Google Docs is a word processor included as part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service. This service also includes Google Sheets and Google Slides, a spreadsheet and presentation program respectively. Google Docs is available as a web application, mobile app for Android, iOS, Windows, BlackBerry, and as a desktop application on Google's ChromeOS. The app is compatible with Microsoft Office file formats.[1] The application allows users to create, view and edit files online while collaborating with other users in real-time. Edits are tracked by user with a revision history presenting changes. An editor's position is highlighted with an editor-specific color and cursor. A permissions system regulates what users can do. Updates have introduced features using machine learning, including "Explore", offering search results based on the contents of a document, and "Action items", allowing users to assign tasks to other users.
Google Docs originated from two separate products: Writely and XL2Web. Writely was a web-based word processor created by the software company Upstartle and launched in August 2005.[2] It began as an experiment by programmers Sam Schillace, Steve Newman and Claudia Carpenter, trying out the then-new Ajax technology and the "content editable" function in browsers.[3] On March 9, 2006, Google announced that it had acquired Upstartle.[4][5] In July 2009, Google dropped the beta testing status from Google Docs.[6] In March 2010, Google acquired DocVerse, an online document collaboration company. DocVerse allowed multiple user online collaboration on Microsoft Word documents, as well as other Microsoft Office formats, such as Excel and PowerPoint.[7] Improvements based on DocVerse were announced and deployed in April 2010.[8] In June 2012, Google acquired Quickoffice, a freeware proprietary productivity suite for mobile devices.[9] In October 2012, Google renamed the Drive products and Google Documents became Google Docs. At the same time, Chrome apps were released, which provided shortcuts to the service on Chrome's new tab page.[10] In February 2019, Google announced grammar suggestions in Docs, expanding their spell check by using machine translation techniques to help catch tricky grammatical errors.[11]
Google Docs is available as a web application supported on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and [Apple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.) Safari web browsers.[12] Users can access all Docs, as well as other files, collectively through the Google Drive website. In June 2014, Google rolled out a dedicated website homepage for Docs, that contains only files created with the service.[13] In 2014, Google launched a dedicated mobile app for Docs on the Android and iOS mobile operating systems.[14][15][16] The mobile website for Docs was updated in 2015 with a "simpler, more uniform" interface, and while users can read files through the mobile websites, users trying to edit will be redirected towards the dedicated mobile app, thus preventing editing on the mobile web.[17]
Google Docs and the other apps in the Google Drive suite serve as a collaborative tool for cooperative editing of documents in real-time. Documents can be shared, opened, and edited by multiple users simultaneously and users are able to see character-by-character changes as other collaborators make edits. Changes are automatically saved to Google's servers, and a revision history is automatically kept so past edits may be viewed and reverted to.[19] An editor's current position is represented with an editor-specific color/cursor, so if another editor happens to be viewing that part of the document they can see edits as they occur. A sidebar chat functionality allows collaborators to discuss edits. The revision history allows users to see the additions made to a document, with each author distinguished by color. Only adjacent revisions can be compared, and users cannot control how frequently revisions are saved. Files can be exported to a user's local computer in a variety of formats (ODF, HTML, PDF, RTF, Text, Office Open XML). Files can be tagged and archived for organizational purposes.
In March 2014. Google introduced add-ons;. new tools from third-party developers that add more features for Google Docs.[20] In order to view and edit documents offline on a computer, users need to be using the Google Chrome web browser. A Chrome extension Google Docs Offline', allows users to enable offline support for Docs files on the Google Drive website.[21] The Android and iOS apps natively support offline editing.[22][23]4
In June 2014, Google introduced "Suggested edits" in Google Docs; as part of the "commenting access" permission, participants can come up with suggestions for edits that the author can accept or reject, in contrast to full editing ability.[15] In October 2016, Google announced "Action items" for Docs. If a user writes phrases such as "Ryan to follow up on the keynote script", the service will intelligently assign that action to "Ryan". Google states this will make it easier for other collaborators to see which person is responsible for what task. When a user visits Google Drive, Docs, Sheets or Slides, any files with tasks assigned to them will be highlighted with a badge.[24]
A basic research tool was introduced in 2012. later expanded into "Explore",[25][26][27] launched in September 2016, enabling additional functionality through machine learning.[28][29][30] In Google Docs, Explore shows relevant Google search results based on information in the document, simplifying information gathering. Users can also mark specific document text, press Explore and see search results based on the marked text only.
In December 2016, Google introduced a quick citations feature to Google Docs. The quick citation tool allows users to "insert citations as footnotes with the click of a button" on the web through the Explore feature introduced in September. The citation feature also marked the launch of the Explore functionalities in G Suite for Education accounts.[31][32][33]
Files in the following formats can be viewed and converted to their Docs format:[34]