Setting Up Offline Capabilities - A Checklist for Students

Part I: Enable Offline Capabilities in Google

*Note: These capabilities should ALWAYS be enabled, even when your internet is working. Once you enable them the first time, you should NOT have to do this again.

  • Make sure you are connected to the WiFi.
  • Open Google Chrome. Make sure you are signed in with your CFISD Google account information.
  • Type in docs.google.com into the web browser
  • Click on the 3 lines at the top of the document
  • Click Settings
  • Find the setting that says “Offline - Create, Open, and Edit your recent Google Docs files on this device while offline.”
  • Click on the button until it is BLUE, not gray
  • Great job! Your offline capabilities are now enabled. Leave this setting turned on ALWAYS.

Click HERE to watch a video of how to do this.

Click HERE to see pictures of these steps.

Part II: Download Necessary Templates WEEKLY

*Note: You MUST do this weekly, even if you don’t think your WiFi will go out. You never know when you’ll go offline, and you’ll need the templates already downloaded if that does happen.

  • Go to your teacher’s Schoology course. Locate the folder titled “Emergency Offline Toolkit.” If you’renot sure where it is, ask your teacher.

If there are PDFs or non-Google Files in the Emergency Offline Toolkit Folder:

  • Download PDFs and non-Google files (ex. audio files) that are in that folder by clicking on them.
  • PDFs will automatically start to download
  • With other files, you may have to right-click and select “download”
  • Once they’ve downloaded them, save these files to your Chromebook somewhere where you will remember (ex. Create a folder named Period 1 Emergency Offline Toolkit Week 1)

Click HERE to see a video of how to do this

Note: This video got cut off at the last second, but it ended by saying that even if you lose WiFi, you’ll still be able to open the PDF because you saved it to your computer.

If there are Google Files in the Emergency Offline Toolkit Folder:

  • Make copies of all Google Files to add them to your Google Drive
  • You must then change the settings to “Available Offline” by right clicking on the file and clicking the gray button next to “Available Offline” until it is blue

This will enable you to keep working on them, even when your WiFi goes out

Click HERE to see a video of how to do this!

You will NOT need to download Google Files (Slides, Docs, Sheets, etc.) to your Chromebook if you have the “available offline” setting enabled! Google will sync the changes you made while offline once your computer is back online. Go to drive.google.com to access these offline files if you lose internet access.

Part III: Working On & Turning in Offline Assignments (ONLY needed IF you go offline)

  1. To work on Google Files Offline:
    • Continue to work on Google Files in your Drive
    • The only difference is they will be in offline mode, so you will have fewer capabilities in the File menu.
    • When your WiFi returns, Google will automatically sync any work you did while offline
    • Click HERE to see a video of how to do this!
    • Once you’re back online, submit your offline assignment in Schoology by uploading the file to the assignment your teacher has set up for offline work.
  2. To work on a PDF Offline:
    • Open PDF from the folder you saved it to on your Chromebook.
    • Select the pencil in the top right corner to annotate according to your teacher’s instructions.
    • When finished, click Print → Save as PDF (make sure to save to a folder on your Google Drive where you will be able to find it later).
    • Click HERE to see a video of how to do this!

Parents & Students

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