The new Google Docs Viewer helps you view files online that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to see. It gives you access to a range of file types and it can lend itself as a solution to some unusual problems. For example, it’s not unusual to receive a file that you can’t access easily because you don’t have an application to open it with.
You may encounter this with archive files such as .rar, which is a compressed archive format typically used on a Mac. Some Photoshop brushes can arrive as .rar files. To open these to get at the contents, you can use Google Docs — upload the file to your account and double-click the file to open it. When you do, you’ll see the contents of the archive and you can select any of the files in it. Then, from the Actions list, select Download to extract and download the file from the archive.
This same viewer can be used to access other file types including Excel .xls and .xlsx formats, as well as the new PowerPoint .pptx and Adobe Pages .pages formats. It can also show graphic formats such as .svg, Photoshop .psd, Illustrator .ai and Autodesk AutoCad .dxf files. To open and view an Illustrator illustration, for example, even if you don’t own Illustrator, upload the file to Google Docs and open it. It will then appear in the Google Docs Viewer window.
The Viewer has some other tricks up its sleeve. You can use it to show a web site visitor a file that a browser can’t otherwise display; of course, provided the file is one that the Google Docs Viewer supports and is available somewhere online, such as on your web site.
To set up the file, visit http://docs.google.com/viewer and paste a link to the file into the first box. If desired, type some link text into the second box and click ‘Generate Link’. You’ll be given a series of links: one can be used in an email or instant message, one is suitable for a blog or web site and the third will embed the Viewer inside your web site. You can also view the file yourself from here by clicking the ‘Click Here’ option. When you do this, the file will open in the browser window inside the Google Docs Viewer.
You can use this technique to show any supported file type from either your web site or someone else’s (provided you have permission to do so) on your site or blog. Google Docs Viewer is also available from within Gmail — it’s the application that will open when you click to view a document that you’ve received as an attachment to an email.
