Google recently added a welcome feature to Google Docs, its free Web-based office productivity tool set, which includes word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation apps. It's called Google Docs Offline, and as its name suggests, the feature enables you to edit Google documents without being connected to the Internet.

Third-party workarounds, such as one that syncs OpenOffice.org documents to Google Docs, have already made it possible to work with Google Docs without an Internet connection. But Google Docs Offline eliminates the need for such workarounds. The feature makes Google Docs an easy-to-use, viable alternative to Microsoft Office desktop software for frequent fliers or anyone who must work at times without Internet access.

There are other advantages to working with Google Docs, too, such as free online document backup. I've been using Google Docs online and off for several weeks now. Overall, I'm impressed--though I'm not ready to cut the Microsoft Office cord just yet.

This week, I'll report on what I like about using Google Docs. Next week: What I dislike, and my recommendations for who might benefit from Google Docs.

By the way: Google Docs is just one software-as-a-service option for sharing, storing, and/or creating office productivity documents via the Web. Others include Zoho, which added offline editing to its Writer application last year; Microsoft Office Live Workspace, a free service that offers online storage and sharing to Microsoft Office users; and Microsoft's recently announced Live Mesh.

Likes: Access from Multiple Devices, Free Online Backup

The potential advantages of Google Docs for mobile professionals are considerable, especially for those who use multiple devices. For instance, you could access your files from your home desktop, a laptop, your iPhone, or any other device with a Web browser. There's no need to synchronize files between those devices. And you don't have to use a remote-access service, as you would when your files exist solely on one computer.

With Google Docs, you could easily go cross platform, too. You could use, say, an ultrathin MacBook Air during your travels and a powerful Dell desktop at the office. You wouldn't have to worry about file incompatibilities, because everything with Google Docs is done through a Web browser. (File incompatibilities between Macs and PCs, though greatly minimized in recent years, can still occur.)

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