Google Gears

In an effort to be productive, even when I can’t find internet access, I’ve installed Google Gears in order to give me that extra added little boost.

So what is Gears and where can you get it to work? It’s this fantastic little plug in that Google created, which serves up offline content or provide you with content based on your geographical location. I use Gears primarily for offline use of  Google docs and Google Reader (the most recent 2,000 items). Gears was designed to be used on both Google and non-Google sites. Remember the Milk and the Zoho Office Suite have been using Gears since it’s launch. Personally, I don’t think I could live without Gears now, it’s simply just far too useful.

Installing and using Gears is super fast and easy.  You’ll have to be connected to the internet when you do this of course, because it does require a download. You can get Gears here, and then simply save the file somewhere you’ll remember it. Then, open the file and install it like you would any program.  You’ll need to restart your browser for Gears to activate.

Once you’ve got the plug in installed, you’ll see a little green down arrow like this:

That indicates that you’ve got Gears installed, and when you click on it, you’ll start the download of offline content. I’m actually going through this for Google Reader, but Gears is a pretty intuitive plug in. When you use a site that plays nicely with Gears, you’ll be asked if you want to allow the site to use Gears. If you’d like to enable Gears for the site, check ‘I trust this site. Allow it to use Gears,’ and click the Allow button.

So, if you’re in Google Reader, and you ask the site to go offline, you get this box.

Wait for the download to finish, and Presto! You’re offline. (Ok, I totally stole that from Boingo, but that made me giggle yesterday when the box popped up and told me that Presto! I was online!).

Once you’ve got all the sites you want set up for offline use, simply open your browser and go to the site to use. Gears will serve up your offline information and you’re good to go.

One note of caution: when you’re using Google Docs (and I’m guessing it’s the same for Zoho) offline, you won’t be able to create new documents. You’ll only be able to edit and work on the documents you created when you were online.

(image source: Google Reader via screenshot)