Google Drive is one of the most famous free alternatives for Microsoft Office applications like PowerPoint, Excel and MS Word, however, as it is a cloud based service, one can easily get annoyed during internet connection hiccups or ISP issues. In such a case not only can it be quite troublesome to loose access to documents saved to the cloud but the complete reliance of some people on Google drive might mean that they may not have any alternative for creating, viewing and editing Office documents on their computer or mobile device. Luckily, Google has made it possible for users to use Google Drive offline, with complete options for creating, editing and viewing documents.
Enable Google Drive Offline Service
While the below mentioned method can be used for managing various types of Google Drive supported document formats offline, however, for the purpose of this post we will show you how to create a presentation offline using Google Drive. In the first step, go to Google Drive from your Chrome browser and click More.
This will expand the menu and show you an Offline option. Click the Offline tab, followed by the Enable Offline button. It is worth mentioning here that you may need to install an additional web app (via Get the app button), before you acquire offline access. Since the latest version of Chrome already comes with the Google Drive web app, you may not need to add the first web app, in such a case you will see a message indicating that you already have the first web app installed (as shown below).
Note: Google Drive Offline access only works with the Chrome browser and requires the installation of the two web apps (mentioned above) as a per-requisite for offline access.
Create, View And Edit Google Drive Documents Without Internet Connection
Enabling offline access will allow you to view, edit and create Google Drive documents offline, using the Chrome browser. The below image shows a new presentation that was created using Google Drive without internet connectivity.
You can create such documents anytime by going to http://drive.google.com offline (once the web apps have been installed). Your documents with sync online when internet access is restored.
Limitations Of Google Drive Offline Access
The below chart shows the limitations of Google Drive offline access across various devices. While this chart by Google does not specifically mention the creation of new documents, we were able to create a presentation offline, which successfully got synced when internet access was restored.
