Cloud Sherpas is eager to announce the next major release of OffiSync! A longtime Cloud Sherpas partner, OffiSync 2.0 boasts a one-of-a-kind Microsoft Office to Google Apps extension tool that enhances Office with the cloud collaboration capacities of Google Apps. We proudly affirm that this is a must-have for all organizations on Google Apps that still use Office for various or specific purposes. If you’ve already heard about OffiSync and/or you’re looking to download, the newest version was released this afternoon and is available for download here.

The most significant upgrade from the previous version of OffiSync is the new, real-time co-authoring feature. Every time a collaborator saves his document in Word, you can see the change in your Word document in real time as well.

Other new/improved features include:

• Support for any file type: OffiSync now supports Docs’ ability to store files of any type. What this means for Office users is that you can chose to store your Office documents in their native format without “converting” them to Google Docs format. This is ideal for preserving some of the advanced formatting that Docs doesn’t support.
• Improved Google Sites Support: OffiSync automatically detects all the Google Sites you have access to and lets you edit those files. You can even create new Google Sites from within Office.
• OffiSync Task Pane: A sidebar panel for Office that shows collaborators, recent documents, documents starred in Google Docs, recently shared documents and more.
• Improved Integrated Search: The new version includes improved integrated Google Search/Google Image Search functionality, available from the toolbar.

For those of you seeking a more detailed explanation for how OffiSync actually works, their demo video is really helpful, and we’ve made it available here. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the key functionality points for you.

As before, OffiSync users will see in their Microsoft Word, Excel, or Powerpoint toolbars an additional tab for OffiSync. From this toolbar within Office, you can browse your Google Docs and even your Google Sites. And much like in Gmail, within your OffiSync browser, you have an integrated search bar that filters through your files stored in the Google cloud, and you can then open them within Office.

Conversely, OffiSync’s integrated “Save As” button allows you to save files from Office into Google Apps. Users can even create a folder for Google Docs from their OffiSync toolbar in Office. Furthermore, from Office you can then add collaborators who will be able to access the file via Google Apps.

Lastly, when you save a new file in Office with the intent of putting it in Google Apps, you can specify whether or not you want to preserve Office’s formatting instead of allowing Google Apps to convert it into a Google Doc, Spreadsheet, etc. So now there is no fear of losing formatting or more complex functions, such as Macros or Iterations, when you upload any file into Google Apps.

This release of OffiSync is especially timely considering the significant updates that Google has made to Docs. This feature is especially timely now, considering Google’s new updates to Docs that, among other improvements, include higher fidelity document imports and increased speed and responsiveness.

With OffiSync 2.0, users can experience a seamless increase in collaboration and productivity between Microsoft Office and Google Apps. It truly integrates two environments into one, and you can see for yourself by downloading the new, free version today!

Cloud Sherpas to host Webinar featuring OffiSync, ScheduleOnce and SherpaTools

On Thursday, December 10th, Cloud Sherpas will be hosting a webinar featuring OffiSync, ScheduleOnce and SherpaTools, three must-have add-ons to Google Apps. This is an exciting opportunity for both end-users and administrators of Google Apps to learn about ways to enhance their Google Apps experience.

Sign up here to reserve your spot!

The webinar will open with a brief presentation of the first SherpaTools module for Google Apps, Directory Manager. This tool from Cloud Sherpas allows Google Apps administrators to easily manage the User Profiles and Shared Contacts directory in Google Apps. We will then hear from the leaders of OffiSync and ScheduleOnce who will speak and answer questions about their solutions. OffiSync offers a best-of-both-worlds functionality platform between Microsoft Office and Google Docs, and ScheduleOnce is a meeting scheduler for Google Apps that streamlines the scheduling process and finds common meeting times quickly and efficiently.

If you’re a Google Apps administrator, or if your business or organization has adopted Google Apps, don’t miss this great opportunity to learn how you can do more with Google Apps. Sign up today!

Plugin for Microsoft Office expands collaboration with Google Apps suite

OffiSync is a powerful tool that directly connects Microsoft Office to Google Apps, letting you save your files to Google’s cloud and collaborate with colleagues directly from your desktop application. Today OffiSync announced a premium version of their software, enabling users to save their Office documents to both Google Docs and Google Sites. You can read more about OffiSync on this page, or check out the coverage on TechCrunch.

As an OffiSync partner, Cloud Sherpas can help your organization rapidly deploy OffiSync. This is a great opportunity for organizations using Google Apps to eliminate the boundaries between Google Apps and Microsoft Office. Take some time to experiment with a free trial, or contact us for more information on enterprise licensing.

Google Apps and OffiSync deliver Microsoft’s future today

As the arms race between Google and Microsoft escalates, a heated competition between Google Docs and the impending Microsoft Office 2010 has set some high expectations for the product’s release.  The actual competition, however, has essentially consisted of Microsoft’s frantically racing to catch up with a product, Google Docs, that has facilitated an unprecedented degree of real-time collaboration and multi-location accessibility.  In other words, while Microsoft will take another year to catch up, Docs users have already benefited from these features for 2 years now.

Also, let us not assume that Google Docs will remain unchanged until the release of Office 2010.  The most obvious problem with these Docs vs. Office debates is that they pit an unreleased, future version of Office against a version of Docs that is up-and-running today.  Who ends up on top by the actual release is anyone’s guess, but while some columnists and critics list the current deficiencies of Docs, if the past is any indication of the future, Office may have an entirely new list of things to imitate by 2010.

In any case, the showdown will happen when it happens.  While we wait, though, end-users and enterprises are benefiting from the document-sharing paradigm in Google Docs today.  For those of you who have already migrated to Google Apps, but find that for whatever reason, your company needs to use Microsoft Office for certain functions, a sync between Office and Docs seems like the perfect, yet unattainable, solution.  However, this is exactly what we are offering you:

Cloud Sherpas has proudly forged a partnership with OffiSync.  What this means for you Office 2003 or 2007 users is that you can sync your Office files with Google Docs.  Not only are you storing your data on Google’s cloud, but you can also take advantage of the Google Docs sharing paradigm within the Microsoft Office environment today.  This demo has some really cool details:

Like what you see?  Contact us to experience this unique sync between Google Docs and Microsoft Office.