On December 15, 2017, Microsoft is shutting down Docs.com, one of the branches of its Office Suite ecosystem Microsoft Office What? A Guide to the Office Suite Microsoft Office Ecosystem What? A Guide to the Office Suite Ecosystem Everyone knows what Microsoft Office is, right? Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote - simple. What about Office Online, Office Mobile, Office 2016, and Office 365? The Office suite has become complex. We'll untangle it for... Read More Existing Docs.com users have been told to migrate their files to another service or online storage.
Docs.com was an easy way to share Office files online How to share Office files online with Docs.com How to share Office files online with Docs.com How to share documents and why? If you frequently need files to be available, private or public, consider Microsoft's Docs.com. You can share online or directly from Office 2016. Read more. It allows you to publish your documents, spreadsheets and presentations for the whole world to see. An integration with Office 365 online made it easy to publish any file you saved to OneDrive.
So where do you go once Docs.com goes down? Here are the best alternatives.
Microsoft officially said that it is shutting down Docs.com because SlideShare is the ideal platform for publishing documents, PDFs, and PowerPoint presentations. SlideShare is now owned by Microsoft, as part of MS's acquisition of LinkedIn.
You will need to sign up for a LinkedIn account to use SlideShare. Once you do, you can upload files from a hard drive, Gmail, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box. The file can be public, private (accessible only with a link), or private (accessible only to you).
SlideShare doesn't accept spreadsheets at this time, so you can't post your Excel files for others to read.
You can also embed SlideShare files to increase traffic How to get a huge traffic boost to your blog with Slideshare How to get a huge traffic boost to your blog with Slideshare Never heard of Slideshare? You're not alone. But don't ignore it:Slideshare may be the perfect tool to give you that boost in traffic you need right now. Read more on his website or blog.
The best part about SlideShare is that, like Docs.com, you can create a custom URL for your page. For example, your page could be “www.slideshare.net/yourname”. This way, anyone can easily find all your documents and presentations in one place.
Scribd started out as a place to share documents, but has evolved into an eBook library Scribd vs. Kindle Unlimited:Which is the best Netflix for books? scribd vs. Kindle Unlimited:Which Netflix for Books Is Best? There are few options for those who want an all-you-can-eat service for eBooks, with Scribd and Kindle Unlimited the only two offerings left. So which one is worth your hard earned money? Read more . Still, you can upload DOC, XLS, PPT, and PDF files here, with support for DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX too.
The app allows you to mark the file as public or private, and includes a few more options. You can restrict the reader's ability to download the file or to copy and paste text in the file.
The only big restriction on Scribd is cloud support. You cannot transfer files directly from a cloud storage service. Your only option is to download those files to your hard drive and then upload them.
Scribd does not force other logins on you, such as the LinkedIn login for SlideShare. You can sign up for Scribd independently, or if you wish, use your Facebook or Google login. But you should think twice before using social logins. Should you think twice before signing in with social accounts? Should you think twice before logging in with social accounts? Read more.
DocDroid is the sensible solution for anyone who wants to share files and preserve privacy. No registration required, you can upload files immediately, and they are not publicly listed.
Once you upload a file, you can set it up for private or public viewing, and then share the link with whoever you want to give them access to. DocDroid supports PDF, DOCX, DOC, ODT, RTF, XLS, XLSX, ODS, PPT, PPTX, ODP, TXT and many more file formats. It also has a slideshow format specifically for presentations.
This sample document shows what your DocDroid documents or PDFs will look like. Just like SlideShare and Scribd, you can embed the file on your website.
By default, all files are deleted after 60 days without anyone seeing it. You can avoid this by signing up for an account.
However, if you like the privacy of DocDroid, check out these other No-Log Collaboration Tools You Can Use in Seconds 10+ No-Log Collaboration Tools You Can Use in 10 Seconds 10+ No-Log Collaboration Tools You Can Use in 10 Seconds Collaborating online can save you and your team time and money. Collaborating quickly can save a little more. These tools are ready to go when you are. No registration required. Read more.
Both Google Docs and Office 365 offer the ability to publicly share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, and a wide variety of file formats. However, they are not as good as SlideShare or Scribd, due to certain restrictions. Also, people can't see your profile with all the files you've shared.
Google Docs allows more control over what others can do, compared to Office 365. As shown in the chart above, there are four levels of control. Microsoft only allows you to choose whether or not others can edit the file.
Both suites depend on you to share a link to the file. There is no "discoverability" that SlideShare and Scribd offer, so your file is displayed when other users browse or search.
As for which one you should choose, the jury is out on OneDrive vs. Google Drive for office productivity. OneDrive vs Google Drive:Which is the best option for Office productivity? OneDrive vs Google Drive:Which is Best for Office Productivity? As the push towards web applications has evolved, we are now faced with two powerful cloud solutions:SkyDrive and Google Drive. These two options offer all the tools you need for file synchronization and office productivity... Read More Honestly, there is nothing substantial to differentiate between them.
In addition to posting your own files online, Docs.com was a resourceful resource for finding files shared by others. These can serve as inspiration or great free templates. 3 Great Sites For Free Document Templates 3 Great Sites For Free Document Templates Instead of creating a new document from scratch, you'll want to start with a template that you can customize. Find free professional templates at one of these sites. Read more.
For presentations, SlideShare has a robust search engine and a huge collection. It's been the #1 presentation publishing platform for years, so Docs.com users will be happier with it.
For documents and spreadsheets, there are two other alternatives you can check out.
Hashdoc is a repository for documents and spreadsheets like resumes, business plans, startup documents, and more. You can download any of these to your hard drive, or bookmark them for later. Hashdoc even has parsing of the files you upload.
SpreadShare is all about spreadsheets, which are primarily aimed at startups and professionals. Of course, this means you'll get spreadsheets related to anything from the deaths of famous people to open Slack communities. And it uses Google Sheets as the backend, so you can save them to Google Drive or edit them online.
As you can see, Docs.com was just one of many online file sharing services. In fact, there are seven amazing tools for publishing PDF files. The 7 best tools to present and share your PDF files online. The 7 best tools to present and share your PDF files online. PowerPoint is considered to be boring. Filing with PDF files can be a faster and easier alternative. Here are seven selected tools to present and share your PDF files online. Read More But all of this raises a bigger question.
Do you share your files publicly online? What types of files have you shared and why?
