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Offisync User Guide
Introduction
OffiSync is a Microsoft Office extension that works with Office 2003, 2007 and 2010. It integrates with Google Apps and Google Docs 'Software as a Service' suite of applications, making it easy to install and helping you gain critical collaboration capabilities quickly and cost-effectively. By adding the OffiSync Productivity Toolbar to your Office applications, you can work in a familiar environment while collaborating effectively.
OffiSync uses the power of Google Docs for document collaboration and Google Sites for team and project-based sharing and collaboration. OffiSync enables capabilities including:
- Save Microsoft Office files in Google Docs or Google Sites in the same way that you would save them locally on your computer
- Access Microsoft Office documents online, from any computer
- Eliminate multiple document versions with automatic change updates
- Edit documents in real time
- Add collaborators by entering their email addresses or chose directly from your contacts in Google Apps
- Control permissions for collaborators to view or edit documents
- Create a collaboration workspace with multiple documents for one project
- Use Google Search in Microsoft Office to browse and insert content and images right into documents
OffiSync brings together the productivity of Microsoft Office and the innovation of Google's cloud collaboration platform. The result is one seamless experience that lets users move right from document creation to real-time collaboration and sharing, removing the inefficiencies of current unstructured email-based processes.
If you are a current Google Apps user, OffiSync enables you to maximize the built-in collaboration and sharing capabilities. If you are currently re- lying on email and attachments for collaboration, Google Apps in combination with OffiSync can help you further leverage your Microsoft Office investments by extending productivity into collaboration.
User Interface
Once installed, OffiSync adds a new toolbar to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, letting users instantly save, retrieve and collaborate on their files through Google Apps.
Office 2007
Office 2003
Account Settings
First time you run OffiSync you will be requested to log in with you Google Apps or Gmail account (you can add both). Once done you will automatically get access to your Google Docs and Google Sites files online while using the toolbar features.
To modify the Account settings simply click on the Account button on the toolbar.
Open
Once you are signed in, you can use the "Open" function from the toolbar to access your Google Docs or your Google Sites folders and files (refer to the Google Sites section to learn how to add new sites). This function shows the hierarchical structure of your folder with all the documents saved under each Google account you added in the ACCOUNTS setting.
Depending on the Microsoft product you are currently using, the file explorer will only show documents of the appropriated type i.e. in Excel the user will only see Spreadsheets. Double click on the document leads to opening the document locally in MS Office.
TIP: you can right click on a folder to delete or create a new subfolder. You can drag and drop folders and files between folders to change their location.
File Search
You can use the search function in the OPEN or SAVE AS file explorer to search for files stored on Google Docs (Google Sites is currently not supported)
To enable the search bar on the top right section of the window, simply select any Google Docs folder and type your search.
Results from your entire Google Docs library will appear based on file name and actual text in the files.
Save
To save a file in Google Docs or Google Sites simply click on the SAVE AS function on the OffiSync toolbar (or SAVE if it is the first time you are saving the file) to open the file explorer. Select the folder where you want to save the file in Google Docs or Google Sites, Give the document a name and save.
Updating an Existing File
Once you saved a file in Google Docs or Google Sites, you can update the file by simply clicking the OffiSync SAVE button or the "Native" Office SAVE button.
If you are collaborating with others on the document and a conflict of versions happens, OffiSync will provide you a warning with options on how to handle the conflict.
Adding a Google Site
Before you can start working with Google Sites from OffiSync you must first manually add the sites you want to work with.
From the SAVE AS control or the OPEN control expand your account, right click on the "Google Sites" menu and select "Connect Site".
Open the desired Google Site in the browser and copy the URL, then paste the URL into the new window that popped up when you chose "Connect Site".
Collaborate
OffiSync enables you to give other users permissions to view or edit the files you save online. When you save a file in Google Docs you can add the emails of the people you want to collaborate with in 2 ways:
While you save the file, from the “file save” menu, expand the “Collaborate” button at the bottom of the window and add emails of the people you wish to collaborate with. You can also assign permissions right from within that window.
Alternatively, if you want to add or modify existing collaborators after you have saved your file on Google Docs you can use the “Collaborate” button from the toolbar to add and modify those settings.
NOTE: When saving a file in Google Sites you cannot modify the collaborators from Office and have to do so directly from the Google Sites settings
Once you save a file on Google Docs and assign collaborators you can use the EMAIL function to communicate with your collaborators. Every email sent from OffiSync will include a link to the latest version of the file saved on Google Docs, simplifying the collaboration process
Copy Link / Open Online
For easy access of a file saved on Google Docs you can use the OPEN ONLINE button to launch the browser directly into the current file you are working on. Alternatively you can use the COPY LINK to copy the link to the online version of your document, making it easy to share with others in email.
Search
OffiSync integrates with Google Search and Google Image search to help you add content easily to your files.
IMAGE SEARCH: To add an image from the web, simply add a search term, click on the IMAGES SEARCH button and browse the thumbnail image gallery. Use the advanced filtering options on the top of the window to optimize your search result.
To insert an image to a document simply click INSERT or alternatively click COPY to add the image to your clipboard.
WEB SEARCH: To search the web simply add a search term and click WEB SEARCH. A Google search result page will show you all the results in a new window. You can freely browse the web from the new pop up window.
To add text from a web site you are browsing, simply select it with your mouse and click INSERT on the top right of the new browser control.
Alternatively you can create a WEB CLIP by clicking on the CLIP button on the browser control, using the SELECTION TOOL you can select any section on a page (you can resize the selection tool) and click insert to import that section as an image in your document
