How to Download All Your Google Docs Documents

If the recent loss of Sidekick users' cloud-stored data has you worrying about the safety of your cloud-stored Google Docs documents, fear not: You can synchronize your Google Docs data with your PC for offline access (and local backup).

Of course, that solution requires Google Gears, a wonky, unsupported browser tool.

If you'd rather just dump all your Google Docs documents to a Zip file for archiving on your PC, now you can.

All you do is select all your files, then right-click anywhere in the document area and choose Export. Docs lets you choose what format you want for each document type (such as Excel for spreadsheets, for example), then compresses everything into a Zip. A quick download and you're done.

As Google Docs users know, you can export any individual file if you need a local copy. This handy batch-download option gives you everything in one fell swoop. Consider doing this once a month or so, just in case Google's cloud experiences its own frightening, Sidekick-like glitch. You never know.

More on Google Docs:

• Get Free OCR from Google Docs
• 10 Handy Hacks for Google Docs Users
• Google Docs Adds Tables to Presentations
• Edit Your Google Docs Offline in Microsoft Office with OffiSync