From the course: Google Workspace Administration: Management and Reporting

What is Google Workspace? - Google Workspace Tutorial

From the course: Google Workspace Administration: Management and Reporting

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What is Google Workspace?

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- [Host] Before we discuss Google Workspace, let's take a moment to establish what we're referring to in terms of Google Workspace. Formerly Google Apps or G Suite, Google Workspace is a collection of cloud-based applications provided by Google. The cloud refers to applications that live on the web and are not stored on a local computer. Cloud-based applications are accessed via an internet connection and saved online. The workspace documents can be exported and downloaded from the application to one's local machine. With traditional desktop application suites, documents were saved locally. Users would then share the documents with others by attaching the file to an email and sending or saving to portable storage. With applications in the cloud, the document is saved online where multiple users can access it. This enables a number of collaborative features, which would not otherwise be possible. At the center of Google Services is Google Drive an online file storage service that also includes desktop storage and synchronization, as well as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and other applications. Files saved to Google Drive can be used as attachments in Gmail and Google Calendar. Photos stored in drive can be organized using Google Photos and documents created by Drive may be shared and collaborated upon with other Google users. The Google Drive desktop can be installed locally, enabling document synchronization between Drive and any other device in which the client or app is installed. Where Google initially provided one gigabyte of storage to its users, this amount has steadily increased to keep pace with the larger storage demands of multimedia files. A single Google user account has a storage quota shared between Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. Users have the freedom to share and collaborate from any internet enabled device or location. This includes mobile devices where the Google Drive app may be downloaded and installed. This can be an attractive option for users who need to access files and documents from any device in any location. Multiple users can edit Google Docs simultaneously, and a revision history is managed logging all changes to the document and making it possible to roll back undesired changes. Documents created and modified using the Google Docs file format do not count against user storage quota and can be made available for offline viewing and editing. Similarly, photos only count against a user's storage quota if stored in the original quality. While photos shared in Google's high quality mode, do not. Most Google services require a Google account, which provides access to Google's suite of applications. Though some applications such as YouTube and Google Docs can be accessed and used by non-Google users without signing in an account is required to make use of the full range of collaborative and file storage features. A public Google account is free to sign up for, and it may be used to access not only the standard Google Workspace, but additional Google services not included in the Google Workspace suite of applications.

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