Google Docs Emulates Microsoft Word’s “Track Changes” Feature

At long last, Google Docs has made it easy to see changes made to documents with the announcement of a new revision history interface.

The addition of this interface is just one of a litany of changesGoogle Docs is announcing of late. Recent additions include a text highlighting feature that appears when a co-editor is making changes, six new fonts (Droid Serif, Droid Sans, Calibri, Cambria, Corsiva and Consolas), a bunch of tweaks to spreadsheets and more.

To locate said revision history, merely go to File > See revision history. There, you’ll be able to see — via a time stamp in the right-hand column — who changed what in the document (you can also restore revisions). Check out a screenshot below to see it in action.

Changes are color-coded, much like they are in Word’s “Track Changes” feature. And for those among you who want a blow-by-blow of edits, there’s the “Show more detailed revisions” option, which gives you a closer look at all those grammatical tweaks.

According to the Google Docs Blog, “This is just a first step for the new revision interface for Google Docs. We’re looking forward to more revision improvements in the future.”

Back in the day, I had a discussion with my Stuff Hipsters Hate and CNN co-blogger Andrea Bartz (featured in the screenshot below) about how it wasn’t possible to write a book in Google Docs because it lacked track changes. Now I’m guessing she’ll change her tune. With so many improvements being made to the service, it makes one wonder what’s in store for Microsoft Word.

Is writing in the cloud the future? Or will word processing software prevail? What do you think?

[via mashable]

Posted in: Google,Microsoft