The request for online space to store files continues so that they can be used on any computer and also shared with other people. The evolution of these online storage services brings the need to have access to files uploaded to the internet and, possibly shared, directly from the computer desktop, perhaps with an integration on Windows, Mac and Linux windows and, even better, with a synchronization mechanism.
In addition to the DropBox and Onedrive solutions, there are recent developments on the Google front, which has recently opened the Google Drive application platform with 5GB space to upload synchronized online files from Windows and Mac and not just Office documents.
Google Docs is the website where you can create Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents and where you can save and share files with a free 1Gb space.
Although services like Onedrive are more generous (7 GB), on Google Docs there are no limits to the upload of a single file and the price to pay for additional space ranges from $ 5 for 20 GB to $ 100 for 400 GB (see Google Docs prices)
Docs is therefore among the most convenient services to store files online and make them accessible from all over the world.
If then the programs, which are coming out in these months and which are still in beta today, were to work well, then Google's online storage service would turn into a GDrive integrated into the computer.
The desktop applications for uploading and managing Google Docs files, in addition to Google Drive, are:
1) Cyberduck is the best program to transfer files and folders from your computer to Google Docs (and vice versa) as if it were just an FTP server.
To get started, simply create a new connection in Cyberduck and choose "Google Docs" from the list of service providers.
After writing the Google login and password, you will get a list of the files stored in your Google Docs account, with all the folders.
If you want to upload a local folder to Google Docs, simply click on the upload icon inside Cyberduck and choose the folder from your computer.
By clicking on a file or folder in Cyberduck you can download it to your PC.
CyberDuck is also one of the best FTP clients for Windows and Mac PCs.
2) iGoSyncDocs allows users to access, download and upload files to Google Docs from multiple computers.
It is a Java program that displays the Google Docs interface on the desktop without having to open the web browser.
All you need is to enter your Google Account username and password.
After the initial configuration, the files already loaded can be browsed directly from the iGoSyncDocs window.
If you press the right mouse button on any file, a menu of options opens to create a new Word, Excel, Powerpoint document and whether to upload a file from your computer.
Other options allow you to mark a file with a star, hide them, rename them or share them with other people.
Some features may not be fully functional because this program is still in beta phase.
iGoSyncDocs can be downloaded and installed on Windows, Linux and Mac .
3) SyncDocs, which is discussed in another article, in addition to enabling the upload of files to Google Docs from the desktop, also allows you to set Google Docs as a program to open documents with synchronization.
You can synchronize any Google Docs folder with a Windows folder so that they always have the same files, both online and offline (as is the case with Dropbox).
Then you can upload files to Google Docs simply by creating a copy or moving them to the local folder of the synchronized computer.
5) An interesting project is instead certified by Google itself and is something similar to Windows Live Sync.
InSync is a new application for Mac and Windows that works like Dropbox, with the only difference being that it is totally integrated in Google Docs.
This means that you can upload files using InSync, directly from the computer desktop to be able to use them from any other PC.
The similarity with DropBox is the fact that, thanks to InSync, the files uploaded to Google Docs can be viewed and edited on the computer, even offline, without being connected to the internet.
Since then, Google's storage plans are cheaper than DropBox's ones, this is really interesting, especially for companies.
The installation of InSync brings the presence of a folder of the same name in the Windows explorer and, everything that is copied in that folder, is synchronized and automatically uploaded to Google Docs.
From the web interface you can download the files and see revisions and activities on the same.
Unfortunately, for now, InSync is a closed beta in the sense that you can only request an invitation.
