Harmony Integrates Google Docs with Outlook for Attachment-Free Bliss
It's an age-old problem: You send a document to co-workers for review; they send you back edited versions of that document, forcing you to incorporate multiple sets of changes into your original. It's a special kind of attachment hell.
One solution is to work in Google Docs, where everyone can collaborate on a single version of said document -- no attachments required.
That's the idea behind Harmony for Google Docs, a free Outlook add-on that takes attachments out of the equation. It may just be the best thing to happen to Outlook since Xobni. This fairly amusing video shows how it works:
As you can see, Harmony takes the form of an Outlook sidebar that affords drag-and-drop simplicity. It automatically converts and uploads Office documents to your Google Docs account, and lets you set permissions for the recipient(s).
In other words, Harmony turns Outlook into a Google Docs document manager. What's more, it lets you organize, search, and even edit documents, all right inside Outlook. Personally, I think that's just as big a benefit as the whole freedom-from-attachments thing Harmony touts so loudly.
If your organization uses Microsoft SharePoint, you'll be glad to know there's a similar version of the add-on: Harmony for SharePoint.
This is a potential game-changer, folks. If you're an Outlook user who's looking for a way out of attachment hell -- or just an easier way to manage Google Docs -- Harmony offers an elegant, effective, and, best of all, free solution.
More on BNET: