What do you need to know to work offline with Google Docs

Life today is all about being online – our business and personal lives seem to revolve around internet access. Google Docs is web-based, which is great if you have a connection! But what if you don’t? What if you are offline?

Get Set Up

Ahead of time, you basically “tell Google Docs (or Drive)” that you want to be able to work when you’re not connected to the internet.

You also need to consider, what you want to work with – specific files and/or types (Docs, Sheets or Slides) or everything in your Google Drive.

Preparation

Some of this may seem obvious, but it’s worth mentioning (just in case).

Before you switch the option on:

• Check that you’re connected to the Internet
• The web browser needs to be Google Chrome
• Make sure that you in a normal tab – not using private browsing/incognito
• Install and turn on Google Docs Offline Chrome extension
• Sign into the correct account – if you have more than one
• Make sure that you have enough available space on your device to save your files*

*Of course this depends on what you want to make available – all of your files or just specific ones.

Make specific files available offline

If you want to manually select files:

1. Enable the option for Google Drive (steps below)
2. Open the relevant Google Home screen (Docs, Sheets or Slides)
3. On the file that you want to use offline, click More .
4. Click Available offline. A tick will appear in the bottom-left corner to show that the file is available.

Tip

You can also make an open file available, by clicking File > Make available offline

Check if a document is ready for offline use

If you’re not sure if a file is available, then you can check it:

1. On your computer, open a file in Docs, Sheets or Slides.
2. Click See document status .

Note: If your document is not ready, an explanation will be displayed.

How to turn on in Google Drive

1. Open Google Drive
2. In the top right, click Settings   Settings
3. Turn on Offline setting
4. Click Done

Turn it off (working just online)

1. Open Google Drive.
2. Click Menu  Settings.
3. On the right, turn off Offline.

Final Thoughts

With a little pre-planning you’ll be able to work anywhere, any time.

The best time to set this up, was yesterday, the next best time is now.

Book a Call with me to chat about how to get stuff done easily!

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