Administrative work is a cornerstone of the teaching and administrative work I do. And Google Docs has been a boon to all this. I started out using Writely with the ICCS Otters and when Google absorbed that to add Spreadsheets and later Forms, it was all a dream come true!
Cloud computing is allowing us to do more than work hard, it allows to do things like care about an individual student amongst a sea of faces and and provide better care and training for volunteer organisers in need.
As a dedicated SuperDuper user and a back up evangelist, it has been tough to just rely on Google along to see to safety of my many Google Docs files. As they grew in number and played an increasingly critical role, I wondered, what risk of downtime could I tolerate?
To the rescue? CyberDuck! (Note: both Mac and Windows)
Last June, the net (or at least the geeky part) was abuzz with the news that the developers of free software, CyberDuck, had released a major upgrade in version 3.5, which, amongst other things, allowed FTP access to your Google Docs files! Lifehacker had this to say:
“The Google Docs support alone is a pretty neat feature; you can upload and download documents straight from your Docs server from your desktop, either as a storage measure or converted to Google Docs format. “
That means having a window on your desktop open which links you to your tiny space on a Google’s server somewhere out there. How exactly?
- Download CyberDuck – link (ver 3.8.1 at this time)
- “Open Connection”.
- Select ‘Google Docs’ server not ‘Google Storage’.
- Key in username and password.
A windown will open and you can copy files to your hardisk for a local version or sync to a folder you create for Google Docs. For starters, especially if unfamiliar with the quirks of synchronisation, I suggest you download and set aside a copy of your Google Docs. Like I am doing now. Once the files are copied to my folder, my SuperDuper and TimeMachine backups will ensure that copies are tucked away safely. Later I will figure out the details which this access provides.
Otterman speaks... 