If you know you’ll be offline but you want to work on Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, you can make Google Drive files available offline.

Step 1: Make Google Drive available offline

1. Connect to the Internet.
2. Open the Google Docs Offline extension.
3. Click Add to Chrome. (If the button says “Added to Chrome,” you’ve already installed the extension.)
4. Go to drive.google.com/drive/settings.
5. In the “Offline” area, check the box. It might take a few minutes for the offline access setting to turn on.

Your Chromebook saves your most recently opened documents so you can work on them offline.

Step 2: Work on a file offline

When your Chromebook isn’t connected to the Internet:

1. Click the Launcher All Apps.
2. Click Google Drive .
3. Find the file you’d like to work on, and double-click it to open.
4. Work on your file. Any changes will sync to Google Drive the next time your Chromebook connects to the Internet.

Optional steps

Make specific files available

When you make Google Drive available offline, only your most recent files will be automatically saved offline. To manually choose files to save for offline use:

1. Follow Step 1 above to make Google Drive available offline.
2. Click the Launcher All Apps.
3. Click Google Docs , Google Sheets , or Google Slides .
4. On the file you want to use offline, click More .
5. Click Available offline. A check mark will appear in the bottom left corner to show that the file is available offline.

Stop seeing files offline

To free up hard drive space, you can delete the offline versions of your files:

1. Go to drive.google.com/drive/settings.
2. In the “Offline” area, uncheck the box.

You’ll still see your files in Google Drive when you’re connected to the Internet.