Files can be exported to a user's local computer in a variety of formats such as PDF and Office Open XML. Only adjacent revisions can be compared, and users cannot control how frequently revisions are saved. The revision history allows users to see the additions made to a document, with each author distinguished by color. A sidebar chat functionality allows collaborators to discuss edits. An editor's current position is represented with an editor-specific color/cursor, so if another editor happens to be viewing that part of the document they can see edits as they occur. Changes are automatically saved to Google's servers, and a revision history is automatically kept so past edits may be viewed and reverted to. Documents can be shared, opened, and edited by multiple users simultaneously and users are able to see character-by-character changes as other collaborators make edits. Google Sheets serves as a collaborative tool for cooperative editing of spreadsheets in real-time. Web application framework, scripting languageįeatures Editing Collaboration and revision history In 2015, the mobile website for Sheets was updated with a "simpler, more uniform" interface, and while users can read spreadsheets through the mobile websites, users trying to edit will be redirected towards the mobile app to eliminate editing on the mobile web.
In 2014, Google launched a dedicated mobile app for Sheets on the Android and iOS mobile operating systems. In June 2014, Google rolled out a dedicated website homepage for Sheets that contain only files created with Sheets. Users can access all spreadsheets, among other files, collectively through the Google Drive website. Google Sheets is available as a web application supported on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Apple Safari web browsers. In October 2012, Google Spreadsheets was renamed Google Sheets and a Chrome app was released that provided shortcuts to Sheets on Chrome's new tab page. In June 2012, Google acquired Quickoffice, a freeware proprietary productivity suite for mobile devices. Improvements based on DocVerse were announced and deployed in April 2010. DocVerse allowed multiple-user online collaboration on Excel-compatible document as well as other Microsoft Office formats such as Word and PowerPoint. In March 2010, Google acquired the online document collaboration company DocVerse. The limited test was later replaced with a beta version available to all Google Account holders, around the same time as an official announcement press release was issued. It was launched as a test for a limited number of users, on a first-come, first-served basis on June 6, 2006. XL2Web was acquired by Google in 2006 and turned into Google Labs Spreadsheets. Google Sheets originated from XL2Web, a web-based spreadsheet application developed by 2Web Technologies, founded by Jonathan Rochelle and Farzad “Fuzzy” Khosrowshahi.