Google launches third party add-on support for Docs, Spread Sheets
12 Mar 2014
Google is offering an add-on store for Google Docs, spreadsheet and word processing apps, on the lines of the Chrome Web Store.
For starters, users would have around 50 add-ons, with more said to be on the way in the future. According to Google, the idea was to expand the feature set of the Doc apps, so that it made sense to open up the access point for other developers.
Commentators say, what was clear was that Google wanted professionals and enterprises to start relying on Google Docs for work. For instance, using the Avery Label Merge add-on, businesses could use spreadsheet address data and merge these with Avery's address labels, which made it easier to format to user specification.
Other apps currently featured include Mailchimp, which allows users to send tailored emails directly from Google Docs, Letter Feed to track changes in collaborative documents, PandaDoc for e-signing a piece of work and, of course, Uberconference, which continued to churn out add-ons for various Google services.
Users can now make conference calls directly through Google Docs.
They can also find familiar apps from the Chrome Web Store such as Gliffy Diagrams and as also a Thesaurus app for students.
There is also the Consistency Checker to make sure the document being used had the right spellings and formatting throughout, and the ProWritingAid app to make sure there were no plagiarised portions.
Cnet rerported that the idea was to let users access tools that other engineers had created, instead of relying on what Google had built.
The add-ons can be installed by simply opening up a Google doc or spreadsheet, clicking on the "Add-on" menu, and then hitting the "Get add-on" to browse through the list and install.
The add-ons aloso include Bibliography Creator, that installs a side menu to a document whereby users could plug in information to properly populate a citation. Also the Mailchimp integration lets one pull info from a spreadsheet to a doc to create customised email messages.
According to Google more add-ons are on their way.
