

Google's core productivity apps are completely offline-capable - but in most cases, it's up to you to take the initiative and set them up appropriately. Make sure your Google apps are prepared for offline use Then, when your next business flight takes off (hopefully soon?), skip the barely usable airplane Wi-Fi and instead sit back, relax, and enjoy your Slack-interruption-free productivity session. If you're using a Chromebook for work, think through the following four areas to make sure your computer is offline-ready and primed for productivity before the need arises. None of that, however, is difficult to do. Some cloud-centric services require a touch of setup before they'll be functional offline, and some common work tasks need specific third-party software in place in order to be handled without an active internet connection.

When it comes to offline effectiveness, the key - just like with a Windows or a Mac system - is a healthy dose of planning and preparation. But for years upon years now, Chromebooks have been capable productivity tools that offer ample advantages over traditional desktop operating systems and work just as well as any other computers offline. To be fair, some of them did have nuggets of reality back in the platform's earliest days, when it was still a small-scale, beta-like project within Google. You see where we're going with this, right? Those are all wildly inaccurate myths that have plagued Chrome OS since its start. Or this one: It's like a "real" computer but without all the good stuff - and it's practically useless offline. Stop me if you've heard this one: A Chromebook is just a glorified browser in a box.
