Microsoft Office files are still very common, but if you’re more of a Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides user, you can still edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in Google Drive–if you know how. On the desktop, you’ll need to use the Google Chrome browser and an official Chrome extension to edit Microsoft Office documents, using Google Drive’s Office Compatibility Mode (OCM). You can edit them like that, or convert them to Google Docs format, which will provide more features.

(Don’t worry–even if you convert them to Google Docs format, you can re-download them in Microsoft Office format later). You can also edit Microsoft Office files using the Google Drive app and the Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides apps on iOS or Android. We’ll show you both methods in the guide below. How to Work with Microsoft Office Files on Google Drive on a PC or Mac Let’s start with the desktop. If the Office file you want to edit and share is still on your PC’s hard drive, you can easily upload it to Google Drive and open it for editing in Chrome using a Chrome extension. Open Chrome, go to the, click “Add to Chrome”, and follow the on-screen instructions to install it. Once the extension is installed, drag the Office file onto the Chrome window until you see a copy icon as shown below.

How to Work with Microsoft Office Files on Google Drive on a PC or Mac. Let’s start with the desktop. If the Office file you want to edit and share is still on your PC’s hard drive, you can easily upload it to Google Drive and open it for editing in Chrome using a Chrome extension. Mac apps download.

For my example throughout this article, I’m going to use a Word/Google Docs file, but the procedure is the same for Excel/Google Sheets files and PowerPoint/Google Slides files. The first time you drag an Office file onto the Chrome window, the following dialog box displays.

Click “Got it” to close the window. You won’t see this dialog box again. RELATED: The Office file is uploaded to your Google Drive account and opened on the current tab.

There a limited number of features you can use to edit the Office file in your Google Drive account. However, if you convert the document to a Google document, there are more features available, and you can. To convert your Word file to a Google Docs document, select “Save as Google Docs” from the “File” menu. If you uploaded and opened an Excel file (.xlsx or.xls), the option would be “Save as Google Sheets” and if the file is a PowerPoint file (.pptx or.ppt), the option would be “Save as Google Slides”. A dialog box displays while the document is converted and saved to your Google Drive account. You can stop the conversion by clicking “Cancel”.

Once you make your changes, you can download the Google document as an Office file. In my example, I select “Download as” from the “File” menu and then select “Microsoft Word (.docx)” from the submenu. There are also other formats in which you can download the Word file, such as.rtf,.pdf, and even as an eBook (.epub). The name of the original file is used by default, but you can change it in the “File name” edit box. Then, click “Save”. Another way to work with Office files in your Google Drive account is to upload them to your Google Drive account, which can be downloaded from. If you’ve uploaded your Word file this way, you can, and then open the Word file in Google Docs.

For my example, I’ll open my Word file by right-clicking on the file in my Google Drive account, selecting “Open with” from the popup menu, and then selecting “Google Docs” from the submenu. The Word file is opened in a new tab and you can edit the document just like when you dragged the Word file onto the Chrome window previously. You can also “Download” the file as a Word file using the “Download” button in the upper-right corner of the browser window, or using the “Share” button. At this point, the file is still a Word file and you’re working in Office Compatibility Mode (OCM). To convert it to a Google Docs file, select “Save as Google Docs” from the “File” menu, just like you did after dragging the Word file onto the Chrome window.

How to Work with Microsoft Office Files on Google Drive on a Mobile Device You can also open and edit Office files using the or (for Word files), the or (for Excel files), or the or (for PowerPoint files). However, you also need to install the. When you select an Office file to open in the Google Drive app, it’s automatically opened in the appropriate Google document app. We’ll show you how to work with a Word file in your Google Drive account on an iPhone, but the process is similar on other platforms and with other files.