Google Cloud Connect syncs Google Docs with Microsoft Office

Many people have their own unique preferences when it comes to using software, and historically that has presented various challenges such as compatibility issues across different platforms, and formatting inconsistencies when opening documents in different versions of word processing applications, among other challenges.

Google today announced the availability of a new product, Google Cloud Connect, in beta, that will make it easier for people using Google Docs and Microsoft Office to collaborate on working with documents.

The application seamlessly works between Google Docs and Microsoft Office to synchronize changes to documents made by different editors in close to real-time.

You simply install the free Google Cloud Connect application, which is a simple add-on for Office, and the plug-in really does the rest.

It works by creating a custom section for your document in your Google Docs account, allowing a team of people to seamlessly contribute to the same document, with the changes appearing almost immediately.

The application also makes backups of your documents in order to revert to previous versions of a document prior to changes made by a colleague.

Changes to documents do not appear just as a user types in a document, rather, changes are aggregated (with exception to auto recovery save) until the user manually saves the document, meaning there is some possibility of redundancies with users contribute simultaneously.

Change is not easy, and Google knows that, but by providing this service, coupled with the more seamless cloud user experience, the company is hoping to get long time Office users to at least start using Google Docs.

Google Cloud Connect uses the same technology, DocVerse, that the company acquired in 2010 at a reported cost of about $20-million.

Google has not made the terms of the deal public.

DocVerse was founded by two former Microsoft employees, including Shan Sinha, who realized the gap and the value for businesses.

The company says it would make the feature available free of charge to the general public soon, but as part of a the beta testing program, users interested in using the feature before a wider release, could request the feature by filling out this form.