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 saved automatically to the file in Office format.

Add an Office file to Google Drive

On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
At the top left, click New File upload.
Choose the file that you want to upload.

Supported Office file formats

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

Word files: .doc, .docx, .dot
Excel files: .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, (macro enabled Excel files), .xlt
PowerPoint files: .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .pot

Note: If you edit Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents older than Office 2007, files will be saved to a newer format when using Office editing.

Open an Office file in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides

From Google Drive

On your computer, go to Google Drive.
Double-click a Microsoft Office file. It opens in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides.
After you open a file, you can:
- Edit
- Share
- View version history
- Collaborate with others in real time

Tips:

Changes that you make are also saved to the original Microsoft Office file.
Password-protected files open in Viewer. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides don't support password-protected files.

From Gmail

On your computer, go to Gmail.
Open an email message.
Hover your mouse over the Office file attachment click Edit with Google Docs, Sheets or Slides .
- Tip: If you click on the attachment and see a preview of your file, at the top, you can click Open in Google Docs/Sheets/Slides. If you can’t see this option, click Open with Google Docs/Sheets/Slides.
A copy of the Office attachment will be stored in Drive and all changes you make will be saved to the copy. You can edit, share, view version history and collaborate in real time with others.
To respond to the original email with this file, or for other email options from the document, click File.
Click Email Reply with this file.

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

Important: If you have the Office editing Chrome extension

If you have the Office editing extension enabled, you won't be able to use this feature. To fix the problem, disable the Chrome extension. Learn how to manage a Chrome extension.

Convert an Office file to Docs, Sheets or Slides

In Google Drive, double-click on the Office file. This will open a preview of your file.
At the top, click Open in Google Docs/Sheets/Slides.
- If you don't see this option, click Open with Google Docs/Sheets/Slides.
From within the document, click File Save as Google Docs/Sheets/Slides.

To automatically convert all future uploads of Office files to Google Docs, Sheets or Slides:

Open Google Drive.
At the top right, click settings Settings.
Next to convert uploads, turn on 'convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format'.

Note: Previously-uploaded files will not be converted.

Managing document versions & uploads

If someone else uploads a new version of the Office file in Drive while you're viewing it in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides, the file will automatically be updated with the new version.

To view edits that you made in previous versions, use the document's version history. Learn how to see what's changed in a file with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides History.

To view comments that you've added in previous versions, use the file versions in Google Drive. Learn how to view Drive file versions.

Fix problems with Office editing

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 may encounter 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.

Some features from Google Docs, Sheets or Slides are not available in Office editing

As we continue to improve the compatibility of Google Docs, Sheets and Slides with Office formats, you might encounter features from Google Docs editors that are not yet available while working on Office files:

Apps Scripts
Google Workspace Add-ons
Cell locking in Google Sheets
Translate document
Under 'Version history', make a copy of an old version of the document

Tip: To use these features, convert your Office file to a Google Doc, Sheet or Slide. Learn how to convert Office files.

If you cannot edit your Office files while offline

If you cannot edit your Office files while you're offline, it might be because you haven't made them available for offline. Learn how to turn on offline access.

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

Make sure that your other device is connected to the Internet.
Check your version history for your offline edits. Learn how to see version history.
It might be because the original device where you made your edits has not 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 might be too large to save as an Office file. Consider reducing the file size, or converting it to Google Docs.

Tip: You can still view your unsaved changes in File Version history.

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.
If you or another user uploads a new version of the Office file in Drive, all inactive comments will be removed from Google Docs, Sheets or Slides.

Learn how to see what's changed in a file with version history