Can I Download Google Docs On My Mac

We’re not exactly spoilt for choice when it comes to text editors on the Mac. It boils down to Microsoft Word, Pages, or an open source option such as Office Libre (formally Open Office) or Neo Office.

1. Google Docs For Windows 10 Free
2. Why Can't I Download Google Docs On My Macbook

In my opinion the best Text Editor on Mac is '>Google Docs. It’s quick, simple, and (best of all) all your documents are automatically saved online. Oh, and it’s free.

Docs, Mac OS, Personal use. Get Link Report Abuse. Recommended Answer. Most Relevant Answer. Hi, Marilyn, If you have a Google account, you can simply open the Docs Editors apps on your Macbook via any supported browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari). If you have a Google account, you can simply open the Docs Editors apps on your. To make matters worse, when you download a PDF of your doc it screws up the pagination and formatting again. To make a useful PDF I have to use my mac's PDF printing feature. I've torn my hair out repeatedly with this app, to the point where going back to a mac laptop and word seems like the only logical way forward. Google Docs can view.

But I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking Google Docs is a web app and not really a Mac OS X text editor, and you’re right; it’s not.

However, you can turn Google Docs into desktop app on your Mac by using Fluid.app.

Fluid.app is a free app that lets you create a desktop app out of any website or web application. After you download Fluid.app, run it, and follow the prompts to add google.com/docs as a desktop app. You must also give your app a name (Google Docs or whatever you wish) and specify an image. It’s best to use an image such as this one rather than choosing to use the website’s default image. After you click create, you are asked if you would like to open the app.

This is the result:

A lovely Google Docs icon will appear in your dock that when launched opens up the Google Docs login interface. Select “remember me” and you will be automatically logged in every time you open the app.

Creating a new document within your Google Docs app will open the newly created document in a new tab. Just like in a web browser, and just like in a native desktop app.

Google Docs For Windows 10 Free

You might be thinking “this is nothing new, I can just load up my browser and go to Google.com/docs and do all this stuff anyway”. And you are right! You can.

But using a desktop app to access Google Docs makes life so much easier. Instead of loading up your browser, navigating to the web page and logging in, you simply click on Google Docs in your dock. And instead of jumping from tab to tab in your browser looking for the proper document, you can move between a few open tabs in your desktop client. Overall, it makes interacting with Google Docs a far simpler process.

If you’re not happy with the above setup, you might be interested in Memo Connect for PC, Mac, iPhone, & iPad. Memo Connect costs $9 for a 1 year license and provides a desktop interface for Google Docs.

If you’re looking for a free option, then I can’t recommend Google Docs + Fluid enough.

Best data sync app for Mac

Google’s G Suite has become an incredibly popular collection of productivity apps, similar to Microsoft Office. For a free text processor, it’s hard to beat Google Docs for Mac and other G Suite products. You can use even use Google Drive offline to store documents, change numbers with Google Sheets offline, or add an image to your presentation with Google Slides offline. When you make edits without internet connectivity, the changes you made will automatically update the next time your device is able to sync with the web.

You should always sign into your Google Docs when you don’t have a stable internet connection if you need to make any changes to your files, but how do you do this? If you’re wondering how to edit Google Docs offline, there is indeed a way to launch your files without any WiFi.

Get the toolkit for offline productive

Setapp is 170+ different ways to stay productive on Mac. From offline text editors to backup tools, keep everything in one spot

Why Can't I Download Google Docs On My Macbook

Learn To Offline Sync Google Docs, Sheets, And Slides

As Safari is the default browser on Macs, before you can use Google Docs offline, you need to make Google Chrome the default one instead. Without making this change, an offline attempt to open a document, edit Google Sheets offline, or a Google Slides offline file will lead to an error page. Changing your default browser is easy (make sure you have Google Chrome installed first):

1. In the Apple Menu, choose System Preferences

2. Select the General icon

3. In the “Default web browser” section, select Google Chrome

By switching your default browser, Chrome will launch each time you open a URL on your Mac. More importantly, once you’ve made Chrome the default browser, you can set up your Google Drive to offline sync Google Docs and enable offline editing of Google Docs too.

