Oh Google. You know you’re our favorite search engine. You’re so good at your job that we’ve made you into a verb! But I have other things to do with my day besides search for things online. I have documents to write, budgets to balance, photos to store and share, and events to schedule. Can you help?

Google: Why, yes. Yes, I can.

From google.com (or from gmail.com), simply click the 9 dots in the upper right corner of the screen. A menu of apps appears that will allow you to do everything you can do with the Microsoft Office as well as helping you stay in touch, stay on schedule, and even stay on top of your news! Let’s take a quick tour of Google’s most helpful apps…

	Docs	Google’s answer to Word, this word processing app allows you to write, edit, and share documents easily.
	Sheets	The Excel equivalent, this spreadsheet app is perfect for budgeting, maintaining inventory, and even completing advanced formula functions.
	Slides	Like PowerPoint, this app allows you to build slide decks using pre-built templates or to create templates that suit your business (or educational) needs.
	Calendar	Simple to use and navigate, you can sync this to your phone and invite others to view and edit certain calendar, keeping everyone on the same page.
	Photos	This app lets you store, organize, edit, and share photos and even order custom albums of your favorite shots.
	Meet	Like Zoom or Teams, this app provides free videoconferencing services. Advanced features allow you to invite up to 1,000 participants (for a virtual conference, for example) and even track attendance.

The best part about these Google tools is that you already have them (and they are all in one place). Although Microsoft has ruled the roost over the last decade, Google is creeping up slowly, offering similar tools for free, and making document/photo/calendar sharing as easy as typing GOOGLE.COM.