Google Docs: Sync, Edit, Share 4+

I write original works and fan fics, and this app lets me work on them at any point. Just waking up and I have an idea, just hopping out of the shower, in the line at the store, lunch break, moments of clarity while gardening, you get the point. Since the first time I’ve used this app, to the many years later, I have stopped worrying about forgetting some idea I had before I get to my computer. Even if my phone is offline, I have been able to work on my stories. I think it really is my most used app on my phone. Also, because it auto saves, I HAVE NEVER HAD MY STORIES DISAPPEAR! Unlike other writing programs, that have lost me hours of work because of a blue screen, freezing, or other issues, I have never had the pain of opening a Google Doc and finding all my work gone. I do wish it had a better way to organize your files, as what it does have seems “meh.” But, at least, it has some form of organization. Lastly, I love that I can share the doc in various ways. This has been so helpful for me when I comes to sharing my stories. It lets those who are my beta reader comment and make suggestions, those who I wrote for have full access, and those who I want to let just read all have their own set of restrictions.

I’ve been a longtime user of Google Docs—around three or four years—and it’s been great for storing important documents. I’ve also used it a lot for jotting down ideas, writing creative stories, and other personal uses. I feel that these are what the app is best for. I’ve tried to use it several times for academic essays, and the current format does not support certain basic functions, especially with indentation, adding page numbers in MLA or APA, and so on. The spell check for Google Docs is also flawed, and frequently marks everyday words as misspelled, and then other words not in the regular dictionary as perfectly correct. The syncing is also kind of finicky sometimes, and you can lose work or have to restart the app multiple times in one sitting, if you’re somewhere that there is no ideal connection. So if you’re a student or a professional, you are also going to want Microsoft Word, which has more features and is easier to use.

However, the syncing generally works very well, and I love being able to back up all my documents. The aesthetic appearance of the documents are also very appealing, and most of the basic writing functions are easy to access. Keyboard shortcuts still work, and those shortcuts match to whichever model of computer you are using, so you don’t have to learn anything terribly new to use the app competently. It’s super easy to add other contributors, and to restrict privacy/use settings. All in all it has served me very ell.

I’ve been using Google Docs on my tablet ever since back when Textilus (now named Notes Writer + I believe) had a full makeover and became too hard to use. For further reference, my primary uses for Google Docs have been for various essays, idea jotting, and poetry, but mostly writing long fictional works for fun. Google Docs works well for the first few categories. However, it is very disheartening when I’ve been working on a story for so long only for it to be nearly impossible to scroll through and work on it without serious lag and crashes. Works around/above 10,000 works tend to struggle the most. Typing words can take several moments, with it lagging a few seconds between each letter being typed. Using Search and Replace on things like names I decide to change quickly causes it to crash. Selecting (executed with double tapping on my tablet) and deleting can be finicky as well. This, plus the lag that Google already gives me due to an overflowing storage (which I cannot seem to fix outside of its constant begging to get a subscription), makes writing not fun anymore.

Google Docs is not a bad application. It is very good for what it is mostly meant for; business writing, joint writing (which worked well most of the time for when I used it), and short writing. I just miss being able to write lengthy stories, with the means to edit them in complex ways, without consequence.