Office editing mode is set by default for office documents in Google Drive on the Web interface

13/11/2020

Table of contents

What has Google changed?

Office editing mode is now the default editing mode for Office files in Drive on the web interface. Now, when you double-click an Office document, it opens directly into Office editing mode. Instead of before, double-clicking opens a preview of the document, from which users can choose to open in Office editing mode or download the file.

In addition, with the current version you can still use preview mode by right clicking on the file and clicking “Preview” or by pressing 'P' on the keyboard while double clicking on the file.

Office editing mode is set by default for office documents in Google Drive on the Web interface

Who is affected?

End users

It's important because

This change makes it faster to open and start editing documents. Users can directly edit, comment, and collaborate on Office files using our familiar interface Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, with changes automatically saved to files in existing Office formats.

Additional details

It should be remembered that:

This change will apply to all compatible Office file types, including .docx, .doc, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm
Password-protected Office files won't open directly into Office editing mode. These files will continue to open in “Preview” mode.
If you have the Chrome extension “Edit Office for Docs, Sheets, and Slides” installed, you will be redirected to this extension, not Docs, Sheets, or Slides. This is the same as when you selected “Open with” before.

Let's get started with Office editing mode

For Administrators: This feature will be ON by default. There is no administrator control for this feature.
For End Users: This change will occur by default when compatible Office files are opened in Drive on the web interface. You can still use preview mode by right-clicking on the file and clicking “Preview” or by pressing 'P' on your keyboard while double-clicking the file. Visit the Help Center to learn more about working with Office files in Drive.

Release time

Rapid Release: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature to appear) starting October 27, 2020
Scheduled Release: Gradual release (up to 15 days for feature to appear) starting November 30, 2020

Availability

Available to customers with Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education, Enterprise for Education and Nonprofit Accounts and individual Google users.

Contact Gimasys for advice on a conversion strategy suitable to your business's actual situation and to experience the application suite for free. Google Workspace customers: