How to Save or Export a Google Docs File

Being able to save a Google document offline could make life easier. It would allow you to access or edit the content, even if you don’t have an internet connection. If you are working on a project, everyone in the team will need to access the latest version of a document. Imagine how convenient it would be to export the document to a local drive to edit it offline and that the changes were reflected online so that everyone who has access to the data can see that it has been modified. What you can do is to sync the data to save changes offline and online. You can keep a copy of a new Google document in a local drive and here, we will go through the steps required to do it. You will be able to export Google Documents to a local drive, saving it as PDF or Word.

Saving a Google Doc File

In order to be able to save a Google document, there are some things that you need to have. First of all, you need access to a Google Drive account so that you can create, store, edit and share documents. To be able to access Google Drive documents, a web browser is also required. In addition, Google Drive must be installed on the computer or mobile device. Once this criteria is met, you are ready to save a Google Document. When it comes to saving a Google Document online, things are very simple. When you use Google Docs, any changes performed are automatically saved and you don’t need to click on anything. Now, if you need to access

How to Save a Google Document Offline

Now, if you need to save a Google document offline, you will need to complete the “offline access setup”. The process will only be effective when you have a good internet connection, so the steps must be followed beforehand. You will only be able to use the offline mode, if you have gone through the setup process, while you are connected to the internet. Here is what you need to do depending on the platform you are using.

Enable offline mode on Google Drive Desktop

1. Open Google Drive and select the Google Drive default folder on your desktop or laptop
2. Right click on the folder and then hover over “Google Drive” and select “Preferences”.
3. Next one of the following two options will appear: “Sync everything in My Drive” or “Sync only these folders”. You can select the one you prefer.
4. The documents will be synced and you will be able to access them offline and edit them as needed.

To access the files to modify them, you need to use the Google Drive app. All the changes will be saved to the Google Drive desktop app, even if you are not connected to the internet. Once there is an internet connection available, the document will be uploaded to the cloud and will be available through the web app.

Google Chrome Browser

1. To activate the offline mode on the browser version, open Google Chrome and login
2. Open the following Google Drive access URL https://drive.google.com/drive/settings
3. Mark the “Offline” box, which you will see before a text that says “Sync Google Docs, Sheets, Slides & Drawing files to this computer so that you can edit offline”.

Keep in mind that it is only possible to activate the offline mode on Google Chrome and other browsers are not supported. Once you enable he offline mode, you will be able to save different types of data including drawings, sheets, slides and documents.

Setting up Offline Access on Android and iOS

1. Open the Google Drive app on your iPhone, iPad or Android device
2. Look for the Google Document that you want to save so that you can access it offline
3. Click on “More”, which is an option with three vertical dots.
4. A list of options will appear. Find the one that says “Available Offline” and enable it by swiping the slider that is next to it.
5. Once the slider turns blue, it will indicate that offline access has been enabled for that file.

You will also see a notification at the bottom of the screen, letting you know that one item will be kept offline. Now it is possible to make changes to the document, even if you don’t have an internet connection. The files that are not marked for offline access will be grey. The files that have offline access enabled can found when you go to “Menu” and select “Offline”.

Save and Export a Google Document Offline

While you can make changes on a Google Document while you are offline, they will only be updated online once you connect to the internet again. In case you can go online for an extended period of time, you can save changes offline. You can follow the below steps for this purpose.

1. Make sure that offline access is enabled for Google Drive on your computer and for Google Drive on mobile devices.
2. Open the file for which you want to enable offline editing and click on the “File” menu option at the top left corner.
3. Select “Download as” from the File menu. You will see a list of file formats in which you can save the document.
4. Select the format. The file will open up and you will be able to edit it offline.

Alternatively, you can choose “Email as attachment” instead of “Download as”, if you want to send a Google document to someone via email. The attachment can be downloaded from the email for offline access and it can also be edited even if there is no internet connection available.

Keeping a copy of Google documents on your local drive will allow you to make changes whenever needed, even if you don’t have an internet connection. Once you go online, the changes can be synced and will be reflected online.