The new feature, to be included in the Google Docs and Spreadsheets service, follows the launch of word processing, e-mail and spreadsheet applications, emulating the main elements in Office.

Meanwhile, Eric Schmidt, chief executive, rejected claims by Microsoft and AT&T that Google's proposed purchase of online display advertising company DoubleClick should raise antitrust concerns.

Speaking at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, he said Microsoft and AT&T had themselves both been subjected to antitrust enforcement action in the past. He also said that online publishers and advertisers would be free to move to rival ad-serving networks if they wanted, adding: "This is an emerging business with lots of choices."

Despite that, Mr Schmidt said some advertisers and web publishers had "legitimate concerns" about the extra power Google would gain by being able to combine data collected by DoubleClick with its own data about search engine usage.

While defending Google's stance, he said the company would consider making concessions, such as keeping the DoubleClick and Google data separate if that proved necessary to ease concerns.

Google's free Office-like services, which could eventually carry advertising, have been seen as a threat to a business that produced nearly a third of Microsoft's revenues last year. However, Mr Schmidt insisted yesterday Google was not trying to steal Microsoft's customers with its own internet-based "productivity" tools.

"This is really a different way of sharing information – we think it's a better fit to how people use the web," he said, though he added: "I'm sure Microsoft will have a response."

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