Using Chromebooks offline

What to do When Your Chromebook is Offline

(source = http://www.chromestory.com/chromebook-offline/)

Chromebooks are designed for a connected world. But what happens when you are offline? Is your Chromebook still useful?

It sure is useful to some extent. But if you are prepared enough, going offline on a Chromebook can be a much better experience.

Does Chromebook Work Offline?

It sure does. You can login and move around without any issues. You can browse and use your locally stored files too. You can remain productive even without internet connection. You can view and edit documents, play songs and watch movies, or edit pictures!

In the perfect world that Chrome OS imagines, you should be saving your files on the cloud. However, in a school/multi user environment it also pays to store files on USB memory sticks or SD cards for additional storage.

And then there is a lot more that you can be prepared for. There are apps that work offline, and there is document editing on a Chromebook even when you are offline. We will look at each of them in detail.

What Can I Do On My Chromebook When It is Offline?

• View photos
• Edit Photos
• Watch movies
• Play music
• Read books
• View Microsoft Word documents
• Edit MS Word documents
• View Microsoft Excel documents
• Edit MS Excel documents
• View PDFs
• Play Games
• Use multiple native apps

Install Offline Chromebook Apps

There are Chrome apps designed to work perfectly even when you are offline. Here are some top Chrome Apps for your Chromebook.

Pocket: Pocket has a neat Chrome app that lets you read articles offline. If you are a Pocket user, there is no need of introduction here. It is the same Pocket experience that you get on iOS or Android

Wunderlist for Chrome: Your beautiful and simple to-do list app, now as a Chrome app.

Any.DO: Another world famous to-do list app as a Chrome app!

Google Keep: The note taking app from Google that we all have a lot of hope on. Google has an elegant Chrome App for Google Keep.

Type Fu: Type Fu is an app that will teach you how to type fast. The right way. Directly in your browser.

Enable Offline Support for Google Docs on Chromebook

Google Docs works offline too. But you will have to set this up first. Here is how:

From drive.google.com,

1. click More on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. Select Offline Docs.

Setting up offline access is a two-step process.

1. First, click the blue button that saysGet the app. If you already have the app installed, you won't need to complete this step. You'll be taken to the Chrome web store.
2. Click Add to Chrome in the upper-right corner of the browser window.

Once the app is installed, you'll be taken to a Chrome page with the Google Drive app icon. To return to Drive, click the Google Drive icon.

On the right side of the dialog on the Offline Docs page, click the blue button that says Enable offline.

You can open and edit Microsoft Word documents using the Google Docs app on your Chromebook.

Open an existing document:

Edit files in Office Compatibility Mode

• Open the Word(r) file you want to edit.
• Click the File menu.
• If you see "Office Compatibility Mode" in the menu, you can edit the file or save it to Google Docs for the ability to work with others.

Once you've opened a file, you can edit it in Office Compatibility Mode. To check if a file is in Office Compatibility Mode, follow the steps below.

To learn more about Google Docs, check out the Google Docs getting started guide.

Microsoft PowerPoint on a Chromebook

You can open and edit Microsoft PowerPoint presentations using the Google Slides app on your Chromebook.

Open an existing presentation:

Your Chromebook will automatically update to allow you to edit Office files in the Slides app.

• If you see "Office Compatibility Mode" in the menu, you can edit the file or save it to Google Docs for the ability to work with others.

To learn more about Google Slides, check out the Google Slides getting started guide.

What About Playing Music and Watching Movies

We are still waiting for a Chrome App for Google Play music, with offline support. But for now, the built-in media player can play media that you have stored on your Chromebook's local storage or an external storage device (SD cards, USB etc)

The player offers the following features:

• Rewind / forward (by sliding the bar left / right)
• Play / pause
• Full screen mode
• Volume controls
• Playlist and Next / Previous available for audio files
• The following file types are supported:
• · .3gp
• · .avi
• · .mov
• · .mp4
• · .m4v
• · .m4a
• · .mp3
• · .mkv
• · .ogv
• · .ogm
• · .ogg
• · .oga
• · .webm
• · .wav

An HDMI cable or simple HDMI to VGA adaptor cable will also allow you to mirror your Chromebook display onto a projector or other external monitor with HDMI or VGA support.

Can I Edit Photos on a Chromebook Without Internet Connection?

You can use the built-in image editor on your Chromebook to easily touch up photos and other images you've saved, even when you are offline. Changes are saved automatically. While browsing images on the Files app, click the pencil icon to being up the image editor.