Make Google Apps Available Offline

I want to fully live in the cloud. I want ONE version and 100% confidence that it is the correct version. NO COPIES. I do not want to work on a document, share it with someone else and we have two different versions, different documents. If I make updates whoever I shared it with will automagically have the update, 100% confidence. Years ago I gave up using Microsoft Office when Google Apps was a fledgling product and feature poor. Why did I do that? COLLABORATION. I can live without the features in the ribbon that hardly anyone uses, but I can not live without collaboration. Thankfully over the years G Suite Google Apps keeps getting better and better. Google has features that Office does not have (and vice versa).

But what if I am on a plane?

You can still use Google Apps when you are offline. You obviously can not use features that are dependent on the web like sharing a document or searching the web to insert pictures. You can add pictures to your Doc and Slides while offline though, just not from the web 🙂

Set up Offline in Google Drive

Go to http://drive.google.com and click on the settings cog and choose settings. Make sure the checkbox for offline is checked. You should see an icon in your Google Drive to show that you are ready for offline. This is a circle with a checkmark in it.

Think Ahead

It is helpful to realize what documents you may need offline access to. In the Docs, Sheets, Slides you are using, use the File menu and choose “Make available offline.”