If there's a downside to cloud-based services and applications, these 9 cloud computing skills could give you the next leap in the career ladder. These 9 cloud computing skills could give you the next jump in the career. Companies are moving to the cloud. The huge skills gap could be your chance to accelerate your career with the essential qualifications. Get started with any of these critical in-demand skills. Read More If your internet goes down or you're on the go, your work stops.
Fortunately, Google Docs, now better known as Google Drive, has this covered. You can turn off the service and access and edit your files even without an Internet connection.
Best of all, you can do it on virtually any platform or device. In this guide, we'll walk through how to set it up and get started anywhere you use Google Drive.
You need the Chrome browser to be able to access Google Drive offline on desktop. It's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and works the same way on each platform. In unsupported browsers How do browsers display web pages and why do they never look the same? How do browsers display web pages and why do they never look the same? Read More
To get started, you'll need the Drive Chrome web app installed in Chrome. It comes as a default option with Chrome, but if you need it, you'll be prompted to install it before continuing.
Sign in to your account on Google Drive, drive.google.com. Click on the Settings Click on the icon (gear) towards the top right corner of the screen and select Settings .
In the window that opens, check the Synchronize Google Docs... Option in the labeled section. Offline . Your files will begin downloading to your computer, including documents, sheets, slides, and drawings.
Go to Google Docs - docs.google.com - and sign in. Click the hamburger menu icon at the top left of the screen and choose Settings .
Under Offline sync click Turn on . A new tab will open with instructions to install the Chrome Web app, if necessary, to confirm that you want to enable offline access.
It takes a few minutes to download your files and also to cache the copies of the Docs apps. Don't disconnect from the Internet too quickly or you won't be able to access them. To make sure a specific file you need is available offline, just open it and then close it again.
When you're offline, open Google Drive or Google Docs in your browser by going to the same URL you use in online mode. All your files will be displayed as usual, but those that are not available offline will be grayed out.
Double click to open a file. You will see a gray “Offline” icon displayed next to the file name.
Your changes are automatically saved when you edit a document. When you reconnect, they will be synced with your account. Any files that have been edited locally but not yet synced will show up in bold in your document list.
You can also create new documents when you work offline. Your account will be charged the next time you are online.
Another way to use Google Docs offline is through the dedicated Google Drive app. It is available for desktop devices for Windows and Mac, as well as for Android and iOS on mobile devices.
By default, the Drive desktop app downloads everything from your Drive account to your computer. It's similar to how desktop cloud clients like Dropbox make Dropbox even more amazing with these time-saving shortcuts Make Dropbox even more amazing with these time-saving shortcuts If you've trusted Dropbox with your files, you can also go to great lengths to get more out of it. Get started by trying out the awesome shortcuts listed here. Read more work. To download only specific folders go to Preferences> Sync Options inside the app.
When installed, you can access all of your Drive files, not just documents, through an Explorer window on Windows or the Finder on Mac. Put on the Mac OS X Finder and find files even faster! Tweak Mac OS X Finder and find files even faster! A large part of our time is spent on the web, but for many people, the computer's file system makes a close second. Finder, Apple's file browser, provides a very elegant way... Read More .
You can edit any file downloaded through the Drive app. Google Docs files, saved in the .gdoc , .gsheet The formats etc. are edited in Chrome..
You need to double-click the file to open it, so you need to have Chrome set as your default browser - a file won't be accessible if it's opened in another browser. You must also have enabled the offline feature within the Drive web app, as described above.
Other files open in the local application of your choice:Excel spreadsheets in Office, images in Photoshop, etc.
Edit them and save your changes as usual. They will be synced with your cloud account the next time you connect to the Internet.
The Drive app is probably the most convenient option if you use the service primarily on a single computer. It comes with the downside of having to store many gigabytes of data locally, so it's not ideal to have on multiple machines.
Contrary to popular belief, Chromebooks work offline Chromebooks don't work offline? Debunking the myths Chromebooks won't work offline? Busting the myths One of the biggest criticisms leveled at Google's Chromebooks is that they are online-only machines:ergo, not the Internet, it doesn't make sense. How true is this statement? Read More This includes the use of offline documents.
The process to set it up is exactly the same as using Chrome on Windows, Mac, or Linux. Open the Drive or Docs apps to load the corresponding site in the Chrome browser, then enable offline the same way you would on those other platforms.
Offline access to Google Docs can also be enabled in Google Apps for Business. However, the feature is not available for individual users and you need an administrator to activate it. As always, users need to be using Chrome.
Sign in to the Google Admin console and go to Applications> Google Apps> Drive> Data access . Check the box labeled Allow users to enable offline documents followed by Save .
These settings apply to the entire organization. For Google Apps Unlimited or Google Apps for Education accounts, you can restrict offline access to individual users or groups for security reasons.
Google apps for iOS and Android Google Docs and Sheets standalone apps launched on iOS and Android Google Docs and Sheets standalone apps launched on iOS and Android While users can edit documents and spreadsheets via Google Drive before, now Google is building that functionality and breaking it up. in two separate applications:Documents and Sheets. Read More provides offline support for smartphone and tablet users. On Windows tablets, you must use the desktop methods for Chrome described above; For Windows Phone there is no support. The third-party app GDocs offers offline viewing on Windows Phone, but not editing.
Apps for iPhone and iPad, as well as Android devices, work the same way. They don't have an all encompassing "offline" setting, but instead you should make your content available offline on a file-by-file basis.
There are three different ways to accomplish this. From the main screen of the app, simply tap the “three dots” menu button below your chosen file and select Keep Offline .
Alternatively, when the file is open you can select Keep offline from the menu. Or select Details and select the same option from there. In all cases, simply uncheck the option to remove the offline version from your device.
Once you select it, the file will be downloaded. A notification will let you know when the process is complete.
Swipe in from the left edge of the screen and choose Offline of the options to show only files that are available offline.
Any edits you make are automatically saved, and those changes are synced to your account when your device connects to the Internet.
There are a few issues to be aware of when working with Google Docs offline.
Check out our cheat sheet for a helpful collection of tips, hints, and shortcuts to get the most out of Google Docs Google Docs Cheat Sheet Google Docs Cheat Sheet Read More .
Google Docs Offline Doesn't Give You a Total Replacement for MS Office Google Docs vs. Microsoft Word:The Research Deathmatch Google Docs vs. Microsoft Word Document Writing:The Research Writing Deathmatch online solutions are becoming the norm. We decided to see how Microsoft Word compares to Google Docs. Which one will do the best investigative work? Read More You will get the best of the service by using it online as long as you have an available internet connection.
But as long as you're aware of the limitations, as well as some potential pitfalls, the functionality is incredibly useful. It allows you to continue working wherever you are, safe in the knowledge that your data is safe and will sync seamlessly once the connection resumes.
With no performance hit from having the feature enabled, we recommend turning it on now, even if you think you won't need it as often.
What are your experiences using Google Docs offline on your computers or mobile devices? Let us know what you like about the service or any problems you have with it in the comments below.
