Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Send to Google Docs Firefox extension adds an entry to your right-click menu to send supported filetypes directly to Google Docs. The new entry is context sensitive, so it only appears when you right click supported filetypes, which include Word docs, PDFs, PowerPoint, Excel, and every Open Document format. You've been able to open Gmail attachments in Google Docs for quite a while now, but this extension bridges the gap and makes Google Docs that much more of a viable, web-based Microsoft Office replacement. Send to Google Docs is free, works wherever Firefox does.

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Free mashup service map a list grabs addresses directly from a Google Spreadsheet in your account and plots them out over a customised Google Map. While it certainly isn't the only web-based data-mapping tool, the combination of its easy grabbing from GDocs and its step-by-step creation wizard make plotting out the best pizza joints in town, the wedding party members who haven't RSVP'd, or any other data seriously simple. Your maps update automatically with the spreadsheet and can be shared publicly, and the maps can be exported to KML (for Google Earth fun) and texted or shared by email. A cool tool for those of us without the skills to directly patch into Google Maps.

Google's added a direct form-creation tool to its Docs suite, making it easier to solicit direct input into a separate spreadsheet. If you don't like the way Google's forms wizard rolls, you can still embed the form yourself. [via]

The Google Operating System blog uncovers a few snippets of JavaScript which add features to Google Docs, like a document table of contents, a thesaurus, and encyclopedia. For example, to generate a table of contents using your document's headings, enter this into the address bar while your doc is open:

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iPhone/iPod touch only: Free iPhone application MiGhtyDocs performs a simple but handy task—namely, synchronising your Google documents and spreadsheets to your iPhone for read-anywhere access. The big obvious drawbacks are a lack of any editing or modifying access, and a lack of support for Google's PowerPoint-cloning Presentations service, but if you do a good amount of work in Google's online office environment, it's the kind of low-wattage app you'll be glad you have on your iPhone or iPod touch. If nothing else, think of it as an advanced, net-accessible note-taking interface that trumps the built-in Notes. MiGhtyDocs is a free download for 2.0 iPhones and iPod touch models only.

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Google expert Philipp Lenssen dishes up the latest news about Google and its features at his daily blog, Google Blogoscoped. Author of the new O'Reilly book, Google Apps Hacks, Lenssen takes some time out of his busy schedule today to share some of his best tips for using Google Apps from Gmail to web search to Google Docs.

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Google Documents has added a fullscreen editing mode to the "View" menu on individual documents, a convenience previously available only through a Greasemonkey script. Combined with Firefox 3's serious fullscreen capabilities and GDocs' fixed-width page view, it lets you turn the online office suite into a no-distraction writing environment—provided you can resist popping open another tab with Ctrl+T. It's worth noting that Zoho Writer has a similar "Maximize editor" function, but it's not as severe as Google Docs' nothing-but-white implementation.

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Google Docs now offers a gallery of spreadsheet, presentation, and document templates for use in your work. Whether you're designing a resume, invoice, calendar, or slideshow, there are a few templates here to get you started. Template categories include Business, Calculators, Calendars & Schedules, Cards & Certificates, Letters, Presentation Designs, and more. You can also sort them by how many users each has and user ratings. To use a template in your Google Doc, from the New menu drop-down, choose "From template..."

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Mac OS X only: Free, open-source tool Precipitate indexes your Google Docs and Google Bookmarks, making them searchable from either Spotlight or Google Desktop for Mac. Precipitate provides full search on the entire content of your Google Docs documents, while on Google Bookmarks Precipitate only indexes your bookmark title and any other metadata you added when you created the bookmark (though bookmark content search could be awesome). Precipitate may also support indexing of other Google cloud apps in the future, like Picasa web albums, but the initial Docs and Bookmarks support is a great start. Precipitate is free, Mac OS X only. Thanks Nicholas!

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Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Open It Online, a free Firefox extension, cuts out all the middle steps between finding a document in a Google search, in your web mail, or anywhere else online, and getting it open in a web-based office/editing suite. In other words, it adds an option to your Firefox "Open With" dialog to let you open Word documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, and more file types in Google Docs, the Zoho suite, ThinkFree Viewer, and other locations. You can pre-set defaults for every file type, and that's just about it—nice and convenient for fans of online editing. Open It Online is a free download, works wherever Firefox 2 or 3 does.