Google Gives Webmasters Way to Display PDFs, PPTs, and TIFFs

Google has released a new product called the Google Docs Viewer. This is a way to display PDFs, Powerpoints and TIFF documents directly in a web browser without requiring a download.

"Last year, we added PDF upload and view to Google Docs, and the ‘View’ link for PDF attachments in Gmail," says Google software engineer Jesse Kinkead. "We also added support for viewing PowerPoint and TIFF files in Gmail this April. Feedback on these features has been very positive – viewing files right in your browser is fast, and it keeps your downloads folder clean. Plus, it spares you the hassle of saving your files to the machine you’re using, which could be a shared or public computer."

To use the Google Docs Viewer, simply go to the site and provide Google with the URL to your file. You can also include optional link text.

You can also generate code for an embedded viewer like the one below.

Box.net users can use the service to view documents stored within their Boxes, by adding the Google Docs Viewer OpenBox Service to their account.

There are 10 Comments. Add Yours.

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texxs
September 25, 2009 at 2:13 pm

Better still just don’t use these files on the web. they aren’t for the web there ios absolutley no instance where you could possibly need to dispaly a .tif in a web page. PDF? Use a html page instead, need it locked? Well then use a .doc or an image.

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  James
  September 27, 2009 at 2:40 pm
  
  It’s misleading… You can’t actually view a Tiff in a web browser.
  
  It’s either a translation to Jpeg or PNG 24…
  
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    Dean Flory
    September 27, 2009 at 10:22 pm
    
    I’d say it might be useful to people who deal with lots of print files, pass them on or keep them in some online collection for sending out to others, would be quick to preview, other than that, yes, create a Web version but since so much is now being housed online it’s not just about “Web pages” anymore.
    
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Mark McCulloch
September 25, 2009 at 4:33 pm

This post has been very very useful to me purely because I am going to be using PDF files on the internet very soon, I appreciate the help and advice

Thank you

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ActionManage.com
September 27, 2009 at 11:27 am

Hi,

Thanks for the post,,, I really like not having to “save’ every PDF I want to look at….

Best,
Dan.

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Guest
September 27, 2009 at 11:28 am

I use iframe, so what is the big deal, I don’t understand

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computer consultant
September 27, 2009 at 3:43 pm

Interesting feature. Need to “play” with it.

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Gina
September 27, 2009 at 7:30 pm

This is good news, so next time I can view PDF files without needing to download them, this can help save time.

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High Wycombe Web Design and SEO
September 28, 2009 at 4:44 am

What a time saver, i just love it when these small advances are made and you stumble across them in a newsletter or blog. The idea of optimising the working day always interests me!

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Guest
October 4, 2009 at 7:21 am

That sounds to be a good thing, however there have been no points in it that mentions or covers the security aspect. One needs to know how secure it is to use it.