There’s an interesting article over at the Next Web where Emil Protalinkski reports that Google just announced the imminent end of support for exporting Google Apps documents, spreadsheets and presentations to Microsoft Office ’97-2003 formats (.doc, .xls and .ppt).
This is a kick in the face for the many millions of people still using and relying on older versions of Microsoft Office to prepare and view their documents, especially in corporate and government circles where employees can be stuck 2 or 3 revisions behind the latest software. Some might argue that it’s nothing more than a cynical ploy by Google to drive traffic back to their Apps products by forcing users to view documents in Google’s walled garden, rather than on a local computer. Either way it’s the user that gets hurt. What’s worse is that they have given users just five days notice.
We’re pleased to say that Zamzar can help you out – If you are a Google Apps user who needs to share a file in an older Microsoft office format we’ll convert your file for you for free (up to 100MB in size) – Just follow these 2 simple steps:
- Export your document from Google Apps as a .docx, .xlsx or .pptx file
- Head over to Zamzar, upload your file for conversion and select .doc, .xls or .ppt as the output format
It’s that simple !
As an added benefit if you signup for any of our premium accounts we’ll give you a 50% discount on your first month’s payment – Just use the promo code GOOGLE_REFUGEE on our signup page 🙂
Happy Google Apps Converting !
The Zamzar Team.
