Mountain View (CA) - Google’s Docs application now officially offers offline file access. Users can edit or view their documents, spreadsheets and presentations away from an Internet connection and the files will synchronize when a connection is restored. Google’s ’Gears’ application must be installed first.

When working on a file inside of Google Docs, users will see green icon in the upper-right corner. This means the user is connected to the Internet and synchronizing in real-time. When the connection is lost, the icon turns grey, but the user can still edit the docs by pointing their browser to docs.google.com.

Users must click on the Offline link in the upper-right corner of Google Docs to install the Gears application for offline browsing. Gears had been available for a few months in beta form.