Google Docs Spreadsheets used to be a fairly primitive tool with the “killer app” being the ability to share and collaborate in real-time.

As Keir Thomas writes in PC World, Google Apps developers have started tackling some of the most requested features from users, such as the ability to select non-contiguous rows and the addition of the AutoFilter.  As they start to build-out some of this useful Excel features, this makes the transition for users from Microsoft Excel to Google Docs Spreadsheets all the easier. But Google isn’t looking to replicate Office online – it’s really about getting users comfortable with the cloud storage and real-time collaboration features.

If you haven’t yet tried these features, you should definitely sign-up for a free Google account to test drive the latest additions. Currently, I’m managing a project where my two co-workers are located in Ecuador and Venezuala, and we’re walking through project specifications and creating task lists using Google Docs collaboration tools. Put simply, the type of real-time editing that possible even on poor Internet connections is saving us endless hours that we would otherwise spends emailing documents back and forth. If you work in a company with a distributed workforce, there’s no finer tool to use.