Use Google Drive files offline on your Chromebook

You can use some Google Drive files offline. These include Docs, Sheets, Slides, and other file types.

Tips:

When you make files available offline, the next time your Chromebook connects to the internet, your changes sync to Google Drive.
Some apps may not work when you’re offline.

Unsupported files

Some files aren’t available offline. These include:

Google Maps
Google Forms

There are 2 ways to use your Google Drive files offline.

Method 1: Make individual files & folders available offline

Step 1: Turn on offline settings

Go to your Google Drive Settings.
Scroll to "Offline" and check the box.
- It might take a few minutes for the offline access setting to turn on.

Tip: Your Chromebook automatically makes some of your recently opened files available offline.

Step 2: Make specific files & folders available offline

Important: These steps work with shared drives as well.

Open the Files app .
Select Google Drive .
Select the file or folder you want to use offline.
At the top, turn on Available offline.
- To show that it’s available offline, a check mark appears next to the file or folder.

Make specific files & folders unavailable offline

To make individual files unavailable offline:

Open the Files app .
Select Google Drive .
Select the file you want to no longer be available offline.
At the top, turn off Available offline.

Method 2: My Drive one-click setup (Chromebook Plus only)

If you have a Chromebook Plus, you can make all files in your “My Drive” available offline. To turn on File sync:

When your Chromebook is online, go to Settings .
Select Advanced Files Google Drive.
Turn on Access your Google Drive files when you’re offline.
- You must have enough available storage space on your device. Learn more about checking storage.

Once turned on, the files in “My Drive” start to sync to your Chromebook. Once synced, you find a check mark next to the file. Your Google Drive settings show “File sync is on.”

Tip: If you can’t find a check mark next to the file, the file may be waiting to be synced, or may not have synced successfully.

Files outside of My Drive

If you want to use individual Drive files offline that aren't stored within My Drive:

Open the Files app .
Select Google Drive .
Select the file you want to use offline.
At the top, turn on Available offline.

Turn off File sync

To stop new files automatically being made available offline:

On your Chromebook, go to Settings .
Select Advanced Files Google Drive.
Turn off Access your Google Drive files when you’re offline.

Once turned off, your Google Drive settings show “File sync is off.”

Tips:

Files previously made available offline remain available offline.
If your available storage on the device runs low, the feature turns off automatically.

Clean up storage used by offline files

On your Chromebook, go to Settings .
Select Advanced Files Google Drive.
Select Clean up storage.
- Some files may remain available offline.
If you’ve disconnected Drive, you must reconnect it to clear offline storage.

Tip: If your available storage on the device runs low, offline files are no longer available offline.

Related resources

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