Easy Ways to Download Google Docs to Desktop

  Ashwani Tiwari
Written By Ashwani Tiwari
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Modified On October 6th, 2025
Reading Time 6 Min Read

Are you a Google Cloud user and worried about your online Google documents? Then you can relax, as I am going to discuss how you can create a Google Document backup. Here, I will also explain the benefits of saving your Google Docs, so read the article to the end.

For the organization, Google Docs is an essential tool to help users create and edit important documents. Those who purchase G Suite will also get Google Docs, where they can collaborate in real time. It runs on a cloud platform, so managing and accessing documents is much easier.

Google has its own storage where all the data is stored online, including documents. Saving your documents in the cloud is a reliable option, but in certain situations you need to backup your Google Documents on a local device.

Why Need to Download Google Docs?

Storing your Google documents is a healthy practice to protect them from issues like accidental deletion, data loss, etc. However, there are other scenarios where downloading the data is beneficial for you.

  • When your important documents get deleted due to minor mistakes, like a single wrong click. If you have a backup of your Google documents, you can easily recover your lost data.
  • There is a huge risk that your Google account has been hacked or compromised. In this situation, you are not able to access your documents. But, if you already have the backup, your data will be secure and restore it quickly.
  • If you are closing your Google account, then it is important to first take a backup of your documents, emails, and other data for future use.
  • When migrating documents to another account, professionals advise first creating a copy of your Google documents before the migration procedure.
  • To protect the document from ransomware or malware risks, having a backup is a must.
  • Business needs to retain documents for legal, compliance, or audit purposes. So, the backup of Google Docs helps you in meeting the retention policies and retrieving the records.
  • By backing up your Google Document, you can access your data when there is an internet outage.

Hence, downloading your Google document will help you in various situations. Now, if you are wondering about the methods to save the documents. Then I have several options, which I have explained below.

Backup Google Document Individually

If you want to download a few Documents, then you can easily do this. By going to Google Docs and following the steps below.

  1. In Google Docs, select the documents you want to save.
  2. Open it and click on the File option at the top of the screen.
  3. Select the Download button and choose the format you desire.
  4. After clicking it, your document will be saved on your local computer. Repeat these same steps to save your Google documents.

Save Documents Using Google Takeout

If you have multiple documents that you want to backup, then Google Takeout will help you. It is a free utility developed by Google where you can easily save your data.

  1. Go to Google Takeout and sign in to your account.
  2. Click on the Deselect all button, then scroll down to the Google Drive.
  3. Select the Google Drive and click on All drive data included.
  4. Choose the Google Docs option.
  5. Scroll to the end and click on the Next Step button.
  6. Select the Destination, File Size, and type. Hit the Export option.

Google downloads your document in ZIP format. After extracting the file, you will get your data in an MBOX file, which you can easily open.

Sync Documents to Google Drive

Manually, you can download your documents by opening them in Google Drive and clicking on the download. But if you want your data in the cloud and also on your desktop. Then, you can use Google Drive to sync your document.

  1. For this, you have to download the Google Drive for Desktop app on your PC.
  2. After installing, sign in with your Google account.
  3. Go to the app preferences and under My Drive syncing option, select the Mirror files option.
  4. On your desktop, choose a folder where your files are stored.

Till now, I have mentioned manual ways to do a Google Docs backup. All the options easily save your document, but you may have difficulty saving multiple Google documents. I have a professional method that many IT admins and experts use to save their data securely.

Professionally Backup Google Document

It is a big challenge for the business to save its Google document. Because your document is already stored in the cloud platform. Downloading them to a local computer may increase data inconsistency and missing some of the data. That’s why, professional wizard like SysTools G Suite Backup Tool is perfect for you to download your Google documents.

It is a great utility to save your data as it preserves the original data structure and folder hierarchy during the process. With the help of this, you can save your document in an Outlook file, so that you can easily move your data to another program.

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Google Document Backup – Step-By-Step

  1. Download the software and click on the Admin User option.
    choose admin user
  2. After that, activate the software. Then, go to the Setup screen.
    activate the tool
  3. Click on G Suite as a source platform and Outlook as a destination.
    choose g suite and outlook
  4. Under the Workload section, choose the Document option. Apply the Date Filter if you want to save a selective document.
    select document
  5. From the Source screen, provide your G Suite admin email, service account, and certificate file. Press the Validate button.
    enter g suite details
  6. Then, browse a destination location and select File size. Hit the Validate button.
    set a location
  7. Now, to add the user, you can either choose Fetch Users to automatically fetch the users or manually import users by submitting a sample CSV file.
    add the users in the tool
  8. After adding the user, click on the Start Backup button.
    start backup procedure

Final words

In this blog, I have discussed how you can easily create a Google document backup. Here, I have mentioned four ways that are simple to follow. One of the methods contains a professional tool that allows you to easily save your Google documents without any issues. All the methods can save your documents, so follow the steps properly.

  author

By Ashwani Tiwari

Being a Chief Technical Analyst, I am aware of the technicalities faced by the user while working with multiple technologies. So, through my blogs and articles, I love to help all the users who face various challenges while dealing with technology.