Alternatives to Google Docs
- olsb25
- Wakka
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Alternatives to Google Docs
So, I'm trying to figure out how we are going to handle the editing for Buzzerfest, and while Google Docs worked decently last year, the whole thing with it not preserving some formatting, or margins, etc. from a Word document is kind of annoying. Are there any alternatives that people know of that are free and preserve formatting from Word?
Kunle Demuren
Ocean Lakes (VA) Scholastic Bowl (2003-07)
Princeton College Bowl (2007-)
Ocean Lakes (VA) Scholastic Bowl (2003-07)
Princeton College Bowl (2007-)
- Sima Guang Hater
- Auron
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Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
There's a very easy way to fix all the formatting issues. First, highlight everything, and go to Format -> Paragraph and set the "Before" and "After" spacing to 0pt. Then, highlight everything and set it to Times New Roman, 10 point font. Viola.olsb25 wrote:So, I'm trying to figure out how we are going to handle the editing for Buzzerfest, and while Google Docs worked decently last year, the whole thing with it not preserving some formatting, or margins, etc. from a Word document is kind of annoying. Are there any alternatives that people know of that are free and preserve formatting from Word?
Eric Mukherjee, MD PhD
Brown 2009, Penn Med 2018
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“The next generation will always surpass the previous one. It’s one of the never-ending cycles in life.”
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Brown 2009, Penn Med 2018
Instructor/Attending Physician/Postdoctoral Fellow, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Coach, University School of Nashville
“The next generation will always surpass the previous one. It’s one of the never-ending cycles in life.”
Support the Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Foundation
- olsb25
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Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
That stuff is indeed minor... but it would be nice if there were something that, for example, preserved the margins so 6 lines in Word is actually 6 lines online. Also, sometimes underlining or italics or bolding is lost, which is a real pain when downloading and having to go through and redo all that. If such an alternative does not exist, then we'll just go with Google, I was just wondering if anyone knew of one.
Kunle Demuren
Ocean Lakes (VA) Scholastic Bowl (2003-07)
Princeton College Bowl (2007-)
Ocean Lakes (VA) Scholastic Bowl (2003-07)
Princeton College Bowl (2007-)
- Sima Guang Hater
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Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
I've never lost italics or underlining when transferring from google docs. The margins in google docs are an issue, but if you remember to write shorter its not a big deal.olsb25 wrote:That stuff is indeed minor... but it would be nice if there were something that, for example, preserved the margins so 6 lines in Word is actually 6 lines online. Also, sometimes underlining or italics or bolding is lost, which is a real pain when downloading and having to go through and redo all that. If such an alternative does not exist, then we'll just go with Google, I was just wondering if anyone knew of one.
Eric Mukherjee, MD PhD
Brown 2009, Penn Med 2018
Instructor/Attending Physician/Postdoctoral Fellow, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Coach, University School of Nashville
“The next generation will always surpass the previous one. It’s one of the never-ending cycles in life.”
Support the Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Foundation
Brown 2009, Penn Med 2018
Instructor/Attending Physician/Postdoctoral Fellow, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Coach, University School of Nashville
“The next generation will always surpass the previous one. It’s one of the never-ending cycles in life.”
Support the Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Foundation
- grapesmoker
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Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
I do not know of any alternatives to Google docs that do the same thing, but I can tell you that reformatting something from Google docs never took me more than 30 seconds, even using the dreaded OpenOffice. I mean, if you're experiencing serious troubles, you are probably doing something very incorrect. The easiest thing to do is to go to Format -> Clear All Formatting or whatever that option is in Word and just re-bold and re-underline everything. A little tedious, but I've honestly never had to worry about this; I would just do what Eric is saying.
Jerry Vinokurov
ex-LJHS, ex-Berkeley, ex-Brown, sorta-ex-CMU
presently: John Jay College Economics
code ape, loud voice, general nuissance
ex-LJHS, ex-Berkeley, ex-Brown, sorta-ex-CMU
presently: John Jay College Economics
code ape, loud voice, general nuissance
- Maxwell Sniffingwell
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Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
The Quest for the Historical Mukherjesus wrote:There's a very easy way to fix all the formatting issues. First, highlight everything, and go to Format -> Paragraph and set the "Before" and "After" spacing to 0pt. Then, highlight everything and set it to Times New Roman, 10 point font. Viola.
Greg Peterson
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Northwestern University '18
Lawrence University '11
Maine South HS '07
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- Ed McMahon
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Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
HIYO!
Ed McMahon, 1923-2009
Lowell, '39
Boston University/Catholic, '47
Lowell, '39
Boston University/Catholic, '47
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- Wakka
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Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
Have you tried dropbox? I haven't used it much but I believe it does what you want.
- olsb25
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Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
I think this will do quite nicely... thanks for the heads up.Arquette wrote:Have you tried dropbox? I haven't used it much but I believe it does what you want.
Kunle Demuren
Ocean Lakes (VA) Scholastic Bowl (2003-07)
Princeton College Bowl (2007-)
Ocean Lakes (VA) Scholastic Bowl (2003-07)
Princeton College Bowl (2007-)
Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
http://docs.zoho.com/jsp/index.jsp
It's pretty cool. I used to write a couple of packets in March/April, but kind of forgot about it until you made this thread. I liked using Zoho Docs.
The one thing you have to remember is that the formatting will work out best if you write all your questions in google docs instead of cut/pasting your questions into google docs after writing them in word. Basically, all the extra tags word inserts can cause the formatting to get garbled up, so it's best to avoid writing questions in Word.
All the other paragraph stuff can be easily fixed once the packet is downloaded onto Word.
It's pretty cool. I used to write a couple of packets in March/April, but kind of forgot about it until you made this thread. I liked using Zoho Docs.
The one thing you have to remember is that the formatting will work out best if you write all your questions in google docs instead of cut/pasting your questions into google docs after writing them in word. Basically, all the extra tags word inserts can cause the formatting to get garbled up, so it's best to avoid writing questions in Word.
All the other paragraph stuff can be easily fixed once the packet is downloaded onto Word.
Gautam - ACF
Currently tending to the 'quizbowl hobo' persuasion.
Currently tending to the 'quizbowl hobo' persuasion.
Re: Alternatives to Google Docs
Word seems to be the issue here, not Google docs. Why bother with it at all? (Google Docs works offline, now.)
In the past, version control software has worked well for me.
In the past, version control software has worked well for me.
Jordan Boyd-Graber
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UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2018-present
UC Boulder, Founder / Faculty Advisor 2014-2017
UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2010-2014
Princeton, Player 2004-2009
Caltech (Pasadena, CA), Player / President 2000-2004
Ark Math & Science (Hot Springs, AR), Player 1998-2000
Monticello High School, Player 1997-1998
Human-Computer Question Answering:
http://qanta.org/