Open up most files with Google Docs automatically

If you're a big fan of opening up PDFs and Microsoft Word .doc files in Google Docs from Gmail, you're probably wishing you could do the same thing from every other Web app or site you're on. Firefox users now can with a small extension called "Open in Google Docs." Once installed it will open up any file type that Google accepts in--you guessed it--Google Docs. This includes both PDFs and PowerPoint files, the latter of which will open up straightaway in the presentations app.

This is a marriage of convenience for people on Netbooks, or machines where they don't want to install a bunch of software. With this installed you can open and edit nearly every text file you'd normally download and edit offline. I'm hoping future versions will let you open up certain files, like PDFs, in Google's document viewer for those times when you simply want to view them.

Note: You'll need to be logged in to your Google Docs account for this extension to work.

Open up any Google Docs compatible file right in your browser with this smart extension.

(Credit: CNET Networks)