Writely is a new service, currently in beta, that allows you to create Word Documents online and have the ability to let anyone view, edit, and even download the document. The documents are downloadable in Microsoft Word format or in an Zip file. The way that Writely works is simple. It uses a built in Word Processor that gives you the basic functionality of a normal Word Processor that you might have on your computer. The beauty about it being this way is that you can create a document anywhere without needing a computer application to make a document for you.

With Writely, you can also upload documents that are in the formats of MS-Word, HTML, Text, or an Image. You can even select text from a website and paste it in there if you wish. There are many scenarios that this can be useful. Yesterday at college, for some reason, Microsoft Word was a “restricted” application on the computer I was using. I was to download a Word Document from my teacher, answer some question, and then send it back. Unfortunately, I did not know of Writely at the time. But, if I did, I would be able to download the document, do what was needed, save it, and send it to my teacher. I’m sure you can think of other scenarios as well.

Writely isn’t only good for writing/uploading documents though. You can also share the documents turning any document into a collaborative project. Make an adjustment, save it, and it will record the history of the file. Then the shared users make some changes. When you view it later, you can also view the history. It will all areas that you have added or changed in the document by highlighting them in yellow. Everyone else, it will look normal. This way you can easily track your work.

If you use Writely enough, I am sure you can get a good amount of documents and start to get lost with them just building up in the list. Well, Writely covered that too. They have a built in document search and the option to set tags to a document or star them. You can star your important documents and tag them so you and your shared users can easily find them.

View Writely: The Web Word Processor.