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
You’ll need Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, along with Office 2003, 2007, or 2010 for OffiSync to work. Once the plugin is installed, you’ll find the controls for OffiSync under a new menu item by the same name. The general idea is this: you’re working on a Word document at home, and when you save the file through the OffiSync menu, a copy will appear on your Google Docs account, which you can edit from any computer with a browser (and now, from many mobile devices). And any changes you make on Google Docs will show up when you reopen that document in Microsoft Word.
You can also use OffiSync to open previously saved Google Docs within Microsoft Word—and this includes Google Docs that others have shared with you. You can manage sharing and permission rights directly within the OffiSync dashboard in Word.
OffiSync comes in two flavors: a standard, free version, and a premium version that lets you do everything I describe above plus real-time collaborative writing. In other words, you can edit a shared document in Microsoft Word, while your co-author is editing in Google Docs, and the changes that either of you make will appear instantly for the other author. The premium version costs either $12/year or a $30 one-time charge. A small price to pay, arguably, for turning Microsoft Word into an Etherpad.
[Gears image courtesy of Flickr user BinaryApe / Creative Commons License]
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5 Responses to Using OffiSync to Sync Microsoft Word with Google Docs
jimptas@microsoft.com - December 6, 2010 at 4:57 pm
This is a rather odd suggestion especially when there is a better alternative. So to be clear…OffiSync does not work on Macs, in order to collaborate you have to buy the premium version and although it works “seamlessly between Microsoft Word and Google Docs,” it is not really Office in the cloud and therefore some fidelity will be lost.
On the other hand, the Microsoft Office Web Apps and SkyDrive are free (even to collaborate with multiple people), it works for Macs and on multiple browsers, since it is Office on both ends (in the cloud and on the client), there is no loss of fidelity and it is not only Word but also PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. Of course, you can access them from any Internet connection as well as your mobile phone.
george_h_williams - December 6, 2010 at 5:10 pm
I can think of at least one advantage of this plugin: If one user has Word (and prefers it to GoogleDocs) plus the paid version of OffiSync while a collaborator only has access to GoogleDocs, they’ll still be able to engage in real-time collaboration. I don’t think that’s possible with Microsoft’s Web Apps, where–as I understand it–all collaborators must own Word. And while this scenario might sound unlikely, among my students in any given class there is almost always a significant percentage who don’t own (or perhaps prefer not to use) Word.
Basically, it seems, OffiSync allows for interoperability between platforms, something that’s often desirable.
pnaegele - December 6, 2010 at 7:41 pm
I think Google CloudConnect might be a better option.
mark_sample - December 7, 2010 at 7:11 am
@jimptas – I think you misrepresent what I say about OffiSync. You can in fact collaborate with OffiSync, by which I mean share documents, track changes between the documents, and see updates from your collaborators. To see those updates real-time is what the Premium version gives you.
I’m reserving judgment on using Windows MS Office Web Apps until I can explore them more fully. But they do sound like they warrant a ProfHacker post.
@pnaegele – The problem with Google CloudConnect at the moment is (1) it’s essentially a closed beta and (2) you need to be a Google Business Apps customer, rather than a regular Google account holder.
mark_sample - December 7, 2010 at 12:28 pm
@jimptas – After experimenting with Microsoft Office Web Apps on SkyDrive, I have to say that you gloss over some important caveats regarding the cloud-based version of MS Office. First, while the apps are indeed free, they only sync with the desktop version of Office 2010. Many of the professors and students in our readership will only be using an older version of Office, likely Office 2007, but also Microsoft Office 2003. For those people, the cloud-based MS web apps might as well be a different application entirely. OffiSync, meanwhile, works with Office 2003, 2007, and 2010.
Secondly, my experience with the MS Office web apps leaves me skeptical that they can indeed be accessed, let alone edited, from a mobile device (unlike Google Docs). While I was able to access a test document on my Android device, I couldn’t edit it. And I had no luck at all even accessing a test document from my iPad’s browser.
I’m not saying that people won’t find the Microsoft Office Web Apps useful, but I do think it’s important to present the facts about them accurately.