Open Office Documents From Gmail Without Google Docs

A simple URL edit can open attached Office docs from Gmail in a sleek viewer, rather than the sometimes funky HTML option. The Google Operating System blog points out that Google’s viewer—powered by Google Docs, but not requiring a sign-up at that service or a cluttered dashboard for existing users—works with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files just as easily as the PDF files Gmail already tells you it can handle. Simply replace the segment view=att with view=gvatt in the URL after you hit “View as HTML,” and you’ll launch a scalable, zoom-able, easier-to-manage viewer for your attachment.