Apple Mac HQ

In the past year I’ve really began to utilize Google Docs. It’s a great way to write content on any computer and have it accessible from anywhere. Google Docs also allows for easy document creation and sharing across any platform, all you need is a browser! There is even an iPhone optimized website for viewing your Google Docs when you visit via Mobile Safari.

The other day I ran across a cool little Mac application that integrates Google Docs with Spotlight. The application, called Precipitate, is a System Preference pane used to tell Spotlight what to index from your Google account. In addition to Spotlight searching your Google Docs, it can also search your Google Bookmarks and Picasa Web Albums.

After downloading the application, just unzip the file and double click the preference pane file. It will ask if you want to install the preference pane for just you or all accounts. Chose your preference pane installation option and then open System Preferences and open the Precipitate preference pane.

Fill in your Google Account information and select the items you want to be searchable with Spotlight. Click the button in the lower right corner and wait for Precipitate to sync your selected content with your computer. The sync process only took a few minutes for me but I don’t store a ton of information in Google Docs. Precipitate stores a copy of the items on your computer along with a link to the file online.

Now just do a Spotlight search for your content and it will show up in the results! Selecting the item in Sportlight will launch your default web browser and take you right to the file online.

Precipitate is free and requires OS X 10.4 or later. If you frequently use Google Docs, this is a must have on your Mac.

Update: I forgot to mention one thing in my original post. Precipitate will sync your Google content every hour after setting up the software. One improvement I hope the developer makes is the addition of different sync time settings (e.g. once every 2, 4, 8 hours).