Edit Office Documents in Google Drive: It Will Now Come by Default

Google Drive is the cloud storage server that Google offers to all users. On this server we can save all the files we want safely so that we can access them at any time and from anywhere. Besides being our own “hard disk in the cloud”, this platform also includes Google Docs, the office suite in the cloud that allows us to have our own Word, Excel and PowerPoint for free without depending on programs or Microsoft.

Google Docs is made up of its own office programs. All users with a Google account can use this suite completely free of charge. We can create our own documents with the suite and save them in the cloud to have them synchronized and always available from there.

Edit Office Documents in Google Drive

In addition, Google allows us to upload to the cloud any document that has been created with another office program, such as Word and Excel, so that we can access these files directly from your cloud. The problem is that, being external documents, they were always opened by default in “preview” mode , and to be able to edit and work with them you had to go around. Until now.

Google Docs

Google will open DOCX, XLSX and more in edit mode directly

Google has implemented a change within its cloud, which will gradually reach all users of the same, with which it will allow users to directly open all documents created with other programs, such as Microsoft Office, and subsequently uploaded to their cloud directly with the editor. Some of the formats that are part of this new configuration are docx, .doc, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx, and .xlsm.

Password-protected documents will not be affected by this change, but will continue to open in preview mode and we will have to enter the editing options ourselves. And if we have an extension installed, such as the Google edit extension, this will be used by default to open the files.

We can also open any file in “preview” mode by selecting this option in the list of elements, or by holding down the P key on the keyboard while we double-click on the file to open it in this way.

When the change will come

Google has everything ready to start bringing this change to all Google Drive users . However, this change will not come to everyone at the same time. The company will gradually activate this option for users, starting with those with professional accounts, and ending with users of the free version of the suite. In total, it is expected that all users can enjoy this change as of November 30 . Until then, Google Drive documents will continue to work as they always have.

Thanks to this change, Google wants to improve productivity and workflow a little more directly from its office suite. Without a doubt, a great move that will make the use of Google Docs more comfortable and better.