More on using SkyDrive to create documents

I've been away for a while so I haven't kept up with posting but here's some info on using Microsoft's Live SkyDrive to create Microsoft Office documents on line without having access to Microsoft Office. This is a poor person's example of Cloud Computing.

Sign into your Microsoft Live SkyDrive account. Do not check the "Remember my password" box if you are using a public computer. If you don't have a Microsoft Live SkyDrive account, go to www.skydrive.com and sign up. It's FREE.

You will see a screen similar to this: Select "NEW", and a drop down menu will appear with options to create a


Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or a PowerPoint presentation. Select Word and a screen will appear asking for a name for your new document. Enter a name, in this case "Sample Doc" and select save.

Once the document name is saved you will get the Word Web App page and you can create a document, pretty much using the Microsoft Word commands.

You have have limited editing and formatting options such as font style, size, color , bold, italics, underline and highlight

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You have paragraph options including bullets, numbering, alignment and indents.

Other options include Styles, spellcheck, inserting tables, pictures and links

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Basic options such as cut, copy and paste are also available through the menu or using the CTRL-X, CTRL-C and CTRL-V key sequences

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Undo and redo, as well as different views are available.

However, the strength of the word Web App lies in the File Options

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Clicking the small "floppy disk" icon saves the file to your SkyDrive.

Clicking the File tab brings up more options:

You can share the document with others by posting it without restriction or by inviting individuals to access it with either "can edit" or "can view" capability. You can enter individual email addresses in the box or use your contact list or friends.

The next post will describe how to use this collaborative feature in greater detail.