Last year I posted directions on how to enable offline use of Google Drive. Those directions are still valid for anyone using the older version of Google Drive. If you’re using the latest version of Google Drive, the process is slightly different and much easier.
To enable offline use of Google Drive on a laptop or Chromebook open Drive in a Chrome browser window. You will want to be signed into your Chrome profile while you do this. Now follow the two steps pictured in the screenshots below.
1. Open the gear icon in the upper-right corner of Drive. Select “settings.”
2. In the settings window select “Sync your work to this computer so that you can edit offline.”
A few things to note about using Drive offline.
- Drive will only work offline in a Chrome browser window.
- You can use Drive offline on multiple computers, but you need to enable it on each computer individually.
- If you share computers with another person, you may not want to sync to that computer as it could give both people access to the files.
- If you are using Google Drive within a Google Apps for Education domain, your domain administrator will have to enable the option for users to use Google Drive offline.
