Digital News Journalist

Now that you’re using Docs, how do you back-up all those files you’ve stored online?

Google backs up your documents on multiple servers, and you can back-up your own docs in at least 4 different ways. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Please add comments below if you have thoughts on these methods, or have an alternative method to suggest.

1) Download the documents to your hard drive as Word or PDF files, or even as plain text. Once downloaded, the files can also be saved to an external drive or burned onto a CD or DVD.

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

2) If you use your e-mail account as your backup bin or your filing cabinet, the Docs menu has a big “Share” button that lets you easily e-mail any document to yourself as an attachment or as text in a message.

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

3) For old school paper fans, you can print out documents and keep them in a back-up binder.

4) Use software like GDocBackup, Gladinet.com, Cloud Hero or Cloudberrydrive.com – (all Windows only). Caveat: I haven’t tested those, or seen an easy-to-use Mac software tool yet. If anyone has experience with these backups, feel free to add your comments below. You can also backup to Zoho Docs.

In addition to enabling you to backup your documents using any of the methods above, Docs itself can serve as a backup tool for your other documents, even if you plan to continue using Microsoft Word or other software for your writing.

How Docs Can Be a Backup

It’s a good idea to back up documents periodically using whatever method you prefer. But one thing to consider is that storing files online may actually be safer in some ways than storing files only on your computer. Your Google Docs are secure regardless of what happens to one particular computer or device. If you lose or forget your computer, or you get hit with a virus or your hard drive crashes, chances are your old-school Word Documents will be lost or inaccessible when you need them. (Remember the time your computer crashed before you had saved an important document?) Furthermore, if you ever suffer through a flood, fire or other natural disaster that ruins even your backup drives, your cloud copies will remain safe.

How to Backup Word Docs Using Google Docs

Step 1: To use Docs to backup your existing word files, just log in to Docs, click the “Upload” button on the top left-hand side of the Docs menu. That will take you to a menu where you can browse your computer or external hard-drive for any files you want to upload for backup purposes or to edit online.

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

Step 2: Within the Upload menu pictured below, click on “Browse” to find your file, which will then be uploaded to Google Docs. The types of documents Docs will accept are listed below right on the menu (Docs works with all flavors of Microsoft Word documents).

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

A short-cut method is to use the personalized e-mail address listed on the “upload” page, which enables you to send docs to your Google Docs account as e-mail attachments. That way you can upload several documents at once, speeding up your backup process. On your uploads page you’ll see a special e-mail address to use – unique to you – that may end in @prod.writely.com. Here’s more detail on how it works.

Here’s a 1-minute video about a Google Docs user’s experience sharing and backing up documents.

Docs Constantly Backs Up Your Work

I haven’t yet had to draw upon a Docs backup. Even if you accidentally erase a key paragraph in Docs and then close your browser, all you have to do is go back to the Docs “Tools” menu and select the “Revision History” button. Docs constantly saves whatever you are working on, creating new revision copies minute-by-minute. You can even compare different revision sets to make sure you know what version you’re reverting to.

If your computer freezes, your browser crashes, or your work is otherwise interrupted, when you open up the Doc again, your document somehow pops back up, fully up-to-date. And you can always go later to whatever version of the document you want to revert to, like the one before you deleted a key quote.

If you have other thoughts on backing up, or tools/suggestions to add, please include them in the comments below.