Online apps save you the hassles of downloading

Office tools, utilities and more are available in your browser

I have occasionally been cautioned to avoid using the two words “just download” when I refer to getting a program on the internet. For many people “just” downloading a program involves the complexities of downloading something, finding the downloaded file, and wading through unintelligible instructions to configure the app.

If this applies to you, or you’re leery of installing free software from the internet, then the solution may be to use online applications which are utilities and programs you do not download or install. They run within your web browser, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft’s Edge and are accessible from any computer or device you use. If your computer crashes or you get a new one there are no programs to reinstall so you can get back to work right away.

You’re probably already familiar with using online or web-based apps through Google and its tremendously useful group of web apps. You may use Gmail for email, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, which are a set of office tools compatible with Microsoft’s Office, Translate for almost any language on the planet, Maps with its helpful directions and StreetView, and Drive for online storage and syncing.

At the Google home page (google.ca) click on the nine dots in the top right to open a list of links to many other Google web-based apps. To get you going, Google has a page where a former bride describes how she planned her whole wedding using six of Google’s online apps (tinyurl.com/5acw8hr8).

Microsoft will let you create and edit MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, or OneNote files for free at the Microsoft 365, formerly Office, website (office.com). The free online applications are limited but perfectly serviceable versions of the retail programs available with a paid subscription to Microsoft 365 (tinyurl.com/4szcxmv4).

The other restriction is you must save your files at Microsoft’s cloud storage called OneDrive, but you get five free gigabytes of space which will hold thousands of documents.

Editing photos is fairly easy and free at Pixlr (pixlr.com) where you can use Pixlr E, an outstanding online photo editor, or Pixlr X, a free design tool. You upload a photo, work on it, and save the edited copy on your computer.

Two other useful free apps are Clip Converter (clipconverter.cc/3), to download, convert and save YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook videos, and Midomi (midomi.com) which will identify the name of any song you can play, sing, or hum.

There is practically no end to the online applications you can use for free but the problem is finding them, which is why a guide such as Invesp’s List of 109 Useful Websites and Online Applications (tinyurl.com/s2kbnyd5) is quite handy. Or you can visit TinyWow (https://tinywow.com). This is a collection of 200 online tools that will do just about anything that can be done by online apps. There are free tools to create, edit, or convert PDF documents as well as image editing tools plus others that will remove the background or a watermark from an image, make a collage, or unblur an image.

TinyWow has tools to handle almost any video problem or convert numerous video or document files into other common file types. However, the apps you have to use to believe are the ones that employ artificial intelligence (AI). There are AI writing tools which will compose a paragraph, poem, or essay on whatever topic you enter, or even a real estate description of a property. In the image area there is also an AI image creator (tinywow.com/ image/ai-image-generator) which will try to create an image based on your search terms.

Of course, for a truly interesting and somewhat frightening experience, try the ultimate online AI tool called ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) to create a written poem or document on any terms you enter. You can assess why much has been written about the incredible threat this tool poses to education, general literacy, and the future of written exams.

There are plenty of applications to use on your computer or laptop without anything to “just download.”