Google has been working on adding offline support for Google Docs for years, and now the company is finally letting users view and edit spreadsheets when they don’t have an internet connection.
You can download documents, board a plane and edit them in transit and then sync your data once you’re back online. Synchronization happens automatically.
Google Docs is part of the Google Drive online office and file storage suite, allowing you to create, view, edit, and share documents in a web browser (or using Chrome OS).
You could already work offline with Documents and Slides, but now Google has the offline trifecta, which means that the company’s free alternatives to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are just a bit more useful than they were yesterday.
The latest version of Google Sheets also supports larger spreadsheets with additional cells, offers faster scrolling, loading and calculation, and brings new ways to view your data. Text also reflows automatically and you can use filter views to create and save new custom views of your data.
If you don’t see the new view yet, you can check the box for “Try the new Google Sheets” in your Google Drive settings.