Google Apps Email
Google Apps Email is a free mail service provided by Google. It supports POP3 and IMAP, and can be used as a webmail client as well.
Although you will see the GMail logo when you access Google Apps Email, the two mail services have their differences.
Here are the most important differences between GMail and Google Apps Email:
-
With Google Apps Email your email addresses use your domain name, not
@gmail.com. Thus you can have an email address like
user@yourdomainname.com.
- Unlike @gmail.com addresses, in
Google Apps Email usernames you can have dashes (-) - e.g. you can have
my-user@yourdomainname.com.
- To reset your Google Apps Email username password, you'll have to contact your email administrator.
Google
Apps Email supports almost all popular mail service options - mail
forwarding, mail filtering, autoresponders, mail attachments. You can
also import your mail contacts from a CSV file.
Another great feature is the multilanguage support - you can have your webmail interface in your own language!
Once you register for Google Apps and activate Email, you will be able to access your mailbox using a URL in the following format:
http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomainname.com
Google Calendar
Google Calendar, as the name suggests, is a calendar web application provided by Google.
The
interface of Google Calendar allows users to view, create and manage
their calendar events. Google Calendar supports drag-and-drop, so you
can easily move your events from one date or hour to another without
reloading the page.
Google Calendar supports a variety of view
modes, including daily, weekly, monthly and agenda views. Users can also
Quick Add calendar events and set the number of days/weeks to show in
their custom view mode.
Outlook calendar files (.csv) and
iCalendar files (.ics) can be imported into Google Calendar. You can
also import public calendars which contain various national holidays of
different countries.
Once you register for Google Apps, you will be able to access your Google Calendar using a URL in the following format:
http://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/yourdomainname.com
To access your Google Calendar through your domain name, e.g.:
http://calendar.yourdomainname.com
you should go to your Google Apps Dashboard > Calendar > Web address > Change URL and select the custom URL option.
Then you should set up your domain's CNAME record to point to ghs.google.com.
Google Docs
Google
Docs is an online word processor, presentation, spreadsheet and form
application provided by Google. It allows users to collaborate in
real-time by creating and editing documents online.
Google Docs
allows you to create new documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and
forms directly from the web interface. You can also import existing
documents, presentations and spreadsheets from a file or URL. You can
even email a file and it will be available for online editing.
All
documents can also be saved to the user's computer in a variety of
formats (HTML, OpenOffice, PDF, RTF, Text, Word). All files are saved to
the Google servers by default. Opened documents are automatically saved
to avoid data loss. Documents can be shared, opened, and edited by
multiple users simultaneously.
The following formats are allowed for upload:
- Allowed document file types: html, txt, doc, docx, rtf, odt, sxw
- Allowed presentation file types: ppt, pps
- Allowed spreadsheet file types: csv, xls, xlsx, ods
Once you register for Google Apps, you will be able to access your Google Calendar using a URL in the following format:
http://docs.google.com/a/yourdomainname.com/
To access your Google Docs through your domain name, e.g.:
http://docs.yourdomainname.com
you should go to your Google Apps Dashboard > Docs > Web address > Change URL and select the custom URL option.
Then you should set up your domain's CNAME record to point to ghs.google.com.
Google Talk/Chat
Google
Talk is an instant messaging and voice over internet protocol (VOIP)
service offered by Google. Google also provides a free chat client
called Google Talk which is available only for Windows.
Fortunately,
other free chat applications such as Miranda and Pidgin support Google
Talk, so even if you don't use Windows, you will still be able to use
Google Talk.
And if you don't want to use a separate chat
application, you can use Google Talk with Google Gadgets directly from
your browser.
GTalk supports encryption, voicemail and file
sharing. It also supports offline messaging - users can send messages to
their contacts even if they are not signed in. The messages will be
received when the recipient goes online even if the sender is currently
offline.
Along with voice chat, GTalk supports video chat as well.
You can check your chat history directly from your Google Email >
Chats.
Google Sites
Google Sites is a structured wiki application offered by Google.
With
Google Sites users can work together on creating and managing a Google
Site. They can add file attachments, information from other applications
(Google Docs, Google Calendar, YouTube, Google Video and Picasa) and
new page content. You can add new pages with a single click, and you
have full control over who has access to your Site.
Google Sites
offers free page themes - web page, announcements, file cabinet,
dashboard and list - so you can quickly create your Google Site.
Once you register for Google Apps, you will be able to access your Google Sites using a URL in the following format:
http://sites.google.com/a/yourdomainname.com/
To access your Google Sites through your domain name, e.g.:
http://sites.yourdomainname.com
you should go to your Google Apps Dashboard > Sites > Web address > Change URL and select the custom URL option.
Then you should set up your domain's CNAME record to point to ghs.google.com.
Google Mobile
Google
Mobile is a set of free Google products for mobile phones. You can
choose the mobile device you are using (all major brands are listed,
including iPhone, BlackBerry and Nokia) and get free mobile apps for it.
Some of the featured Google products are Gmail, Search, Maps, YouTube.
To download a Google Mobile product, you can go to http://www.google.com/mobile/default/ and have a link for the desired product sent directly to your phone.
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