At the time of writing this article, Stephen Shankland of CNET website does not know me. Nay, he doesn’t even know that I exist. Perhaps, one day he will (waving fist in the air with a maniacal laughter), Just kidding, we are all bros here.

While I was going through Stephen’s profile (caution: not stalking him), his Google Fail article inspired me to add to his story. Despite of knowing that CNET has already created a buzz with his story, I still wanted to contribute and let the world know how bitch of a cloud service Google spreadsheets can be sometimes.

Google Docs Isn’t Perfect for Handling Daily Office Needs:

I don’t know what Sundar Pichai; leader of Google Chrome project was on to that day, but the guy definitely needs to revise his statement. Google recently acquired QuickOffice. We already know the program’s capabilities, and some of us are more than impressed to use it on daily basis.

So probably Google thought, Eh, what the heck, let’s acquire QuickOffice. Sundar Pichai stepped in and said, “We want to make it a nonissue if you run into Office files (to view Google Docs online).” He had this discussion with Stephen Shankland during an interview concerning QuickOffice and Google Docs.

Later on, Pichai even demoed some stuff for Shankland to show him how “easy” it is to virtually share a spreadsheet and then edit it for later viewing. In his own words, Stephen writes, “Pichai told me in February, giving the example of his daughter’s teacher sending an Excel spreadsheet virtually, and him filling it out and sending it back.”

The idea seems cool. The concept is old, but Google gave some innovative bend to it. However, in a cloud computing environment, things can go a little awry. Shankland’s experience was sour as long as he tried viewing spreadsheet and most of the stuff with basic level tables n’ cells. Google is not meeting the guy’s low end needs – so why would someone like Stephen rely on the service?

I took Stephen’s example to illustrate that he’s not the only person facing this Google QuickOffice/ Google Docs dilemma. There are thousands of other individuals as well. Think of businessmen, company employees, secretaries and online entrepreneurs. Most of them don’t even know a better alternative, so they cram their way through Google virtual docs day in; day out.

The Third Option for Viewing Google Docs – Chrome OS + QuickOffice:

If you have been using Chrome OS devices, you should know that there is another “great” option for viewing Google Docs. It’s QuickOffice. But here’s the deal: Google basically opens/ imports office docs in old format.

The .DocX and .XlsX extensions have an unpredictable pattern. For fun sake, you can open .DocX and .XlsX documents in Google Doc; it’ll give you a good laugh. At least on the bright side, you are getting you daily dose of laughter.

However, don’t expect Google service to help you import documents with complex pivot tables, cell formatting, formulae and etc. Stephen Shankland had a horrible experience when one morning he tried to make a hotel reservation through Excel spreadsheet share. In fact, there weren’t even any pivot tables, but Google somehow Effd it all up.

The first screenshot below tells the story of Google Sheets translation to QuickOffice view. Later on, Shankland tried the Google Gmail document preview service, which was slightly better as it display was somehow identical to the original document.

 Overwrites and Hashed Out Boxes are a Pain in the Ass – CNET Images

Google Office Docs Look slightly Better in QuickOffice – A Lot Needs to be Improved Though | CNET Images

Gmail Preview was a Close Call – But Still Not 100% Accurate 

As you can see, the following screenshot is of a document opened in Microsoft Excel. For the record, it was much better than the overall Google documents service. After all, Excel docs were originally meant to be opened in Microsoft Office, which kind of gives the program an edge over other services.

Finally, the Microsoft Excel View of the Original Document – CNET Images

Fearing that Google Sheet imports would be an obstacle for future office related work, Shankland has called it quits. I, on the other hand, have never used Google online doc services that much. My spreadsheets are very basic because I had trouble incorporating complex changes in the past. Therefore, sticking to a basic version was it for me.

In case you want to maintain a steady presence with your spreadsheets, pivot tables and etc. I would like to hazard alternatives. Google, I am afraid, needs a lot of work when it comes to such apps.

Adios Bitchachos