A Few Chrome Exclusive Google Features
If you are a fan of Google services, such as Gmail and Google Docs, but you are not on the Mountain View-based search giant’s Chrome web browser, then you are missing out on some nice features. If you are on Firefox of Opera or Internet Explorer, you are missing out on some features that work exclusively for Google’s own Chrome browser. Here are the features I am talking about.
Native support for uploading folders in Google Docs
Late this April, Google announced the introduction of the option to upload folders. The catch is that native folder upload is supported by Google Chrome only. To use this feature in other browsers you have to install a java applet first.
Native printing in Google Docs
Since 2006 Google implemented a W3c working draft, which means that you can print PDF documents from within Google Docs, as opposed to downloading the PDF document, opening it with Adobe Reader, and then printing it.
Open PDF attachments with the built-in PDF reader
If you are on Firefox for example and you want to view a PDF file attached to a message in your Gmail inbox, you can view it using the Google Docs viewer; you don’t have to download the PDF and open it with Adobe Reader, you can view it with Docs Viewer. If you are on Chrome, you can view the PDF file using the built-in PDF reader.
Speak to Translate in Google Translate
Chrome 11 supports the HTML speech input API, which means users who want to translate something from English to another language can simply speak out what they want to translate. Instead of typing the word or phrase you want to translate, Chrome users can simply say it out loud into the microphone.
Drag and drop to download attachments
If you are on Chrome or Firefox, you can attach files to an outgoing email by simply dragging and dropping them onto the message. But if you want to download attachments by dragging and dropping them out of the message, you can do that only with Chrome.
Desktop notifications in Gmail and Google Calendar
You can set it up so that Chrome will display desktop notifications when you receive an email in Gmail and you can set it up so that Chrome will display desktop notifications for Google Calendar events.
Native support for uploading folders in Google Docs
Late this April, Google announced the introduction of the option to upload folders. The catch is that native folder upload is supported by Google Chrome only. To use this feature in other browsers you have to install a java applet first.
Native printing in Google Docs
Since 2006 Google implemented a W3c working draft, which means that you can print PDF documents from within Google Docs, as opposed to downloading the PDF document, opening it with Adobe Reader, and then printing it.
Open PDF attachments with the built-in PDF reader
If you are on Firefox for example and you want to view a PDF file attached to a message in your Gmail inbox, you can view it using the Google Docs viewer; you don’t have to download the PDF and open it with Adobe Reader, you can view it with Docs Viewer. If you are on Chrome, you can view the PDF file using the built-in PDF reader.
Speak to Translate in Google Translate
Chrome 11 supports the HTML speech input API, which means users who want to translate something from English to another language can simply speak out what they want to translate. Instead of typing the word or phrase you want to translate, Chrome users can simply say it out loud into the microphone.
Drag and drop to download attachments
If you are on Chrome or Firefox, you can attach files to an outgoing email by simply dragging and dropping them onto the message. But if you want to download attachments by dragging and dropping them out of the message, you can do that only with Chrome.
Desktop notifications in Gmail and Google Calendar
You can set it up so that Chrome will display desktop notifications when you receive an email in Gmail and you can set it up so that Chrome will display desktop notifications for Google Calendar events.
