Here’s How to Use Google Drive Offline

AMERICANLEGACYMAG – Google Drive is a cloud-based storage service owned by Google that is widely used to store various important files. By default, Google Drive works online so users need an internet connection to open files in the cloud.

However, it turns out that Google Drive allows offline access for its users who are not connected to the Internet. Through Google Drive offline, users can still view and edit files, including Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.

Quoted from the Google Support page, here’s how to use Google Drive offline on a Personal Computer (PC):

Use files offline with Drive on the web

Perform these steps before enabling offline access:

• Users must be connected to the internet.
• Users must use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser.
• Don’t use private browsing.
• Install and enable the Google Docs Offline Chrome Extension.
• Make sure you have enough space on your device to save the file.

To open Google Docs, Sheets and Slides offline, do these steps:

1. Open Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. If you are using Chrome, make sure you are logged in to your desired account.
2. Go to drive.google.com/drive/settings.
3. Check the box next to “Create, open, and edit recent Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files on this device while offline”.
4. To save Google Docs, Sheets, Slides for offline use, go to drive.google.com, Right-click the Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file you want to save offline and click “Make available offline”.
5. To save multiple files offline, press Shift or Command (Mac)/Ctrl (Windows) while you click other files.
6. To preview files offline, make sure to enable offline access first. In the top right, click “Ready for offline” and then click Offline preview. If you edit a file offline, the changes will be applied when you come back online and will overwrite previous changes. You can find your edits in the file’s version history.

Use files offline with Drive for Desktop

Drive for Desktop is an application for Windows and macOS that allows users to quickly access content directly from their desktop, making it easy to access files and folders in familiar locations. When mirroring files and folders, they are always available offline. When streaming files and folders, users can make specific items available offline. 

Note that if a user disconnects their Google Drive account, files streamed offline will be deleted. Mirrored files will remain. To make Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides available offline, use files offline with Drive on the web. If you stream files from Drive to your computer, the file data will be stored in a local cache on your hard drive. 

Save non-Google files for offline use

To make a streamed file (not a Google Doc, Sheet, or Slide) available offline, follow these steps:

Windows:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Open Google Drive Folder.
3. Select a file or folder.
   • To select more than one item, hold down the Shift key and click.
4. Right-click the file or folder.
5. Click Offline Access > Available offline.
   • When you save a file offline, a green check mark will appear next to the file.

macOS:

1. Open Finder.
2. Open Google Drive Folder.
3. Select a file or folder.
   • To select more than one item, hold down the Shift key and click.
4. Right-click the file or folder.
5. Click “Available offline”.
   • When you save a file offline, a green check mark will appear next to the file.

As a side note, marking a file as available offline will cause it to take up storage space on your local hard drive. Then, marking a folder as available offline will do the same for all files in that folder, which can take up even more storage space.

New items added to a folder are automatically available offline. To see all files marked as available offline, you can open the “Offline Files” dialog in the Drive for desktop menu.