In May 2010, Google “temporarily” removed offline access to Google Docs, which had been provided for two years through the Google Gears extension. “We know offline access is important for some of you, and we’re working hard to bring a new and improved offline access option to Google Docs,” the company said at the time.

Sixteen months later, Google has finally brought offline access back to Docs using an HTML5-powered app available for the Chrome browser. For now, it allows users to view documents and spreadsheets without an Internet connection, but not edit them. Both Docs and Gmail Offline, another new feature, require installation of an app through the Chrome Web Store, but are easy to set up and use. I spent the morning testing it on a Chromebook and MacBook Air to see how well it worked.

For Docs, Chrome users who click the gear icon on the top right of the screen will see an option to enable the offline Docs beta. This will not appear in other browsers, such as Firefox.

After clicking a couple of options to allow the offline functionality, users are redirected to the Chrome Web Store, where they can install the Google Docs app. Once installed, the user is redirected to the Docs website, at which time the user’s documents are synchronized to the computer and stored in a write-protected file. If you’re using a Mac, you can see where this file is stored by going to your Finder’s home folder and following the path google/chrome/default/databases/https.docs.google.com_0.

Now, if you happen to lose Internet access you can refresh the browser to switch to the offline versions of your documents, which are displayed in a simpler interface with editing tools stripped out. Another method is to open a new tab and click on the Google Docs app icon.

While testing the process out today on my MacBook Air and a Samsung Chromebook, the offline files refused to load a couple of times, but usually worked fine. When loading stalled, I was able to fix it by closing the page and reloading.

To get offline access to Gmail, Chrome users can install the Offline Google Mail App, which has more substantial functionality than offline Docs. Offline Gmail allows mail to be “read, responded to, searched and archived,” the product description says. After installing the Chrome Web Store app myself, I disabled my WiFi connection, clicked on the Gmail offline app, and all my e-mails popped up very quickly. Still offline, I was able to respond to an e-mail, which was then delivered when I reconnected to the Internet. There is also a new offline app for Google Calendar.

Offline access to Gmail and Docs are important in Google’s quest to make Chromebooks business-friendly. After all, Google Docs suffered an outage just yesterday, and Internet access isn't yet ubiquitous. But Google still isn’t saying when Docs will gain offline editing capabilities. Google’s response to our question on the matter indicates that Google believes browser standards aren’t yet robust enough to make offline editing as smooth as it should be.

“For offline Docs, we are using a combination of advanced HTML5 capabilities as well as ways to address use cases not yet covered by existing browser standards,” a Google spokesman told Ars. “Note that this is just the first step. Future versions of Chrome will bring even more capabilities to offline Docs like the ability to edit documents. Editing will require additional offline capabilities, which no one has done before but we're working hard with the Chrome team to create."

Google also said it will bring offline access to other browsers, if their makers support features like Chrome's background pages, which let browser windows act like apps that can update even when they're not open.

There’s still no word when offline Docs access will come to Android. However, Gmail can be accessed offline on smartphones and tablets. In fact, Gmail offline for Chrome is based on a Web app Google designed for the iPad, which lets users view and respond to email in a tablet browser even when there are no Internets in sight.