Google Docs Allows Uploading and Sharing of All File Types

Many of you are probably already aware of the power of Google Docs, which provides the ability to create, share and collaborate on text files, spreadsheets, and presentations, all online.  Collaboration is probably Google Docs strongest suit, but up to now users were limited to storing and sharing files in Google Docs native formats or as PDFs, which were not editable.

Today Google announced that they will soon be expanding the Google Docs service to allow uploads of all file types, subject to a 250MB/file size limit.  Storage space for non-Google Doc files will be 1GB, making it comparable to the average USB thumb drive that many of us would otherwise carry.

The service expansion will be rolled out over the next few weeks.  If you are a Google Docs user, you can expect to see a notification within your Docs page some time in the near future.

One of the great features of this service expansion is that users will now be able to share many different types of files (Word, Excel, graphics, ...) with others, either as individual files or through shared folders.  While this isn't as powerful as the real-time collaboration of Google Docs themselves, it still has some interesting possibilities for teachers, administrators, and students.