Downloading a doc in native Google format

[Don Pedro]

Hi!

After having read the protocol guide, it seems that there is no way to export a document in a native Google Docs format. Is this correct?

I have a need to download a Google Doc to a computer where the Google Docs environment is not available and upload it again. So far I have not found an export format where information is not lost during the conversion. To mention one example: Equations in a Google Doc are lost when exported to a MS Word doc and then reinserted to Google Docs.

Thanks for your help!

/ Don

[Vic Fryzel]

Hi Don,

Unfortunately, you are correct.  We do not expose our native formats at this time.  That said, we have really good fidelity with some formats.

Thanks,

-Vic

[Srini]

Vic,

This is also true for my needs. What do you guys suggest to save
Google docs to/from so that fidelity is maintained.

thanks

[Vic Fryzel]

As I mentioned to Don, I suggest using one of the non-native formats.  We work very hard to ensure these have a high fidelity.

-Vic

[Don Pedro]

Hi Vic!

What export formats per different GDocs types optimizes the fidelity and the export performance?

/ Don

[Andrew Fields]

Hi Don,

What do you want to do with the native formats once you've downloaded them?

You might want to look at Spanning Backup which claims (I haven't tested it) to keep Google Docs in their original format.

Andrew

[Don Pedro]

Hi Andrew,

Interesting, thanks for the link!

/ Don

[Mike Pav]

Hello World,

We (Spanning) are subject to the same loss of fidelity issues on document export/import for some content types.  We have some deep experience in knowing what will survive the round trip well, and what will not.

The use case that we (and others) want to accomplish is simple backup and restore.  We don't care to manipulate the Google native format.  We just want to be able to restore it exactly as it was backed-up.  If we could get native format export, I'd be happy for the native format to be encrypted or obfuscated to ensure that we are not tempted to look under the covers.

-Mike

[Corey]

I am also looking to create an in-house docs backup solution. If we
cannot download the file in its native google docs format (I love Mike
Pav's suggested solution btw and would definitely vote for that), what
doc export format does Google (or anyone else with experience) suggest
for the different google doc types? I'm looking for best practices.

[Corey]

bump

[Ali Afshar]

Hi everyone,

This (exposing the native file format) is certainly a feature we are
looking at seriously. I can't promise anything of course.

@mike in the meantime, what format do you find gives you the best
fidelity for round-trip conversions.

Regards

--
Ali Afshar | www.googplus.org/ali | Google Developer Relations

[Andrew Fields]

A feature request on similar lines:
Google Docs' document editor has the possibility to be a very useful collaborative coding tool.
The current Google Docs exporter can break tabs and whitespace on export to text file format.

It would be great if Google Docs could have a setting to keep plain text files in native plain text format during upload and download, and also have the ability to edit these online.

[Ali Afshar]

Hi Andrew,

I agree this would be a really useful feature, and we are actively
looking at ways to enable this. Sorry, no promises, as usual, but stay
tuned.

Regards

--