Google Photos is one of the best new products the Mountain View company has rolled out in some time. It has a great interface, some nice navigation tricks, and smart search so you can look up. Open the Google Drive folder Navigate to the file you want to view/edit offline and double-click Google-format files (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings) will open in Chrome if you've set up offline access; non-Google format files (Word, Excel, pdf) will open in the appropriate program. Google Drive allows users to store, synchronize files across devices, and share files. Photos, videos, presentations, PDFs, Microsoft Office files, etc can be safely stored in your Google Drive and it is very easy to upload and download heavy files using it. There's unfortunately no way of viewing all photos offline other than keeping a local copy of all the photos. The Google Photos mobile app requires an Internet connection to access the photos.
Google Drive is my favorite platform for the word processing and spreadsheet suite within. I've used Microsoft Office for years but settled in very quickly when I was introduced to Google Docs and the like. With all its power of sharing files, making surveys, and even tracking your expenses, you hardly want to go without it once you've began. But the biggest advantage MS Office has always had over Google Drive is that you can use the former offline… or is it?
Fortunately, there's a super simple way to keep using some of Google Drive even if your Internet connection has dropped.
Google offers a setting and web app that allow viewing and using some of your Drive files offline. Before we look at how this is done, consider a few things Google has told us about offline access:
- Offline access is available in Chrome and on Chrome OS devices only.
- Offline access is available only for Google documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
- You can edit and create new Google documents and presentations while offline.
- Offline spreadsheets are available in view-only mode. You must restore your Internet connection to make any edits or create new spreadsheets.
If this sounds like something you could benefit from, let's look at how to get it enabled and ensure you have your files available even when the network is down.
How to Set Up Google Drive for Offline Use
Step 1: Open your Drive and then choose Morefrom the menu on the left and then Offlinefrom the resulting dropdown menu. Or just click here to go straight to the offline settings.
Step 2: The page that will appear to the right will instruct you to first download the Drive Chrome web app. You can get that here.
The app will display as an icon in a new tab.
Cool Tip: Here are some other nice Chrome apps that use Google Drive.Step 3: Next, go back to the Drive Offline settings and click to Enable Offline.
The files will sync with your local computer at this time. If you have many files it could take some time to sync, but I had over 40 and it didn't take very long.
When finished, you can see when the last sync took place at the top of the Drive page.
How to Access Drive Files Offline
Now when the network connection is down, you can still access your Drive files with the web app you installed in Step 2 or just by going to the Drive website.
The small icon next to the documents title indicates you're in offline mode.
When you make changes to these offline files, it's indicative that they save offline at the top of every document.
You can even create new files with the regular Create button.
When the network connection has been re-established, simply click Switch to Docs online or load an entirely new Google Drive page with a refresh. Every file you edited or created while offline will now sync back with the online version of Drive.
How to Disable Google Drive for Offline Use
Step 1: If you no longer wish to use Google Drive Offline and therefore have no reason to sync the files to your local computer, simply open the gears menu and click Disable Offline.
Step 2: Confirm this by clicking Disable Offline Docs.
These local Drive files will be removed momentarily and you'll have to repeat the above steps to re-enable their offline access.
Note: If you like using it offline, why not see how to get Google Drive on your portable USB drive too?Conclusion
There's absolutely no reason to be deprived of all of Google Drive's glory just because your Internet connection has gone kaput. Enable offline access now so you don't regret it in the future. Even if you're unsure whether it will of benefit for you, enabling it now will ensure that you won't have to worry when the time comes and you really need it.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
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How to recover permanently deleted photos from Google Photos? I deleted some photos from Google photos and now need to get them back. It has been more than 60 days and the photos have been removed from Trash. Is there a way to restore permanently deleted pictures from the Trash?
To recover deleted photos from Google Photos, the first thing you should try is to restore the photos from Trash. However, if you cannot see the photos in the Trash or you have deleted them from the Trash, there is still chance to recover the photos.
Method 1: Restore Deleted Photos from Trash
When a photo is deleted from Google Photos, the photo will be moved to Trash and saved on the Trash for 60 days. Therefore, open the Trash and see if you can restore the deleted Google photos.
Step 1 Open Google Photos app on your Android phone.
Step 2 Tap Menu icon (the three bars one). Choose Trash and search for the photos/videos that you want to undelete.
How To See Google Photos Offline
Step 3 Touch the deleted photos/videos and choose restore icon to undelete them. How to find your xbox controller.
If you couldn't find the deleted photos on the Trash, there are two possibilities:
You have permanently deleted the photos or the photos have been moved to the Trash for 60 days. In this case, move on to Method 2.
If the photos are not in the Trash even though they are deleted less than 60 days, it is possible that the photos are not synced or backed up to Google Photos. Photos that are on the phone but not synced or backed up, will still appear in Google Photos with this icon in the corner. If this is the case, you should try to recover the deleted photos from your phone instead of Google Photos. Move on to Method 3.
Method 2: Contact Google Support to Recover Permanently Deleted Pictures
If you also use Google Drive service, you can contact Google Drive support team and see if they can help, especially when your photos are gone from Google photos for no reason. Some users on Google forum have managed to recover permanently deleted pictures with the help of Google Drive support. It is said that the support team can restore photos up to 21 days after permanent deletion.
Step 1 Go to Google Drive Help page. Choose Missing or deleted files.
Step 2 You can talk to a support specialist or submit a form for deleted Google photos recovery.
Method 3: Recover Permanently Deleted Google Photos from Android Phone
To view the photos offline, photos synced or backed up to Google Photos are also stored in your phone memory. But when the photos are deleted from Google Photos, they are also deleted from your phone memory. If you fail to retrieve the deleted photos from Google Photos, you can recover the deleted photos from your phone as a workaround.
FonePaw Android Data Recovery can retrieve permanently deleted photos from your Android phone. Deleted photos will stay in your phone memory as unreadable data for a period of time. And Android Data Recovery can detect the unreadable data and restore the deleted photos from the data.
However, you should be aware that the data of the deleted photos will be overwritten by new data in any minute. Therefore, stop using your phone after the deletion and use Android Data Recovery to get back the photos as soon as possible.
Note: If you want to recover deleted Google photos for iPhone, please check how to recover photos from iPhone.
Step 1 Install FonePaw Android Data Recovery on your Mac/PC. Run it.
How To View Google Photos
Step 2 Connect your Android phone to the computer with USB cable.
Step 3 Follow the instruction of the program to enable USB debugging and authorize the device.
Step 4When you are asked to select the data type for recovery, choose Gallery, Picture Library. The program will scan your phone for deleted photos.
Step 5When the scan is done, choose Gallery/Picture Library to search the deleted photos that you need. Click Recover to get back the photos on the computer.
Use Google Photos Offline
The FonePaw Android Data Recovery can also recover contacts, notes and more for Android phones.
