If you are considering a cheap way to store documents online, considering using Google Docs, which now allows you upload documents to store online. Prior to the change, only documents created with Google Docs could be stored online.
For solo and small firm practitioners, the service is a great way to allow multiple users to access files. Unlike Dropbox, Google Docs only stores the documents in the cloud. If your internet service is down, or you do not have internet access, you cannot access files stored with Google Docs. That can be a potentially crippling problem to a law firm.
That said, uploading to Google Docs is easier than using a thumb drive and arguably more secure (depending on your view of cloud computing security). Rather than emailing documents back and forth, you can store collaborative documents online to make working together a breeze. Dropbox is superior, but if you are considering storing documents online, try Google Docs for a free foray into cloud storage.
(photo: akakumo)
Randall Ryder is a Minnesota consumer rights attorney who sues abusive debt collectors and is a publisher of Elder Parent Help. Follow him on Twitter @randallryder.
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No offense, but this post has little value and gets most of the material facts wrong.
Previously you could upload your documents on your computer to Google Docs. The new update allows you to upload /any/ file that is less than 250 MB. This update has not yet been rolled out to all of the users.
Further, you /can/ access your Google Docs if your internet goes down or you are otherwise offline by using Google Gears, which is available for most browsers.
No offense, but starting that comment with “no offense” was offensive.
So you simply repeat the “offense”… Wonderful…
Words shouldn’t make anyone upset, and logic and reason should prevail.
No, I made a joke.
Thanks for the clarification and heads up on Google Gears, that looks like a great way to solve the problem. Although, no offense, Google Docs only stores files in the cloud. Google Gears pulls them off and stores them on your hard drive.
My workplace (a hospital) has not upgraded to the newest IE browser. So all those work docs I have in Google drive are not accessible where I need them. Their browser supports their lousy software, so they’ll not be doing anything about it. So the safety protocol I wrote last year—-and still isn’t being uniformly followed—will have to remain in cyberspace for now since I can’t access it and distribute it to the newbies around here. (Florida Hospital of Tampa)