Google Docs Offline mode is very useful while traveling on
an airplane / if you're in a cafe with no Internet connectivity
Offline mode in Google Docs is especially useful while traveling on
an airplane or if you're in a cafe with no Internet connectivity. When
you get back online, your changes will be synced to the cloud. One
drawback, however, is that offline support isn't available to the full
Google Docs suite. You'll be able to edit only documents offline. You
can view spreadsheets, but you can't edit them. Presentations, drawings
and other items from your Documents List won't be available while you're
offline.
If you use Firefox or Internet Explorer, this next bit of news might
be disappointing: Offline mode works only in the Chrome browser. It's a
smart tactic by Google to get people to use Chrome, but it is a bit
annoying if you don't regularly use the browser.
After setting up Chrome, you will need to allow offline access on your
computer. If you're using the classic look, click the gear icon in the
upper right-hand of your window. If you are using the new look, click
the grey gear just above your document list. You'll see a new option in
the drop-down menu that reads "Set up Docs offline (beta)."
After
clicking on that option, you'll be taken to a separate window with an
"Enable offline Docs" button. When you complete that step, you'll be
asked to install the Google Drive Chrome web app (if you haven't
already). You're taken directly to the Chrome Store where you can
quickly download the Drive app. The app will show up alongside your
other Chrome apps; click on it and you're back to your Documents List.
In the upper right corner, you'll see a notification informing you
that your recently open documents and spreadsheets are being
synchronized. Click "View offline Docs" from the gear menu, and you can
see which documents are available to you offline. And that's it--you're
ready to start working on Google Docs offline. The whole process takes
about five minutes to set up if you already have Chrome installed on
your PC.
Google Documents in offline mode worked well and felt stable once I
had it set up. I was disappointed that you can't actually create
documents offline; you can only edit them. Bizarrely, there's a button
at the top of your offline documents window labeled "New Document," but
clicking on it brings you to a page informing you "this document is not
available offline." It seems like an oversight to include this
non-functioning function, but this is a Google beta project after all. I
hope that Google expands offline editing mode to spreadsheets and
presentations in future updates as well.
