Work with Office files using Office editing

You can directly edit, comment, and collaborate on Office files using Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Changes will be auto-saved to the file in Office format. 

Add an Office file to Google Drive

1. On your iOS phone or tablet, open the Google Drive app.
2. Tap Add   Upload.
3. Find the file you want to upload.
4. Tap the file.
5. View your uploaded file in My Drive until you move it.

Tip: If you edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents older than Office 2007, files are saved to a newer format.

Supported Office File Formats 

You can use Office editing with the following Office file types: 

• Word files: .doc, .docx, .dot
• Excel files: .xls, .xlsx, .xlt, .xlsm 
• PowerPoint files: .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .pot

Tip: If you edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents older than Office 2007, files are saved to a newer format.

Open an Office file in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides 

1. In Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, tap the Office file. 
2. You can now edit, share, collaborate in real-time with others, and more. Changes you make will be saved as a Microsoft Office file.

Tip: If you view but don't edit an Office file in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, the original Office file won’t change.

To learn more about what you can do with the document, visit the Google Docs Help Center. 

Edit an Office file

1. On your iOS phone or tablet, open the Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides app  Open a file.
2. Double-tap the word you want to edit. 
   Tip: On Google Docs, tap Edit .
3. Move the blue markers to select all the text you want to edit.
4. Edit your text.

Tip: To undo or redo an action, tap Undo  or Redo .

Convert an Office file to Docs, Sheets, or Slides 

1. On your iOS phone or tablet, open the Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides app.
2. Tap the options menu  next to the file you want to convert.
3. Tap Save as Google Docs/Sheets/Slides file.

Fix problems with Office editing 

Files open in Office Compatibility Mode (OCM)

If you open a file that is not stored in Google Drive, it will open in an Office Compatibility Mode and may be missing some of our latest features. To use Office editing, first upload your local file to Google Drive.

Some features from Microsoft Office are not displayed, lost or are not editable in Office editing

As we continue to improve Office editing in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, you can find incompatibilities for certain features.

Some features are not displayed and/or editable, but will be preserved in the document and viewable in Microsoft Office.

Other features may be lost or altered in the latest version of the file when it is edited in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides. You will see a notification within the document if editing will cause any features to be lost or altered. 

If you can’t edit your Office files while offline

If you can’t edit Office files offline, you can make them available offline. Learn how to work on your files offline.

If you've made changes offline to your Office files & can't see your edits on another device 

• Make sure your other device is connected to the internet.
• It can be because the original device where you made your edits hasn’t reconnected to the internet yet. Check your internet connection on that device.

If changes made in Google Docs Editors don't save to your Office file

Google Docs will periodically try to save your changes into your Office files. In most cases, the problem should fix itself. If you're still having problems: 

• Refresh the page. 
• Close and re-open the document. 
• Your file is too large to save as an Office file. Try to reduce the file size, or convert it to Google Docs.

Inactive comments may be removed if edited outside of Google Docs 

• If you delete or resolve a comment in Google Docs, or delete text that has been commented on, those comments will become inactive in Google Docs editors.
• Inactive comments are not saved back to the office file and are only visible when opening the file in Google Docs editors.