Downloading Google Docs Document

tv3tg4

Is it possible to download a Google Docs document as a Google Docs document onto my PC?

Can this only be done if you save it to Google Drive?

smuggler.ie

Apparently its just a shortcut to your actual file.

28064212

No. A "Google Docs Document" doesn't have a meaningful equivalent to a .docx or an .odt file. The information that you see on screen could be pulled together from multiple different locations, spread out across files and databases. They don't have any meaning unless you also have Google's infrastructure to pull it all together.

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121218314#Comment_121218314

Interesting.

Is this for a fact that data parts are in different locations? different datacentres? I accept that file might be multiplied in different locations for redundancy.

Would that not cause delay to "assemble" the file to presentation?

tv3tg4

Many thanks.

I am happy with Google Docs.

I surpose saving it as a Word document works.

28064212

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121219669#Comment_121219669

By location, I wasn't necessarily referring to physical location, just different types or instances of storage. I have no knowledge of the actual backend, but a basic example could be that they have all the text content of the document in an actual file, but all of the styling information (font size, italics etc) could be stored in a database. When a request is made for the 'document', Google's services pull from both those sources to combine the data into something that the browser can present to the user.

That's a massively simplified version. In reality, there could be any number of interconnected services required to produce what the user sees. The point is that there is no single file that contains all the information required to display it. You have to export it to a format that does contain all that information in a single place

ItHurtsWhenIP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058317417/downloading-google-docs-document

A Google doc would be available as a .gdoc if you had the Google Drive for Desktop app installed on your machine. If you were to double click on that, it would open your browser to allow you to edit it in Google Docs.

I do not believe you can edit it any other way, such as with Word, unless you save it separately as a .doc.

SuperBowserWorld

Save it as a pdf.

That's it