Soon
it will be easier for people without Google accounts to collaborate on
G Suite documents. Currently in beta, a new feature will enable G Suite
users to invite people without G Suite subscriptions or Google accounts
to work on files by sending them a pin code. Using the pin code to gain
access allows invitees to view, comment on, suggest edits to, or
directly edit Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The owners and admins of
the G Suite files monitor usage through activity logs and can revoke
access at any time. According to the feature's support article, admins
are able to set permissions by department or domain. They can also
restrict sharing outside of white-listed G Suite domains or their own
organization.
In order to sign up for the beta program, companies
need to fill in this form and select a non-G Suite domain they plan to
collaborate with frequently. Since intensifying their focus on
enterprise customers, Google has doubled the number of organizations
with a G Suite subscription to more than 4 million. But despite Google's
efforts to build its enterprise user base, G Suite hasn't come close to
supplanting Office 365 as the cloud-based productivity software of
choice for companies.
Office 365 made $13.8 billion in sales in
2016, versus just $1.3 billion for G Suite, according to Gartner. Google
has added features to G Suite, however, to make the two competing
software suites more interoperable, including an update that enables
Google Drive users to comment on Office files, PDFs, and images in the
Drive preview panel without needing to convert them to Google Docs,
Sheets or Slide files first, even if they don't have Microsoft Office or
Acrobat Reader.
