How to make a Google Doc available offline
Google Docs normally needs an internet connection. Once offline access is switched on, your browser keeps a copy of your recent documents on the computer, and you can pin particular files so they are always there. Anything you type while offline saves to the computer and syncs to Google when you reconnect. This guide covers Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge on a Mac or Windows PC, and the setting applies to one computer at a time.
What you'll need: A Google Account (a Gmail address counts). Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge — other browsers can't do this. An internet connection while you set it up. A normal browser window, not an Incognito or InPrivate one.
Open Google Drive
In Chrome or Edge, go to drive.google.com and sign in if you aren't already.
Open Settings
Click the gear icon (⚙️) near the top-right of the page, then click Settings.
Tick the Offline box
On the General tab, scroll to the Offline section and tick the box next to Create, open and edit your recent Google Docs, Sheets and Slides files on this device while offline.
Install the Google Docs Offline extension if asked
If your browser doesn't already have the Google Docs Offline extension, Drive says so and offers to install it. Follow the prompt to the Chrome Web Store, click Add to Chrome, then click Add extension to confirm. Edge uses the same store, so the button wording there may differ slightly.
Go back to the Drive tab. The box from step 3 should now be ticked — if it isn't, tick it again.
Close Settings and let Drive prepare
Click Done. Drive starts downloading copies of your recent documents in the background. A small tick icon appears near the gear icon at the top of the page once offline access is active — click it to check whether your files are ready.
Pin the document you need
In Drive, right-click the document and click Make available offline. Pinned files are kept on the computer whether or not you have opened them lately. Repeat for any other file you want to be certain of.
You can do the same from inside a document: click File, then Make available offline.
Check it works
Turn off Wi-Fi (or unplug the network cable), then go to docs.google.com in the same browser. Documents that are ready to use open as normal. Ones that aren't are greyed out. Make an edit, reconnect, and the change syncs to Google on its own.
Variations
Go to docs.google.com, click the menu icon (☰) at the top-left, then Settings. Switch on the Offline toggle and click OK. This is the same setting as the Drive tick box, so turning it on in one place turns it on in the other.
The Google Docs app for iPhone, iPad and Android doesn't need an extension, but it also has no general switch — you pin files one at a time. Tap the three dots next to a document in the file list, then tap Make available offline.
Go back to drive.google.com, open Settings and untick the Offline box. Do this before you walk away from a shared or public computer — otherwise copies of your documents stay on it.
Troubleshooting
Check three things: that you are in Chrome or Edge, that the window isn't Incognito or InPrivate, and that the computer is online. All three are required to turn it on. If you use a work or school account, the organisation's administrator can also block offline access, in which case there is nothing you can change yourself.
Offline access hasn't been switched on yet on this computer — go back to steps 2 to 5. It also only appears on Google's own formats (Docs, Sheets and Slides). An uploaded Word file or PDF can't be made offline from the browser this way.
The setting is per computer and per browser, not per account. Repeat the steps on each machine you want to use offline.
When you reconnect, the newer changes win, so one of you may lose some text. Click File › Version history › See version history to find and restore what was overwritten.
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