Answering your FAQs about the New Google Docs

We’ve been excited by how many of you have chosen to try the new Google documents, spreadsheets and drawings editors over the last month. We’ve received a lot of great questions in our forums, in blog comments, on the ideas page, and through webinars.

In fact, at a webinar two weeks ago hosted by members of the Google Docs team (watch the video), we ran out of time before we could answer all the great questions people had. A lot of the questions echoed ones we’ve seen from many of you, so we wanted to post those questions -- and the answers to them -- online for everyone.

Check out a couple of answers below, or see the full list in the Google Docs Help Center.

Q: ­Do all the features work with IE8?

Almost. Google documents, spreadsheets, and presentations should work in IE8. If you’d like to use the full Google drawings tool in Internet Explorer, you can install Google Chrome Frame. The embedded drawings editor (i.e. ‘Insert > Drawing’) in documents, spreadsheets and presentations works in IE7 and IE8.

Learn more about the system requirements for Google Docs in the Help Center.

Q: Where is the web clipboard in the new docs editor?

We released the documents editor as a preview so we could get your feedback early in our development process. As you can tell, there are still some features, like the web clipboard, which aren’t yet ready in the new version. The web clipboard will definitely be available before we take the new editor out of preview.

Q: When will gadgets work with the new version of Google spreadsheets?

Very soon! This has been one of the most common pieces of feedback from users, and it’s high on our list of priorities.

Want more Q&A? Check out the full list of questions. Have a question that’s still not answered? Visit the Google Docs Help Forum.

Posted by: Ben Softness, Google Docs Operations Strategist