Move from MS-on-my-PC to Google-in-the cloud: Suggestions? Experiences?
January 21, 2022 11:19 AM Subscribe
Most of my working life, for a few decades now, has been mostly organized in MS-Word docs, along with the occasional spreadsheet, living on my hard drive. More and more, I’m using Google Suite, and really liking it. I’m interested in moving more or less fully from using MS-Office on my hard drive to using google in the cloud. I’d love to hear from others who have made this transition: How did it go? Are you glad you did it? Pros and cons? Any tips or things to watch out for?
I work as a self-employed consultant, working from home. I have a team of three part time people who help out, working remotely. There’s lots I like better about google/cloud vs Microsoft/Harddrive: How easy it is to collaborate, not having to get stressed about whether a file was saved, or synced up between my desktop and laptop (another way I work like an old person: I still have both computers). I like the integration between gmail and the other tools. I like having less software to worry about on my computer.
Right now I have one foot in each world: Some files are shared with my team and clients, and live in the cloud, some files live on my hard drive. It’s feeling more and more like a hassle: Any time I need to find a document, I have to look in two places, etc.
I’m interested in moving more or less fully to google and the cloud. One possible idea is: Pretty much upload *all* my work folders from the past few years, and archive them away somewhere, and just start working cloud-only for those docs (it looks like Google pretty happy works with word docs and excel files as-is?) and use google suite for all my new stuff going forward.
It feels like a useful change but also a daunting one: I’ve worked this way for a *long* time.
I’d love to hear from folks who have tried this, whether successfully or not:
Did you do this? How did it go? Are you glad you did it? Upsides? Downsides? Any tips or things
to watch out for? Thanks!!
(bonus question: One thing I want to do more of is use speech-to-text dictation. My initial impression is that there are more/better ways to do that on my local HD than in the cloud: Googles dictation tools seem not as good as Dragon or what’s built into word)
Thanks!! Any help much appreciated!
I work as a self-employed consultant, working from home. I have a team of three part time people who help out, working remotely. There’s lots I like better about google/cloud vs Microsoft/Harddrive: How easy it is to collaborate, not having to get stressed about whether a file was saved, or synced up between my desktop and laptop (another way I work like an old person: I still have both computers). I like the integration between gmail and the other tools. I like having less software to worry about on my computer.
Right now I have one foot in each world: Some files are shared with my team and clients, and live in the cloud, some files live on my hard drive. It’s feeling more and more like a hassle: Any time I need to find a document, I have to look in two places, etc.
I’m interested in moving more or less fully to google and the cloud. One possible idea is: Pretty much upload *all* my work folders from the past few years, and archive them away somewhere, and just start working cloud-only for those docs (it looks like Google pretty happy works with word docs and excel files as-is?) and use google suite for all my new stuff going forward.
It feels like a useful change but also a daunting one: I’ve worked this way for a *long* time.
I’d love to hear from folks who have tried this, whether successfully or not:
Did you do this? How did it go? Are you glad you did it? Upsides? Downsides? Any tips or things
to watch out for? Thanks!!
(bonus question: One thing I want to do more of is use speech-to-text dictation. My initial impression is that there are more/better ways to do that on my local HD than in the cloud: Googles dictation tools seem not as good as Dragon or what’s built into word)
Thanks!! Any help much appreciated!
I know this does not answer your question, but it looks like you like the Microsoft environment and your main reason for switching to Google is their cloud tools. So I just wanted to make sure you know that Microsoft has their own cloud environment where you can colaborate and not worry about saving changes. You can use the cloud versions of office and also install the apps to your harddrive if you want to and all changes will be visible to you and your collaborators.
The only one of the benefits you listed that you would not have using this is the gmail integration, for me that isn't a big deal, YMMV
posted by fjom at 12:07 PM on January 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
The only one of the benefits you listed that you would not have using this is the gmail integration, for me that isn't a big deal, YMMV
posted by fjom at 12:07 PM on January 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
One intermediate step might be to install Drive for Desktop, which makes your Google Drive a G: drive on your PC (just like your C: drive). You can dump your MS files in there and treat them as you always have, except that they're automatically synced to the cloud (and in fact, not taking up space on your hard drive).
posted by idb at 12:33 PM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by idb at 12:33 PM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
I haven't used a desktop Microsoft product in like a decade. Just as a data point. You really don't need them.
posted by bleep at 1:06 PM on January 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 1:06 PM on January 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
First: You could get a Google business account for increased safety and storage space.
Second:
Google Docs is delightful. Basically my favorite cloud application ever.
Slides is o-k. Probably fine for most uses.
Google Sheets, on the other hand, is the work of the devil. It is a terrible substitute for Excel. My advice, if you’re likely to work with spreadsheets at all, is to really dig into Sheets and see how it works (or doesn’t) for you. Sheets is the thing that might hold me back from switching as a small business owner or consultant
posted by librarylis at 11:14 PM on January 21, 2022
Second:
Google Docs is delightful. Basically my favorite cloud application ever.
Slides is o-k. Probably fine for most uses.
Google Sheets, on the other hand, is the work of the devil. It is a terrible substitute for Excel. My advice, if you’re likely to work with spreadsheets at all, is to really dig into Sheets and see how it works (or doesn’t) for you. Sheets is the thing that might hold me back from switching as a small business owner or consultant
posted by librarylis at 11:14 PM on January 21, 2022
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posted by SPrintF at 11:57 AM on January 21, 2022