Manage Google Docs Offline extension

Once Google Chrome is your default, you’ll be able to sync your Google Drive files to your Mac using Google Docs Offline extension. You can then use Google Docs without internet and access your most relevant documents for offline viewing and editing. If you’ve been asking yourself how to enable offline editing of Google Docs, installing the Chrome extension is the right first step:

1. In Chrome, download and install the Google Docs Offline extension

2. Follow the directions and sign into your Google account

3. In your My Drive page, select the gear icon in the upper-right corner

4. Choose Settings

5. Select General from the list

6. Check the box beside Sync Google Docs, Sheets, Slides & Drawings

7. Click Done

How to turn on offline sync on Google Docs

Now all the files within Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides should be available within your Chrome browser without the need for a WiFi connection. But you also need them on your Mac. To access G Suite files from your computer, download the personal version of Backup and Sync for Google Drive.

1. Open Backup and Sync in the Applications folder

2. Sign into your Google account

3. Select the option to save files directly to Google Drive

4. Check the box beside Sync My Drive to this computer and click Start

Your online files will be downloaded to a Google Drive folder on your Mac. Even better, any future files you add to your Google Drive will automatically download to your computer as well. But before you complete a Google Docs offline sync, don’t forget to make sure you have enough available space on your hard drive (or other device) to save your files!

How to work on Google Docs offline from your Finder

To easily access your Google Docs offline, you can launch files directly from your Mac’s Finder. But first download Google Drive for Mac onto your machine. Once done:

1. Launch Google Drive from Applications

2. Sign in with your Google account information. By default, Google Drive will add its folder under your home directory.

3. Select which folders within Google Drive will sync automatically

4. Choose whether to have Google Drive launch every time your Mac starts up

Now, a Google Drive folder will be available in your Finder sidebar, so you can effortlessly share documents and files between your Mac and your cloud-enabled Google Drive. When you download Google Drive for Mac, anything you add into your Google Drive folder will be available online as well.

How to make a Google Doc available offline

Once you’ve completed Google Docs offline sync and your Google Drive files are available on your Mac, you can access them directly through Finder. For some users, it may still be easier to access files from drive.google.com though. No problem. With a new Google feature, you can see which of your files are available in Google Drive offline mode. To turn this on, enable a setting that shows file’s offline capability:

1. Access your Google Drive via drive.google.com

2. Select Settings and click General

3. Select Sync Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawing files

Once the setting is enabled, you’ll see an offline icon that tells you which files have been saved on your local drive. You can also switch the toggle to “Offline preview” to display the documents that are available for viewing and editing without the internet connection. Documents and files not accessible offline will turn gray.

To help you, Google Drive makes all the files you’ve recently accessed automatically available offline. In addition, you’re also able to right-click and change the toggle on the “Available offline” setting for each file.

Faster backup and sync for all your files on Mac

Now that you know how to use Google Docs offline on your Mac, you need to make sure you have a safe backup of all the files on your computer. The easy way to do this is with ChronoSync Express.

Keep data safe with ChronoSync Express

Get ChronoSync Express to sync data across devices and schedule backups. Every file you need, securely protected on Mac.

ChronoSync Express gives you peace of mind with regards to keeping files and personal data safe no matter where you are. If you need to remotely synchronize data from your iPhone or iPad, you can schedule backup and synchronization tasks to run during a specific timeframe with no fuss.

More (and better) cloud storage software alternatives

If Google Drive isn’t enough and you need additional cloud storage for your documents, photos, or files, there are lots of alternatives, starting with iCloud and Dropbox. Even when your Mac’s hard drive is packed, you can use increase cloud space to boost your storage capacity.

CloudMounter is a genius app that lets you turn additional space on Google Drive and other cloud storage solutions like Amazon S3 and even OneDrive into a usable place for all your tasks on Mac. It’s as simple as accessing your cloud files with drag and drop.

Both ChronoSync Express and CloudMounter are available on Setapp, a collection of more than 150 Mac apps and utilities you can use daily to make your Mac life easier and more productive. Sign up for a free 7-day trial of Setapp to these apps and many more a go.

Now that you know how to use Google Docs offline, you can update your resume, write articles, or work on that paper right from your web browser or Mac. Make as many edits on the fly without the need for any internet at all!

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

Sign Up