What Does “Make Available Offline” Mean in Google Drive?

Quick Tips

• To make it easier for people to work anytime with files in Google Drive, they can be accessed offline – without Wi-Fi or mobile data.
• Once a file is available for offline use, you can open and edit it without an internet connection.
• Download the Google Docs Offline Chrome Extension and enable the option of opening and editing your recent Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files on this device when offline.

Difference Between Offline and Download

• Downloading a file creates a separate copy of the file independent of the original file in Google Drive.
• You can change its location on your device, modify it, or delete it. None of this will affect the online file.
• On the contrary, when you make a file available for offline usage, it’s an offline version of your actual file.
• You cannot access it via your device’s file manager; you can only access it through the Google Drive app or website.
• Both types of files consume storage on your device.

What Is Meant By Offline Files in Google Drive?

Normally, Google Drive and its components, such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, need internet connectivity to open and perform actions such as editing, saving, etc. To make it easier for people to work anytime with these files, they can be accessed offline – without Wi-Fi or mobile data.

Note: Offline files work only on Google Chrome browser (Computer) and Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides mobile apps (Android and iOS).

Once a file is available for offline use, you can open and edit it without an internet connection. That said, any changes made to the file will be saved locally. Later, when you gain access to the internet, Google will check for changes in the file and update its online version accordingly. The new version will then be synced to your device and made available offline as well.

Note: Google files such as Docs, Slides, and Sheets do not count in Google storage, but if you make them available offline, they will take up storage on your device (mobile or PC).

When it comes to shared files, collaborators will not view any edits immediately. Only when you connect your device to the internet will your offline edits sync. In most cases, the changes made online by other collaborators will replace or succeed your offline changes, if any.

How Do Offline Files Work in Google Drive

There are two ways to make your Google Docs, Spreadsheets, or Slides available offline. Firstly, you can enable offline availability for the most recently edited files in Drive. So, any recently edited file on that device will automatically appear offline.

In the second method, if you don’t want to make all files available offline, manually select the files that should work offline using the Make available offline feature. This method also works if you want to make an old file usable for offline usage or to be sure that a file is available offline. That’s because files made offline using this method will show an offline symbol.

Note: Offline availability of files should be activated on each device separately.

For both methods, you must first be connected to the internet. If you are offline and then enable the Offline feature, it will not work. So, the offline availability feature should be activated before going offline.

How to Enable and Use Offline Files in Google Drive on Mobile and Web

The steps differ for mobile apps (Android and iOS) and desktop versions. So, let’s check separately.

On Web

Step 1: The offline Drive files necessarily need the Google Chrome browser to work. Download the Chrome browser on your computer.

Step 2: Next, install the Google Docs Offline extension.

In most of the cases, it will be already installed and enabled for Chrome. You can check under chrome://extensions. If it’s off, enable the extension using the toggle.

Step 3: Once the extension is enabled, open Google Drive > click on the Settings icon at the top > choose Settings from the menu.

Check the box for Offline or the option that says Create, open, and edit your recent Google Docs Sheets, and Slides files on this device when offline.

Note: If the Google Docs offline extension is disabled or uninstalled, you will be prompted to enable it.

Alternatively, visit docs.google.com and hit the three-bar icon at the top. Choose Settings. Enable the toggle for the Offline feature.

Note: You can enable this feature in Drive or Docs. It will reflect on all the supported files, such as Sheets and Slides.

After enabling Offline mode, Google will sync all your Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets to the computer. Ensure you have sufficient storage on your computer.

To view the files offline, open the Google Drive website > click on the Offline preview icon at the top > enable the toggle for Offline preview.

When Offline Preview is enabled, the files that cannot be accessed offline will be grayed out. So, you can easily find the files that can be used offline without the internet.

Enable Offline Mode for Selected Files Only

If you don’t want to sync all files for offline use, select the files manually that should be made offline. First, turn off the toggle for Offline from the Google Drive website or Google Docs.

Open Google Drive > three dots next to your file name > Make available offline.

If the option is grayed out, your admin has disabled Offline file access.

You must be wondering, now that you have made the files ready for offline usage, how to access them when you are offline? For that, open the Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides website in the Chrome browser. Those websites will open to show the usual files and display unavailable files in gray.

Open any file to edit it. Next to the edited offline files, a new icon will appear indicating that changes have been made to the file that have yet to be synced with the online version.

Few Things to Take Care of While Using Offline Feature of Google Drive

• Use the Google Chrome browser on your PC.
• Ensure you are signed in to Chrome using the same Google account that has offline access enabled.
• Only one Google account can have offline access per Chrome profile. To enable the offline feature on your other Google account, you must log out and disable offline access from the other account or use a different Chrome profile.
• You must set up offline access separately for each computer.
• Offline mode will not work in incognito mode.

Turn on Offline Viewing of Google Drive Files on Mobile

On iOS, you can view and edit only Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files offline. But on Android, besides the Docs, Sheets, and Slides files, you can enable offline mode for videos, images, and PDFs too.

Open the app > hamburger menu icon at the top-left corner > Settings > enable Make recent files available offline.

When you make a file offline using the above method, the offline icon will appear with the file name.

To view all offline files, tap on the three-bar icon of any of three Google apps (Docs, Slides, Sheets) and select Offline. Open the file to edit it.