What is offline sync Google Docs?

Syncing and backing up files to Google Drive allows you to access Google Docs from anywhere in the world across different devices. But this kind of connection requires network support. If your network connection is unstable or there is an error, you may find that you cannot sync Google Docs in offline mode. So what is the offline sync Google Docs and how does offline sync work?

Enabling Google Drive offline sync means that your updates to documents, tables, and slides will be saved to the local drive when you are not connected to the Internet and will be synced to the cloud after you reconnect to the network. And whether you are offline or online, you can edit files. When you get on a plane or the Internet is interrupted, you can continue to do all the work.

How to enable offline sync Google Docs?

You can use Google Docs offline with just a few simple steps in your browser when you are online, and keep it synced after editing offline documents.

Step 1. Go to install the Google Docs Offline extension, click Add to Chrome and open it, and make sure there is enough free space on the device to save the file.

Step 2. Then go to docs.google.com while you are online, and go to the Settings.

Step 3. Scroll down to find the Offline option and toggle the switch to enable sync offline Google Docs.

Step 4. You can also click File in the menu bar, and then select Make available offline in the drop-down menu, and your file will be saved offline.

When your device is offline, Google Docs files will be saved to the local hard drive, and you need to ensure that there is enough storage locally to avoid Google Docs not saving. When the device reconnects to the network, it will enable offline sync Google Docs.

How to enable Google Drive offline sync?

In addition to Google Docs, you may need to use Google Drive files offline, such as sheets, slides, etc. The following 2 ways can help you enable offline sync.

Way 1. Enable offline access

You can easily set up offline sync by accessing Google Drive through a browser while online.

Step 1. Go to drive.google.com while you are online, and go to the Settings of Google Drive.

Step 2. Scroll down and check the box next to Sync Google Docs, Sheets, Slides & Drawings files to this computer so that you can edit offline, click Done to confirm the operation.

Way 2. Use Google Drive hard drive

The Google Drive client - Google Drive for desktop allows you to save file updates to your local drive when you are offline, and then sync the updates to the Google cloud when you reconnect to the network. The operation is as follows:

Step 1. Download and install Drive for desktop, and sign in with your Google account by tapping on Sign in with browser.

Step 2. Go ahead and complete the sign-in, and then navigate to the hard disk named Google Drive on your computer.

Step 3. When offline, you only need to copy and paste or drag the required files to the My Drive section of the Google Drive disk, and they will be synced to Google Drive when you are back online.

Bonus Tips about Google Drive files sync

In addition to how to enable and use Google Docs and Drive to sync files offline, we also provide some common questions and additional tips to help you use this feature more easily.

#1. How do I turn off offline sync on Google Docs?

If you have previously enabled the offline sync function in Google Docs, the steps you can follow to turn off the function are as follows:

Step 1. Open your Google Docs page in Chrome, after signing in, click the Settings button.

Step 2. Find the Offline option in the menu and turn off it.

#2. What types of files can you access offline from your Drive?

If your device is not connected to the network, you can still view and edit the following files:

• Google Docs.

• Google Sheets.

• Google Slides.

• Videos.

• Images.

• PDFs.

#3. How to sync Google Drive to other cloud drives?

"I want to sync Google Drive to OneDrive to save time in managing files. Is there any way?" For users who use multiple cloud drives, you may try to find a solution to synchronize Google Drive files to other cloud drives, because most cloud storage services are not allowed to directly sync with other cloud services. So how to achieve the goal?

You can use CBackup with a cloud sync function to easily sync Google Drive files. Compared with the common download, upload, and Google Takeout, using CBackup has the following outstanding advantages:

☛No need to download and upload: As a professional multi-cloud backup and sync service, CBackup supports you to use multiple clouds at the same time, so you can sync or back up data directly between cloud drives without downloading and uploading.

☛Fast sync speed: The process runs on the CBackup server, so the network status will not affect the cloud sync speed.

☛Schedule sync: You can set a sync schedule (daily/weekly/monthly), and CBackup will automatically perform the sync task.

5 steps to sync Google Drive to Dropbox below (as a demonstration):

Step 1. Get started to CBackup and sign up for an account to log in.

Step 2. Select the My Storage tab on the left and click Add Cloud to add Google Drive and Dropbox in turn.

Step 3. Then go to the Sync Tasks tab and click New Task to create a cloud to cloud sync task.

Step 4. Click Add Source to select Google Drive as the sync source, and then click Add Destination to select Dropbox as the sync destination.

Step 5. Then click Start Sync to sync from Google Drive to Dropbox.

Final words

How to set up and use offline sync Google Docs and Google Drive methods are all in the above, according to the steps you can easily use and turn off offline sync Google Docs. Besides, you can also use CBackup to cloud sync and back up files in Google Drive to avoid data loss.