I first came across gDoc Binder at CES on a table Windows
PC. The software enables you to digitally create a ring binder of documents,
which can be formatted and organised as you would with a real-life ring binder.
The table PC showing off the product in Las Vegas really helped demonstrate the
ingenius user experience of the product, you could swipe through pages just as
we are now used to when reading books on tablets.
gDoc binder officially launched on the 5th of
March, and I've been playing around with a copy for a couple of weeks now. I've
been trying out the traditional desktop experience. The instruction manual
(which is a gDoc) was really useful in setting up, but it was really easy to
get going. You start off with a
template, choose how many tab dividers you want and create.
You "open" the binder by clicking on the cover once, and it
opens to reveal a traditional looking ring binder along with a table of
contents. Now this is where I began question the desktop user experience
opposed to the tablet - the way the binder opens and pages turn is a little
clunky on the desktop and also to mention that the graphics are a little
Windows 95 for me.
The good thing is that it supports over 32 different file
formats, including PDF and word documents. I found that inserting files took a
little while to load, but once it got passed the first couple of documents, it
sped up. You can also drag and drop documents as well as multiple files, but it
did have a little trouble with over ten documents.
The table of contents also automatically updates with the file names of the documents you insert.
I found the tablet view quite intuitive, being able to drag
it into different positions and angles, and it also demonstrated to me again how
I think this works much better as a tablet application. It currently exists as
a Windows 7 and 8 PC and tablet application, with other operating system
applications hopefully in the pipeline,
You can also create documents within your ring binder using
the gDoc software - but for myself this wasn't particularly useful as I could
just as easily import my word documents. You can share the binder in an email
in a XPS document
The company recently won a KnowList Award for the
professional service industry in the Technology Innovation category. The award
was granted to the developer version of the software which allows IT
departments and consultants to customize the software for clients, such as
adding connectors into existing document management systems.
During the awards it was noted that the judging panel felt
that gDoc provided a "tangible benefit" to the legal profession in managing
their documents. By using a familiar and natural concept, users found that it
saved time when producing closing bibles and court bundles.
"gDoc Binder makes it easy to review and track an entire
matter in a completely natural way because it is based on the familiar paper
binder concept that has worked in the legal sector for centuries. I've been
looking for an electronic file that you can flick through and mark up for years
but there's been nothing available until now," said Robert Cohen, IT Director
at City firm Speechly Bircham.
When you consider companies who have to import hundreds of
documents this would save time and space. And just think at the end of the day,
how much physical shelving space you are saving.
It would just be nice to soon see the enterprise benefitting
from the same graphics quality as consumers are now used to, because at the end
of the day, there is a continuous cross over in expectation.
The company is offering the software for $10 which gives you
the ability to create 10 binders. Available to buy from the gDoc Store and
Amazon.
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